The Lost Steps

“‘And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron’—DEUTERONOMY XXVIII. 23.”

This biblical quotation foreshadows the narrator’s struggles and hardships. The imagery of “brass” and “iron” evokes a sense of harshness and immovability, reflecting the narrator’s stagnation and despair.

“Even the room’s walls looked bedraggled, with repeated traces of finger-marks in the same places, and revealed their long association with makeup, withered flowers, and disguise.”

The imagery in Ruth’s dressing room symbolizes the narrator’s disillusionment with art and the superficiality of the world it represents. The repeated finger-marks suggest a sense of stagnation and monotony, mirroring the narrator’s feelings of confinement and the inauthenticity symbolized by Ruth’s makeup.

“Now, with her back turned, Ruth was talking towards me into the mirror while smearing her mobile face with grease-paint.”

The imagery of Ruth speaking into the mirror while applying makeup symbolizes the narrator’s perception of a superficial and disconnected relationship. Ruth’s use of grease paint highlights the narrator’s interpretation of her as inauthentic or artificial, deepening the sense of alienation between them.