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Abstract Abstract: "Attic" is one of the images that appears most frequently in Singer's short stories and thus becomes a most common props symbol. Approaching from the three chain cultural symbols, namely, the placement of attic, the sights in the attic and the metaphor of the attic, this article sets to reveal the properties of “attic” that always accompanies the Jewish protagonists, particularly the Jewish city intellectuals. To be specific, the cheap residences, or rather the isolated and chaotic places that the Jews rent to live in, symbolize the Jews’ lower and marginalized social position. Also, it offers a hiding place for Jews, who have suffered tremendously in history, to isolate themselves from others and the mainstream society so as to protect themselves. Singer’s “attic” metaphorically mirrors the reality that Jews who have long been ignored, repelled and expelled by the main stream of the society and struggled bitterly in the isolated corners of the society. Key words: I. B. Singer; attic; symbol; marginalized people; loneliness
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