What are some symbols in the short story "Butcher Bird," and what are their possible meanings?

Wallace Stegner uses several kinds of symbols in "Butcher
Bird." The first is the butcher bird of the title, which symbolizes hunting and killing,
whether it's prey or the lifes and souls of family members. Other symbols that stand for
the way of life represented by the father are an inhospitable land, hours of hard work
to gain a selfish pleasure, the cold-beer icehouse, which symbolizes utter
selfishness.

Other symbols that stand for the way of life
represented by the boy's mother are music and flowers, these too can be found in an
otherwise inhospitable land, which makes far less inhospitable; they symbolize nuturing.
Old-Man-on-His-Back symbolizes generosity and the value of another person which is in
oppostion to the selfishness and devaluing of others' humanity that is associated with
the icehouse.