The Application of Symbolism in Domenico Starnone’s Novel Lacci

In the Italian novel Lacci, the young husband abandoned his wife and lived with another woman. Although the marriage has been maintained under the stress of tense relations, friction and cracks have long existed and broken their peaceful life. This betrayal story restores the whole story from three perspectives through the eyes of the husband, the wife, and the memory of two children. It also reveals the indifferent and uncommunicable situations experienced by everyone in the family. The shoelace that appeared repeatedly in this article not only symbolizes the entangled and chaotic relationship between husband and wife, but also symbolizes the parent-child relationship that has long been broken but still tied up with each other; another image, the cat, not only symbolizes the seductive lover in the eyes of the husband, but also represents himself who pursues the satisfaction of desire. At the same time, cat also implies the disintegration of this marriage from inside to outside. In short, in this suffocating marriage novel, shoelace symbolizes order, while cat symbolizes chaos. The cat who keeps breaking in wore away their trust and emotion, and in the end, the two people in marriage can only bind reluctantly with shoelaces and hurt each other.