The Abyss
Beatryce is occasionally pictured thinking about something she calls “the abyss.” This is a dark hole in her consciousness characterized by the absence of something that she either doesn’t know or can’t remember. The abyss is another way of describing in symbolism that feeling capable of producing anxiety or even dread on account of knowing that you should know something, but not being able to recall what it is you should know.
The Goat
Answelica the goat is a big enough character to represent symbolism on multiple levels, but one of the lesser symbols is interesting in its relation to the abyss. Beatryce is described at one point as reaching out to touch the goat “and it was as if she had cast an anchor for herself in a dark and fast-moving river.” In this instance, the goat becomes representative of the positive power of solidity—those things we can palpably feel sure about even if not always tangibly hold—in comparison to the intangibility of the abyss which provokes anxiety.
Long Hair
Beatryce is adorned with long hair that Brother Edik describes as “too tangled for anything but cutting.” That is one reason for his essentially shaving her as bald as a monk, but not the true reason. The true reason is that long hair—or any hair for that matter—instantly identifies her as a girl and being a girl who can read and write is a symbol of threat to the status quo. Distilled to the essentials, then, long hair becomes a symbol of danger to the power structure.
Literacy
Beatryce is a young girl already living in defiance of the law of the land. Her ability to read and write is a violation of codified legal prohibition. The ability to read, especially, is of utmost significance in the story since the power elite live in a state of terror over a prophecy which forewarns their doom arriving in the form of a young girl who will unseat the king. One way to ensure that no girl ever reads the prophecy and starts getting ideas, of course—seemingly, at least—is to get ahead of the issue by making it illegal for any girl to learn to read. Literacy is power. Symbolically as well as literally. In our world as well.
The Bee
Jack Dory finds himself with a constant companion somewhat like Beatryce and Answelica. This bee buzzes about him and engages in some very unusual behavior, even for a bee. Jack is convinced that the bee is the reincarnation—or something like it—of Granny Bibspeak, an old woman who becomes Jack’s guardian until her death a few years later after he is orphaned. There is no evidence forwarded to suggest this assumption on the park of Jack is true and the bee becomes a symbol of that superstitious kind of wish-fulfillment about the departed that everybody strongly feels to be true at one time or another.
