Symbolism of the Forest in the Scarlet Letter

Symbolism of the Forest in The Scarlet Letter In The House of Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne once wrote, “For what other dungeon is so dark as one’s own heart! What jailer so inexorable as one’s self! ” Hawthorne asserts that every individual becomes a hostage of his or her own heart. This idea is displayed throughout The Scarlet Letter to portray how Puritans lived under the constant repression of the Puritan society. Puritan society lived by laws that allowed no means of freedom or happiness and kept their citizens under a strict moral law code.

The Puritan civilization imprisons members of society to the point where they are crying out for freedom. Therefore, hostages of his or her own heart embark on a journey to free themselves. This is displayed continuously in The Scarlet Letter through its use of the forest. In the novel the forest consists of multiple meanings. It serves as another world apart from the Puritan society, and it provides a haven in which people break free from the social order.

Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne presents the forest as a symbolic figure to exemplify free will, bring forth the natural personalities of the characters, and to represent a dark civilization within the Puritan society. First, the forest is a symbol to epitomize free will in The Scarlet Letter by presenting the forest as a safe haven with no rules or individuals who scrutinize every action being made. Thus, the townspeople approach the forest to reign free with their desires and longings.

For example, Hester longs to meet Dimmesdale and determines that the forest is the safest place as she is allowed to meet with him without the town knowing. As Hester and Dimmesdale greet each other, “…it was like the first encounter, in the world beyond the grave, of two spirits who had been intimately connected in their former life, but now stood coldly…” (Hawthorne 198). For the first time in seven years they are able to meet with each other in private without needing to worry about being caught. Surrounded by the twilight in the forest, Hester and Dimmesdale slowly start to open up to each other.

They freely begin to talk about starting a new life with each other as a family, and Hester slowly starts to become blissful. Hawthorne’s purpose here is to display how the forest functions as a world of happiness and love, and so the forest’s role is to create a free world without any fear. The forest allows these two young lovers to freely reunite and be happy together. Where else, the rest of the novel surrounds itself in an aura of gloominess, this one scene in the novel permits Hester and Dimmesdale to be filled with love and joy.

Also, during her conversation with Dimmesdale, Hester impulsively takes off the “A” upon her chest. It is the first and only time in the novel where Hester allows herself the freedom to remove the badge of shame. She “…heaved a long, deep sigh, in which the burden of shame and anguish departed from her spirit, oh exquisite relief! She had not known the weight, until she felt freedom! ” (Hawthorne 211). The forest lets Hester choose whether she agrees with the Puritan society or if she is against it.

Her action of taking the “A” off represents her choice in breaking apart from the Puritan civilization. The Puritans view the “A” as a symbol that represents what they deem to be right, and when Hester takes it off her chest she is breaking free from what society thinks about her. Hester’s courage to meet with Dimmesdale and the removal of the “A” represents how the forest exemplifies free will. Secondly, the forest also manages to bring out the natural personalities of the characters.

One of the characters Hawthorne uses to demonstrate this is Pearl. To Pearl, the forest is her best friend, a place where she is truly accepted. Hawthorne states, “The truth seems to be, however, that the mother-forest, and these wild things which it nourished, all recognized a kindred wildness in the human child” (Hawthorne 213). In the forest, Pearl can be as bright and joyful as she wishes because the forest acknowledges her for who she is- a moody, curious, care-free, innocent, and intuitive child who also happens to be a social outcast.

The forest also brings out her personality because of her connection with nature. Pearl is the romantic character in the novel due to her personality traits. She enjoys life and is constantly curious about the unexplainable, such as the identity of her father and the “A” on her mother’s chest. In the forest, she is accepted as a friend by all the animals, and the light constantly chases her wherever she goes. The light represents truth and purity. It constantly surrounds Pearl because she is an innocent and also a child who had no doing in the in her parents committed. A second character who brings forth their inner traits in the forest is Hester. Hawthorne uses the forest to give life to Hester and permits Hester to be herself again. She is first introduced as a beautiful, compassionate, and honest woman, but as the situation with the “A” becomes more grave Hester slowly starts to lose the characteristics she once possessed. After seven years of suffering humiliation and punishment, Hester covers her hair under a cap and her beauty and warmth are now hidden beneath the “A” on her chest.

