Silent Hill (Remake)/Symbolism

Symbolism is a important factor to Silent Hill (Remake), with the majority of the game's imagery being representative of the characters' mental states and memories.

Fear

 * The Groaners are based upon Alessa and Harry's shared fear of dogs (cynophobia), having both been left unable to sleep as infants due to the endless barking of dogs outside their homes.

Alessa's Life
Due to Alessa Gillespie being one of the main focuses of the game, the various elements of her life are used as part of the symbolic elements, namely her interests, fears and experiences.


 * The Grey Children are the distorted, disturbed perception of Alessa Gillespie's bullying classmates as seen through her eyes, emphasised by the scene where Grey Children are seen scribbling "GO HOME" and "DROP DEAD" on the school boards. This is supported by the Grey Children's childish laughter whenever they attack Harry, Heather or Cybil. The knives they carry symbolize how Alessa's classmates were hostile and would physically attack her, and their appearances in large numbers symbolizes how they would often gang up on her.
 * The Groaners are, as mentioned before, based upon Alessa's cynophobia (fear of dogs). Their grotesque appearance also mirror Alessa's possible opinion on her looks, something that deteriorated while suffering from incredulous burns and being pregnant with the "God".

Sexuality and Relationships
Sexuality and relationships, a recurring theme in Silent Hill games, is also explored in the game, mainly focusing upon Harry's past history of sexual abuse by Dahlia and his resulting mistrust of women and fear of sexual intimacy, Cheryl's Electra complex and naivety over relationships, and Heather's pregnancy and concerns over her sexuality and humanity.


 * The Two-Back has a appearance of two people engaging in a sexual act, with the hips of the mutilated humanoid creature on top being against where the buttocks of the monstrous lower creature should be and when idle the top figure will thrust forward against the bottom figure while flicking its tongue. This image, along with the monster's grotesque and mutilated appearance, references Harry's own disgust with the premise of sexuality.

Elements
A theme among the alternate realities of the game is classical elements and elemental abilities, based around ten elements - Fire, Wood, Light, Water, Earth, Blood, Steel, Ice, Rust and Memory. All these elements are used together in the final area of the game, Nowhere.