Snow

Recurring images of snow throughout the novel symbolize disorientation. Whenever Kyungha is surrounded by snow, she feels dislocated and lost. The snow creates an ethereal mood that blurs the parameters of reality. This atmospheric detail enacts Kyungha's struggle to navigate the past and the present, her dreams and her memories.

Ama and Ami

Inseon's birds Ama and Ami are symbolic of fragility. Keeping the birds is one of the ways that Inseon survives her loneliness on Jeju. At the same time, the birds remind her of how precious and fragile life is. Kyungha discovers this truth, too, when she sees and tries caring for the birds. Birds are also archetypal representations of freedom. In We Do Not Part, the birds are either locked in their cage or are buried underground. In these ways, the novel shows how fragile and fleeting freedom is, too.

Jeju

The island...