A counterpoint to the fire and tension that exist in the book, water is framed by both the characters and the narration in terms of healing and goodness. Estrella’s grandmother sees water and fire as balancing each other out and gives the pearl necklace to Estrella after the public burning of books, saying, “On a day when there’s fire, there should also be water” (13).

Water’s fluidity also associates it with change—a positive in a novel that explores the nuances of Finding Identity Within Tradition. Estrella’s family tries to prepare her for the need to adapt by using metaphors involving water and change. When she learns her grandfather is a surgeon, he tells her, “Everything changes. One minute we are part of the river, and the next we are joined with the sea” (48). The goodness and inevitability of change allow the protagonist to heal some of her trauma; at the end of the novel, she is able to bathe in the rainwater of the mikvah and leave the destruction and ash behind.

Although many colors feature prominently in the novel, the color blue plays an especially important role to the