Throughout our lives we have had many significant objects in our possession. Many of these objects, some everyday objects, contain a symbolic meaning linked to the journeys we have undertaken throughout our lives. Just as these objects have symbolic meaning in our lives, objects have also been symbolic to many characters in literary works such as The Girl in the Flammable Skirt by Aimee Bender and The Cathedral by Raymond Carver. From a library mural, a teleprompter, and even a birthday cake, Bender and Carver transformed everyday objects into symbolic objects that elevated the meaning of their stories while creating a deeper understanding of the characters they connected with. Quiet Please, a short story from Bender's The Girl in the Flammable Skirt, depicts an ordinary library mural and its meaning in the life of an emotionally unstable librarian. Emotionally distraught over her father's death, the unstable librarian turns to sex to help her cry. However, it is a particular mural on the ceiling of the library, which intrigues her to desire a calm atmosphere during sex. It is the mural's exquisite details, such as a fairy missing her mouth, that indicate the tranquility the librarian desires in mourning the loss of her father. “One of the fairies is missing a mouth. He has burned himself in the sunlight and she stares at her fairy friends with a look of violet-eyed muteness” (Bender 59). This excerpt from Quiet Please allows the reader to better understand how the librarian felt looking at a crowded library with nothing to say due to the endless pain in her heart caused by the immutable fate of death. As the sunlight burned the fairy's mouth, rendering her silent, the death of the librarian's father... in the middle of the paper... until the early morning, the high, pale stream of light in the windows, and they didn't think of leave." (Carver 89) All in all, both Bender and Carver created great works of fiction that use symbolic objects to further develop a character and elevate the true meaning of a story. Through a plethora of symbolic objects such as a library mural, a teleprompter, and a birthday cake, both authors brought much more enriching means to their stories through the use of these objects. These symbolic objects have created a deeper understanding of the stories they tell. It is these objects that give the stories a stronger meaning as a whole, for the story they tell and the messages they send. Works Cited Bender, Aimee. The girl in the flammable skirt. New York: Random House, 1998. Print.Carver, Raymond. Cathedral. New York: Random House, 1983. Print.