Mr. Fox

Content Warning: This guide section contains depictions of domestic abuse and violence against women.

The symphony music symbolizes the evolving power dynamics between Mr. Fox and Daphne, as well as Daphne’s gradual reclaiming of her autonomy. In the first chapter, Mr. Fox plays the music loudly while writing, assuming that it irritates his wife. This assumption reflects Mr. Fox’s broader misunderstanding of Daphne and his dismissal of her preferences, as he sees her more as a passive figure in his life rather than an individual with her own tastes and desires.

However, in Chapter 9, when the novel more fully explores Daphne’s perspective, and she begins to assert control over her life, the narrative reveals that she enjoys the symphony music: “While he worked, he played a symphony I liked—he played it very loudly, but it was good that way, rising up through the floorboards and welling up around me” (281). This shift signifies Daphne’s growing independence and her ability to reclaim the things in her life that Mr. Fox previously used to dominate her. What Mr. Fox once assumed was a source of irritation becomes a symbol of Daphne’s inner strength and her emerging control over her narrative.