However upon her secret rendezvous with the reverend, Hester takes off the cap on her head and all at once the air about her gradually starts to change. She becomes the person she once was, and her “… sex, her youth, her whole richness of her beauty, came back from what men call the irrevocable past, and clustered themselves, with her maiden hope, and a happiness before unknown, within the magic circle of this hour” (Hawthorne 212). She regains her sexuality, and not only does she become the person she was seven years ago, but symbolically, she removes the strict moral code of the Puritan society.

Even though it is for a short period of time, the forest gives her the audacity to be herself again. The last character who brings forth their natural personality in the novel is Dimmesdale. He starts to regain himself in the forest upon his meeting with Hester, and for the first time in the novel, Dimmesdale is happy and optimistic. Just as Hester and Dimmesdale are conversing about their escape to restart their lives with Pearl, Dimmesdale begins to believe in happy endings and his concern for what society desires dissolves for a moment in the woods.

The forest, in the end, brings out the natural individuality of the characters of Pearl, Hester, and Dimmesdale. Finally, the forest serves as a symbol to represent a dark civilization on the outskirts of the Puritan society. Hawthorne does this by presenting the readers with the story of the Black Man in the forest. All throughout the novel, the Black Man of the forest is mentioned at various points. The story of the Black Man represents a sense of superstition and true temptation in the novel.

Pearl states that the Black Man is an interesting figure who “…haunts this forest, and carries a book with him- a big, heavy book, with iron claps; and how the ugly Black Man offers his book and an iron pen to everybody that meets him here among the trees…” (Hawthorne 193). Symbolically, the Black Man represents the devil and writing one’s name in his book indicates submission to the devil and succumbing to sin. Hawthorne uses this story to display a darker world in the Puritan society and how certain characters are playing the devil’s advocate.

It presents how another world filled with evil spirits and sin lies inside the Puritan society. Another example to signify the symbolism of the forest as a dark world inside the Puritan society is with the character of Mistress Hibbins. She is known as the sister of Governor Bellingham and as the town witch. After Hester’s meeting with the Governor, Mistress Hibbins approaches Hester and inquires if she would like to join her in the forest at night. She asks, “Wilt thou go with us tonight?

There will be a merry company in the forest; and I wellnigh promised the Black man that comely Hester Prynne should make come” (Hawthorne 12). This question illustrates the wickedness and secrecy of the forest. Mistress Hibbins clearly indicates the forest as the meeting place because there are no ears to listen to them chant their magic spells and nor are there eyes in the forest to scrutinize their actions. Hawthorne uses this scene to hint that there are supernatural qualities among individuals and the town.

The forest demonstrates how it symbolizes the darkness within the Puritan society by using the Black Man of the forest and Mistress Hibbins. In the end, the significance of the forest in The Scarlet Letter is immense. The forest represents freedom and darkness hidden inside the Puritan society. It also allows the characters to become themselves again. As Hawthorne said in The House of Seven Gables, humans are the prisoners of his or her own heart and they seek escape from it. In The Scarlet Letter, the forest was the one place where any individual was allowed the opportunity to escape.

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The First Instance of Weather Symbolism in Jane Eyre

ane Eyre the protagonist Jane is isolated in her own home, in which she is treated as an unwelcomed guest, and the author begins to illustrate and convey the feelings of entrapment and constraint to the reader in this passage, often done with symbolic representation of emotion through the weather and nature in gothic novels such as this. She combines this symbolism with desolate diction and structure that mimics Jane’s daily life to communicate the feeling of imprisonment and constraint experienced at Gateshead.

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When one lives life without love, in an atmosphere of resentment they often become depressed. In Jane’s case it mostly revolves around this home in which she cannot leave. Jane is seldom allowed to speak, let alone speak her mind, she is treated like a second class citizen and because of this she is entrapped in her own mind as well as this house she “has no possibility” of leaving as she puts it in line one.

