Snow

Snow appears frequently throughout the novel, as its title predicts, and symbolizes different things at different times. When depicted as part of the harsh winter landscape of Barrett's walk through Central Park, and later in Beth's ominous dream, it seems to symbolize something cold and unpleasant. When it flurries in through Tyler and Beth's open window and swirls around Beth during her solitary late-night walk, it suggests something ethereal and lovely.

In general, snow is sometimes used to symbolize death, which certainly fits here in light of Beth's terminal illness, and is also sometimes used to suggest innocence and purity.

Finally, it is important to note that "snow" is a slang word for cocaine, the drug which Tyler abuses through much of the novel (until he switches to heroin use toward the novel's end).

Windows

Windows appear in the novel as a symbol of indecision (in...