SOURCE: "Sexual Symbols in 'Another Face' by S. Y. Agnon," in Hebrew Annual Review, Vol. 10, 1986, pp. 95-108.

[In the following essay, Hakak offers a Freudian interpretation of "Another Face" ("Panini aherot"), claiming that sexual symbols pervade the story. Note: The title of the story, here translated as "Another Face," is also known as "Metamorphosis" (see Leon I. Yudkin, 1974).]

Michael was grateful to her for her not interpreting his dream according to Freud and his School.

S. Y. Agnon, "Another Face," Dec. 12, 1932, edition, Dabar

1. INTRODUCTION

Sexual Symbols play an important role in S. Y. Agnon's short story "Another Face" (1976, 3, pp. 449-68). These symbols accompany the progress in communication between Toni and Michael and thereby enrich the reader's aesthetic experience of the short story. The author dramatizes the couple's emotional world by projecting it upon concrete objects which function equally as symbols and as objects.

Sigmund Freud views many parts of the physical world as symbols of sexual activity or desire. A brief glance at the things and settings emphasized in "Another Face" reveal many objects to which Freud has assigned sexual significance: a parasol, hat, flowers, a garden, to name some of the more prominent. It may be argued that different readers may relate in different ways to Freudian symbology in the story. The reader may interpret the attitude of the narrator to these symbols as complex and ambivalent and as one which goes beyond the Freudian symbology; the reader may even argue that the narrator employs these symbols as virtual parody; or he may argue that the narrator employs Freudian symbols as defined by Freud. While the effect of these symbols may be viewed in different ways by different readers, ignoring the existence of these symbols may lead to erroneous interpretation because it is one of the means of characterization in the story. The existence of the phenomena is objective, the effect is subjective. Pointing to Freudian symbology will lay the foundations for various approaches as to the effects of these symbols. I agree with Barzel (1975, p. 61) who thinks that "undoubtedly, Agnon was well-versed in Freudian symbology and knew how key symbols of his story would be interpreted."

The presence of many of the sexually charged objects in "Another Face" indicates the presence of symbols. According to the Freudian approach, objects belong to one of two groups, the masculine and the feminine. This strict duality seems to some to be imposed by a mind psychologically predisposed to find and to unveil universal sexuality. Symbolic interpretation confined to sexuality may, in fact, be a degenerate form of symbolism. Nevertheless, "Another Face" demands that the reader take these symbols into account in interpreting the story and its central relationship. Various elements make it necessary to understand the sexual symbols in the story: the context of marital tension and sexual attraction; the frequent usage of explicitly Freudian objects; the encouragement of the reader in the story to see these objects as being more than simple objects; and the fact that some ideas in the story which seem flat or difficult become emotionally loaded and intelligible only when these objects are read as sexual symbols. These elements and others—such as the associative power and the centrality of these objects in the story and the sexual tension evoked by the interrelations of these symbolic objects—all support my contention as to the necessity of understanding the sexual symbols in this story. Other symbolic meanings for these objects are possible. My focus, however, is to read the text in the heretofore ignored light of Freudian sexual symbolism.

The first edition of "Another Face" was published on Dec. 12, 1932, in Dabar, by which time Freud's ideas were already well known in intellectual circles. Between 1913 and 1924 Agnon lived in Germany. Several of his short stories ("The Doctor's Divorce" and "Fernheim," as well as "Another Face") are set in German-speaking countries and concern themselves with crises within marriage. During his time in Germany, Agnon had close access to the ideas of Freud while he was writing the story. Indeed, as Barzel (1975, p. 64) points out,

Certainly one should not relate to Agnon the exclusive following of one psychological approach or another, out of an attempt to imitated it. On the other hand Agnon knew well the spirit of Vienna and was influenced by the modes of thinking, and also by the ways of symbology of Freud and his followers.

Freudian interpretation has been successfully applied to Agnon's work by scholars such as Aberbach (1984) and Shryboim (1977). Agnon originally dedicated the story of "Another Tallit" to Max Eitington, who was a loyal disciple of Freud, and who organized in 1933 a Palestinian Psychoanalytic Society.

