The First Stone

Stones represent several things in the story, including Reef’s changing perspective and moral evolution. The most significant stone is the one he throws into traffic from the overpass as retaliation for the city’s incoming demolition of The Pit. That stone changes Leeza’s life and causes terrible damage to her body.

Reef then reveals that he loved the idea of the coral reef when he learned about it in fourth grade. The reef is a protective barrier of stone. He wanted to be the reef that kept his grandmother safe: “It was his grandmother who had somehow always made the hardness bearable, and it was she who had placed the first stone in his hand” (32). She also gave him other associations with stones. She encouraged his interest in collecting rocks and used them as an analogy that would help him realize that being different can be a good thing.

Nan also gives Reef the sick-stone, which helps him with nausea:

There had been other sick-stones after that. And stones whose purpose was to prop open doors, hold up windows to let the breeze blow through, and level a chrome table whose leg had bent when his grandfather had rammed it against the kitchen wall. And there had been stones that had no purpose except to be stones (33).

In Chapter 27, Leeza has her chance to reflect on stones when she attends church with Jack and her mother. She thinks about the preacher’s caution that people should not throw stones if they have sins.

Finally, the novel concludes with Reef holding a stone. This time, he chooses not to throw it. He takes it with him to his class presentations as a reminder of his story and progress. He has regained the ability to indulge in his love for stones and his fondest memories of his grandmother and to strip away the associations linking him to his crime.