Guns Symbol Analysis

Guns symbolize the capacity for violence and, in particular, the narrator’s changing view of Dick Prosser’s violent potential. At first, the gun symbolizes what the narrator and his friends respect about Dick Prosser. Instead of suggesting Dick’s potential for violence, the fact that Dick can shoot with perfect aim signals to the boys his admirable skill—something they want to emulate. The gun even seems to indicate grace and agility: when Dick kindly demonstrates how to throw a football perfectly, it is “as if he were pointing a gun, [rifling] it in a beautiful, whizzing spiral.” The narrator initially views guns as awe-inspiring because he connects them with the qualities that he admires in Dick.

When the narrator and his friends find Dick’s rifle in the basement, though, guns become a symbol for what is potentially dangerous. When the narrator sees it, he describes it as “deadly in its murderous efficiency.” Sitting beside a box of ammunition, the gun is unnerving because its purpose is unclear and perhaps sinister. Before, the narrator used gun imagery as an analogy for Dick’s gracefulness (something that elicited the boys’ admiration and trust), but now the actual gun is a blatant sign of Dick’s possible untrustworthiness. The boys’ view of Dick is shaken because the gun hints that, like the weapon, Dick is capable of causing death. However, still trusting Dick enough to take his word for it, the boys accept that the gun can be something wonderful—worthy of being a Christmas present, as Dick claims.

After Dick’s shooting spree, however, guns become a symbol for extreme violence. In the same way that the gun lay inertly on Dick’s table, only revealing its violent potential, Dick’s violence and the violence of the entire town lay hidden until the shooting spree and its aftermath. When they hear of his crime, the mob runs to the general store, smashes the window, and grabs all the guns. The violence that surfaces is disproportionate: Dick, after enduring racist attitudes in the town, shoots not only white policemen but also Black residents, despite having no obvious motive. Likewise, the mob puts 287 bullets into Dick’s body when one would have sufficed, suggesting that beyond supposed justice, the mob is carried away by racially motivated vengeance. In these instances, the violence has exceeded beyond the bounds of its target.

Ultimately, guns represent the narrator’s changing perspective on Dick and humanity as a whole. Both Dick and humanity harbor potential violence in the same way that a gun does. While a gun isn’t inherently violent—it can be gracefully shot at an inanimate target, and until wielded by a malicious human, it’s harmless just sitting there—it can wreak horrific damage that rips communities apart. Similarly, human beings might appear innocent, but that doesn’t mean they don’t contain a deeply entrenched, destructive potential.