22 pages • 44 minutes read
Eudora WeltyPetrified Man
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1941A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Mirror
Because Leota and Mrs. Fletcher’s conversations take place in Leota’s salon booth during an appointment, the women speak to each other while facing the mirror. Instead of conversing directly, the women speak to each other’s reflections. This indirect way of speaking epitomizes the gossip they share: Instead of confirming news about others in their community directly or hearing it directly from the source, the women of this town pass on information through circuitous hearsay.
The mirror also serves as a symbol of truth and the choice the characters have—to look away or disregard it. For these characters, appearance is paramount for maintaining their status in town, and cultivating that appearance is essential. However, their outward appearance is not an accurate representation of their personalities. Leota and Mrs. Fletcher regularly face themselves in front of this mirror, which literally reflects their spiteful behavior back at them, but instead of recognizing their inner flaws, they choose to only give attention to their physical appearance.
The Freak Show
Exhibitions that displayed people with unusual biological features or disabilities were popular in the US and Europe through the mid-20th century, and crowds paid money to witness these exploited abnormalities. Leota describes her experience at the freak show as a fun evening activity, and the casualness with which she talks about it further grounds the story to a very specific time and place.
The freak show is next door to Leota’s salon, and this physical juxtaposition accentuates the symbolic comparison between the two spaces. The freak show offers a space to indulge curiosities of the unfamiliar, whereas the salon offers a space to indulge curiosities of the neighbors and local news. Both places offer a sanctified and socially acceptable arena in which to scrutinize and judge others. The way in which the women gossip about Mrs. Montjoy is similar to the way they discuss the people Leota saw at the freak show, both conversations full of judgment and engrossed by others’ appearances. In both situations, the visitors to either space feel superior to those they are observing, refusing to even acknowledge any faults of their own.
Lavender
The salon is filled with this light shade of purple: the shelf, mirror, swing-door, and comb are all imbued with a color of gentle femininity. This color is appropriate for a salon, where the staff are committed to helping their customers achieve their desired sense of beauty and physical attractiveness. However, there is a subtle level of irony in Welty’s use of this hue, in that a space inundated with the color is a place for beauty but also a place filled with spiteful, ugly behavior. Additionally, lavender is meant to have a soothing effect, but the appointment at the salon is only causing tension and strife among the characters.
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By Eudora Welty
