Ocean - “In the Fall”
James observes, “It is hard to realize that this is the same ocean that is the crystal blue of summer when only the thin oil-slicks left by fishing boats or the startling whiteness of the riding seagulls mar its azure sameness. Now it is roiled and angry, and almost anguished; hurling up the brown dirty balls of scudding foam, the sticks of pulpwood from some lonely freighter.” The appearance of the ocean differs depending on the seasons. The ocean is more stunning during the summer than it is during fall. Accordingly, the ocean can be individually be used to determine the season.
Boat - “The Boat”
Macleod writes, "When I was very small, he took me for my first ride in the boat. I rode the half-mile from our house to the wharf on his shoulders and I remember the sound of his rubber boots galumphing along the gravel beach…When we returned to the house everyone made a great fuss over my precocious excursion and asked, "How did you like the boat?" "Were you afraid in the boat?" "Did you cry in the boat?" They repeated "the boat" at the end of all their questions and I knew it must be very important to everyone." The boat is a notable symbol in the narrator's household. It stores unforgettable memories of the narrator's childhood moments with his father. The repetition of the term boat in the questions underlines the materiality of the boat in the entire household's existence.
Sun - “The Lost Salt Gift of Blood”
Macleod describes, “Now in the early evening the sun is flashing out in gold. It bathes the blunt gray rocks that loom yearningly toward Europe and it touches upon the stunted spruce and the low-lying lichens and the delicate hardy ferns and the gangalia rooted moss and the tiny tough rock cranbellies.” The sun’s evening light depicts the exquisiteness of various natural elements such as rocks and plants. Focusing on the sun permits Macleod to alludes to its significance in the universe, which would be utterly dark and gloomy in the absence of the sun.
Sea - “The Lost Salt Gift of Blood”
Macleod observes, " That sea is entering again now, forcing itself gentle but inevitably between the tightness of the opening and laving rocky walls and rising and rolling into the harbor's inner cove." The sea asserts its presence through ‘ rising and rolling.' Rocks cannot impede the sea's movement. The sea denotes nature (specifically bodies of water).
Harbor - “The Lost Salt Gift of Blood”
Macleod expounds, “The harbour itself is very small and softly curving, seeming like a tiny peaceful womb nurturing the life that knows lies within it but which originated from without; came from without and through the narrow, rock- tight channel that admits the entering and withdrawing sea.” The harbor supplements the sea. Comparing it to a womb underscores its contribution to the survival of marine life, so that the interrelationship between the sea and the harbor is very sturdy and mutual.
