Opening the Bread Box

            
             Have you ever been in a situation where you have been faced with the opportunity of putting someone else before you, and chose yourself? How about a situation when you've had to choose between something of less magnitude, then perhaps something great? Surely, there have been times in people's lives when they have taken the right path, a path that has all the benefits of being known as a first-rate person. Then what about all of those other times? Do they become irrelevant? Those times when instead of offering someone something, they hid it and pretended that there is nothing there. Also, how do they explain their inability to accept the future? People are so caught up in what is happening at the moment they are blind to the upcoming. It is human nature to perform these behaviors, but it is not until they realize the fault in these actions that they can become true to themselves and to other people. "Bread" by Margaret Atwood, is a wonderful story telling a tale of the human norm through the use of symbolism, imagery, and a focused persuasive tone.
             Throughout the story, though only one and a half pages of text, Atwood conveys a strong symbolic message. "Some of the honey runs out onto your fingers and you lick it off. It takes you about a minute to eat the bread. The bread happens to be brown, but there is also white bread, in the refrigerator, and a heel of rye you got last week, round as a full stomach then, now going moldy" (98). This quote, taken from the first paragraph of "Bread" is a prime example of what it means to be over indulgent. Not only does this describe having the bread, but it also shows the different types of bread, brown, white, rye. This shows how people are never satisfied with any one aspect of anything. This is also evident, in showing the greedy side of people. For example, no one will take less of something when they can have more. "Should you share the bread or give the whole piece to your sister? Should you eat the piece of bread yourself? After all, you have a better chance of living, you"re stronger.