Mantle Clock (Symbol)
The mantle clock that Fevvers and Lizzie took from Ma Nelson's brothel is a symbol of suspended time. Both hands have stalled at 12, signifying time suspended at either noon or midnight. These are important times at Ma Nelson's establishment. When speaking about Nelson's clientele, Fevvers says, "Ma Nelson had addicted them to those shadowless hours of noon and midnight, the clarity of bought pleasure, the simplicity of contract as it was celebrated in her aromatic parlour" (38). The stopped clock also contributes to the "hallucinogenic" atmosphere of the novel; as a reader and outsider, and as a consumer of Fevvers' tales, the reader is closest to Jack Walser's perspective. We're disoriented by the barrage of details, characters, and locales, each more outlandish than the last. The fact that the clock sticks on 12, and that the chimes of Big Ben can be heard every hour on the hour, contribute to the reader's sense of disorientation and suspicion that somehow space and time are not operating linearly.
Baking Soda (Symbol)
In Chapter 1, Carter delineates the many commercial uses of Sophie Fevvers' image—"the shops were crammed with 'Fevvers' garters, stockings, fans, cigars, shaving soap... She even lent it to a brand of baking powder; if you added a spoonful of the stuff, up in the air went your sponge cake, just as she did" (8). The baking soda is a domestic item, at odds with Fevvers' own image as an independent woman and rolling stone. The catalog of products demonstrates the steamrolling force of capitalism and its power to hijack images and disassociate them from their original messaging. The connection made between Fevvers as a high-flying aerialist and baking soda's ability to make sponge cake rise is comically weak, but it is enough to sell the baking soda.
Buffo as a Christ Figure (Allegory)
Buffo's role as leader of the clowns already drew comparisons to Christ; his position at the table when dining with his fellow clowns, to whom Carter refers multiple times as his "disciples," is the same as his position at the table during the Christmas Dinner routine performed as an opening act for the circus: he sits in the middle of the table, "where Leonardo seats the Christ, reserving to himself the sacramental task of breaking the black bread and dividing it between his disciples" (116). Buffo as an allegory for Christ is further supported by his own explication of the clown's condition as being Christ-like (117), and by the resurrection routine he performs with the troupe.
Furthermore, after Buffo goes insane and tries to kill Walser, he's carted off to a mental hospital, but his disciples, the other clowns, maintain hope that he'll someday return to them. When Lizzie has to convince them to put on a show for the brotherhood of free men, she immediately invokes Buffo's name; "think of it ... as a requiem for Buffo," she tells them, and Carter describes their response to hearing his name as "like the notes of a solemn organ in a great cathedral" (242). Carter's language and explication in reference to Buffo constantly reinforce the notion that he is an allegory for Christ.
The Fabergé Eggs (Symbol)
The Fabergé eggs in the Grand Duke's castle symbolize possible futures for Fevvers, and, as they're presented to her in the midst of a sexually violent struggle, they symbolize her often-complicated and obstructed agency, and, by extenstion, the obstructed agency of women in general. The egg containing the miniature gilded cage represents a future in which she is eternally held hostage by the Duke, and the egg containing the miniature Trans-Siberian Express represents her escape, which the Duke attempts to deny her. The way she seizes this escape for herself is by bringing the Duke to orgasm, thus buying her a few seconds to flee. The fact that she has to barter for her agency with sex acts demonstrates the sexed and gendered nature of the obstruction of her agency.
The Ice Sculpture (Symbol)
Fevvers also encounters a massive ice sculpture of her likeness at the Grand Duke's estate. The sculpture looms over the dining table while they eat, melting. The Duke says, "May you melt in the warmth of my house just as she melts" (186). The grandiosity of the sculpture entices Fevvers. As something both extremely expensive and fleeting, the sculpture represents a level of wealth that can afford to completely disregard any concerns about waste. The sculpture is, after all, just ice. It will melt to nothing in a matter of hours. She is, at the same time, disturbed that it is her likeness that melts, suggesting she, too, is disposable to the likes of the Duke. The statue symbolizes her cognitive dissonance in regards to her desire for wealth, and how this very desire sometimes compromises her commitment to independence.
