Response to "Dearth" (analysis of symbols)

Dirt appears many times in this story, so I this it is an important symbol. Here are several moments including "dirt".

1.      “…jabbing the dirt with a spade as she bordered the house with nasturtium seeds.”

This is the first time “dirt” appears in the story. At the very beginning, the woman only throws away the seven potatoes, and they come back. But this time, those potatoes even survive the oven and the tires and the road, and come back. The woman is quite angry and tries to ignore them. Jabbing the dirt is what the woman do the rest of the day.

2.      “…pushing every speck of dirt out the door until the floor rang smooth.”

The woman has already tried many ways to get rid of these potatoes. She has some beer and comes back home, slicing all seven potatoes and throws them away. She eats the left piece of potato, and pushing dirt out the door the rest of evening. This moment is a little bit similar to the first moment. It seems that the woman has a morbid fear of getting dirty.

3.      “…and the taste in her mouth felt like the kind of stale dirt that has lost its ability to grow anything.”

After seeing her neighbor with suitor and many flowers, the woman shivers. The woman feels so hungry that she decides to eat the potato. The potato is larger than an average one, and it has an abstract shape. She hates potatoes, and the taste is like stale dirt. But she still struggles to eat.

4.      “…she pushed them out the front door to the side of the house where there was a strip of dirt that the neighbor could not see.”

“He looked up at her with wondering eyes and she filled the hole with dirt over him.”

“…as she shoved more dirt over his grayish body.”

When her neighbor asks for borrowing the woman’s bathroom, she refuses because four potatoes are hidden there. After that, the woman yells to potatoes to get away. Then she pushes them out to a strip of dirt where she will bury them soon. The following two moments happen when the woman is burying four potatoes. She shoves dirt over potatoes, and fills the hole with dirt.

5.      “…she went outside to the strip of dirt.”

Life without potatoes is lonely. The woman does everything alone again. But now, she begins to miss the days with potatoes. The next morning, she checks the strip of dirt where potatoes are buried. There is no movement, and she sets a rock at each site.

6.      “He sat right when the shovel touched his arm and dirt fell from his face and legs.”

“The layers of dirt became them.”

The woman meets her neighbor and says there is no broken bathroom; in addition, she has four potato children. Then, she digs up four potatoes. When she shoves, she touches dirt. When the potatoes are dug out, dirt become them.