The seahorse that Adam discovers while he packs up his office represents Family Dynamics and Secrets. He obtained the seahorse at the benefit where he met Steph’s then-teenage mother and “kept it as a reminder of his greatest regret, a drunken night almost four decades ago, the only time he’d cheated on Emily” (179). He crushes it, destroying the relic of his sin.

Abby prepares a nursery for Reid, decorating the walls with sea life, including seahorses. In this way, she unintentionally reclaims the seahorse and transforms it from a symbol of Adam’s unspoken adultery to that of open maternal love. The changing meaning of the seahorse shows a shift from a family burdened by secrecy to one that is loving and whole.

As Little Monsters opens, Ken closes on his deal to build an innovative high-end senior living center on the Cape. His small-scale model of the development symbolizes Ambition as a Key Character Trait. He stresses that the concept the model represents will “pave the way for his political aspirations” (13), supplying the wealth needed to run his campaign in 2018. The model also epitomizes Ken’s search for his father’s favor. Ken imagines that Adam will respect and like not just the model but the actual condo Ken will give him.