The painting in Louie’s room symbolizes resilience. The image depicts a seemingly idyllic scene:

A boy tugging on a rope tied to a calf who was resisting being led. It looked like a gentle tug-of-war between the boy and the calf, each equally determined. Behind them were golden haystacks and open fields with chickens pecking here and there (75).

Despite the golden beauty around him, the boy is struggling to move the animal. However, the “gentle tug-of-war” suggests that the boy will succeed. The contrast between his struggle and the serene landscape is representative of Louie’s struggle at birth, and conflict in general. The connotation that the boy will be able to move the calf also hints at resilience. This same painting hung in the hospital wing near the intensive care unit where Louie was in an incubator after being born prematurely, a place his “parents had spent many hours after he was born,” and “something about the struggle of the boy and of the calf had spoken to them and calmed them” (76). The fact that they obtained a copy of the painting for their house implies that they see Louie—and by extension, themselves—in the image.