The Red Diary and the Blue Notebook

The red diary and the blue notebook represent the duality of Irene’s life. After discovering that her husband has been reading her red diary, Irene rents a safe-deposit box in which she keeps her blue notebook, where she records a true account of her life and marriage. In this way, the twin diaries gesture at the secrecy and deception that Irene feels she must maintain in her life. Gil’s abusive and violent behavior creates a rift in his relationship with Irene, one that forces Irene to keep certain elements of her inner life separate and hidden. The red diary and the blue notebook help to concretize this sense of duality.

Shadows

Over the course of the novel, shadows emerge as clear symbols of the family’s respective internal lives. Erdrich often focuses on shadows in the context of...