The Cabin

The cabin symbolizes control. After the death of his wife and child, Lars manufactures a new family with Lena in the cabin. He locks her inside, forces her to be his wife, and give him children. Inside the world of the cabin, Lars is convinced he is God. He believes keeping his family there will keep him from ever losing them. Once they escape, his power is threatened. Throughout the novel, he works desperately to find a new place to secure them as a means of reestablishing his autonomy.

The Children's Drawings

The drawings Hannah and Jonathan make in the children's clinic symbolize truth. Even when Hannah and Jonathan try to hide where they live and what they have experienced, their drawings often betray them. They create images of their mother in bondage, their dead sister, and their father's aggressive deeds. These pictures grant the...