Most of the action takes place on Beechwood Island, and pieces of the island acquire symbolic meaning for the characters. Two of the primary ones are the dried petals of beach roses, which Gat gives to Cady, and small purple rocks, which Mirren gifts to Cady as she departs for good. These items are tokens of love, but they also become ways of memorializing those who have gone.

Houses have much symbolic value in the novel and come to mean so much for the aunts, as they fight over who should get which house. Clairmont is clearly the most important of the houses, since it is the seat of the patriarch and the target of the Liars' ire. Clairmont changes meaning over the course of the novel. It first signifies Harris's power over the family and comes to signify his effort to put his own past behind and to behave differently, now that his behavior has caused so much harm. Cuddledown is next in significance. It is where Cady came to love Gat and to bond with Johnny and Mirren. Further, it’s where she heals by imagining they have returned to Cady, and where she starts over with Gat.