The Narrator and the Stag

The Narrator and the Stag is the novel's most potent and recurring symbol of spiritual connection, a bond that transcends the human relationships the narrator finds so hollow. The stag appears at nightfall, lingering between the woods and the garden, visible from the house by his antlers, which branch like a menorah. Looking into his eye is described as the closest the narrator has come to levitating, an instant that is still going on, a moment so profound it leaves her blind. This animal, not her husband, not her son, is what saves her, night after night, from the despair of her life. She names him her real man, the one who can see into her infinite sadness, and asks who would want to be human when such a creature exists. The stag is the fixed point of her inner world, the only presence that offers her genuine recognition and solace.