The White Quail
In "The White Quail," a quail shows up in the sacred garden of Mary Teller. Her husband shoots the bird and tells her he shot the cat to protect the bird. The quail is a symbol for some kind of innocence or purity because of its unique color, but it also symbolizes the strangeness of death, because the image suggests that there is something sacred or divine about the bird. The bird represents the value of life.
Dick's criticism in "The Raid"
When Dick threatens to harm Root for running away, Root decides to stay. They're Communists, meeting underground for fear of attack. Then they are busted, and they lose the fight, and wake up in the jail house hospital. Root is very wounded and considers whether his wounds are divine sacrifices, like Jesus's martyrdom on the cross, but Dick says Jesus and Communism don't go together. This symbolizes an interesting social dilemma, because Dick's criticism shows something about his character. Dick represents Root's struggle to believe his life is meaningful.
Peter's harness in "The Harness"
The harness is a symbol for propriety because Peter uses it to keep his shoulders back and down, the way he'd been taught for good posture. After his wife dies, he says he'll never use it again. This is a symbol for the burden that gender roles put on his marriage, because he just wants to have a fun time, but for his wife, he spent years pretending to be something he wasn't, trying to be more masculine, just because his culture said he should. He kicks against the goads.
"Johnny Bear" as a symbol
In his story, Johnny Bear represents something specific. Because he is a skillful mimic with a photographic memory for sound, he represents judgment. For instance, the narrator is humiliated when Johnny Bear recites to the whole bar what he and Mae were doing in the woods. In the end, his recitations grow darker and darker, and when Alex attacks him, he wins. He represents the prospect of judgment, both social and otherwise.
"The Vigilante" cheater
A man participates in a lynching, murdering an innocent Black man and going out with the mob for drinks afterward. When he goes home, his wife accuses him of cheating. This is symbolic, because the man retires, full of guilt, and he says that he does feel like he cheated on his wife. This is because he knows that killing a man is a violation of the principles of love. His guilt is symbolically tied to love and hatred, and the argument of the symbol is that one cannot love some people and hate others with prejudice. He feels he has violated his marriage.
