Significance of Mrs. Fisher's Walking Stick

The elderly Mrs. Fisher speaks repeatedly of needing the aid of a walking stick to get about, using both her infirmity and the stick as an excuse for inactivity and, at times, for selfishness. It also functions metaphorically, representing how Mrs. Fisher is handicapped in the present by her devotion to her past. The fact that she finds herself increasingly able to navigate without it, meanwhile, metaphorically represents her increasing capacity for living in, and celebrating, the present.