Symbol: Water
At the very end of the narrative, water becomes the symbol of purification. When Raju gets down to his spot in the water to perform his morning prayer for the last time in the novel, all too weak but sincere, suddenly he says that he can feel “it’s raining in the hills, I can feel it coming up under my feet, up my legs.“ This moment apparently marks his transformation and purification. The water is the symbol of purification here as Raju leaves his dishonest past behind. The water washes away the impurities of his soul.
Symbol: Nataraja
The Nataraja statue comes up on various occasions in the novel and it symbolizes dancing as a holy thing, which contradicts the societal assumption that dancers are from a lower cast of the Hindu society. Nataraja or “the lord of dance” is a form of Hindu god; Shiva's dance is mostly destructive. This symbol marks Rosie’s rebellion against social traditions and norms through embracing her true calling of dancing. In the destructive mode, she breaks all the shackles and becomes free. She needs neither Marco nor Raju to live her life.
Allegory: Sheep
Flocks of sheep grazing behind a shepherd outside the old shrine Raju chose to meditate in is the Narayan’s commentary that people also often do the same. Soon the villagers take Raju to be some divine sage and started flooding in and crowding in front of the shrine. They listen to what he has to say and never question him. The classic allegory of sheep and their shepherd, something that is ancient and part of numerous cultures, allows Narayan to suggest that people blindly follow others in the name of religion.
Motif: Crocodile
The crocodile motif is very prominent throughout the novel. There is a subtle suggestion at one point of the narrative that Raju might be the mythical crocodile none had ever seen but all feared (the villagers believe it lives near the bank the old shrine was on, and Raju comes to occupy this shrine). Later, the crocodile motif develops further. There is the dead crocodile auguring the diminishing health of the society. There is then the crocodile's body revealing male and female jewelry in its belly in unequal amounts; it becomes clear that this crocodile could be the society that eats alive females more often than males, stripping them off their personalities and uniqueness. This is what happens to Rosie until she manages to free herself.
Symbol: Raju's Old Home
Rosie's discomfort with selling the old house and Raju's realization later that she seemed almost happier there even when she was being berated by his mother and uncle reveals the old house as a potent symbol of tradition, comfort, safety, and security. Outside that old house is where Raju begins to embrace even more devious patterns of behavior and lets his greed cloud his understanding of right and wrong. In the old home, his mother still had some sway, and the memory of his father did as well. Now, bereft of that connection to family and tradition, Raju is adrift.
