Dreamland

In Chapter 34, during one of Colby’s sets at Bobby T’s, a huge storm hits St. Petersburg, knocking out the power in the neighborhood where Colby is staying. He and Morgan arrive at his rental in the dark, soaked from the heavy rain. Both must change out of their wet clothes, and they light candles to compensate for the lack of electricity.

In one sense, the storm propels the narrative forward: Colby realizes that Morgan anticipated staying over because she brought a change of clothes, and the candles contribute to a romantic mood. In addition, the storm symbolizes the intensity of their feelings for each other, arriving suddenly and powerfully in a way that neither entirely understands nor can control. Like creativity, love follows its own timeline. To experience it requires patience, allowing it to develop at its own pace.

The osprey is a bird of prey that appears once in the novel, in Chapter 68. Colby is preparing to say goodbye to Morgan, who will be returning home to Chicago ahead of her move to Nashville. As Colby embraces her, he watches “as an osprey [takes] flight over the lapping waves” (348). The bird’s graceful movement recalls for Colby an image of Morgan gracefully kayaking through the mangrove forest “in a place that already seemed far, far away” (348). In addition to the osprey representing Morgan’s grace, it also symbolizes Colby’s fear that he cannot hold on to Morgan, and more broadly, that he can never have the things he truly wants. She does not belong in his small town, and he cannot believe that he belongs in her world either. Because of his commitments to his family’s farm and Paige, he fears this leaves no room for a romantic relationship with Morgan.