The Stuffed Olive Costume
As part of an ill-conceived plan that goes completely haywire, Georgia finds herself an object of widespread ridicule at a costume party in which she makes a purposely dramatic late entrance as a stuffed olive. There is nothing deep or mysterious about the symbolism: the costume is Georgia. It’s quirky, it doesn’t quite turn out as planned, and it winds up being utterly endearing. That describes the costume and Georgia. They are interchangeable; one cannot possibly exist in this universe without the other and let’s all thank God for that.
Angus
Angus is the family cat and his symbolism is pretty much summed up in one particularly insightful bit of descriptive imagery: “He’s not a household pet...There is only so much you can do with Angus.” Angus is willful to the core, doesn’t mind, can’t be predicted and clearly cannot be controlled. Kind of sounds a description of life, especially from the perspective of a teenage girl.
Bra
For Georgia, wearing a bra is the difference between childhood and womanhood and, in a sense, society agrees for better or worse. Of course, at its most basic level a bra is really a symbolic extension of the anatomical parts for which it is designed. But the symbolism of what it means for a girl to develop breasts is paired metonymically with the brassiere. Again, one is the same as the other and can’t be torn asunder. To wear a bra means to have developed breasts and to develop breasts means you aren’t a little girl anymore. Georgia’s dad might offer a counterargument, of course.
Hair
Hair is a much complex and complicated symbol than most others in the story. And there’s a lot of it! Georgia accidentally shaves an eyebrow and gets into even bigger problem when she tries to dye her hair. These circumstances both result from attempts to improve her appearance by jettisoning her kidness. On the other hand, at one point she manages to get a peek at her rival for the affections of her dream boy and is shocked to discover that the older Lindsay lacks pubic hair and this state of affairs takes on a symbolic meaning related to maturity as well. Georgia is fairly obsessed with her own hair, especially in trying to find ways to use to cover up what she views as physical flaws on her face. The result is that hair—or the lack of it in certain places—all conspire to become commentary on the processes of growing up culminating in the next-to-last scene in the novel.
New Zealand
Partway through the narrative, Georgia’s dad takes off for New Zealand in search of a job. The book comes to a conclusion with the announcement that the whole family is taking off for the summer to join him there. And by conclusion, understand that this announcement is like one of those scenes in a Greek tragedy where suddenly out of the blue a bolt from the heavens appears with no warning. The book appears as though it is going to on a note of utterly unexpected perfection for Georgia: she gets kissed by dreamboat just in time for a summer romance. That perfect ending is literally—literally, mind you—followed by the words “the end.” Only it’s not the end: there about ten more sentences left to go and in those ten very short sentences Georgia learns that she will be spending her summer in New Zealand. Or, put another way, about as far from her boyfriend-to-be as it possible for any human to get. If Angus represents all the various aspects of life that cannot be foreseen or controlled, then New Zealand is a much more precise symbol: if life can find a way to upset your applecart, then upset your applecart will be.
