Symbols

While it may seem silly, the armadillo represents a great part of the story. It is referred back to often, especially when Johnny is reminiscing back to his memories of Owen. The armadillo was first given to Johnny as a gift, by his mother’s soon-to-be husband, Dan Needham. Since the moment it caused Johnny to scream out in fright, he fell in love with it, as did Owen. The armadillo was something they both shared a love for as children- something that always slept with them, and the new subject of most of their games. When Owen killed Tabby, he gave Johnny his baseball cards-his prized possession. To show Owen that he still cares, Johnny not only returns the baseball cards, but gives him the armadillo, something that will show Owen that Johnny forgives him. Dan helps Johnny with the process, though, since Johnny has such a hard time giving up his armadillo.
“ ‘The main thing is, Johnny,” Dan Needham said, “you have to show Owen that you love him enough to trust anything with him- to not care if you do or don’t get it back. It’s got to be something he knows you want back. That’s what makes it special.’” Pg. 83
The armadillo represented not only a friendship, but how that friendship evolved and grew.

Another important symbol of the story is Tabby’s dummy. One of Tabby’s greatest talents is sewing, and creating clothes. One thing that showed this was the dummy replica of Tabby’s body. She used this so she was able to create the perfect fitting clothes, and even Owen and Johnny found use for it- they played games where they would take turns dressing it up and hopefully achieving an interest in their creation from Tabby.
“And Mother made beautiful clothes: simple, as I’ve described-most of them were white or black, but they were made of the best material and they fitted her perfectly.” Pg. 95
In this story, the dummy represents Tabby, and represents her even after her death.
“There was not a night when my mother lay in her bed unable to see the comforting figure of the dressmakers dummy; it was not only her confederate against the darkness, it was her double.” Pg. 95
Tabby was described as someone who always needed someone; not in a bad way though, she was just a “people person”. She hated the darkness, and hated being alone. The dummy was a figure that stood by her bed each night, and as Johnny puts it, “a kind of accomplice to my mother in her war against the night.” Pg. 95
After Tabby’s death, Owen puts it upon himself to take care of the dummy. He removes it out of both Dan Needham and Johnny’s sight, so they don’t torture themselves with grief.

A third symbol would be baseball, representing death. Fate caused Owen to have a chance to bat the last inning of the game, and caused him to hit the baseball with such a force to kill Tabby when it hit her directly in the temple. After Owen kills Tabby, both he and Johnny quit the Little League team. It becomes something that is never spoken of again, something evil.