White

White represents life and purity. The narrator frequently muses upon white things, such as her older sister's face as a baby, glaciers, white cabbage, snow, and the white birch forest.

Raw Rice Cake

An uncooked rice cake represents pristine beauty and freshness. A raw rice cake is a sheer white. The narrator's mom often says that her baby daughter who died was as white as a rice cake. When the narrator helps prepare rice cakes, she realizes that her mom must have meant a rice cake before it is cooked.

Warsaw

The narrator believes that the city of Warsaw represents her sister in respect to having been destroyed. Warsaw had been destroyed by Hitler, and her sister also had been destroyed by death.

Yulan Saplings

The yulan saplings represent hope and rebirth. They were planted in memory of the narrator's college classmates who died young.

Glittering things