Cows
The young actor researching farm life for a play learns quite a lot about the secret life of cows from Morgan. Morgan seems to be pulling his leg and then seeing how far he can take the joke when Miles never seems to catch on, but within the comedy can be found some serious symbolism. Morgan’s practical jokes about cow behavior begin to take on a familiar aspect: on the surface they seem kind of slow, lazy and indifferent to reality, but spend time with them and you will see an entirely different side. Is he talking about cows or is talking about Angus?
Bread
The smell of baking bread has a literal component; like really bad headaches it is symptomatic of the PSTD that Angus suffers. It only becomes a potent symbol for everything that the two men have lost and the reasons why they lost it in retrospect when it can be connected to the reality of what happened in the real story and an offhand observation Morgan makes about Angus to Miles: “He’s ruined more bread.”
The Teaspoon of Water
One of the comedic highlights of any performance of the play is the scene taking place before anything at is really clear about what’s wrong with Angus. He keeps going into the house and bringing back a spoonful of water for Morgan who greets him every time by asking for a towel. It is a strange bit of business to be sure, but with the right timing it can be almost painfully hilarious. A second viewing makes it less so when one is informed with the knowledge that the spoonful of water is for Angus a symbol of tender and care between two humans who love each other. He is recreating as best he knows how a deeply buried memory of how Sally took care of him by carefully feeding him medicine in a spoon.
The Stolen Poem
In the false narrative that Morgan has been feeding Angus for decades, there is always a double wedding and the recitation of a poem from book that was stolen. In the actual version of events, the only thing that is true is that the drawer boy almost didn’t get his school diploma because he refused to turn in his poetry book. The stolen becomes a heartbreaking symbol of the potential happy lives that was stolen from Morgan, Angus and the two English girls.
The Sandwiches
Angus is consumed to the point of obsession with making sandwiches. He’s constantly asking Miles or Morgan to come in have a sandwich. The one time the tables get turned and Morgan actually asks Angus to make him a sandwich, the other man explodes in rage, telling him to go make his own damn sandwich. It was Morgan that convinced Angus to follow him into the war effort and that decision wound up ending whatever kind of career Angus might have enjoyed through his gift for drawing and design. The sandwiches thus become another sad object symbolizing what might have been.