The author begins to reveal these emotions through the weather surrounding Jane; the storm surrounding the house for example is symbolically surrounding Jane’s heart. In the second sentence Bronte begins to describe an outdoor scene in which she mentions a “leafless shrubbery”, a plant that is obviously hibernating for winter and has thus receded into itself much like the way the real Jane has been trapped inside her own head.

When imagined a leafless shrubbery is quite dead looking and can only be really determined dead or alive by what the season is and as such as long as Jane remains in this home so associated with winter she will continue to be hibernating and emotionally dead. In the fourth line the weather is described as quite bleak and desolate, “the cold winter winds had brought with it clouds so somberand rain so penetrating that further outdoor exercise was now out of the question. ” (Line 4-6) Such a description evokes powerful imagery when associated as symbolic of Jane’s emotional state.

The cold winter winds are the home in which she resides as while the winds in and of themselves are painful and uncomfortable they have brought worse things with them while continuing themselves, her life in this home is painful but the people who live there with her make it all the more worse. The clouds so somber and rains so penetrating are sad images, a type of weather that most associate with being stuck inside, entrapped somewhere be it at home on a summers day or being denied the recess as a child that one most desperately wanted.

Bronte uses these universal feelings to allow the reader to associate with Jane on a level that deepens when they further read into the passage, the weather preparing the reader to sympathize with Jane. After this point in the passage weather is not brought to attention again until the last paragraph in which Jane narrates that she then at this time her younger self studied the weather outside and as she looked outside “ afar, it offered a pale blank of mist and cloud; near a scene of wet lawn and storm-beaten shrub, ceaseless rain sweeping away wildly before a long and lamentable blast. lines(37-40) Now again the weather should be taken as emotional symbolism (it is a gothic novel after all) and further illustrates how Jane’s feeling. She describes that as far as she can see is nothing but a “pale blank of mist and cloud”; this is supposed to symbolize the all encompassing feelings of entrapment in effect. Mist and clouds when thought of hide all but what is in front of one’s face, the overcome all barriers and leave one hidden from all.

The point of all this mist is to illustrate what Jane is thinking, all she can see in front of her is more of this wet mist, mist being a smaller scale version of a storm as both are clouds, all Jane sees is more abuse in this home, some of which was just shown in the preceding three paragraphs. The symbol mentioned is that of the shrub now beaten down by this great storm, Jane has been just been verbally beaten by her Aunt. If someone has ever seen the aftermath of a great storm, such as the north east recent experienced at the hands of hurricane Sandy, they will see how what should be proud old oaks can be brought down so low.

This sentence ends with Jane describing a “ceaseless rain sweeping away wildly before a long and lamentable blast”, the ceaseless rain here can be thought as the aunt who in this home wields as much power as a force of nature, i. e. the rain, and this power that she wields often is used to bring Jane down just like the storm beaten shrub. In what sort of institution does the system attempt to break its occupants? Prisons and jails do which brings this symbolism all back to this feeling of submission and loss of control.

This shrub/Jane is now so bent and broken that she is about to give in with one last “long and lamentable blast. ” (Line 40) Jane is in a truly grand home full of all sorts of amenities but no amount of materialism can protect her and is in fact making her feel even more entrapped and constrained, she is without love and this wealth is “protecting, but not separating [her] from the drear November day. ” Bronte uses diction to subtlety introduce thoughts of Jane into that of the reader.

The vocabulary that Bronte uses in this passage often is what one would associate with bad days, depression and giving up. The very first line of the passage is a denial, “there was no possibility of going outside”, she is literally being constrained in what she can and cannot do. This is further expanded on by her treatment by her aunt. It allows for a springboard effect in which her use of this type of language prior to the incident in which the actual trouble starts allows for the incident to seem worse or more profound than it would alone.

She is down trodden and the in regards to changing this… “There is no possibility”. (Line 1) The second paragraph provides keen examples of this with lines such as “dreadful was the coming home in the raw twilight….. humbled by the consciousness of my physical inferiority… ” Jane is overwhelmed by emotions of entrapment and constraint, these emotions are often accompanied by the feelings Bronte uses in this line.

Repeated abuse and confinement often make one “raw” and have a certain connotation that one would describe as “dreadful”. Entrapment and constraint often make the victim either submissive or rebellious and Jane can be considered the former, she is “humbled by the consciousness of her physicalinferiority” and the author is using these secondary emotions that go along with entrapment in order to cover the full range of emotions associated with it as well as make what she is trying to convey more clear.

