View a FREE sample

Baseball Cap

Perhaps the most quintessentially American piece of headwear, the narrator encourages his son to wear one as a means of protection. The son continues to wear one even after leaving his father’s home, appropriating the independent streak traditionally associated with the United States in his own displacement and rejection.

Birthmark

A difference of coloration on the face of the narrator’s son, the presence of this item is a focus of underlying anxieties. It evokes a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, as well as any number of physiognomic fantasies. Its growth and darkening prompt sometimes drastic actions from the narrator.

Blind Equity Group

This activist organization purports to work against racial divisions. In doing so, it papers over the real divides and systemic inequalities present—and its acronym forms an ironic indictment of its position.

Bug

This vehicle is the narrator’s, an inheritance from...

(read more Symbols/Objects)

This section contains 431 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample