Death on a Leipzig Balcony

Death on a Leipzig Balcony is symbolic of the past mattering in the present. Death on a Leipzig Balcony is an April 18, 1945 black-and-white photograph taken by Robert Capa. Nora is so overcome in the present by the photograph and the past that she attempts to destroy the photograph itself.

Black ink

A bottle of black ink symbolizes heartbreak and the desire to change or erase the past. Nora hurls a bottle of black ink against Death on a Leipzig Balcony, but the photograph is protected by a glass frame. The past cannot be changed or altered. Nora resents that Bernard was killed not long after the photograph was taken. She feels as if she could change or alter the past by destroying the photograph leading up to Bernard’s final moments.

Photographs of Bernard

Photographs of Bernard represent an ill omen. Before...