How does Ann Beattie use imagery in Janus?

The bowl in "Janus" serves as both the primary image and symbol of the story. Indeed, the story seems to be more about the bowl than about the main character; Beattie takes great care to present the bowl in a variety of settings and light. Such careful attention to the detail of the bowl suggests that Beattie places the weight of the story on this image.

It is possible to view the bowl as a symbol for Andrea: smooth, perfect, empty. It is also possible to read the bowl as a symbol for the world that people of Andrea's (and Beattie's) generation find themselves in: "the world cut in half, deep and smoothly empty." In such a world, filled with materialism rather than spiritual wealth, people find themselves alone without close or intimate relationships. Certainly, it seems apparent that the bowl becomes the receptacle for and focus of Andrea's longings.

Finally, it is possible to view the bowl as a reminder of the lover who has passed out of Andrea's life. He has become the "vanishing point on the horizon," the small flash on the margins of her life. Perhaps what draws Andrea to the bowl is the statement her lover left her with: "Her lover had said that she was always too slow to know what she really loved." Now that her lover is gone, all that remains is the bowl.