It is noteworthy that when "Another Face" first appeared in Dabar in 1932, it included the following passage which Agnon later omitted: "after (Michael) finished telling her his dream . . . (Toni's) . . . eyes became somewhat wet. Michael was grateful to her for her not interpreting his dream according to Freud and his School." By telling us why Michael was grateful, the narrator simultaneously reminds us of Freudian symbolism, with which he is obviously acquainted. Toni's eyes becoming wet is a statement to which Freud (1953, 5, pp. 358, 359) would give a Freudian significance, Feldman refers to the "sexual" connotations of the key-motif in Agnon's "A Quest for the Night," and she thinks that Agnon is quite explicit in his use of dream symbolism, to the point that "he almost challenges the reader to go beyond the obvious in his search for an integrating reading" (1985, pp. 266, 267).

This paper does not intend to be conclusive regarding all the objects and situations that may be interpreted sexually in "Another Face." My intent is to point out a possible interpretation of Agnon which may enrich the reader's experience of Agnon's short stories and novels. Some critics hinted in passing at the possibility of giving a sexual interpretation to some objects in Agnon's "Another Face." I intend to demonstrate that this possibility is much more substantial than Agnon criticism has so far considered it to be. Freudian symbols become a device to portray characters and their inner life and relations through an interplay between the conscious reader and the narrator on the one hand and, on the other, the characters who are (in the final version of the story) unconscious of the implications of some of their actions and objects.

2. THE CHARACTERS' PERSONAL EFFECTS

Agnon emphasizes various personal effects that Toni and Hartmann carry with them. Toni's dress, parasol, handbag, and bottle of scent, and Michael's hat, cigarettes, cigars, and cigar-knife, for example, become prominent in the short story. Freud deals in his work with some of these objects. It is noteworthy that, according to Freud himself (1953, 5, p. 685), these symbols are not confined to dreams; objects such as umbrellas ("the opening of this last being comparable to an erection" [5, p. 354]) and knives may stand for the male organ. (5, pp. 358-59; also p. 380 and pp. 683-84).

One of the objects that is mentioned in Agnon's "Another Face" is the parasol. The reader first notices the parasol when Dr. Tanzer and Svirsh, the two single bachelors who lust for Toni, welcome her as she leaves the judge's house:

Svirsh took the parasol, hung it from her belt and, taking both her hands in his, swung them affectionately back and forth (1967, p. 4).

Svirsh's swinging back and forth of Toni's hands and his hanging her parasol from her belt denote sexual feelings. In this context it is noteworthy that the narrator makes frequent reference to parts of the body such as hands, thumbs, arms, mouths, lips and tongues (1953, 5, p. 359). Freud contends that the male's organ may be represented by his hand or foot, the female's by mouth, ear or even an eye. Undoubtedly, hands and arms are sexually significant in the short story. Indeed, Svirsh's and Tanzer's confident gestures (1967, pp. 4, 6) indicate merely selfish lust; for Toni is to them an object of sexual fantasies; Michael's graceless and uncertain gestures (pp. 4, 16, 17, 19), though, combine sexual desire and love. In portraying Toni as a good listener, the narrator describes her active silence: she listens, she looks, she thinks (p. 8). But her hand and arm motions are activated by men; she is passive. In other of Agnon's love stories, there are substantial obstacles to fulfilling love; but Tanzer and Svirsh do not constitute such an obstacle at all. Svirsh's lust is explicitly depicted by the narrator through the use of Free Indirect Speech and the symbolic use of Toni's parasol. Later (p. 11), in a moment of mutual attraction between Toni and Michael, Michael was busy dealing with his hat while Toni was busy fussing with the parasol. And Michael, desiring his ex-wife, makes gestures in the air as Toni, desiring her ex-husband, pokes the ground with her parasol (p. 17). Barzel (1975, pp. 63-64) correctly finds the parasol to be a male object while the ground is a female one. Toni's act with the parasol moves Hartmann because it reflects his own erotic excitement. Toni and Michael then arrive at an inn where they decide to dine. Michael is worried that his wife is aware of his sexual thoughts. He "took her parasol, laid it on a chair, placed his hat on top of it . . ." (p. 23). Hartmann's unconscious wish is that he will be able to accomplish his desires as simply as he was able to put his hat on Toni's parasol. At dinner, Toni's appetite (p. 24) represents her love for Michael and her frustrated desire for him. But Hartmann rejects her again: he "got up, took his hat and said: "Let's go" (p. 32). This time Hartmann does not deal with the parasol himself: "The waiter came up and handed Toni her parasol . . ." (p. 32). One concludes that Tanzer, Svirsh, Hartmann and Toni express hidden desire as they handle the parasol, and it indeed plays the same role as Freud's umbrella.

