The Apple Doesn't Fall Far from the Tree

idiom: The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. It means kids are like their parents; a chip off the old block; like father, like son.

This relates to the multiple references to generations within the film, Halloran as a spiritual father figure for Danny, but it is also a reference to the source novel’s story that Jack was himself abused as a child, and how patterns of abuse can be repeated. That history does not make repetition inevitable.

Also metaphorical is how American Culture/Society “raises” (culturally defines) not only the genders but racial dynamics, and then the society get embedded with how much violence, racism, greed there is.

It is visually shown with Danny’s refusal to see The Grady Girls in No.38 from fear, and Jack’s refusal to see his own reflection in No.47 through shame.