Although there is very little exterior action in John Galsworthy's very short, short story, "The Japanese Quince," the perceptive reader knows that an opportunity has been passed by, and that the protagonist has chosen to stay closed to the beauty of life rather than risk change. Some readers may not understand this "action," that consists entirely of not choosing and not responding; indeed, the protagonist himself is "unaccountably upset" at the end of the story, completely unaware of the choice he has made. Yet the author has, through subtle symbolism, made it clear to his readers. Galsworthy's use of symbolism, especially the technique of the double or mirror image, functions to define the restrictive lifestyle of Mr. Nilson, to illuminate the exciting potentiality of a new life, and to explain Mr. Nilson's retreat from rebirth.
             Galsworthy carefully builds the impression that Mr. Nilson's life is an empty, rigid, sterile conformity, all of which is summarized by his name. Nilson, literally "the son of nothing," may have wealth (he has a dressing room and, presumably, a servant to lay out his morning paper on the sideboard) and reputation (he is "well known in the City"), but through his name Galsworthy signals that these are worthless. Mr. Nilson's life is best described by the symbol of a circle, like the circular path in the gardens upon which he makes two revolutions before he stops. His breakfast is always at 8:30; he always reads his journal. He wears his formal, black frock coat to the office every day. He has been so caught in the routine of his married life that his neighbor of five years is a "stranger," since "They had not yet had occasion to speak to one another."
             However, through nature symbolism Galsworthy introduces the possibility that Mr. Nilson can escape his rigid routine and claim a fresh, spontaneous new life. It is spring fever that poor Mr. Nilson cannot recognize in himself when he is surprised to feel a
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