Trans-Redemptive Symbol

A Trans-Redemptive Symbol is a prop or other symbolic element that represents a character's obstacle early in a work and later changes in some way to represent the character's overcoming that obstacle. The trope was identified and named by Wayne Gladstone of Cracked.com in "4 Famous Movies With Deceptively Complex Symbolism".

Film

 * Children of Men starts with Theo Faron (Clive Owen) carrying a liquor flask representing his apathy. Later, once he joins a resistance movement and has to help deliver a child, he pours out the liquor to wash his hands. And at this point the flask represents his compassion.
 * The Dream Team starts with Christopher Lloyd's mental patient character carrying a clipboard where he logs all his obsessive-compulsive activities. Later, he gives the clipboard to his daughter so that she can show him her drawings. Letting go of the clipbard represents letting go of his OCD.
 * Up starts with Carl protecting the house in which he and his late wife had spent their life. Later, Carl has to cut the house loose to save the not-Boy Scout accompanying him on his journey as a symbol of love and no longer living in the past.
 * Mikey's asthma inhaler in The Goonies seems to play this role. He takes a hit off it every time things get too intense all the way through the film, until they find the ship in the cave.  When Mikey comes face to face with the skeleton of One-Eyed Willy, it seems to be some kind of epiphany or transformative moment for him; he spends a while considering the skeleton, and when he turns away, he leaves his inhaler with it.  He never needs it again for the rest of the movie.