Fruitcake
The most vivid and significant symbol of the story is a fruitcake, which symbolizes goodness and sincerity of one’s heart, and it is very meaningful that the implication of this symbol is achieved through the image of Christmas. Every year, before Christmas, the narrator and his distant relative bake fruitcakes for people they scarcely know. Surely, this is not the boy’s idea, this is totally on the old woman, but he is her greatest helper and they both enjoy baking these cakes, and even more – they both like to make pleasant things for other people. The meaning of the fruitcake symbol is to do good without a definite purpose except the very good.
A dime
A dime coin is another important symbol of the story, which implies the friendship between the boy and the woman. When he was a child, she used to give him ten cents so he could go to the picture show. Later, when they parted and he lived with her under the same roof no more, she continued to send him a dime wadded in toilet paper in every letter with the words “See a picture show and write me the story.” This coin symbolizes the tie between the two, and the woman’s love for the boy she so patiently tried to express. It might seem that their friendship is measured by a dime, but at deeper reading, it is clear that their friendship is inestimable.
Kite
Every Christmas the boy and the woman exchanged presents. They both always wanted to present each other with something special, but they always lacked the money to buy anything, so they made the gifts by themselves. A few years in a row the woman made a beautiful kite for the boy. The last Christmas they celebrated together they exchanged kites, which was very funny and meaningful at the same time for both of them. The meaning of this symbol might lose its significance, but the final paragraph of the story reveals the depth of its meaning. The boy receives a letter that informs him of his friend’s death. This news produces on him a very strong effect, as though losing “an irreplaceable part of myself, letting it loose like a kite on a broken string.”That is why, walking across a school campus on this particular December morning, I keep searching the sky. As if I expected to see, rather like hearts, a lost pair of kites hurrying toward heaven.”
