The Golden Egg

The golden egg represents the corrupting allure of whaling wealth and the way a single family heirloom can carry the weight of generations of violence. First displayed in the Ashley paintings as a trophy lifted over a suffering walrus, the egg later appears inside Benjamin Leander’s body and must be cut out of him, showing how deeply the pursuit of profit has been internalized. When Edmund Thule delivers the egg to the Ashleys, it becomes a symbol of their power to turn human lives into objects, and Lovejoy’s decision to hang it around the younger boy’s neck shifts that burden to a child who has seen the cost of its history. The egg ultimately embodies a contested legacy, one that different characters try to claim, reject, or redefine.

Old Sorrel

Old Sorrel symbolizes a nonhuman moral force that both punishes and...