Symbolism in ("In the Tall Grass") Children

Children not only symbolize the caring nature of humanity, but also the cyclicality inherent in life. Hearing children in the grass lures tourists in from the safety of the road. The idea of children in danger prompts bravery and duty from the listener to take action for a helpless person. Becky delivering her own child elicits the cyclicality of life in which Becky, just barely a child herself, is the mother of a newborn. The child maintains Becky’s motivation to live. In the reality of the grass, though, cyclicality lures people to their deaths. They enter the grass to eventually die or kill. Cyclicality comes from the continuation of the stone’s mission through cannibalism rather than life.