The Paper Parcel
Analyse how symbols have been used to develop your understanding of people or ideas in at least TWO short written texts you have studied.

"The Paper Parcer" is a short story written by Owen Marshall. The story is about a boy going to a ball dressed as a paper parcel and how he loses his sexual status. The Paper Parcel symbolises the transcience of sexual preferment and the difference between the understanding of adults and teenagers.
The paper parcel helps develop and understanding of the idea of the transcience of serxual preferment. The narrator loses his sexual status when he arrives to the ball dressed as a paper parcel. When he arrives at the ball he starts contrasting everyone elses costumes to his. He makes the other costumes seem alot better than his, the narrator talks about Tommy as a "fire chief" with a hatchet at his belt  and "Dusty's Captain Marvel costume" then he says "it wasn't right" for him to be a parcel. When his date Kelly is dancing with him she has a "dull expression on her face" as if she was doing him a "favour by dancing", Kelly has obviously lost interest in the narrator and can't wait to get away from him. This shows the transcience of sexual preferment how it is short lived. The parcel costume represents his loss of his sexual status.
The paper parcel helps us understand the idea of the difference in understanding of adults and teenagers. The narrators mother thought up of the idea of going as a paper parcel. She got the idea from a new years party where the parcel was a "hit". The narrators mother thinks of the ball as some kids thing. She confirms this by saying "nobody arrives at a dance on time though". The adults have a different sense of humour as teenagers. The mother likes the parcel because it is unique and cheap and thinks it will be a hit like it was at the new years party. The teenagers dislike the costume because it looks ugly. The narrator says "a parcel, Jesus" to show how he feels about the parcel. The mother thinks the ball is a casual party and doesn't understand how important it is to the narrator. The mother shows that she believes the ball is some kids thing by comparing it to a "new years party". The Parcel shows "how little adult convention applies to the young."
In conclusion the narrator blames his parents and the costume for losing his sexual status. The paper parcel symbolises his "loss of sexual status" and how adults don't understand teenagers. When the parcel is falling apart it represents the narrators sexual preferment going away.