lumber room symbolizes what

The lumber room to which Nicholas gains access is a symbol of the imagination. Barred from entering the room, to which only adults usually have access, Nicholas's imagination runs wild as he thinks about the delicate and beautiful objects the lumber room must contain. Once he tricks his aunt into being distracted in the garden, Nicholas quickly retrieves the key and enters the lumber room, which fulfills his imagination. There is a brilliant tapestry, candlesticks twisted like snakes, a duck-shaped teapot, and an illustrated book full of birds he has never seen. When Nicholas is inside the lumber room, he hardly notices time passing as he invents backstories for the objects he takes in. His powerful imagination makes up a life story for the mandarin duck in the picture book, and he considers how the huntsman on the tapestry will fare against the wolves approaching him from the forest. At the end of the story, the lumber room continues to activate Nicholas's imagination: the only child who is content at the end of the day, Nicholas continues speculating on what the huntsman will do.