Describe symbolism in Studies in the Park by Anita Desai

Suno's "vision" of the young woman in the park allows him to truly experience life for the first time. However, before he reaches this point of personal transformation, Suno sees all around him images of death. The death he sees symbolizes the death-in-life he has been leading, studying night and day for an exam his parents are pressuring him to take. Suno first associates his life of studying for the exam with a living death when he speaks with another student whom he meets in the park. Suno notices that the other student's "face was like a grey bone." From this image of bone Suno makes a leap to images of death. "I felt as if we were all dying in the park, that when we entered the examination we would be declared officially dead."