Memory
This is a story about the effects of memory over time. Even before the first chapter begins, in a short introductory prologue, this issue is addressed directly through the poetic use of imagery. "Threads of memory, like dreams, tried to weave themselves into a story. But...the strands fluttered like spider gossamer, broke, and were gone." The imagery in this passage is a commentary on the nature of storytelling as an intricately connected series of memories. The metaphorical symbolism both illustrates the complexity of that design and points out just how fragile memories become the more intricately they become connected to each other.
Magnolia
The opening line of the book asserts that in the future, after the events described in the story, Miranda would stop whatever she was doing and try to remember whenever the smell of magnolias hung heavy in the air. Later in the book, a scene describes her "pulling weeds in the tangled garden out front until the overpowering scent of the sun-baked magnolia blossoms threatened to turn her stomach." The smell of magnolias becomes recurring imagery that appears throughout the entire narrative. Its presence is persistently connected to an emotional terror Miranda feels when recalling the events of the past.
Miranda's Addiction
The centerpiece of the story—the object which produces the terror which Miranda associates with the smell of magnolias—is a dollhouse which is a miniature replica of the house into which her family has moved. "She needed her `fix' at least once a day. The nicotine might stain her father's fingers and burn his throat, but he didn't care as long as he could pull that soothing, dangerous smoke into his lungs and relax." Despite the trepidation the dollhouse inspires in her, she cannot keep away. She compares the feeling to her father's smoking habit. The imagery here is a comparison of how she cannot stay away from the dollhouse despite the threat it poses to her mental health to her father's inability to keep from smoking despite the threat to his physical health.
Lonely Raindrops
Miranda watches "two fat raindrops race each other down the pane. The one on the right seemed to be winning, but as Miranda watched, a gust of wind blew the drop on the left into its path, and the two droplets merged and slid down as one onto the windowsill." The two drops combined into one symbolize Miranda's sense of loneliness. The imagery of two droplets becoming one represents Miranda's desire to share her life with another person.
