The main symbols used in this excerpt are imagery, realism, and characterization. This excerpt depicts these qualities by eliciting the specific characteristics of the setting and the individuals. While describing the surrounding environment, the reader is able to create the image of the setting hence the reasoning of the imagery that is incorporated. It sounds as if the character John is a controlling person and that the narrator is being restrained from exhibiting certain personality traits that they possess. The realism that is being displayed in this excerpt is correlated to the era in which this was written, and depicts the ways the characters interact.