The Surgeon

The surgeon, who is really a veterinarian, to whom John brings Benjamin to get his leg stitched up is the embodiment of John’s elitism. That John brings his new employee to a doctor who is implied to not be a reputable doctor of human medicine shows that he thinks Benjamin is less than he is, less than human. Benjamin’s blind acceptance of this surgeon demonstrates that he does not know any better than to use a veterinarian as a doctor because he has never been afforded the luxury of expensive medical services before.

Pigeons

The pigeons Lizzie keeps function as her surrogate children. As a woman of the late nineteenth century her keeping of pet pigeons instead of leaving her childhood home to start a family highlights her oddness within the society in which she resides. The birds function as a way of...