True West Group

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canadian
canadian
Student
College - Sophomore

What images in the play True West function as symbols?

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Posted by canadian on Tuesday October 2, 2007 at 11:18 PM and tagged with imagery, symbolism, true west.

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  1. jamie-wheeler Teacher
    College - Sophomore

    eNotes Editor

    One of the prominent images is that of the houseplants in the mother's kitchen.  They represent order and stability, cultivation and containment.  When the mother has to leave for a time, she asks Austin to housesit.  While he tends the plants for a time, he ends up neglecting them and they die.  I believe this is a rather passive-aggressive symbol of Austin's rejection of the staid and "tended" life of the suburbs.  When Mom returns, she does so not because she misses her son, but because she misses her plants.  She freaks out when she sees them limp and dried up.  The plants, I would argue, are representative of her own shallow roots and need for constant control.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/true-west/

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    Posted by jamie-wheeler on Saturday October 6, 2007 at 4:38 AM