The Winchester
The Winchester gun is a gift given to Jack by Roy. The gun, which Jack comes to love and take obsessive care for, "completes" him and makes him feel stronger and more in control over recklessly out-of-control life. It also acts a representation of Jack’s willingness to absorb the often-problematic characteristics of the men around him. Just as he learns to use the Winchester from Roy, he also learns to desire power over others, describing his “ecstasy of power over” the people he points the gun at.
Dying Salmon
The dying salmon that Dwight points out to Rosemary and Jack are symbolic of the move that Jack and Rosemary will soon make from Seattle to Chinook and darkly foreshadow their miserable fate. Like the salmon, who left their home for something better (to spawn) and end up being killed by their new environment, parts of Jack and Rosemary will die once they move and are subjected to Dwight's violence and authoritarian rule.
The Boy Scout Uniform
When Jack joins the Boy Scouts, Dwight joins him and proceeds to criticize Jack’s every move within the club. He then gives Jack an old, outdated uniform and buys himself a new, well-adorned version. This represents Dwight's desire to insert himself into every realm of Jack’s life and chastise it, under the guise of “teaching him” or “making him a man.”
The Beaver
Like the salmon, the beaver that Dwight kills while driving Jack to Chinook is symbolic of the future that awaits Jack, a strange mix of petty violence and neglect. Dwight deliberately runs the beaver over and righteously claims that the act had an important purpose (selling the pelt), behavior that is reminiscent of Dwight's defense that his violence will “make a man” out of Jack. Despite this pronouncement, however, Dwight promptly forgets about the carcass and leaves it in the attic to decompose. When Jack finds it two years later, it has sprouted mold that eerily resembles the beaver. This is representative of the ways in which Jack is neglected emotionally in Chinook and grows into the worst version of himself under Dwight's rule.
The White Paint
Before Jack and his mother move to Chinook, Dwight paints the entire house house white to impress them, the ceiling, the furniture, the piano keys and all. This is symbolic of Dwight’s strange and eerie attempts to cover up his horrible, dysfunctional reality.
