The gun is a symbol of power throughout the narrative. The gun is first referenced by Louise’s neighbor, who tells Tanner about Louise’s threat to her boyfriend, Declan. Tanner is worried about the gun and spends the time that Louise is at bridge searching the house to no avail, finding only a few locked closets, boxes, and drawers that she can’t open. When she calls Jules about the gun, she promises her that it’s locked in the bedside table and kept unloaded. The gun appears again in the glovebox when Louise and Tanner are heading toward St. Louis. It scares Tanner, who demands that Louise unload the gun and store the ammo separately from the pistol itself. Tanner is afraid of what power could mean in her hands or do to her. Louise also uses the idea of the gun in Tanner’s purse to escape going up the St. Louis Arch, using her soft power of manipulation over Tanner. 

After Tanner’s angry outburst at Louise for calling her “girlie,” Louise takes her to the woods behind their St. Louis motel to learn to shoot the gun. Though Tanner resists and expresses fear at first, after she gets the hang of it, she tells Louise that it was “absolutely amazing” (179).