Bobby Western’s primary job as the novel opens is salvage diver. He works for a company that investigates wrecks, and he is on a crew that descends to an underwater plane wreck. The symbolism of diving to the submerged wreck is significant in the novel. One interpretation is that the wreck is the past. Because Bobby feels responsible for his sister Alicia Western’s death, he frequently revisits his actions to determine if he could have behaved differently. Each time he ventures back into the past, he is diving into it, and what he often discovers is a wreck that cannot be salvaged.

Diving also has Freudian undertones in the novel. In one scene, Bobby has taken employment where he is asked to dive into the Mississippi River. While underwater, he feels the tug of the river current overhead. The current of the river could represent consciousness, and in the act of diving, Bobby symbolically has dived into his own subconscious. Bobby also is warned against taking one diving job, with coworkers implying the danger is too great. In another case, he decides against joining Oiler on a diving job in Venezuela due to his own misgivings.