A piano (symbol)
A piano is a symbol of a better, more sophisticated life, for with its help people can create magic which is “music.” According to Mick, music is always “on her mind”. It doesn’t only make her life less lonely, it promises her a better future. Her head is full of tunes and they all make her “somehow sad and excited at the same time.” She might be no one for now but one day she will be a prominent composer. This promise of a better life helps her to not despair.
Deafness and muteness (allegory)
Deafness is muteness is allegory of solitude and a mystery. John Singer is a walking “mystery” for other characters, for they know that he can “read the lips and understand”, but they don’t know how much he understands. Not to mention that Singer’s eyes make a person think that he could hear things “nobody else had ever heard”. He is the mystery because other characters don’t know the sign language, so his true feelings and emotions are hidden from them. John Singer is isolated from all of them.
Loneliness (Motif)
Some people can endure loneliness better than other, some are able to enjoy their solitude, but some can’t stand it. The characters of this novel try to get rid of “the feeling of loneliness”, for it is destructive for them. More often than not they are “lonely”, “tired” of everything, “disappointed” and “desperate”. Not to mention that John Singer commits suicide because of it. He had a lot of acquaintances but lost a person whom he considered his friend.
