41 pages • 1 hour read
Tunes for Bears to Dance To
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Symbols & Motifs
The Village
George voices the importance of the toy village carved by Mr. Levine when he says that it symbolizes “survival and how good can overcome evil” (64). The symbol supports two of the novella’s major themes: The Inescapability of the Past and The Everyday Nature of Evil.
Mr. Levine is recreating his former village down to the smallest detail, even including the village bully whom “everybody hated.” Where other characters are lost in the past or seek to ignore it, Mr. Levine uses his creation to honor his past and to communicate with others in the present day; when he wins an award, the village even connects him to the wider community of the city. Though the village is intrinsically tied to the most painful parts of Mr. Levine’s life, he refuses to let that trauma define what it means.
After Henry tells Mr. Hairston about Mr. Levine’s beautiful work, Mr. Hairston chooses it as the vehicle to destroy both Mr. Levine and Henry. Henry, for his part, associates the village so strongly with his friend that when he dreams about smashing it, a little figure running from the destruction is Mr. Levine himself. When Henry does smash the village, the same figure tumbles and falls.
However, good does triumph over evil, as the symbolic village demonstrates. Henry smashes the village only by accident, refuses to claim Mr. Hairston’s promised rewards, and redeems himself by trying to alleviate Doris’s pain and loneliness. When he returns to the craft center, Mr. Levine is back at work rebuilding his masterpiece like the survivor that he is. His gift to Henry of a smiling toy figure of the boy will be a talisman keeping Henry on the path of goodness.
Rats and the Atom Bomb
Rats and the atom bomb, two of the fears that haunt Henry, symbolize the presence of evil. Henry fears the rats at the grocery store, where the evil Mr. Hairston’s intimidation and threats take place. It is the presence of a rat in the craft center as Henry stands frozen over the toy village that causes him to drop the mallet and partly destroy the creation. In this, it symbolizes Henry’s worst impulses, even as it functions as a device that makes Henry only partly responsible for the village’s destruction.
Similarly, Henry has bad dreams in which an atomic bomb explodes and “a huge mushroom cloud” blanks out the world (29). While the exact time period of the novella isn’t stated, it presumably takes place during the Cold War arms race with the Soviet Union, when nuclear war seemed like a distinct possibility. The author evokes this symbol of absolute evil as Henry dreams of smashing the toy village with a sound “like a bomb” (75); the same simile reappears when he tells himself to drop the mallet “like an atomic bomb falling from a plane” (88). The symbol links Henry’s deed to perhaps the most destructive act humanly possible; like the parallels between Mr. Hairston and the Nazis, it suggests that the most horrific actions stem from everyday human impulses.
Tears
Tears symbolize Henry’s inherent goodness in the face of evil. He cries often, and his tears at times form a bridge of empathy between himself and other characters, often convincing them that he is harmless.
Henry cries for the first time as he falls in front of George, which changes George’s opinion of Henry from a troublemaker to someone who means no harm. When Henry frightens Mr. Levine by following him, both characters cry—Mr. Levine from fear and Henry from his shock at making Mr. Levine cry. Again, the tears show his innocence, convincing Mr. Levine that Henry is a friend.
Henry goes on to betray his friend when he accidentally smashes part of Mr. Levine’s village. Afterward, he cries for the last time in the story as the “horror of his accomplishment” sinks in (29). In the manipulative hands of Mr. Hairston, he is “not so innocent” (93). His very tears, however, prove that he is a decent person who is capable of redemption and change, which his refusal of Mr. Hairston’s promised rewards soon affirms.
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