The diary is a recurring motif that represents Deborah’s intellectual independence and her private pursuit of self-improvement at a time when educational opportunities for girls are limited. Although some people believe that “too much reading g[ives] girls brain fever” (10), Deborah continues to pursue reading and writing independently when she’s unable to attend school. She practices writing with a pen she makes from goose feathers and dips it into homemade ink, demonstrating her resourcefulness and desire to learn. On the diary pages, “she wr[ites] down her good and her bad thoughts and deeds” (13). The practice of cataloging her thoughts and actions on opposing pages, with good thoughts and deeds on the right and those she considers bad on the left, reveals her commitment to moral self-examination. The diary thus becomes a private record through which Deborah reflects on her thoughts and behavior while developing the literacy she has largely pursued on her own.

The motif recurs decades later when Deborah travels to give public lectures about her military experiences. She again keeps a diary, this time recording an audience’s reaction and details from the lecture tour. The diary therefore follows Deborah from her largely self-directed education as a girl to a period when she travels independently and publicly recounts her own history, connecting writing with her continuing practice of reflection and recording her experiences.

The musket ball that Deborah digs out of her own leg with a pocketknife is a symbol of The Burden of Concealment. This single object makes the physical consequences of protecting her assumed identity concrete. Her decision to remove the bullet herself, enduring severe pain because allowing the doctor to examine the wound would risk exposing her secret, shows how concealment limits her ability to receive medical care without risking discovery. Although Deborah succeeds in removing the bullet and preserving her secret, the physical consequences remain: “Her leg never healed properly” (45). When she resumes marching two weeks later, her leg throbs with every step, showing that the effects of the injury continue after the immediate threat of discovery has passed. The musket ball therefore represents a consequence of concealment that Deborah can remove from her body but cannot entirely escape: The bullet is gone, while the injury it causes remains.