If Jane was described as happy-go-lucky and optimistic then the idea that she was feeling so suffocated would lose much of its potency. The language of this passage is there to allow the reader to not just understand that Jane is indeed trapped and constrained but also alone and saddened and defeated as one who is truly entrapped would feel. The way in which this passage is constructed allows for certain insight into how Jane’s experience at Gateshead truly is, the structure allowing for perfect example of life for this child.

The paragraphs themselves are constrained much like Jane, the first containing but two sentences and the third is a single sentence as well with the first sentence of that first paragraph being a single simple though that “there was no possibility of taking a walk this day. ” (Line 1) This simplicity from what is obviously an intelligent person, based on the fact that they remember such great detail from such an early age, indicates that some range of thought is being restricted; Jane is as restricted as the story in this egard. Jane then is describing what is going on around her and gradually becomes more complex and liberated to suddenly have her end of things cut short in paragraph 3 in which the paragraph is dominated by her aunt’s dialogue. When someone is dominating another person that person is constrained. This long winded speech by the aunt is then followed by the single line “What does Bessie say I have done? ” to be overcome by another long complex statement by the aunt.

Jane is sandwiched by her aunt’s tirades and after she is beaten down the symbolism previously discussed begins again in which the weather dictates emotion. The weather, dominance, weather pattern illustrates that it is her aunt that is making Jane feel the way she does and further proves these feelings of entrapment and constraint to the reader. This scene being the way Bronte chooses to prove how far and by whom this entrapment and constraint has come to be.

In true gothic fashion the winds and rain show the raw emotions of Jane Eyre on display, the diction preemptively brought the reader closer to Jane and the structure of the story illustrates the everyday occurrence of such abuse on this poor child. The use of these elements in which she told her story has allowed Charlotte Bronte to subtly convey the deep feelings of constraint and entrapment of Jane on a level copied for generations.

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Symbolism in A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner

Abel Girma Mr. Lucky English Language and Literature IB Y1 04 September 2012 Word Count: 1087 The Consciousness of Symbolism in “A Rose For Emily” “Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair” read the last lines of “A Rose for Emily”, a short story written by the American author and Nobel Prize laureate William Faulkner, published in 1931.

These last words put a shocking and rather disturbing end to this piece depicting the strange life of Emily Grierson, and her obdurate refusal to adapt to changes in her life, living in her own non-transforming world. Various symbols are used throughout the text although Faulkner did not use any kind of conscious symbolism. The validity of this claim lies in his Nobel Prize in Literature acceptance speech, his biography and his interview on the meaning of “A rose for Emily”. Emily Grierson is portrayed as “A fallen monument” from the very beginning of the story as the narrator starts to describe the ceremonial procedures following her death.

Soon after, her home, a “house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies. ” (Section I of “A Rose for Emily) Is adjacently undermined as “an eyesore among eyesores ” (Section I of “A Rose for Emily), invaded by the deteriorating and industrialized neighborhood that used to be an illustriously reputed neighborhood in the 1970s. This is a fine example of symbolism used in the text as it gives an inkling of the stubbornness in which Emily, a southern woman has lived her life cleaved to the past and immersed in old southern traditions.

Similarly, the “Rose” in “A Rose for Emily” is a thought-provoking symbol due to the fact that it is never mentioned throughout the totality of the story. The interpretations of the “Rose” are unbounded and debatable. It can be understood as being a rose of sympathy Faulkner would like to dedicate to Emily for she had lived an undeniably grim life of solitude and misery. It can equally be interpreted as a rose representing the love Emily desperately needed in her life but never truly found, seeing as a rose generally symbolizes love in most cultures.

Likewise, another shock kindling and incontestably pivotal symbol in the story is confined within the last sentence, “the long strand of iron-gray hair”. These last words reveal the gruesome moral depravity in which Emily lived a great part of her life, sleeping beside the decaying corpse of Homer, the first potential true-love in Emily’s life that decided to leave her soon after they started spending a lot of time together. The strand of hair symbolizes the often heretical path which people cross in the quest for love.

