Describe symbolism in Caleb's Crossing: A Novel by Geraldine Brooks

Throughout the narrative, books are important symbols, for both the characters and the reader, of the education, and its associated status, longed for by many of the characters (most notably Bethia, Caleb, Joel, and Makepeace). One example of their symbolic value - the fact that her father leaves Bethia books in his will, a symbolic suggestion that he has at least some degree of respect for both her desire for such education and her capacity to acquire it.