The appearance of a parasol in the story is often coupled with the appearance of the hat. Freud states that "a woman's hat can very often be interpreted with certainty as a genital organ, and moreover, as a man's" (1953, 5, pp. 355-56; see also pp. ). The reader first notices the hat in "Another Face" when Svirsh and Tanzer are defeated by Michael. "Waving his hat, [Tanzer] walked off . . ." The word in Hebrew is henip, which can be translated as "waving" or "lifting" the hat. Tanzer doffs his hat and admits the loss of the sexual object. Now Toni and Michael are left alone. Michael is attracted to his ex-wife, and he is embarrassed: "He crumpled his hat and waved it about, smoothed its creases, crumpled it again, put it back on his head, and passed his hands over his temples down to his chin" (Agnon, 1967, p. 6). These helpless gestures with the hat, coupled with Michael's self-conscious avoidance of her eyes, indicate Michael's strong longing and sexual desire for his ex-wife. In another moment of confusion, when Hartmann is thinking about his separation and divorce, the narrator describes his feelings and his gestures: ". . . he removed his hat, mopped his brow, wiped the leather band inside his hat and put it back on his head" (p. 10). The hat serves as a refuge for Michael, who has a hard time facing his new status as a divorced man, and represents his desire for his ex-wife. Michael now learns that he cannot accomplish this desire as simply as he was able to put his hat on Toni's parasol (p. 23).

Critics have noticed the parasol and the hat; however, they have ignored their sexual implications. Goldberg (1963, pp. 213, 217, 218), Tochner (1965, p. 32; 1968, p. 99), and Kenani (1977, p. 491) emphasized the awkward, hopeless, repetitive and confused nature of Hartmann's unconscious gestures with his hat. Rivlin (1969, pp. 120-21) thinks that the parasol is Toni's support and protection. Tochner is aware of the longing and sexual desires between Toni and Hartmann (1968, p. 98), but does not substantiate his claim. Barzel (1982, p. 59) thinks that the parasol is "a combined expression of canopy, defense and erotic symbol." While I am not in disagreement with these statements, it seems to me that the sexual roles of the hat and the parasol are important to the interpretation and the enjoyment of the text. The characters do not act out of conscious sexual urges; they do not ask themselves why they do what they do with the hat or the parasol. However, the narrator and the reader "must" be aware of those urges.

Additional phallic symbols in the story are cigars, cigarettes, a pipe and a cigar-knife. The story describes Michael's efforts during a frustrating marriage to find a satisfactory substitute for love. Michael tries friendship, reading books, and smoking "cigarettes first, then cigars" (Agnon, 1967, p. 14) as a means of fulfilling his unsatisfactory life. On the day of the divorce, Toni and Michael go the fields from the town to an inn. In a moment of attraction to Toni, Michael thinks about smoking (p. 18), but now he is self-conscious and the cigarette cannot satisfy his desires. After dinner Michael "took out a cigar and trimmed it with his knife then took out a pack of cigarettes and offered one to Toni. They sat opposite one another, the smoke they made rising and mingling . . . Toni parted the smoke with her fingers and went on smoking contentedly" (p. 28). Unlike the lonely, isolated smoking at home during their marriage, now Hartmann and Toni in a moment of good feeling and positive communication, smoke in a way which is satisfying for them both, and their smoke mingles. Michael's knife should not be disregarded (Freud, 1953, 5, pp. 358-60; also pp. 380, 683-84); nor should we ignore the fire of the phallic symbols of the cigar and the cigarettes (5, pp. 384, 395).

It is heavily symbolic and rather humorous that Michael, who was so desirous of his ex-wife, had to leave her room in the inn, in which there was "a broken horn with a bridal wreath on it" (Agnon, 1967, p. 36). Michael's desires for a renewed marriage end at this stage with a "broken horn." When the old man stated that there was only one room free, "Toni blushed. Michael crumpled his hat and said nothing" (p. 36). We have a detailed description of the way the innkeeper deals with his pipe prior to suggesting that Toni will sleep in the only available room and Michael on the billiard table.

