The opening music to 'Carol' is a romantic, enchanting composition created by Carter Burwell. It's one of the only musical pieces within the film that actually tells you how to feel, it sounds slightly dreamy and makes you feel as though your embarking on some great unsure adventure. Music becomes a character in 'Carol' flowing perfectly through scenes it finds a way to  speak when the characters can not. The most beautiful composition in the film can be heard just as Carol and Therese are packing for the road trip. It's a hopeful and beautiful scene because it's marks beginning of their journey together. Another noteworthy composition positions itself just after we've come full circle. Therese is in the car with old friends thinking about the first day she met Carol as "Reflections" composed by Carter Burwell begins to play, its beautiful because its 
similar to "Packing" but feels somewhat nostalgic and sad. Just like the characters in this film have associative colors, they also share associative soundtracks that tie the film together perfectly. "One Mint Julep" by the Clovers begins to play as Carol and Therese enter the Drake hotel, it's a cheery song where a man talks about meeting women and taking her home. He says a " one mint julep was the cause of it all" and talks about kissing her and not meaning to take it further, he basically talks about his first romantic encounter with this women. This is significant because this song and this scene leads us right into the next destination, Waterloo, where Carol and Therese have their first kiss and have sex for the first time.

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Though used often, colors and music are not the only things that visually convey the meaning of dialogue and the symbolism within scenes. In "Carol" cigarettes are used to symbolize the undertones within each character's state of mind. Therese smokes cigarettes when she feels  self-conscious or uncomfortable while Carol smokes cigarettes when she's most confident, tense, or unhappy. Carol didn't smoke for the entire road trip because she was at ease and happy. Therese is only seen smoking the first time she and Carol have lunch, during the drive back to the Drake Hotel, and later in the film when she looks through the photographs of Carol. Speaking in code is another way characters communicate in this film. Code language is used most often when when speaking about morality. This is most evident  in the scene where Carol meets with her lawyer before leaving town with Therese. He mentions that Harge and his lawyer are petitioning the judge to consider a morality clause and when Carol asks "A morality - what the hell does that mean" he says "Okay I wont Mince" or hold back  "words with you. Abby Gerhard." .Instead of saying what he truly means he says 'Abby Gerhard' implying that she knows the significance of that name, speaking in code because it wasn't socially acceptable to talk openly about romantic relationships between two people of the same sex in that time.

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The Frankenberg's toy store scene and the scene that takes place in the bar at the Ritz share a lot of  verbal similarities. When Carol and Therese meet with each other at the Ritz, they are seeing each other for the first time since the road trip ended. The language and tone used  (especially by Carol) nearly matches their first conversation.  In the toy store scene after ordering Rindy's train set Carol looks at Therese and says "well...That's that...sold". In the bar at the Ritz tower hotel Carol asks if Therese will come live with her, when Therese says no Carol replies "well...That's that...I love you" and receives no response from Therese. This exchange of words is meant to reflect upon the growth of these characters, especially Carol. The fact that in the toy store scene Carol mentioned the fact that she was nervous also gives the audience insight as  to how Carol is feeling as she talks to Therese for the first time since the road trip ended. The Oak Room scene is another scene that closely resembles the moment in the toy store,  when Carol and Therese first make eye contact. In this scene Therese enters the Oak Room searching for Carol, we cut to a point of view shot.The point of view shot in the toy store was steady, now the camera is much less stable as Therese searchers the room. We cut out of pov just as she sees Carol,  for a moment Therese  hesitates, we switch back to point of view and the walk towards Carol is a shaky one. When their eyes meet Therese stops as Carol looks into the camera, which is now Therese. This scene makes you want to know what happens next and it's a great conclusion for this film. Director Todd Haynes said he wanted this to be like the last scene of the Graduate where the two characters get on the bus and they have this sort of "what now?" moment. Even though it takes place in the 1950's, "Carol" is a surprisingly relate-able, beautifully made, thought provoking film that will stick with you forever.