No Great Mischief Quotes• “his head cut a V in the water and his anxious eyes on the departing family he regarded as his own” (23).• “like the a goose pointing to the V, and temporarily faltered and lost courage” (25). • “When Canada geese fly north in spring, there is a leader leading the way, a leader at the apex of the V as the formation moves across the land” (260). Excellent symbolism is shown in the novel No Great Mischief. An example of symbolism is the V formations that appear throughout the novel, which to me represent achieving one's goals. The V is formed when everyone works together and the apex of the V points towards the destination or objective. On page 23 a dog who has worked with the family for years tries to swim after the family while they are on a boat trying to leave for refuge. At the beginning everyone shouts threats and exhortations at the dog telling him to go back, except one of the characters; Calum Ruadh starts shouting words of encouragement because he noticed how the dog didn't give up. In the book it talks about how the dog's head forms a V in the water as he swims towards them to reach his goal, his family. The same idea would apply to the Canada geese mentioned on page 260 and how together they fly north in the spring and the top of the V again indicates their destination. The V almost plays the role of an arrow to success. Just like on page 25 when Calum had cried when they reached the shore because he had lost his wife, his house, spoke a different language and had to take care of the people around him. In the quote they mention the way he looks up at the sky and they refer to the geese in a V formation. I believe when he looks up he is indicating where he hopes to go,...... in the center of the card..... . atherine and was thereafter known as Catriona na mara, Catherine of the Sea” (24). The sea in the novel is another part of the symbolism. It represents a god-like form. In chapter 7 the narrator's parents die because the ice on the water broke and they fell as mentioned before. This is a sign of how the sea can bring death and, in other words, play the role of god. At the beginning of the book (24) we are also introduced to Catherine's birth while everyone is on the ship that takes the characters to North America, thus demonstrating that the sea can also give life and existence to us. For the most part, the sea in the novel brought death, such as when the dog was hit by a bullet after crossing the water, but for that circumstance life was created. In most cases there also appear to be ice structures or platforms in the water when a character is about to die.