Toni's blushing, Michael's crumpling of his hat, the innkeeper's knocking the pipe against the table (which "represents the approximate shape of the male organ" [Freud, 1953, 4, p. 86]), the innkeeper's putting his thumb into the pipe's bowl—all of these are sexually significant acts. There is one attractive woman and two lonely men. I disagree with Barzel (1975, p. 58), who claims that Toni's blushing is due here to her bashfulness and not to her erotic attraction to her husband. Simirman (1962, p. 18, 21-22) recognizes Michael's desire for his ex-wife, arguing, though, that the closer Michael gets to his ex-wife the more distant she becomes. I disagree with Simirman's analysis of Toni's feelings, in that it ignores the mutual attraction indicated by Toni's blushing and Michael's playing with his hat. Michael starts his life as a divorced man by sleeping on a public gaming table (billiard table), made for a game composed of balls, holes, and sticks rather than in the bed, once consecrated to him and his wife by marriage. His grotesque position is indicative of the fact that his sexual desires cannot be resolved without resolution of his relationship. There is another table in the story: When over dinner Michael started telling Toni his dream, sharing his intimate thoughts with his ex-wife, he put the cigar down (Agnon, 1967, p. 38) while communicating with his wife. Now that his wife is asleep and he is alone again, he thinks again about smoking, a thought that is encouraged by the thick cigar under the table, which itself is a symbol of a woman (Freud, 1953, pp. 355, 374, 376, 381).

In a moment of mutual attraction and self-awareness between Toni and Michael, Toni wets her hands, which is another act with a Freudian (1953, 5, p. 403) meaning: "Toni opened her handbag, took out a bottle of scent, and sprinkled her hands with it" (Agnon, 1967, p. 18). Freud calls attention to hollow objects such as handbags. According to Freud, "Boxes, cases, chest, cupboards and ovens represent the uterus . . ." (1953, 5, 354; also p. 373, regarding "purse").

When Toni and Michael returned to the garden of the inn, their attraction is mutual as Kenani pointed out (1977, p. 492), and it is reflected by the landscape described as they walk in the field after dinner.

Several times in the story Michael "wanted to take off his jacket and wrap it around Toni" (Agnon, 1967, p. 34). The original Hebrew text speaks of me il, which is a "coat" or "overcoat." Michael's awareness of Toni's being cold is coupled with his erotic attraction to her, and the overcoat becomes a male symbol here (Freud, 1953, 4, pp. 186, 204; 5, p. 365).

In the opening sentence of the story, the narrator mentions Toni's brown dress (Agnon, 1967, p. 4). He later draws attention to it in erotic contexts (pp. 12, 14, 22, 26, 34). Her dress stimulates Michael's thought about her nakedness.

3. THE FIELDS AND THE GARDEN

After their divorce Toni and Michael walk in the fields from their town to a garden of an inn. The setting is rich with Freudian meaning: they are sitting at a table in a garden near a gate; the garden is full of birds and fruit trees; they discuss rooms, dancing and an oven. On their way to the inn, Toni thought (p. 20) that the light of the inn was a firefly. The lights of the firefly are the courting strategies of the female and male fireflies. On their way to the inn, Toni is chilled by the wind:

'Are you cold?' Hartmann asked anxiously.

'I think I see people coming.'

'There is no one here,' said Hartmann, 'but perhaps'

They should not be touching each other after their divorce, a transgression against Jewish law (see , and also ). Toni evades Michael's inquiry about her being cold, then she points out a tall person: "A man with a ladder came towards them." Toni blushes now not because Tanzer is taller than Hartmann, as Kenani contends (1977, p. 492), but because of the erotic atmosphere, strengthened by the ladder as a Freudian element (1953, 5, p. 355). At this time, Toni and Hartmann do not communicate verbally. However, this interchange does not seem to be a failure in communication, but rather a display of timidity about their sexual attraction.

Ewen (1971, pp. 292-93) thinks that here Toni and Michael become distanced. Toni's lowering her eyes and blushing and the abortive conversation are taken by Ewen as an example of a "dialogue" without any real communication. This opinion seems to stem from ignoring the intense attraction and sexuality between Hartmann and Toni. Indeed the sexual excitement that marks this part of the story (Agnon, 1967, pp. 20-22) is unmistakable, when one pays attention to the sexual symbols and situations: Hartmann's anxiety regarding Toni being chilled by the wind, her indirect answer, his incomplete sentence, the tall man with the ladder who lit the lamp, Toni's blushing and lowering her eyes, Hartmann's smiles, the boy and the girl, and Toni looking at her ring and remembering that she is no longer married to Hartmann and that physical contact is now forbidden between them. The narrator here draws our attention to the progress in understanding the attraction between Michael and Toni, not to the alleged regression in their newly developed communication. Because of such moments, the reader understands that Toni and Michael have discovered another face in themselves, in their relations, and in each other as man-husband and woman-wife. After walking in the field, Toni and Michael see a restaurant (p. 22):

A little later they came to a garden which was fenced on three sides. The gate was opened and to the right of it shone a lamp. Some smaller lanterns in the shape of pears and some apples hang from the trees in the garden.

