Boxes

Boxes are symbolic of memory. Before Nikolai committed suicide, the family was planning to move into a new house. His possessions were boxed and sealed. Each time the mother opened a box, “it let out a memory that no space could contain” (46). And each box, like a Pandora’s box, release memories ready to entangle the mother into more grief and sadness. The boxes become a method of boxing the mother into a time of memory, of what once existed.

Silence

Silence is a manipulative tool in conversations. In the precarious world of aftertime, the mother is careful not to tread on certain subjects with Nikolai. If she does, she is met with silence. For example, when she mentions they have so much to talk about instead of quibbling over language, Nikolai retorts, “do we really?” (25). As a mother of a lost son who has just...