Ruby Gemstone Ring

The ruby gemstone ring symbolizes both Evangeline’s fall from grace and her redemption. When Cecil gives Evangeline the ring, Evangeline believes that it represents his promise to love her. It soon becomes the symbol of her mistakes and misfortune as the object that catalyzes her arrest, transport, and eventual murder. Although Evangeline’s purity and dignity are dashed by her pregnancy, Hazel uses the ring to symbolize the possibility of a meaningful future when she names Evangeline’s daughter Ruby. Ruby later continues to view the ring as a symbol of Evangeline’s misery, but the ring is also the catalyst for these characters’ stories to meld together through the common thread of Evangeline’s kindness.

Embroidered Handkerchief

Cecil’s embroidered handkerchief symbolizes Evangeline’s hope and the potential of her life before her arrest. Evangeline holds fast to her hope that Cecil...