The Hurricane

The hurricane symbolizes danger. The woman decides the hurricane is significant to her story, even though it never hits the city. Despite the fact that the storm is not destructive to the woman's town, it inspires her spiritual quest. The storm creates a sense of threat in her life, and makes her religious questions feel necessary and pressing.

The Newscasters

The newscasters symbolize interconnectedness. The woman almost removes the newscasters from her story, until she realizes that they help to connect all of the story's other disparate elements. The woman relies upon the newscasters for information about the storm, and they help her feel as if the time she spends waiting for the storm has structure, and therefore meaning.

The Man

The man in the story symbolizes fear. The woman wants to include him in the story because his sudden illness occurs at the time...