Earth Mother
Winnie takes the metaphorical concept of the “earth mother” to new literal heights. Or should that be lows? Whatever, her situation of being buried neck deep in the ground is about as literally symbolic as drama gets.
House(bound)wife
Of course, Winnie’s peculiar circumstances also situate her pretty literally in her role as wife as well. Willie, her husband, has a freedom of movement she can only dream about, but wastes that status with intellectual stasis. As a symbol of the wife bound to the house by the exploitative abuses of marriage, Winnie neck deep in the dirt is pretty literal as well.
The Bell
The ringing of the bell controls the limited range of action that Winnie has. Its ringing indicates when she should go to sleep and when she should wake up, but it really is more than that rapid ringing seems to control when she opens when she closes her eyes. It is as if the bell has control over her vision; when she can see and when she cannot. In this role, the bell becomes a symbol of mindless routine that is enacted with thinking. But it also carries the symbolic connotations of guiding only the life of a mother and wife since, tellingly, Willie is not subject to the same control.
Brownie
Brownie is the nickname Winnie gives to her gun. The revolver is always present, but never used. The primary significance afforded by dialogue is that her husband Willie made her take it away and keep it from him so he wouldn’t commit suicide. Considering that this is an example of Absurdism, the gun’s symbolic significance seems to be that the only answer to ending misery is suicide, but people would rather suffer than escape.
The Shopping Bag
The shopping bag is Winnie’s life. At least, that part of her life which is of any value to her under present circumstances. It represents the normality and routine that we choose to indulge in; the good rut, if you will. It is a symbol of the effort by everyone to retain aspects of normalcy under the most abnormal of conditions. And once the condition worsens to the point where she is no longer able to access that normality, she begins to spiral into madness.
