Rain barrel, "Show Them a Good Time"

The rain barrel in the narrator's parents' yard in "Show Them a Good Time" is a symbol of the narrator's mental instability in the days after she has returned to her hometown from the city. She first notes that the rain barrel "was a measure of time" (5) because the rain had collected there during her absence—she is likely feeling depressed that she is right back where she started from and has little to show for it. She then notes, "something about that rain barrel made me want to be reborn. I could see myself sailing through the murk, the dirty leaves framing my face, the blueness of the barrel bringing out my inner Virgin Mary" (5). This implies that she may even be thinking of drowning herself in the rain barrel, and these feelings cause her to realize, "It was...