What is a symbol in Strength In What Remains?

Stacy Kidder divulges, “He (Deo) had packed some of the evidence of his success: the French dictionary that elementary school teachers gave only to prized students, and the general clinical text.” The French dictionary is representational of Deo’s partiality for knowledge. The war unsettles his life; nonetheless, he carries the dictionary with him because he still anticipates that there will be an opening to utilize it to advance his aptitude in French.