Symbols and Signs

Nobokov really sets the stage, doesn't he? I couldn't agree more with Autumn, this story is sad, but yet beautiful. During my experience of reading this story, I couldn't help but notice signs and symbols throughout the article. The signs and symbols are there, whether we choose to acknowledge them or not is an entirely different story. Nobokov does an excellent job of capturing what LIFE really is. This story says it all. Life has a way of profoundly projecting signs and symbols throughout our entire lifetime from the time we are born until we die. We don't always notice them and many times we miss some very important and meaningful opportunities because we aren't aware of them. While looking into the heart of the story, it is not just about life, but death, love and sadness, sickness and health. It's the tiny little things like the bird twitching in the puddle of water symbolizing the loss of youth or death of the son; the swollen veins in the husbands hands showing his age; the sons desire to want to fly and his inability to live in reality; and of course the jelly jars which to the boy could represent many things......... My favorite part of the story, that even brought a tear to my own eyes was this part. "During the long ride to the subway station, she and her husband did not exchange a word, and every time she glanced at his old hands, clasped and twitching upon the handle of his umbrella, and saw their swollen veins and brown-spotted skin, she felt the mounting pressure of tears." So sad, but so sweet. These are signs of the END, and the BEGINNING. The husband had what we call a GUT feeling about his son, but really it was intuition, which is inside all of us. The story is full of many different emotions and although it seems negative, really it isn't. Naturally, as humans, most people who will read this story will feel sad, blue, gloomy, heartsick emotions. All the boy wanted was a chance to fly but in his trapped mind it was impossible. All the parents wanted was a chance to embrace their son and show him their love. In the boy's mind suicide seemed like the way to go and he might be able to fly in his afterlife. To him, flight may have represented freedom from the thoughts he was so possessed with that constantly kept his mind captive. They don't call your mind, your psyche, the seat of your soul for nothing. Does this story move me? Yes it does. It's unequivocally beautifully sad, but I loved every bit of it.