Describe symbolism in Real Live Boyfriends: Yes. Boyfriends, Plural. If My Life Weren't Complicated, I Wouldn't Be Ruby Oliver by E. Lockhart

In Chapter Eleven, to help Nora cope with the recent hurt, Ruby pulls her into the bathroom, has her write down Kim and Cricket's name on a pieces of toilet paper, and then tear them up into small pieces and flush them down the toilet. Nora is hesitant, but it's actually a liberating experience. Although it's impossible to truly flush away your sadness, flushing their names down the toilet is a symbolic way of taking back emotional control, which leads to emotional health.