Boating Symbolism

"'I wonder how it got here,' I said. I'd raised my voice to let it get to the others and had expected an echo. But the sound was surprisingly close, like I was in a carpeted room. Then I heard Tommy say behind me: 'Maybe this is what Hailsham looks like now. Do you think?" -pg 224

A boat is stranded in a marsh near Kingsfield. When Kathy becomes Ruth's carer, Ruth begs Kathy to take her to see it. This is partly because she is interested in the boat, but mostly because she is interested in seeing Tommy again in the Kingsfield center. The three unite for a car ride out to see the boat stranded in the marsh. The trek to the boat is hard for Ruth, but when they reach the boat, they all realize (along with the audience) that the journey to the boat was actually a symbolic of journey in memory back to Hailsham.

The primary characteristic of the boat is that it is stuck. Hailsham has been closed at this point and shares its uselessness trait with the boat. The characters recognize this. Something they don't mention is what else the boat symbolizes. I thought the boat could symbolize the relationships of the characters. Ruth, Tommy, and Kathy are now so close to the fate that they have been dwelling on for so long, that they cannot escape it. They are stuck with each other, stuck with their fate, and stuck with the past they shared.