Lemonade

The lemonade symbolizes greed. The Dayal women's secret lemonade recipe is made from the stolen gold of ambitious individuals. Drinking the substance infuses the drinker with a sense of power and determination. The author uses the lemonade to illustrate the ways in which the individual's greed might overpower their ability to engage with reality, and to pursue healthy relationships.

Gold

Throughout the novel, gold symbolizes power. When Anjali is a little girl, her brother tells her about why the metal is so special. Anjali later passes this knowledge on to Neil. Neil becomes obsessed with the material, and the substance it can create, after his lengthy ingestion of the lemonade. He craves the feeling the gold affords him, and gets distracted whenever he sees gold objects. For Neil, gold is a representation of the person he wants to be, but feels incapable of becoming.

Shruti

Shruti's...