Noel Cemetery

Noel Cemetery symbolizes past atrocities. When Two first learns about the cemetery and its history, she is overcome by shock and grief. She cannot believe that the whites would dig up, desecrate, and rob the ancient native burial ground. Allusions to the cemetery and its dark story recur throughout the novel, adding to the subtextual narrative tension, and further the author's subtextual explorations regarding history and the past.

Dinah

The hippopotamus, Dinah, symbolizes entrapment. During one of Two's many visits to the animal, she suddenly realizes how similar she and Dinah are. Two sees that Dinah is not only sick and immobilized, but that she has been trapped in an unnatural environment throughout her life. She also realizes that she and Dinah are both separated from their family and friends, and are therefore lodged in loneliness. The author uses Dinah as a foil for Two's...