The good life
Berlant uses 'the good life' as a symbol to show how individuals hold fast to the ideas of how best to live which have descended from classical philosophy; using a familiar phrase allows her to invoke an awareness between her readers and her object of study which mimics the one they have for the objects which cause cruel optimism.
The present
Berlant's idea of the present serves as a motif throughout the text which demonstrates the mechanisms of cruel optimism. The lived moment of cruel optimism is one of ordinariness, and the recurring motif of "present" makes the reader aware that Berlant intends her work to be applied.
Storytelling
Although Berlant does not tell a story in the conventional sense, her choice to present her theory through the allegory of it being storytelling invokes a clear metric of success—a storyteller works toward understanding, and so does she.
Pondering
The motif of pondering is one which Berlant presents approvingly—she connects "spacing out" in a positive way to potentiality on p. 119, and she hopes that the reader chooses to read slowly and in a way which invites reflection.
Attachment
In developing the symbol of attachment, Berlant provides a mechanism for cruel optimism which functions between the object and subject of fantasy. Once the symbol is presented, Berlant shows the consequences of the attachment while maintaining its symbolic status. Its existence as a symbol is especially important to her theoretical work because of how much the people experiencing cruel optimism desire connection between themselves and the object of their wish.
