Nightingales

Nightingales are referred to often throughout the novel. The nightingale traditionally symbolizes love and/or loss in literature. In this case, it symbolizes both. Isabelle and Vianne's last name means "nightingale" and their mother, whom they lost at a young age, called them her nightingales when she tucked them into bed. Later, Vianne hears a nightingale singing a sad song as she thinks about her husband, Antoine, who is in a prison camp. Juliette is given the codename Nightingale as she begins the dangerous work of transporting Allied airmen to Spain. Her position causes her to alienate those she loves in order to protect them and, ultimately, she loses her life to the task.

Juliette Gervaise Papers

Vianne keeps Isabelle's Juliette Gervaise papers in a trunk. The papers are discovered by her son when she is an old woman. The papers symbolize the past that Vianne...