Symbolism In John Corey Whaley's Where Things Come Back

In the book “Where Things Come Back,” John Corey Whaley introduces his readers to a world in which two stories collide to create a climax that establishes a feeling of regret and sorrow when read. As Cullen Witter identifies the body of his cousin Oslo in the morgue he doesn’t think about missing Oslo or never saying bye but instead, he thought of the times where he and the rest of his family had loaned Oslo money.He also mentions how he deals with the struggles of his life such as pretending to be a pessimist or pretending the world has been taken over by zombies. As Cullen daydreams about what his family is doing Russell Quitman and his best friend Niel come in the store and Cullen realizes he likes that Russell doesn’t feel bad for him since …show more content…
Point of View/Perspective (Whaley page 16) “When Benton Sage found out that he would be...” This part of the story is not told through Benton’s point of view because he dies in the end so instead, a narrator is telling his part of the story. Symbolism (Whaley page 30) “There's this woodpecker that's been extinct for, like, sixty years. Only, this guy from Oregon or something was down here and he thinks he saw one.” Once the sighting of the bird was revealed as a hokse the bird began to represent failed hope and in a way a symbol for Cabot and he rose so high but then fell so hard. Tone (Whaley page 35) ”People dreamed. People left. And they all came back. ...I knew we were all just in the prelude to disappointment after disappointment.” Since most of the story is told through Cullen’s perspective the tone is bleak and tainted by Cullen’s pretend pessimism. Symbolism (Whaley page 166) “This had not been the first time Cabot had blamed God for the loss of his child. In fact, he had begun to write down lists of all the world's evils, as if he were building up an army of words to fight some heavenly battle.” Cabot’s life revolves around The Book of Enoch, so much so that it becomes his guiding light and it gives him justification for doing bad things such as …show more content…
In the end, the book is about feeling alone in the world and feeling as if no matter what you do you will be disappointed and your hopes will sometimes be broken. The book also talks about the uncertainty of what will your life lead to and how it will end. Where Things Come Back has many universal themes such as family, loneliness, love, religion, sadness, and coming of age. This book is so relatively because it has these universal themes that make up real life. It matters because it talks about what we’re all afraid of losing someone we love and not knowing what to do with ourselves afterward, in the end Where Things Come Back matters because it talks about life through different perspectives giving us a new perspective on