The Notepad Symbol Analysis

The notepad Godfrey uses to write down questions symbolizes an escapist desire to look toward other people or belief systems as a way of avoiding confronting hardship head-on. Throughout the play, Godfrey frequently pauses in conversation to write something down, especially when he’s having an uncomfortable conversation. It’s eventually revealed that he’s writing down questions that he wants to ask Father Divine when he finally meets him. This might seem harmless, but it soon becomes clear that Godfrey uses this habit to run from his problems. By writing in his notepad, he delays the actual act of dealing with whatever has just come up, effectively putting himself at ease with the idea that Father Divine will eventually answer all his questions. In this way, Godfrey doesn’t actually have to deal with anything himself. But when Father Divine fails to show up at the Holy Communion Banquet, Godfrey feels lost because he realizes he still has all of these unanswered questions. He even says that he needs Father Divine’s answers in order to “move on,” making it quite clear that he has devoted himself to the Peace Mission Movement as a way of coping with the loss of his wife—a loss from which he hasn’t yet managed to “move on,” since he hasn’t actually been doing anything other than investing himself in the idea that somebody else will help him put his life back together. The notepad thus represents the dangers of investing too much faith in any single person or belief, since doing so can take away the motivation to address certain challenges on one’s own.