Content Warning: This section contains descriptions of child sexual abuse, domestic violence, suicidal ideation, and self-harm.

Whales are a key symbol in the novel, and their symbolic meaning changes as Dolores herself does. In Dolores’s youth, whales are a symbol of her obesity and the way she feels isolated and lost within a vast, open world. She meets Dottie, who tells Dolores that their obesity makes them worthless and urges Dolores to stop caring about consequences. Dolores refers to herself and Dottie as two beached whales after their sexual encounter, thinking of the whales that had begun beaching themselves at Cape Cod.

To escape everything, Dolores goes to Cape Cod to see the whales. What she finds is a massive humpback, half-beached, flailing, and screaming for help. People around it stare helplessly. Dolores describes the state of the whale:

The whale lay surrendered on its belly, its head pointed out to sea. Most of its body sat stuck in shallow, red-clouded water, but the massive black tail reached up onto the beach. Incoming water lapped and channeled around and over it. The larger waves broke against its face (246).

Disturbed by the people around her and the whale’s inability to save itself, Dolores leaves the scene and returns after the people have gone and the whale has died.