In the short stories "Vestiges" and "Inherit" there are parallels that can be drawn. Both authors use symbolism and irony to point out the dissatisfaction of the characters in their stories. The titles are ironic as well.
In the story "Vestiges," the author says, "Kim was often, also, faintly aware of a past much more distant than that of the ferry, of a time on earth when cows were turning into whales." The cow, believing that whales are descended from cows, is symbolic to her dissatisfaction with her surroundings and her desire to be living a different kind of life. The writer also says that the cow "carried the memory of the two hour long journey of her ancestors, Holsteins ferried over to the island." This implies that the cow is remembering events that happened to her ancestors. The ones that lived on the mainland before being ferried over were not living in the confined environment of the island. They had the relative freedom of the mainland. The ancestors before them were turning into whales and had the freedom of the sea and the cow longed for places she had never seen. She has the memories of her distant ancestors and longs for their life. She was on the wrong dock for the evolutionary ferry.
In the story "Inherit," even though the girl climbs the tree on a bet, once she is up there she doesn't want to come down. She just keeps climbing higher and higher until she is out of sight. This shows her dissatisfaction with her life in New York. She prefers a more primitive life, a life that isn't so confining. It's ironic that both the cow and the girl are living in places that are considered safe but want to be living in an environment that seems more dangerous and unpredictable.
In both stories the characters get comfort from the ones that love them. In "Vestiges," the little girl on the farm can see in the cow's eyes how unhappy she is. She can sense that the cow wants to be somewhere else, so she soothes her by singing to her a favorite song, "Puff the magic dragon lived by the sea- .
