Cigarettes Symbol Analysis

Cigarettes symbolize the narrator’s coming of age over the course of the novel. Initially, cigarettes reflect the narrator’s immaturity: cigarettes are banned from the narrator’s school, and anyone caught smoking is immediately expelled. Still, the narrator says that he has to satisfy his addiction—not to the cigarettes, but rather to the thrill of trying to keep up the habit despite knowing he might be caught. This reckless rule-breaking indicates the narrator’s immaturity, as he’s more concerned about seeking thrills and looking cool than he is about the consequences of his action.

One day, however, the narrator is almost caught—and a boy who was smoking with him is expelled. Following this incident, the narrator throws away his stash of cigarettes, an act that symbolizes a greater sense of maturity and an intention to be less deceptive. This incident happens around the same time that the narrator starts wanting to be more open about his identity, tying the narrator’s disposal of his cigarettes to an overall desire to be more honest and honorable—which the novel suggests are hallmarks of maturity.

Later on, after the narrator is later expelled for plagiarism, the symbolic meaning of cigarettes changes. When his teacher, Mr. Ramsey, is seeing the narrator off at the train, he offers to smoke with the narrator and gives him a pack of cigarettes to take on the trip. This shift indicates that the narrator has come of age: he no longer has to adhere to strict school rules—now, he can smoke openly. The fact that that Mr. Ramsey gives him the cigarettes suggests that he, too, recognizes the narrator’s maturity as he leaves school and enters the adult world.