The White Falcon
The White Falcon is the slave ship that takes At-mun from his home in Africa to his new place as "Amos" as a slave in New England. This ship is a symbol of the slave trade as well as a symbol of forced transition in Amos's life. The name of the ship is particularly symbolic: falcons are quick and fierce birds of prey, and Amos is its victim.
Lily
Amos frees Lily, a black slave in her late forties, and marries her. She dies less than a year later, but Amos is still glad she could die a free woman. Lily is a symbol for the good Amos hopes to do in the lives of other slaves, as well as for his desire to help women out of his inability to help his own sister.
Celyndia
Amos's third wife, Violet, has a four-year-old daughter named Celyndia. When he buys Violet's freedom, he is also buying the freedom of this young girl. Celyndia is a symbol of the future generations that will be impacted by Amos's selfless actions as well as the growing opportunities for black slaves in America; his actions allow her to grow up in freedom, which is foreshadowing for the abolition of slavery many years later.
Amos's Tannery
When Amos earns his freedom, he has the skills of a tanner from his training with Ichabod Richardson. Mrs. Richardson suggests that he opens his own tannery, and he successfully does so. This tannery, along with providing a living for him and his family, is a symbol; it represents Amos's self-made liberation, a tangible symbol of the work that he put in to be able to sustain himself on his own as a free man.
The Tin Mirror
When Amos goes to the market or does business for Mr. Richardson, he always comes back with some kind of small gift for Mrs. Richardson. One day he comes back with polished tin sheet that functioned as a mirror. After he gives it to her, she lets him look into it as well. When he does, however, he sees himself as an older man in his fifties, reminding him that his sister would be that old as well, not the beautiful young teenager he keeps searching for. This mirror is a symbol of Amos's self-revelation and realization that his sister ages as well.
