Symbolism In Michael Oppenheimer's The Paring Knife

497 Words2 Pages

In the story The Paring Knife by Michael Oppenheimer, the author uses symbolism many times throughout the story. He uses the knife as an example of how this couple overcomes their argument they had after dinner. The story starts off with a husband and the women he loves cleaning their house. In the process of cleaning the husband finds the paring knife under the refrigerator. He then shows his wife and she asked him where he had found it. He explained under the refrigerator. She then took the knife and placed it on top of the kitchen table. Going into the next room she continued to clean. As he continued to clean, he remembered how the knife got under the refrigerator in the first place. About four years before the main character and the women he loved were having a nice dinner and drinks. What was supposed to be a romantic evening turned bad when they went to bed. The main character thought they were going to make love and go to bed. In the process of making love they got into an argument. They went back and forth saying hurtful things. The women he loved then become violent by kicking at him. He went to the kitchen and sat at the kitchen table. The table was full of the plates and left over food from their dinner. He then swiped off everything …show more content…

The dinner is also another symbol in this story. It shows the love the couple has for each other. It also shows that they also love being together. The knife symbolizes the fight they had. A paring knife is small knife and the fight they had was small. By putting the knife back under the refrigerator symbolizes that they can bury their argument. Also by putting it under the refrigerator it will help them forget about what had happened. Even make it look like the fight never happened also. The knife also symbolizes that in a relationship couples have small arguments. It’s getting though them is what is most