We are then introduced to a girl who pulls at her skirt when they enter the garden of the inn, and Hartmann thinks that the girl is red-haired and freckled. Talking about the girl (pp. 22, 24) as red-headed with freckles is a way to evade his sexual thoughts about the girl and his wife. The girl appears again when she passes by "carrying a basket of plums with both hands. The juice of the overripe plums exuded an odor of cloying sweetness" (p. 26). Unlike Simirman, (1962, pp. 17, 19), it is my opinion that Hartmann's desire is for his wife, and not just any woman.

Freud discusses gardens (1953, 5, p. 346), fruits (1953, 4, p. 287; 5, pp. 372-73), gates (5, p. 346), trees, wood, etc., as well as keys and locks (5, p. 354) as sexual symbols. When Toni and Michael first enter the garden, "which was fenced on three sides," its "gate was open" (Agnon, 1967, p. 22). After they leave the inn, they come back to it and "Hartmann pushed the gate open and they went up the stone steps" (p. 34). He is full of erotic desires for his wife and her garden, hoping to consummate their renewed relations by sleeping with her. In this context the stone steps and the act of ascending them also have Freudian significance; the shape of apples (1953, 4, p. 287) or of pears (4, p. 372). As Hartmann anticipates his meal in the inn's garden, it is clear that he is feeling the demands of his sexual appetites as well, he expects "fresh dishes" (Agnon, 1967, p. 24). The sexual connotation is that Toni has now become "fresh" in his eyes.

Leiter (1970, pp. 63-64) refers to various paragraphs in the story, such as the boy running with a lighted stick, the gesture of Hartmann with his thumbs, the flowers, the falling from the mount, and the wire, and he traces them to the Talmud (Berakot 51-53, 53a, 55b; Gittin 66a, 81, 90b). This seems to me a significant contribution to understanding the story without lessening the weight of the sexual symbology.

A bird plays an interesting role in this story. While Toni and Michael were eating, they listened to a song of a bird. Toni's face grew prettier, and Hartmann covered his knees with his napkin (Agnon, 1967, p. 24). Now they are content and attracted to each other. The bird's song is indicative of Michael's sexual excitement (Freud, 1953, 5, pp. 583-84). However, when Hartmann later thinks that divorcing his wife was a clever act, he listens neither to his wife's question about the bird nor to the "bird"; nor does he need to cover his knees any more. In Hartmann's dream the "frozen birds" (Agnon, 1967, p. 30) represent a breakdown in warmth and communication in the family.

Toni and Hartmann walk back toward the city. They come close to a river (p. 32), and the river now plays a role in the story: the stream lulling in its bed, the cry of the bird of prey, the echo reverberating through the ear, the waves raising themselves up and falling back exhausted, the stream rocking itself wearily—all this rhythmic motion happens in a moment of mutual desire between Toni and Hartmann. In general, nature in the story is described in a way which reflects the moods and relations of the characters.

We also meet the girl who sold Michael a bunch of asters (p. 10). The reader is told that Toni had always been fond of asters (pp. 24, 26). The flowers are cared for when Toni and Hartmann communicate and are attracted to each other, and they are thrown into the grass (p. 32) when Hartmann starts having negative thoughts about his wife and decides to leave the garden. Freud mentions flowers in various places and points out "that sexual flower symbolism . . . symbolizes the human organs of sex by blossoms . . . It may perhaps be true in general that gifts of flowers between lovers have this unconscious meaning" (1953, 5, p. 376).

4. THE DREAM AND THE MOUND

After dinner in the garden of the inn, Hartmann tells Toni about his dream. Various objects play an interesting role in the dream: the apartment, the dance-like walk of the landlady, the oven, the bedrooms, the study, the birds, the windows, and the walls. Coffin (1982, pp. 187-98) took into account Freudian notions in her important analysis of the dream. She pointed out the erotic aspects of the dream, including objects which are associated with sexual feminine attributes and are identified as such by Freud. Band has already explained this dream, as well as other central aspects of the story (1968, pp. 251-60).

Freud refers to rooms, apartments and houses in many places. "Rooms in dreams are usually women" (1953, 5, p. 354). Freud writes that an oven is representative of the uterus (5, pp. 354, 634), "the 'smooth' walls are men . . ." (5, p. 355).

