‘’Those white folks clothes’’
When Sykes and Delia talk about the job Delia does, they describe it as being cleaning "those white folks clothes’’. The way the narrator described the job is in a very brutal way, the idea transmitted is that it involves a lot of physical work and a work which never ends. The activity is used here as a symbol for the way in which the white population continued to oppress the black community, even after the end of slavery.
Symbol for betrayal
In the story "The Gilded Six-Bits’’, the most important symbol used by the author are the coins left behind by Otis after sleeping with Missie May. Those coins then end up in Joe’s possession, who refuses to spend them or do anything with them except put them in places where his wife would sometimes see them. The coins are used here as a symbol for betrayal, serving as a reminder both for Missie May and to Joe and not letting them forget the event which turned their life around.
Women seen as inferior to men
This is a common motif which appears in all the short stories analyzed. Women are described as being less powerful than men, both when it comes to their physical power and the power of their character. Men refer to women as being objects as well, using the same language as a person would use when referring to an object or maybe an animal. What is also important to note is the fact that the women in the stories accepted their status and did nothing to try to change it.
Symbol for freedom
For the main character if the story "John Redding Goes to Sea’’, the sea, a body of water which he never got the chance to see, represented his wildest dream. The story recalls how John would sit on the edge of the river and wish he was a twig, carried by the water until he was allowed to reach the sea. As the story progresses, the sea becomes used here as a symbol, representing for John the freedom he wanted.
The saw
The most dangerous piece of equipment described in the story "Spunk’’ is a saw at the sand mill where most of the black men in the story worked. The saw already claimed the lives of countless black men and as a result, many were afraid to go near it. The saw is used here as a symbol for the dangers a black person had to deal with in the years following the civil war. Even though the black people were free, they were far from being safe.
