ife of reckless abandon. Christine continues her wild lifestyle until she must fess up to the consequences from too much partying. She realizes she must make peace with her daughter, Rayona. Together they go on a short road trip and stop at a restaurant. Here Christine gives Rayona her favorite ring, a solid silver turtle design. Christines gift is symbolic of her emotional journey, slow but gets there in the end. While preparing to leave, Rayona reaches into her purse and out falls the letter from her imaginary family. She realizes that she no longer needs or believes in that fantasy and quickly crumbles it up and throws it away. On the drive back, Christine dons a pair of smudged amber tinted sunglasses. When I put them on, they turned the world yellow as an old photograph. (P239) Even though the glasses are smudged, the yellow world Christine sees represents her newfound happiness. Yellow represents many things in this novel, without the references to it; the plot and themes would be completely different. The raft represented false security and escape for Rayona, but also relief when she was able to share her secret with Evelyn. For Christine the color yellow represents failure when she could not cross the bridge, but near the end of her life, the yellow symbolized safety and contentment....
