Animals
Animals play a role in a large number of Highsmith’s short fiction. The symbolism of animals as representations of humanity reaches its apex five years later in a collection entirely devoted to stories in which animals are personified: The Animal-Lover’s Book of Beastly Murder.
The Old Testament
“Under a Dark Angel’s Eye” is the story of a man not just swindled, but swindled in the worst imaginable way. Upon discovery of the abominable nature of the sins committed against him, he seems to develop a sort of psychic ability to physical manifest Old Testament. But this apparent talent to psychically perpetrate “an eye for an eye” nevertheless comes with the price of guilt. When the man rips the Old Testament from the New in the Bible of his dead mother at the center of the crimes committed against him and watches as the pages burn in the fireplace. This symbolic act to incinerate his guilt by burning away the driving imagery behind his innermost desires for vengeance proves less than successful, however.
Snails
Patricia Highsmith was fascinated with snails to the point of usually packing up a collection of the gastropods to take with her whenever she traveled. Snails play prominent roles in two of her more famous stories as well as being vital to an entire novel. That she titled her first collection of short stories after one of those stories and furthermore that that particular story is titled “The Snail-Watcher" perhaps illustrates the underlying symbolism more than anything else. In both that story and “The Quest for Blank Claveringi” the snails function primarily as a voyeuristic object to be observed and studied. From this perspective, snails are perhaps the most personal symbol to be found in Highsmith’s work as they represent in both stories something worthy of intense attention that nevertheless possesses the potential to suddenly rebel against being objectified and turn upon the observer with a devouring frenzy.
The Button
The title object in “The Button” is another example of how Highsmith treats her symbolism with the same level of ambiguity as the endings of her stories. In fact, the symbolic meaning of the button which the protagonist has retained a trophy for what is arguably a morally justifiable act of violence is not even clear to its new owner. Roland Markow wavers from fear inspired by the button being a symbol of his guilt to a totem of reassurance he did the right thing to a prop devoid of any meaning whatever on those occasions when the guilt lifts enough to transform in his mind the murder into a tall tale told only to himself.
Wicker Basket
In “The Terrors of Basket-Weaving" a damaged wicker basket washed ashore and discovered by a woman with no previous knowledge of basket-weaving becomes one of the most all-encompassing yet strangely imprecise symbols in Highsmith’s entire body of work. The woman’s reaction to this apparently innate craftsmanship not dependent upon experience is a sense of dread and anxiety that ultimately results in her destroying the basket and rejecting her gift. The exact reasons for this reaction remain typically ambiguous, thus the basket’s status as symbol is equally open to interpretation. Ultimately, the basket becomes a powerful symbol not limited to its placement in just one story; it’s totemic power as an icon of ambiguous meaning easily applies to the bulk of the author’s short works of fiction.
