The symbol of the left leg
The author in this novel has used the 'left leg' symbolically to unfold the hidden opportunities for him. For instance, he writes:
“But in the weeks afterward, as I lay in my hospital bed, I came to see the bright side. I remembered that expression: A setback is just an opportunity in disguise. I decided that was true.”
According to the writer, losing his left leg is just an opportunity in disguise.
The symbol of the train
The author has used a train symbolically to refer to his habits of doing things forcefully when he was a young boy. A train can carry huge loads something Max tried to imitate. Perhaps this explains why he broke his left leg at his workplace:
“What I liked about playing trains was pretending my body was two hundred tons of unstoppable steel.”
In reality, his body was not a train and that is why he found himself in hospital nursing his left leg.
The motif of magnets
Max uses the motif of magnets to show the extent to which people repulse Charlie or move away from him as soon as they get in contact with him. For instance, he writes:
“I mean like magnets. The closer people get to me, the stronger their urge to move away.”
The use of magnets in the novel implies that Charlie is not likable for no good reason. He cannot understand the reason why people repulse him. He is not invited to parties and nobody wants to talk to him.
The symbol of the baby
The baby has been used in the novel to refer to the artificial leg to be used by Charlie. By getting used to this baby, no one will realize that he is using an artificial leg unless he removes his pants.
“You get practiced in this baby, most people won’t know you’re packing plastic until you take off your pants.”
Nuclear waste
The nuclear waste has been used in the novel to refer to the person of no use. Charlie is describing how Carl is carrying him along the corridors. He has not had good relations with him and he thinks that Carl is carrying a nuclear waste.
“Carl bore me through the white corridors like I was nuclear waste, his head half-turned away.”
