The Measure (Motif)
'The measure' is a motif that appears throughout this book, beginning with the inscription on the box everyone receives: "The measure of your life lies within." The original interpretation of this inscription is merely a description of the string inside the box. However, throughout the book, we see the characters deciding the measure of their lives for themselves (p. 256). Ben is inspired when he meets the girl who received Hank's lung donation, realizing that she's deciding the measure of her own life. By the end of the book, Nina is relieved to learn of the dramatic decrease in people who are opening their boxes since the strings' initial arrival and perhaps deciding to choose their measure (p. 348).
The Strings (Symbol)
In The Measure, we see the strings as a symbol for life in the anthropomorphization of the strings. Maura has identified the string as cutting her life short and limiting her life's possibilities (p. 186-188). Also, at the end of Amie’s life, Erlick describes Nina as holding Amie’s life in her hands when she’s holding her uncovered string (p. 343).
Trains and Train Stations (Allegory)
The symbol of the train in The Measure is an allegory of life and death and functions as a barometer for the current emotional climate in New York City. When Ben passes the subway station within Grand Central Station, he encounters people speaking about the end of times and the need for salvation. He then enters an eerily empty subway car during rush hour with someone singing "Little Boxes" insisting that the boxes everyone received are only "little boxes." Similarly, when Ben is on the way to see his parents to speak about his string, he sees an elderly woman swaying to the song "Bridge Over Troubled Water" while waiting for the train. The screeching arrival of the train overpowers the song (p. 79). This imagery of the train's arrival cutting off the music that has just begun supports the idea of the train as an allegory for death. Ben traveling on the train denotes death, as trains are often symbols of death—a train follows an invisible pre-laid track, similar to both fate and death in literature.
Strung Together (Motif)
The motif of being strung together begins with the South African girl‘s speech in which she describes us humans as all being strung together regardless of our string length. This speech inspires the #StrungTogether movement (p. 276-277). Strung together is a motif of interconnectedness, and Ben furthers this idea when he recognizes that even though Hank and the girl he’s donated his lungs to have never met, they are truly strung together (280).
Man on a bike playing "Que sera, sera" (Symbol)
In one of Amie’s letters to Ben, she describes how she used to see a man riding around on his purple bike with a speaker strapped to his back playing the song "Que sera, sera" through the streets of Manhattan. She says she hasn’t heard him since the arrival of the strings and wonders what happened to him because he was such a symbol of hope. When Annie struggles with feeling incapable of handling Ben's short string, she hears this song begin to play and runs to find this man, who has returned to bicycling through the streets of New York, playing this song as a symbol of hope. At the end of the book, the same song plays as Nina feels hopeful about the future and begins making plans for herself, Willie, and Midge, as she promised Maura (p. 348-349).
