The Yellow Flyer Symbol Analysis

At the end of the novel, when her family’s food supply is almost gone, Miranda walks toward town, intending to spare her family from having to witness her death. When she can walk no further she sits down to record her last thoughts. While doing so she spies a flash of yellow in the street. After living under the ominous ash cloud sky for many months, the color is startling. “My world has been nothing but shades of gray for so long that the yellow almost hurt my eyes.” Despite her fatigue and weakness, the sight of the flyer buoys Miranda’s spirits and she uses her remaining strength to chase it down. “But it was yellow. I had to have it.” The paper directs her to City Hall where food distribution has commenced, thereby saving herself and her family from starvation. The flyer, then, and specifically its yellow color, symbolizes hope and the possibility of a brighter future ahead.