Sorting Table

The sorting table symbolizes who gets a seat at the table when important decisions are made. Esme and the other women never actually get to sit at the table, rather it is Mr. Murray, Mr. Sweatman, Da, and other gentlemen who sit there. Esme is given a desk at the back of the Scriptorium. Her women's words are laid out on the table by Mr. Dankworth when he takes them from her, and there he rejects them. He gets to determine which words matter, even women's words.

Smells

Smells symbolize the sensory world apart from the world of ideas. Smells indicate what is going on in the body. Two examples of this are with Mabel's foul smell and the smell of Esme's amniotic fluid. Esme also notes the smell of her baby after she is born.

Hands

In a world dictated by the written word...