Scarves/Veils
The Narrator uses scarves and veils that conceal her deformities. They also have an additional effect of creating an air of mystery around her that draws people in only to be horrifically and genuinely shocked by her face when she reveals it. These costumes are symbolic of the Narrator’s willingness to adapt many identities to hide the horrible emotional trauma that she has received at the hands of family members and boyfriend.
Prescription Drugs/Artificial Hormones
Drugs, whether narcotics or synthetic hormones, are frequently featured in the novel as both the Narrator and Brandy’s choice of coping mechanism against the bitter realities that they face. The prescription drugs they both abuse numbs their minds and makes them forget, at least for a moment, that they had both gone through some horrible things. The synthetic hormones that Brandy uses on the other hand are used to help him create a completely new persona-body that would, at least in theory, be completely devoid of all the of the old drama that they were embroiled in.
Scars/Scar Tissue/Keloids
The scars/scar tissue/keloids that result from the physical injuries that the Narrator and Brandy sustain are reminders of their past and the pain that they have endured. It is a physical manifestation that the pain of the past can never truly be eradicated from their lives, however hard they try or creatively they try to be rid of it.
False Names/Fake Identities
Similar to the way the characters use narcotics and artificial hormones to distance themselves from the past, false names and identities are also used to hide themselves or sometimes just to spite society at large for what they’ve gone through. In adapting new personas it is both a symbolic act of defiance against their past and a discarding of their old pains.