There is not a clear enough correlation between most of the symbols and what they symbolize for them to have been an application of conscious symbolism. Furthermore Faulkner himself has ascertained that he doesn’t rely on consciously using symbolism to channel his philosophies as an author. Effectively, William Faulkner blatantly denies using any conscious symbolism. He explains: “I was simply trying to write about people […] it was no intention of the writer to say, Now let’s see, I’m going to write a piece in which I will use a symbolism […]” (extract from the interview “A Meaning of “A Rose for Emily”).

This quotation further validates the argument that the symbolism used by Faulkner was unintentional. Ray Bradbury, one of the most renowned American writers of the 20th century explains his take on this topic in a response to a letter from a 16 year old student in 1963. The student wanted to know more about the use of symbolism in literary works so Bradbury stated that “I never consciously place symbolism in my writing. That would be a self-conscious exercise and self-consciousness is defeating to any creative act. [… ] The best symbolism is always unsuspected and natural. Faulkner also describes his main interest as a writer as being about “the human heart in conflict with itself” (Nobel Prize acceptance speech). Thus, his sole purpose as a writer goes against the act of using conscious symbolism. Accordingly, in “A Rose for Emily”, he tells the outlandish, yet compelling story of Miss Emily Grierson’s internal conflict in the pursuit of happiness and love that leads her to unorthodox – even satanic – acts. Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” offers symbols with limitless interpretations and therefore proves to a considerable extent that the use of those symbols weren’t conscious.

Moreover, It would be contumelious not to agree with the author when he denies the use of conscious symbolism. Symbolism in “A Rose for Emily” is consistently present and plays a major role in the possible readers’ interpretations of the story’s message. However, the use of symbols in a literary work is inevitable and isn’t always a product of a conscious act. This means that the fact that there is symbolism in the text isn’t a contradiction to the author’s initial goal which is writing a mere ghost story inspired by “a picture of a strand of hair on the pillow in the abandoned house. (Interview on The Meaning of “A Rose for Emily”). Consequently, the unconscious symbolisms within the story give it sophistication and depth due to its readers’ interpretations, not due to the immoral act of imposing symbolism upon them. The American author Isaac Asimov encompasses the answer to the controversy of the use of symbolism in his response to the same letter about from the 16 year old student: “Consciously? Heavens, no! Unconsciously? How can one avoid it? ” Faulkner did not use conscious symbolism in “A Rose for Emily”.

Numerous applications of symbolism are present in this short ghost-story and they do hold a non-negligible position in the overall meaning of the piece based on each readers’ understanding of them. Nevertheless, the literary virtuoso, William Faulkner did not intentionally place these symbols as a means to convey his message in a latent manner. In lieu of doing so, he straight-forwardly wrote a simple ghost-story containing inevitable symbols. As a matter of fact, we may ask ourselves: to what extent is the conscious use of symbolism in literature in order to convey message, efficient and effective?

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Symbolism to the Journey

Whether we are reading a poem or a short story, there is a story to be found within. The writer is able to capture readers with their use of rhythm, characterization, or a fairy tale setting, among many other things throughout their writing. It is imagination that allows us, the readers of these stories and poems, to be able to fill in the blanks or mentally visualize what the writer wants us to see through use of descriptive words or symbolism. In the poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost, the short story “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, and the short story “Used To Live Here Once” by Jean Rhys I noticed a common theme.

No matter what lonely journey we find ourselves on, we determine how the journey ends. The lonely journey that each of these literary pieces tells about is presented differently in each writing. In “The Road Not Taken”, Frost used “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood” which told me that there was a forthcoming journey; he also used “and sorry I could not travel both” as a way to share that he had to make this decision of which path to take. Frost also used the word “I” many times, which allowed me to imagine him alone. In “A Worn Path”, Welty used the word “she” throughout the piece which gave me the image of this woman walking alone.

