Essay Questions

What does the narrator transmit with the description of the parasol catching fire?

The parasol is used in the first act by Winnie in an attempt to shield herself from the sun. In addition to using the parasol, Winnie also uses a hat she wears every day. Unfortunately, towards the middle of the day, the parasol catches on fire and Winnie is forced to throw it aside. Both the sun and the parasol are used in this context as symbols which can be linked to the relationship which existed in the marriage between Willie and Winnie. The sun thus represents the problems Winnie has to deal with in her marriage, be it from outside or even from her own husband. The parasol and the hat are supposed to protect Winnie from the pain caused by those actions and it appears as if the strategy worked for a short period of time. When the parasol caught on fire, the reader can reach the conclusion that those problems were too difficult for Winnie to support and that in the end, they overpowered her and even caused her pain and suffering.

What could symbolize the fact that Winnie is extremely attached to her bag and the contents inside it?

Because Winnie is trapped in the ground, she is unnamed to see her husband and have a proper conversation with him. Because of this, she has to focus on what is near her and what is within her reach, namely her bag. Winnie manifests a great care for the things which can be found in her bag, an affection which can be compared with maternal care. One of the reasons why Winnie may be so attached to her things is because she may be trying to fill in the void left by her husband’s lack of affections for her. Thus, she latches on what she can see and feel, attaching herself to her material possessions and expressing her care for them almost as if they were her children.

Explain the ending of the play.

The play ends in an ambiguous way, Winnie being buried up to her neck in the ground and unable to touch any of her things around her. Winnie is unable to see and hear her husband, even less than she did in the first act. Willie, in the meantime, gets out the hole in which he was in the first act and now is moving slowly towards Winnie, dressed in a black tux. While almost every object which Winnie took out from her bag degraded in time, the revolver remained unchanged and in perfect shape. The objects which degraded, the lipstick, toothbrush and so on, represented the link Willie had with her normal life which was now gone. The black tux in combination with the revolver can be used here to symbolize death. However, it remains uncertain if it stands for Winnie’s actual death or the death of the marriage between Winnie and Willie.