The blindfold and hood
The characters in the dystopian world that had been invested by creatures used blindfolds and hoods to prevent contact with them. The creatures made people go crazy when they were seen. Therefore, people saw wearing blindfolds and hoods as preventive measures that ensured their safety from the creatures.
Evil and Death
The creatures had invested the world upside down. They made people go into a frenzy of killing each other and committing suicide. They represented terror and death. The people were terribly afraid of them such that they enclosed themselves in tiny living spaces and wore blindfolds to avoid contact with them.
Indian River was a symbol of Progressiveness to Tom
Athena Hantz was the leader of the people in the Indian River. They were very experimental with the creatures and they claimed that they lived freely with them. Tom was the adventurer in his family. He wanted to go to the Indian River and test his two-way mirror that would make it possible to see the creatures without going mad. He sees the river as an avenue to progress for himself and society.
Allegory of the Authority of Malorie
Tom said that he and his sister Olympia lived ‘under the thumb’ of their mother Malorie. She had strict rules that they had to follow. These included wearing blindfolds and hoods all the time and they were not allowed to converse with strangers. The children viewed these rules as oppressive and they wanted to explore the world outside of Camp Yadin.
