Sporting Goods, Sporting Goods Display Trees
Although the Patimkin family has built their wealth upon selling less glamorous items like sinks and plumbing equipment with the stores and warehouses tucked away at the poorer inner city, they have no compunctions about flaunting the sporting goods and the fancy new sporting goods display trees. Both are used to showcase the wealth and upward mobility and as such they symbolize the wealth and influence of this Jewish clan. More than that, it is their own interpretation of the American dream: making it big by making an honest hustle.
Fully Stocked Refrigerators
Refrigerators are more than just appliances used to conveniently stockpile food but it is also a way of showcasing affluence. Neil stays with his Aunt Gladys and her pride and joy is her constantly stocked fridge. Many poor families in the Jewish quarter struggle to fill their refrigerators. Aunt Gladys however has an entirely different problem: she endeavors to empty it. When Neil stays with the Patimkins he notices that their fridge is on a completely different level. Whereas he sees the great effort that his aunt puts into filling and making use of the contents of her fridge the Patimkin’s fridge just seems to magically restock itself with an impressive variety of fruit in season.
Glasses
Despite Brenda’s great beauty she is all but blind without her glasses and this information is something that Neil is willing to exploit to his advantage. He playfully considers hiding her glasses so that she’d rely on him to get her home. In that regard, Brenda’s glasses become a symbol of his insecurity and his desire to have some form of leverage over Brenda. Neil is painfully aware of how huge the socio-economic divide is between them and as such he seeks any means to try to level the playing field—even if it means pulling a childish prank to gain a couple of minutes worth of dominance over his wealthy girlfriend.
Tahiti/Short Hills
The nameless African-American kid who ho daily visits the library to look at the book of Gauguin paintings of native women in Tahiti and Neil share more than just being featured in a dream. Both characters are chasing after a far-off dream which, given their situations in life, may never reach. For the young, nameless kid, he dreams of a faraway tropical paradise; but growing up poor and black during an age where racial and socio-economic prejudices run rampant, it is all but certain that he will never see these islands in person. Neil on the other hand dreams not only of living in the wealthy community of Short Hills but also being accepted by upper echelons of Jewish society. Given his poor, blue-collar roots however his dream remains just that: a hazy, ephemeral fantasy he cannot grasp.
Heart/Hearts
While working the in library the boy asks to be taken to the art section and Neil mistakenly thinks that he had asked for the “heart section.” The heart, in reference to human motivations, romantic feelings and the literal center of locations, is a symbol in the novel for just that—motivations, I.e. the real “why” that pushes the characters to pursue things, people, etc. Neil’s “heart” is initially the library and books, that is until Brenda comes along. Brenda’s “heart” is her preoccupation with sports and her studies, then later on, Neil. Mr. and Mrs. Patimkin are obsessed with being observant Jews and accumulating wealth. The heart symbolism is also tied closely to locations, in this case the unglamorous “heart” of the Patimkin family wealth: Patimkin Sinks. Their bread & butter is located "in the heart" of an impoverished section of Newark now inhabited by poor African-Americans, before that however it was the poor Jewish immigrants quarter.
