The North
The first element described in “Big Boy Leaves Home” is the train the main characters see and hear while they are resting on the grass. The children look at the train and imagine it traveling North. Through this assumption, the children think about the freedom the North offers, many black people knowing the North was a place where racism was not as harsh as in the south. Because of this, the North becomes used here as a metaphor for freedom and for the possibility of living a normal and happy life.
The white boat
The characters in “Down by the Riverside” find themselves in a desperate situation when the area where they are living is flooding. The two main characters, Mann and his wife Lulu, are also expecting a baby and Lulu found herself in labor for a few days without being able to deliver the baby. Because Mann was desperate, he agreed to row a stolen boat so he could take his pregnant wife to a hospital where she could get the medical help she needed. The white boat is used here as a metaphor, standing for the basic human rights the black people were denied for a long time in America. The boat represents the difference between life and death in Lulu’s case thus making it an essential element.
The gramophone
In “Long Black Song”, the main character, a woman named Sarah is raped by a white unnamed man who got into her house by claiming to want to sell her a gramophone. After the man raped Sarah, he left the gramophone in her house and told her he will be returning the next day to talk with her husband about selling the gramophone to them. The gramophone is used in this novella as a metaphor, standing for the way in which the white people abused the blacks for centuries. The gramophone also represents the way in which many white people saw their abuse as something which helped the black people evolve and as such something they were not responsible for.
Common suffering
In “Fire and Cloud”, the pastor Taylor tries to get enough food for his congregation to ensure their survival. To do this, he talks both with the Communists and with the police force which, once they find out Tyler was also looking talking with the Communists to get help, get extremely angry and beat the pastor. The suffering endured by Taylor is compared with the way in which Jesus Christ suffered before his death. This comparison has the purpose of showing that the causes were similar and that the two men were fighting for a noble cause.
Inside the woods
Most of the characters who die in the story do so in a forest or near one. The black characters who find their ending there are either lured in by someone from the outside or try to find refuge there. Because of these events, the forest is used as a metaphor for suffering and death.
