Miller’s Pond is a symbol for hope in the novel. When times start getting harder for Miranda and her family, Miller’s Pond provides a welcome respite from all the confusion, death and destruction. When Miranda slips away to go swimming in the pond, it is as if she has found a little bit of paradise. She is able to be a teenager again, at least for a while. It is while swimming at the pond that she has her first kiss with Dan. When temperatures drop, the pond becomes the place where Miranda goes skating. In a wonderful scene, she meets Brandon Erlich, a professional figure skater from her hometown. Miranda is a fan of Brandon’s and the chance meeting is all the more dreamlike in that she had been wondering whether or not he survived. She is able to skate with him and talk to him as if they were friends, and for a moment, life seems like it has returned to a more manageable time. Brandon even asks her to return to the pond to skate with him again. The pond also contributes to people’s survival, in that chunks of ice are taken away for drinking water, thereby casting the pond as a physical and metaphorical symbol of hope for Miranda and others.