Notebook

A notebook symbolizes the story of Nell and Eva, and how much their lives have changed. The notebook is where Nell, at Eva’s encouraging, writes down their story and their experiences. The notebook would have formerly (in better times) been used for academics, but that the studious Nell would even consider using a notebook for something other than studies demonstrates how much their lives have changed.

Dancing shoes

Dancing shoes symbolize life before, and life now. The dance shoes belong to Eva, and represent life when it was stable and things were normalized. Eva could dance as she wished and could buy new shoes as needed. Now, she cannot. The dancing shows are a luxury of the world before. Now, Nell repairs a pair to give Eva for Christmas so that Eva may dance a few hours more, even though there seems to be no...