RE: Symbolism in Westworld: The Archetypal in Dolores and Maeve
Right, but he never returns to reality and gets upset when his imaginary world is disrupted.
In a sense much like Ford, we know Ford had an abusive alcoholic father and I think this is what drives his need for absolute control, and his inability to be anywhere but in the park; though he has to deal with The Board, he treats them with the same disregard as the hosts.
In terms of your original post on sybolism, there is the basement where hosts who are no longer wanted are sent to stand idle (for eternity, like hell?), is this because Ford (god) loves them? So is the park purgotory then, and the staff angels, watching over and caring fo the hosts? Interestingly, heaven isnt mirrorred, although life outside of the park is supposed to be ideal; so a heaven that is boring an from which we desire to escape perhaps?
There's defs something purgatorily about the host cold storage. It mirrors that the host have a dreamless sleep, which would be torture to the human mind. yet the hosts can keep long memories and its in their programming they can overcome them being wiped out. I think the hosts are more representative of angels, due to their supernatural nature.
I think the non-sentience of the hosts is an Underworld theme. Its not like hell as they forget their torture for the most part, and not everyday bad things happen; its very human as their torture doesnt really span a life narrative but a closed time narrative of a day to months. The cyclic nature of their existence is interesting in the big picture too.