It seems reasonable then to interpret the landlady in the dream as representative of Toni. In the bedroom, Hartmann had an oven (Toni). Only by completely sharing his life, including his work, with his wife could Hartmann feel the warmth of the "oven" outside the bedroom. His ambivalent attitude toward Toni finds an expression. Toni's defects may simply be in Hartmann's mind. In his dream, he understands that he has a nice apartment (wife, woman, Toni—"'Ištô zô bêtô. Mah dîrā? 'Iš v ištô.") ("his wife is his home", and "what is home?" "It is a man and his wife") and he does not need to "change it for another" (Agnon, 1967, p. 30), i.e.—for divorce and another marriage. Hartmann's desire to climb the mound may be interpreted by Freud (1953, 5, pp. 406-7, 410) as a sexual desire. Now Hartmann remembers an event from his childhood: he once climbed a mound, then slipped and rolled down to the bottom; "his limbs had felt relaxed" (Agnon, 1967, p. 42). Kenani (1977, p. 499) claims that this depicts Hartmann's longing for death. It seems to me that Hartmann simply longed for the womb (see ). Now that he remembers his childhood, Hartmann is seized by a fear of falling. His panic is portrayed by content, by repetition of words, and by syntax which affects the fast rhythm (Agnon, 1967, p. 40). But he quickly understands that the fear of falling has had a stronger impact on his life than the actual falling would have had, and he now sees dangers and risk in proportion; he does not have to live as egocentrically as before, and he will no longer be paralyzed by fear.

Freud (1953, 5, p. 356) discusses wooded hills and the symbolic landscape which includes a path into a thick wood leading up to a hill of grass and brashwood (5, p. 366). In discussing dreams of falling, Freud finds connection to anxiety and to erotic desires (5, pp. 394-95).

Now that Hartmann can relate to his fears in a rational manner, there is a chance for him to communicate better; and, indeed, after understanding his dream of the mound, he starts seeing Toni in his imagination (Agnon, 1967, pp. 42-44). The arm, the red face, the asters, the parasol, the fingers, and the cigarette smoke are all united in a romantic way. The story ends with good memories, compassion, and attraction between them with the optimistic indication that Toni and Hartmann may again be husband and wife. Perry and Sternberg (1968, pp. 286-387) think that only someone who is "thirsty for sensation" can be interested in the question of what happened to this marriage. Many sensitive readers, however, concern themselves with this question. The ending is undoubtedly a renewal of the family. In Agnon's A Guest for the Night (1967, pp. 391-92; 1968, p. 418), the narrator says: ". . . one day (Hartmann) gave his wife a divorce, but as they left the rabbi's house he fell in love with her again and took her back." Fictional characters are talked about by the characters in other works of fiction as if they are part of reality, and the author presumes that he is addressing a reader who is intimately familiar with the author's entire work. Hartmann was not a Cohen. I am not in agreement with Leiter, who thinks that "Hartmann's dream of reconciliation is foredoomed" (1970, p. 61) and that "symbolic night" settles over the relations of Toni and Michael (pp. 61, 64). The crisis forced Hartmann to re-evaluate his relations. In the closing paragraph, Hartmann's face gets red merely thinking about his pretty wife. All her "shortcomings in no way detracted from her" (Agnon, 1967, p. 42). Several actions and objects (asters, parasol, fingers, cigarette smoke) which we perceived as erotic are now combined in Hartmann's mind as sources for his attraction and his compassion to Toni.

5. CONCLUSION

By paying attention to sexual symbols in "Another Face," we gain a better capacity to enrich ourselves. We, of course, presume that the characters in the last version of the story are unconscious of the symbolism of their actions and their surroundings; however, their repressed wishes achieve a certain satisfaction through these symbolic patterns. Symbols help the reader to understand the characters' unconscious motivations, enrich the reader's aesthetic experience of the work and fulfill the demands of the text. Some of Agnon's other works will similarly yield rich layers of meaning to the reader who considers their clear sexual symbolism. It is my contention that while Agnon's works are not rich with explicit sexual scenes, they are loaded with sexuality and sensuality which are alluded to in various powerful ways. Sexuality can be understood in Agnon's works only by looking closely at actions, motions, objects, and settings. If this symbolic interpretation is done, the reader will find Agnon a sensuous author, expressing human sexual urge and giving it an expression which requires the imagination and the understanding of the reader.

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