Chairlift

In "The Prospectors," the chairlift Clara and Aubergine ride to and from the Emerald Lodge is a symbol of death and rebirth. When they ride the lift up the mountain, it is described in eerie terms: "As if a mirror were malfunctioning, each chair separating from a buckle-bright double. Nobody was manning the loading station" (3). The women ride the chairlift up into potential death where they encounter the ghosts and the disturbing possibility of being remanded there for all eternity. When they descend the lift at the end of the story, they have survived a frightening ordeal, and their friendship has been made stronger in the process.

Yellow bird

The yellow bird that Clara steals outside of the Emerald Lodge in "The Prospectors" is a symbol of life and the women's escape from the potential fate of becoming ghosts themselves. Aubergine explains that this bird's cage...