Pat Frank inserts many symbols into his novel. One symbol is the jewelry. before "the Day", there are many poor people without things like jewelry and other fancy things. after the bombings, they trade things they really need such as food for things that they want, the jewelry. the jewelry is symbolic of one of humankind's greatest weaknesses: greed. the jewelry is harmful not only because of its radioactive nature, but because people are losing sight of the new reality that they live in and that caused them to give up things that they need for the jewelry.
Another symbol is the Carolina Parakeet. The bird used to be common in the south, and before the war, randy would spend time searching for the species in an attempt to recover it. in a similar manner, after the war, randy spends time searching for whatever is left of civilization. in this way, the parakeet symbolizes the loss off civilization as it was previously known, and both were driven to extinction by mankind.
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