Themes and Symbolism in Bernice Morgan's "Windows"

Introduction: Leah's World in 'Windows'

One would think that waiting for death in the bitter cold of late winter is about as grim as a life can be. But when you are depressed and dirt poor, living in a ramshackle old house that leaks cold air, with a daughter-in-law you dislike intensely — one who wants you out of the house whenever possible — things are seriously awful. For Leah, who has vivid memories of how life used to be in Estonia, her misery is compounded by her confused mind. Author Bernice Morgan does a splendid job of portraying Leah's misery — and the reality of Leah's life beyond Leah's twisted perception of what life she has left — through three main themes and symbols: colors, sounds, and death.

Also woven into the short story are Leah's total lack of motivation, her cynical view of the people around her, and the conflicts she experiences — conflicts she no doubt exaggerates, since Morgan provides no scenes suggesting that the grandchildren and Ruth are truly as annoying as Leah believes. In fact, towards the end of the story Morgan lets readers know that Leah "didn't really know much about her grandchildren." While the story is depressing in many respects, its ending carries a sense of hope: trees are being planted and an old gray warehouse is torn down, so the view from her son's house becomes one of open land rather than a drab building next door.

Colors and Light: Darkness as Depression

The use of colors — and of light and dark — in this short story is an extremely effective deployment of theme and symbolism. In a story of only nine pages, Morgan needed to pack in as many evocative images as possible through creative language in order to maximize the impact on the reader's consciousness. Color is frequently present in the narrative. Leah has just awakened on another cold winter's morning, but the light of morning is not what woke her, because there was very little daylight in her bedroom. In the story's second sentence, readers encounter the ugly image of "a pale greenish light" that does not enter the room like ordinary light but instead "slithered down" from the roof of the pathetic house. Leah's hair is not simply gray but "yellow-gray," an almost witch-like detail. The light in her room is also described as "dingy green" — a deeply depressing image.

Yet Leah still possesses good memories. She could recall the "pattern of green leaves against a blue sky" in Estonia, the "amber glow of firelight on stone walls," fields of wheat, and girls wearing "red kerchiefs" tending the harvest. These images are pastoral and provide a welcome respite from her depression. Juxtaposed against her pleasant recollections of "leaves in sunshine" is the "naked bulb hung from a twisted black cord" in the kitchen. This image almost evokes the gallows: "hung" effectively suggests death by hanging, and "black cord" calls to mind a noose. That naked bulb gives off a "hard, yellow glare," illuminating enough to reveal the "grease marks" on the "motley wallpaper." The sink is "rust-colored" — another depressing detail — and daughter-in-law Ruth does not simply apply lipstick; she looks into the "cracked mirror to slash a red line across her mouth," a phrase that almost suggests a blade opening a wound.

If Leah had the materials for knitting, she might knit "a bright wool afghan for her bed," but that remains a fantasy. With her hot tea and her feet warmed by the oven, she turns off the naked bulb ("that terrible light") and finds peace in the "pleasant glow of the fire" that softens the "harsh look of poverty." When Leah finally gets outside, she sees that the drab warehouse is gone, and now "sunlight would come in" along with "grass" like "rich people" enjoy, and a garden filled with tulips, petunias, and "big orange colored chrysanthemums" — a wonderful sequence of images saturated with color. Even the leaves that change with the turning seasons carry this hopeful chromatic charge. As scholars of color symbolism in literature have noted, the contrast between dull, muted tones and vivid natural hues is a powerful device for mapping a character's emotional state.

Conclusion: Isolation, Deception, and a Glimpse of Hope

The fact that Leah seems so out of touch with her son, his wife, and their children, while living in their house, tells a story within a story. Leah is the protagonist, but she is clearly suffering the pains of old age, depression, and senility. One of the important themes beyond the three featured in this paper is Leah's disconnect from truth. It may be that her husband's tragic death initiated her pattern of deception; her entire life shifted into a struggle, and lies perhaps helped fill "the terrible emptiness" she experienced living alone and subsisting on his pension. She lied to welfare workers, to her son's teacher, and to her own children to make them believe they would go to a farm. Perhaps she feels guilt over those lies and wonders whether there will be "a day of reckoning" when she faces death and must account for having deceived so many people.