Under the Whispering Door

The large silver hook and cable that connect Wallace Price to his Ferryman are symbols for both a connection to humanity and Wallace’s connection to Hugo Freeman. After death, all humans obtain a hook that only they and their Ferryperson can see. Mei calls it “a connection” that “keeps [them] grounded” (57), and she means this literally and figuratively. Without the hook, ghosts literally begin to float upward, getting lost in the sky or, in the tea shop, going through the whispering door, which is located in the ceiling. When Wallace sacrifices his hook to Cameron (who had broken his when he left the tea shop), he is only brought back down to Earth by the love of his friends and Apollo’s dog leash. The hook, serving as a connection to humanity, is the missing piece Cameron needs to come back to himself, and Wallace’s sacrifice gives Cameron the chance to finally, properly, cross over to the afterlife. Hugo is able to form as many hooks as he wants, as is demonstrated in the Epilogue when he pulls another out of his chest to give to a Husk. This suggests that as an excessively empathetic human and Ferryman, Hugo is himself symbolically connected with humanity and keeping others grounded.