La Paloma (spoilers)

Fausta sang about a dove that had lost its soul because of paralyzing fear over what it had seen and experienced, and she exhorted the dove to conquer its fear and find its soul, find it in the earth. So I found it very compelling that, when the dog was sniffing at Fausta's potato plug and Fausta found a sick dove, she sacrificed the dove to the dog so that she could escape the dog's inquisitiveness.

At first I thought the dove in the song represented Fausta, and so when she sacrificed the real dove it seemed as if Fausta was saying that she, an ailing dove, was so deeply frightened she couldn't deal with her fears even to save her own life. But now I think the song dove represented Fausta's mother ("find it in the earth" referring to burial) and so the scene with the sacrificed dove seems to foreshadow Fausta finding the inner strength that will allow her to bury her mother, and their fears with her.

Any thoughts?