Black dresses (symbol)
Black dresses are a symbol of the burden of life. “One afternoon” when Nomi was standing in her grandma’s sugar-beet field she noticed “two black dresses, the ugly Fortrel kind that many old women” in their town “wore on a daily basis.” Those dresses were “flying around like large crazy birds way up in the sky near the water tower.” She stood and watched as they “flew all the way over “ to her grandma’s yard. The black color of women’s dresses were supposed to symbolize the burden of life, but those two dresses – just like Trudie and Tash – proved that even that grave color could be associated with freedom. Just like those dresses, they managed “to escape and fly away.”
The city (allegory)
The city is allegory of a sin, since the city itself was “the dark side, the whale’s stomach,” the place where the sin lived and flourished. It “flickered off and on in the distance” like “pain.” It could be “the worst thing that could happen to you.” If you go “for any length of your time” you “don’t come back,” and “if you don’t come back you forfeit your place in heaven’s lineup.” Though the city is considered a threat and a way to damnation, there are many people who are ready to sacrifice their place “in heaven’s lineup” for a chance to leave the village forever.
Being yourself (motif)
Being yourself is one of the main motifs of the story. Nomi once had a conversation with her typing teacher about “eternal life.” He wanted her to define “specifically” what it was “about the world” that she wanted to experience. “Smoking, drinking, writhing on a dance floor to the Rolling Stones?” But that wasn’t the thing she wanted. “I just want to be myself,” she said and “to do things without wondering” if they were “a sin or not.” She wanted to be “free.”
