Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
The ocean finds it way to Lake Superior by way of the St. Lawrence River. The narrator of Song argues that it is this single fact that instills in the inhabitants of the city a desire to wander, to feel the click of the door behind them. In the Bible, the ocean is often symbolic of the masses, of a people. In this sense, we might interpret Milkman’s wandering, ocean-bitten ways as a quest to find his people.