the symbols used in the story are:

1. house and shops- it symbolizes Aksionov's family and material possessions
2. nightmare-it symbolizes a bad omen.
3. blood-stained knife- it indicates Aksionov's lack of control over his fate.
4. the prison- Aksionov's pain and subsequent mystical transformation are symbolized by the prison.
5. the book(the lives of the saints)- gives an impression of religiosity.

There is, for sure, effect of gravity on fire. We know for a fact that fires on Earth are "pointy" while those in zero-gravity are "round". This is because fire is simply glowing gas. Gas is matter and matter has weight. For a body to have weight, gravity must influence it in some way. 

At dawn and dusk, large amount of blue and violet light(shorter wavelength) has been scattered so, the light that is recieved by an observer is mostly of a longer wavelength and therefore appears to be red.