Water (motif)
Scorsese deploys water and water imagery throughout the film to denote tragic events from Teddy's past, namely the drowning of his three children in a lake. After the film's first scene, Teddy is trapped inside Ashecliffe, surrounded by water, and later hallucinates that a massive rainstorm has engulfed the island. Dolores always appears dripping wet in his dreams, and Teddy must swim to the lighthouse at the end of the film in order to discover the truth.
Lighthouse (symbol)
The lighthouse is a symbol for disclosure and revelation, and it is the place where Teddy finally discovers that he is in fact Andrew Laeddis, Ashecliffe's 67th patient. At the same time, the lighthouse is the sinister place where Ashecliffe performs lobotomies, as George Noyce tells Teddy during their conversation in Ward C. The lighthouse is Teddy's destination during the second half of the film, when he thinks Laeddis and Chuck are being held captive there, and is last seen walking toward it with Cawley and others at his side, presumably to have a lobotomy performed.
Tie (symbol)
Teddy keeps a tie with him, given to him as a gift from his deceased wife Dolores Chanal. Although Teddy seems to cherish the keepsake, he tells Dolores's apparition toward the end of the film that he always thought the tie was "fucking ugly," before setting it on fire. The tie symbolizes Teddy's attachment to Dolores, which is keeping him tethered him to his delusional world. Teddy decides to abandon her after George Noyce warns him that he will never leave Ashecliffe as long as he thinks about her.
Fascism (motif)
Teddy Daniels is a World War II veteran with memories of invading Nazi Germany and liberating Dachau. Teddy tells Chuck that he fears Nazi mind-control experiments are being conducted on American soil, a trepidation that the second Rachel Solando (who is in fact Teddy's own delusion) confirms to him. Teddy mistrusts Dr. Naehring because he is German, and believes that Ashecliffe has been experimenting on political subversives. Teddy's paranoia that Nazi fascism has taken root at Ashecliffe winds up being a red herring.
White (motif)
In the film, Scorsese uses the color white—white walls, white floors, white uniforms—to convey the deliberately low-stimulus environment of mental hospitals, and suggest Teddy's gradually deteriorating mental state. Over the course of the film, Teddy Daniels changes from his U.S. Marshal uniform into white clothes typical of an Ashecliffe patient.
