The Shoe Horn Symbol
The shoe horn is given to Birdie by her father, so that she can make her boots last longer. However, it becomes a symbol of survival. It is a symbol of participation in the choir because Birdie beat time for the singers with it. It was also a symbol of survival to Birdie in that she gave it to Sheila to trade for medicine; Sheila had kept hold of it and traded a sexual favor instead. When she sees Birdie again fifty years later she gives her the shoe horn and it has come to symbolize not only the fact that the both survived the war but also of what they had to do in order to survive it.
Japanese Voices Symbol
Birdie is in a convenience store one day when she hears a group of Japanese tourists talking to each other. The sound of their voices freezes her in her tracks and then it terrifies her to such an extent that she has to leave immediately. The sound of the Japanese language being spoken is a symbol of the Japanese prison guards and the way in which they tortured the prisoners in their possession.
Staying Put Symbol
Bridie could not understand why Sheila and her family stayed in Singapore for so long when there was a threat of war. Sheila explains that to her mother staying put symbolized patriotism and a support for the British government. It also symbolized her own Britishness and its opinion of its own resolve and stiff upper lip.
Liberation Dance Symbol
When they were imprisoned, the women resolved to go dancing after they were liberated from the prison. It seemed like the most fun, light hearted and frivolus thing that they could think of doing. For some reason they never did go dancing after they were freed. After their interview is finished they dance together in their hotel room. In their final interview they revealed their truths, and realized that these truths had kept them mentally imprisoned all of the years after the war. The dance enjoyed in their hotel room is a symbol of their total liberation and the fact that at last they are now completely free.
Bridie Symbol
Bridie is hurt that Sheila has never made any effort to contact her in the fifty years since they left the prison camp. Sheila reveals that to her, Bridie symbolizes the prison. They had no relationship before they were imprisoned and so there are no shared memories for her to draw on that don't include being a prisoner in them. Sheila finds that Bridie is a symbol of the prison and of everything that they went through together which is just too much for her to be reminded of by maintaining contact.
