Polio

Polio symbolizes fear and mortality. In the time of the novel’s setting (1944) no one knew what allowed the polio virus to spread, and no vaccine had yet been invented. As dramatized in the novel, these facts caused widespread danger and consequent fear. Cantor attempts to maintain a sense of calm in his community, but by the end of the novel, he becomes a victim of the polio virus and subsequently fears that he may have spread it unwittingly.

God

God symbolizes the anger and bitterness that Cantor feels in response to the widespread suffering caused by polio. After two of his students die of polio, he begins to grow bitter towards God, questioning the idea that any good deity would inflict horrors such as polio on the world. As polio causes an increasing amount of destruction, Cantor grows increasingly bitter, choosing God as the object...