Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

Black Bag

The black bag stores all the rituals of Winnie's life: her toothbrush, comb, magnifying glass, and, most importantly, "Brownie," her revolver. These items do not need her&, as she says, they have a "life" of their own, and create an empty, static world of ritual. The bag's color provokes connections to death, and Winnie eventually takes out for good the revolver, which always seems to rest at the top of the bag despite its weight. The bag, then, symbolizes the death ritual brings to Winnie and the legitimate option of suicide it presents—one which she refuses with her steadfast optimism.