The symbol of an old white man
The old white man is a symbol of racism against the African-American people by the predominant whites. Benji remembers very well the day he was coming from a school with his brother. Benji and his brother were always neatly dressed. The old white man stopped them and started questioning them whether they were a diplomat's sons because he got shocked seeing black kids dressed as white kids. The white, old man thinks that a black man should only look neat if associated with power. The narrator writes, "I remember one day in the seventh grade when an old man stopped us on a corner and asked as if we were the sons of a diplomat. Little princes of an African country. The U.N. being half a mile away. Because why else would black people dress like that?"
The Television (TV)
The author uses the TV to symbolize the mode of treatment the Black Americans accorded the predominant whites. Benji and his brother learned everything through the television. Most of the strangers that they came across were whites, and they did not treat them fairly. The narrator and his brother viewed the whites as racists. The narrator says, "The TV was our babysitter, sure, so finger-wagging movies of the week were our manual on how to deal with strangers. We eagerly riffled through the literature, tsk-tsking and chuckling over tales of neglected white kids gone awry…"
Security cameras
The security cameras symbolize the surveillance of the black people by the whites. Every move of the African-American is monitored. Young Benji could not understand why his mother did things in a hurry while shopping for them at the Gimbles. A Gimbles, Benji's mother, bought clothes for her kids while ensuring that nobody was listening or following her. The narrator says, "Every couple of months, our mother bought us some clothes at Gimbles – security cameras captured her foraging for her cubs, murmuring 'two of these, two of these,' and then tossed them into our cage; for us …"
The symbol of Benji
The author uses Benji to represent the identity crisis the black kids go through in predominantly white schools. Benji lucky to be in a private school in New York, but he faces discrimination and ridicule. Fellow learners gossip about his looks, and this makes him hate his black color. Consequently, Benji feels that he does not belong to the school but has no choice but to continue his studies.
Spider (Symbol)
The term 'spider' is symbolically used to represent Emily's aggression. The narrator writes, "Emily Dorfman was the tallest person in our class, had been for a while. We called her a spider. Her arms and legs were pale scaffolding popping up her shirts and skirts, and she had not yet realized that growing her hair out might cover up her extra vertebrae…."
