Water
Given the title of The Waves, it should be no surprise that waves and water are symbolically huge in this novel. The novel's very style (which is even called stream-of-consciousness—how perfect i...
Flowers
Who doesn't like flowers? They're pretty, they smell good, and they attract friendly bees. Oh, and they're hugely symbolic: just check out Georgia O'Keeffe sometime.After water and waves, flowers a...
Rings
Given the novel's emphasis on cycles, it's not super surprising that rings (which are circles, of course) carry a lot of symbolic weight. There's also the subplot where Bernard has to travel to Mor...
The Beast Stamping
Louis makes numerous references to a beast that is off somewhere stamping. In fact, the first time we "hear" from Louis, he says, "I hear something stamping… A great beast's foot is chained. It s...
Trees
Though nature imagery in general is pretty important in The Waves (see "Flowers"), trees in particular seem to "crop up" quite a lot. Sorry, we couldn't let water have all the punny fun. For exampl...