The Rake
The rake is a very interesting object used in the story “The Rake: A few scenes from my childhood,” by David Mamet. Most people know what a rake is, but to some people, a rake has a much deeper meaning than just a cleaning tool. Many people use rakes to tidy up their yards to make them presentable, but by doing this, are people trying to hide something?
In the story, the rake was used to beautify a house that really had no beauty within it. The outside might have looked clean and happy, but on the inside, it was blue and distressed. Sometimes it is not about how the outside of things look. Like people always say, “You can never judge a book by its cover.”
In the story, the leaves that had fallen to the ground seem to symbolize all the problems going on inside of the house. Everyone in the family could see all the bad things, just as they could see all the leaves on the ground. Instead of working together to get over these problems, they were just bundled up inside a bag, as were the leaves. No problems or agreements were ever made in the family because no one communicated how they felt or stood up for themselves. I think it would be stressful to constantly have problems thrown on me when nothing ever is resolved.
I also feel that a rake is a very scary piece of equipment that has always seemed very dangerous to me. The long, sharp claws always seem make me nervous that someone is going to get hurt. It seems that at any moment in time, the fingers of the rake could just grab anyone and hurt them. In the story, the rake does end up hurting Mamet’s sister causing a lot of blood. The rake in the story than also begins to signify blood.
The rake in the story symbolizes many other things than just a cleaning tool. It symbolizes how things are different on the outside than on the inside. It also signifies all the problems throughout the story. The rake then in the end of the story symbolizes the blood and violence during the story. As the story progresses, the rake develops as an object to carry a deep meaning to the story.