The Mississippi River
Considering that it's right there in the title, it's no stretch to say that the Mississippi River is the most important symbol in the book. Throughout, the Mississippi giveth and the Mississippi ta...
Steamboats
When is a steamboat not a steamboat? When it's a measuring stick for how society's doing. And let's just say that the less steamboating steamboats do in this book, well, the rougher things are in t...
Papa's Portrait
Delphine takes her papa's portrait everywhere. In 1916, Howard even sees it over her deathbed, where Delphine is "propped below a picture on the wall of a man with yellow hair in an old-fashioned c...
Calinda's Tignon
The tignon is a stylish headpiece that wraps around the wearer's head rather than sitting on it like a hat. It figures in one major scene in the book:Cass's wispy hair was tied up in one of Calinda...