Apples are symbolic of the Buttle family and their well-being. Their lives revolve around the apple season, as generational keepers of an orchard, and the more distant they become from the apples, the more they seem to lose themselves. When the novel begins, the family has sold several acres to land developers who have torn down the trees to build homes. Mason and the rest of the family struggle with this loss, though Mason knows that it is necessary. Mason feels most at home among the apples in the orchard, though the brutal bullying he faces at the hands of Matt Drinker makes it hard for him to enjoy the trees. At the end of the novel, the Buttles are returning to their former glory after incredible loss when Grandma starts baking apple crisp—using and savoring the apples that have defined her life and her home. The rejuvenation of the apple orchard is also a rejuvenation of the family and their self-identity. 

The Root Cellar is one place that Mason and Calvin create for themselves where they can be themselves in the world. It is a symbol of individuality and of their friendship. The root cellar connects, symbolically, to the tree fort, which Mason built with Benny.