Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Natasha's giant pink headphones are a sneaky symbol on multiple levels. First, there's how she got them. They were a gift from her father, who put them on layaway and could still barely afford them. In Samuel's mind, if he could keep their kids happy, Patricia would realize that their giant, ocean-crossing, life-uprooting move to America was worth it. Making a grand gesture he probably shouldn't have made to justify a decision that's not working out: That could pretty much be the admittedly-bulky subtitle for The Samuel Kingsley Story.
Even though Natasha is furious with her father's starry-eyed dreams, she still considers the headphones—again, a symbol of those dreams—her favorite possession. Interesting.
The headphones also represent Natasha's tendency to put a barrier between herself and the outside world when things feel out of control. She puts them on to stop herself from crying before she leaves Lester Barnes' office, and again right after she meets a cute boy in the record store but can't allow herself to flirt with somebody today of all days. In perhaps the most literal manifestation of a symbol ever, Natasha is so lost in her own little musical world that she's oblivious to an out-of-control drunk driver who's about to hit her. Thankfully, Daniel's there to jerk her back into reality.
Speaking of Daniel, the pink headphones are one of the first things he notices about Natasha. It might seem out of character for a girl with such a bleak outlook on life to rock bright pink headphones, but Natasha says it's her favorite color. In the Baes' hair care store, Natasha also admits that there's a "very, small, secret, impractical part of me that's always wanted pink hair" (136). Naturally, secret and impractical desires are Daniel's forte, and he tells her he thinks she'd look beautiful with a big pink Afro. When they reconnect on the plane years later, the ends of Natasha's afro are dyed pink.
Bet we couldn't squeeze that much symbolism out of a pair of AirPods.