A Miracle for Breakfast

The sun symbolizes obliviousness and apathy; it doesn’t shine on the people who need it. The people waiting for breakfast are “so cold” (Line 8), and the sun could heat them but doesn’t. The speaker explicitly states, “[T]he sun / was not going to warm us” (Lines 9-10). The sun represents a lack of concern for the downtrodden crowd. The sun shines on the river, the “beautiful villa stood in the sun” (Line 26), and a “window across the river” (Line 38), but none of these things require the sun. The river doesn’t need coffee and bread, the villa is privileged, and the window across the river has nothing to do with the cold, hungry people waiting for breakfast. It’s as if the sun is indifferent to the people's struggles. The sun's lack of interest adds to the theme of alienation since the sun’s apathy separates it from the people. It's possible to argue that nature, in general, represents apathy and indifference as the river doesn’t help the people. Yet some use it as something of a trash can as they “scornfully” (Line 22) flick their crumbs into it.