In the following essay, Oleson explores various symbols and their significance in "Bright and Morning Star."

Richard Wright manages to introduce most of his important symbols in the first five hundred words of his story, while catching up the reader in a mother's anxiety over the late return of her son. Rain forms the ever-present back-drop of the story and we are made aware of its monotonous presence in the first sentence. "Rains good n bad," Aunt Sue mumbled, "It kin make seed bus up thu the groun, er it kin bog things down lika watah-soaked coffin." Rain is literally and symbolically the pressure of adversity. Adversity has made her strong, keenly aware of life, resourceful. It has also bogged her down in inescapable poverty and political oppression which deprives her of her sons and of life itself.

The airplane beacon flashing through the wet darkness is...