How does the mice serve as a symbol in "my fathers song" by Simon Ortiz

It represents the kindness and decency of the speaker's father, which the speaker admires.

Explanation:

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The mice serve as a symbol in "My Father's Song" by Simon Ortiz since they represent a special moment between father and son, and the importance of their relationship. The mice are something the father found during an activity they used to do together and showed his son. "Very gently, he scooped tiny pink animals into the palm of his hand and told me to touch them" says the poem, conveying how real that moment had been to the speaker. Then, both son and father, together in complicity, protected the mice from the heat, showing their care for their relationship. The speaker associated the mice discovery and rescue to his father, to important moments by his side, to the memory of him, and to their relationship itself. So, the mice serve as a symbol of the speaker's relationship with his father, which was very precious to him and worth taking care of. They represent the speaker's memory of his father.