The first question that comes to the reader’s mind in this chapter involves its title: Boy with a Skull. Its title is inspired by the painting of a boy with a skull that Theo and his mother view in the museum. Theo is likened to the boy with the skull by his mother, where he — after the explosion — would walk home with a skull-cracking headache. The skull also symbolizes death and a bad omen. The experience of the narrator, after losing their mother, soon jolts him into a world where memories of death and uncertainties are frequent. Thus, Tartt titles the chapter Boy with a Skull to hint at the pointless destruction that awaits Theo in the subsequent chapters. The title also alludes the narrator to troubles that he would encounter in Amsterdam, including isolation, crime, and chaos. His parents die; the old man dies; his friends try to blackmail him; and he eventually finds himself running from one trouble to another.

Chapter One also presents a symbolic relationship between Theo and his mother: where she likens Theo to the boy with a skull, while Theo likens his mother to The Goldfinch. The fact that the two paintings were in close proximity to one another symbolizes the close relationship they had. It is, however, ironic that Theo was being likened to a lifeless skull when he is alive. On the other hand, Theo likens his mother to a painting that is still alive and in existence, literary speaking. For the mother-and-son duo, the paintings represent their last safe and peaceful moments of their lives. Upon viewing these paintings, they parted ways never to see one another again.

In addition to The Goldfinch, the ring that Mr. Welty gives to Theo becomes an important possession. He would keep it until he comes across the shop named Hobart Blackwell, where — at that point — he would reconnect with Pippa, the young girl he admired at the museum.