The most significant symbol in the story is the letter. Not only does it suggest identity (when Bell tells Slater ‘It’s for a Mr Slater’) but it also suggests a further invasion of privacy. Slater has been stopped on several occasions in the story from retrieving the letter, the reader learning that when he does try and reach the letter he was cut by Bell’s actions, ‘with his hose and his pipes and his sweeping and his sweeping…’ What Slater tells the reader at the end of the story is also significant. He tells Bell (after Bell takes the letter) that ‘I’m going to be leaving here soon.’ This is significant because in all probability Slater won’t be going anywhere (paralysis again). We are aware that he is waiting for news (letter) about a job up north, however it would appear that the news has arrived and Bell has ‘picked up the letter…and put it in his hip pocket.’ This action is important as Carver may be suggesting that Bell has ‘collected’ the letter. From the beginning of the story the reader knows that Slater is afraid of bill collectors coming to the house. In some ways by allowing Bell into the house he has unwittingly allowed a ‘collector’ in.