Althea's Bible

Althea's Bible is a symbol of her relationship with her mother, the only stable parental figure in her childhood, who died when she was 12. Althea is not religious, largely because she equates religion with her father, the traveling evangelist who was never around when she was growing up, but she keeps the Bible so that she can read her mother's notes in the margins, and she draws strength from these notes throughout her ordeal of being in prison. At the end of the novel, Althea gives the Bible to Lillian as a symbolic gesture of reconciliation. Lillian is touched, and states that having the Bible is "kind of like a miracle to me" (233).

Saint Joseph River

The Saint Joseph River is a symbol of serenity to Althea, and the happiness she experienced as a child before her mother died. The girls' mother told Althea, "you...