Area X (Symbol)
Area X is itself a powerful symbol and representation of the sublime, the marriage of beauty and horror. The area expands beyond human comprehension. It also appears to be a corruptive entity, causing insanity and death in the humans who dare to enter. It is, however, beautiful, as the biologist frequently notes. Its landscape is serene and inspires contemplation, and its ecosystem is fascinating and self-sustaining. More than simply an area of land, Area X is a living symbol for the beauty of the alien and the terrible unknown.
The Dolphin (Symbol)
During the course of the narrative, the biologist briefly glimpses a dolphin with startlingly human eyes, and it seems quite familiar, but she can't figure out why. By the end of the novel, however, she realizes that the dolphin might have been her husband, transformed by Area X into something utterly inhuman. This dolphin is a symbol of Area X's corruptive and transformative power, as well as its ability to create something beautiful through acts of destruction and annihilation.
The Lighthouse (Symbol)
The lighthouse is explicitly marked by the biologist as having been a symbol for the previous explorers. It represented to them hope and guidance. She writes, "I could only underscore my previous speculation that to most of them a lighthouse was a symbol, a reassurance of the old order, and by its prominence on the horizon it provided an illusion of a safe refuge" (115-116). When she leaves the lighthouse behind, she compares it to another kind of symbolic object, a reliquary (138). Thus, the lighthouse represents both its historical symbolic significance and takes on a new meaning in Annihilation as a tomb for the explorers who live on through their integration into Area X.
The Writing on the Wall (Symbol)
Recurring throughout the novel is a set of words that form long, unsettling sentences that are both nonsensical and horrifyingly beautiful ("Where lies the strangling fruit that came from the hand of the sinner I shall bring forth the seeds of the dead to share with the worms that gather in the darkness and surround the world with the power of their lives while from the dim-lit halls of other places forms that never could be writhe for the impatience of the few who have never seen or been seen…") (47). These words represent the absorption of humanity, from the organic makeup of explorers' bodies, to the words they write in their journals, and the way Area X repurposes the material and uses it to nourish itself. The words, found scrawled along the inside of the tower, as well as in the journals of all who have entered, have the awful power of infiltrating minds, sowing seeds of darkness and madness in its listeners, a perfect microcosm of Area X itself.
The Black Boxes (Symbol)
What the biologist describes as the most "outlandish" piece of equipment they were issued by the Southern Reach is "a small rectangle of black metal with a glass-covered hole in the middle. If the hole glowed red, we had thirty minutes to remove ourselves to 'a safe place'" (4). The psychologist later reveals that the black boxes were nothing more than a psychological ploy to give the explorers a false sense of security. The black boxes symbolize the larger theme of deception and manipulation perpetrated by the Southern Reach.
