broken globe
...k and his father are also old and worn off. The love exists between them but it has been blotched. The house also symbolizes the thinking of Nick’s father. Similar to his thoughts and values, his house is old. Nick, on the other hand, has moved into a new place and town. In addition, when Nick was younger, his father tried to keep him away from the outside world. He described this to the narrator of the story as, “…I lock him up in the house, but it was no good. He got out, and he run...” It is apparent by this that Nick never wanted to be tied down like his father did. It is also symbolic as to how Nick left his father to go outside into the ‘real world’ and study science. His father tried so hard to keep him under his control and to convince Nick of his religious values that Nick eventually got sick of it and left his father. Furthermore, the relationship between Nick and his father and the differences in their thinking is symbolized by the old, broken globe which Mr. Solchuk has kept years after his son has left. The narrator describes the globe: “It was then that I noticed, just under the window, a rough little wooden table and on top of it a faded old globe made of cardboard, such as little children use in school. I was intrigued to see it there and went over to look at it more closely. The cheap metal mount was brown with rust, and when I lifted it and tried to turn the globe on its axis, I found that it would not rotate because part of it had been squashed and broken. I ran my hand over the deep dent.” Similar to the globe, the relationship between the father and son has been broken. The fact that the globe does not rotate anymore even though Nick’s father has still kept the globe to this day is symbolic to their relationship. Although Nick and his father don’t talk much, their bonds still exist, or the love they once had for each other is still there. The globe also shows the difference between the scientific and r...