The Symbol Door

Door- Hope; opportunity; passage from one state or world to another; entrance to new life; initiation; sheltering aspect of the great mother.

The symbol of the door seems to mean a change in one’s life that brings new opportunities. Sandoz in the book really struggles with doors. Because his hands have been hurt, the simple task of opening a door can be one of the hardest things for him to deal with. In one instance the other priests forget to leave the door open for him. It says that Sandoz,

“felt the volcanic anger well up as he struggled with his hands but forced himself to beat the rage down, to concentrate on the simple tasks of opening the door and then leaving it open a hand’s breadth behind him, the horror of being caged now only barely stronger then the urge to kick it shut,” (Russell 50).

Sandoz is afraid of being stuck in his room because it is so hard for him to open the door. I think the door symbolizes Sandoz struggle to pass from one state to another. It represents the internal struggle for him to forgive himself and move on. On the new planet he faced many evils that are hard for a single person to cope with, these being the loss of all his close friends, unintentionally killing a new friend (and that friend being a child), being raped by multiple people, and losing his faith in God, some of these things in which he feels responsible for. Since Sandoz was rescued from the planet and brought back to earth he is given the opportunity to share his experiences and forgive himself for what happened.

Therefore, I think Sandoz’s struggles with the door represent how hard it is for him to keep that door of opportunity open. He constantly tries to keep all the information and struggles that he has had bottled up inside. He wants to shut down and be left alone by the priests. But in order for him to heal he must talk about what happened and then move on and so he struggles with this.

By Katherine Pellin