Question

What does the jar in Wallace Stevens's "The Anecdote of the jar" most likely symbolize

Answer 1

Civilization and industry-apex

Answer 2

The jar in Wallace Stevens's "The Anecdote of the Jar" most likely symbolizes human order and the drive to arrange things according to a pattern. It is there to say that nature cannot be controlled by humans - no matter how hard the narrator tries, he cannot fit the whole of Tennessee into the jar, the same way a man cannot dominate over nature.