Angels

In "Thoughts and Prayers," the angels that sit atop each family's roof symbolize belief. The townspeople are all convinced that if they pray hard enough, and behave well enough, their angels will protect them from danger, harm, and loss. They also believe that those families who do suffer tragedy, have unlucky angels, or that the families have antagonized their angels. However, the angels prove as unreliable as guns: mere symbols of power that can be manipulated for evil and destruction.

Stones

In "The Stones of Sorrow Lake," the stones that form out of the townspeople's bodies, symbolize sorrow. When the characters experience their first loss, their stone blooms from their skin. No amount of effort can free the stone from the body. The stones dislodge themselves only when the individual's grief has run its course. The author uses the stones to make tactile an invisible and...