The color red
The color red presents itself throughout Champion and comes to be a symbol of impending violence and doom. When June is at Commander Jameson and Thomas’s trial, she sits on a red chair, alluding to the violence that will happen when they break out of prison. Later, when the plague begins to consume the Republic, the victims’ doors are marked with red X’s, showing the devastation caused by the plague.
Protest Signs
When Day and Eden walk through the slums of the Republic during the plague, they see a number of protest signs reading “Save Us,” as the poor of the Republic beg for someone to help them. June travels through an area of the Republic crowded with refugees from the Colonies, and sees people from the Republic holding protest signs demanding that refugees stay quarantined and on the outskirts of the country. The signs reflect the unrest in the Republic as the Colonies threaten invasion, and how everyone in the country is unsatisfied with something. For the poor of the Republic, the signs also become a symbol of the only way that they are able to advocate for themselves.
Cigarettes
Day smokes regularly throughout Champion, especially in stressful situations: when political upheaval is particularly bad, when receiving bad medical news, etc. It becomes an image of the stress that he is under, because he smokes to release some of the pressure of being involved in a war and knowing that he is dying. It also represents how he comes to terms with his terminal illness, because he smokes, something that’s extremely harmful, without caring about its effects on his body, because he knows he doesn’t have much time left.
JumboTrons
The JumboTrons across the Republic broadcast news and important information, and because they are so large, they’re difficult to escape. Their presence represents how pervasive technology and information is in the Republic, because everywhere Day and June go, there are constant reminders of what is happening in their country.