The character spoke to animals “’Out of my way, all you foxes, owls, beetles’” and so forth. When the writer posed this conversation in the story, it gave me the feeling of loneliness. This woman was so lonely, she spoke to animals. The path that she was walking “ran up hill”. The idea that this path she was on was up a hill provided symbolism of a hard life. To me, walking up a hill would be hard work to get to the destination. Since the description of this woman had been of an aged woman, “her eyes blue with age” and her numberless branching wrinkles, it was a pity to find this woman walking alone up hill.

In “Used To Live Here Once”, Rhys, too, used the word “she” many times to describe the character in the story. The usage of a singular word painted the picture of loneliness. “She was standing by the river” and “She came to the worn stone steps”. This woman was in this journey alone. In each piece of literary writing being discussed in this paper, the loneliness throughout the journey is clear. However, the ending to the journeys vary because of the choices the characters make. We will address this further on into the paper. The setting of a story or poem is what draws the reader in.

I found myself reading “The Road Not Taken First”. The reason was that it starter out with almost a conflict of where the poem could take me. With the first line being “Two roads diverged in yellow wood”, I found myself wondering where the pathways would take me. As the poem began, I found it to be written in first person sine the writer used “I” as the main character term. Frost wrote “and be one traveler, long I stood”. This enabled me to actually step into the characters’, or the writer’s, shoes and see these pathways from his perspective.

I like being able to feel as if I am in the story. Frost wrote about one path that it he could see where it “bent in the undergrowth”. He went on that the other path “was grassy and wanted wear”. This painted a picture for me of actual woods, split into two pathways, both different most likely ending in a different place. In the back of my mind, I had an idea that these were symbolic of something much bigger. The symbolism within the poem “The Road Not Taken” was abundant. “Two roads diverged could be seen as two things, two jobs, two ideas, two of anything that one could choose between.

The word “yellow”, as used to describe the two roads in which Frost could choose is symbolic of aging or decay. To me, it seemed as if Frost could have been in a mid-life crisis, in which he felt old and needed change, and he had two new roads, of which the pathways and endings were unknown, to choose from. One path had been the one he was on, but did not know where it would end. The other road was grassy, seemingly vibrant, and the ending, too, was unknown. Frost referred to the both paths as “in leaves no step had trodden black”. In his description, the use of the word “black” shows symbolism of death.

It seemed as if Frost was analyzing his choices and was seeing that his alternative pathway, although it did look enticing, he wondered why no one else had come back if they had taken that path. He knew that either path would ultimately lead to death, as that was his fate. There came a turning point in the poem where Frost went from indecisiveness to having made up his mind of his choice. Instead of being in front of two paths “in a yellow wood” he ended the poem that he was in just “a wood” in which he had chosen to stay “on the first for another day”.

It appeared to me that his analysis of the paths he could choose from lead him to understand that the unknown is not as enticing as the known. According to John Savoie, the contradiction lies within the idea that both paths were “equally lay” but Frost chose to take the path of least resistance which indeed is arguable as there is “a lack of distinction between the roads”. (Savoie, 2004) His journey, although seemingly lonely, was determined by the decisions he made or would make. The second piece I read drew me in because the setting was not one of mystery, but instead it was one of pity. Used to Live Here Once” was the second piece I chose to read. The setting was one of sadness. I could visualize this woman “standing by the river” and “remembering each one”. It gave me the idea that she had been there long before but had forgotten the beauty of the river over time. Sad beginnings to literary pieces are not something that normally draws me in. However, the story grew more intriguing to me as the setting moved to her old home. When she noticed that “the screw pine was gone”, I still felt the pity and sadness for the character.

Since the writer chose to write in a third person perspective, it was difficult for me to actually identify with the character personally. Rhys wrote “it was strange to see a car standing in front of it”. The personification of this car “Standing” in front of her old house was difficult to be considered strange since it was not an actual feeling of the character but instead an observation by the writer. In fact, the idea that the writer was this close to the character made me think she was speaking of herself in third person.

Elizabeth Abel wrote a piece on Jean Rhys saying that Rhys’ writings typically subject us to “sparse and repetitive narratives” and “are variations of themes of failure and rejection. (Abel, 1979) This could be, perhaps, how the writer was able to make me feel as if, although told in third person, I was able to identify with her more closely. I was able to feel was the pity that the writer felt for the character through the words, such as when she spoke “shyly” to the kids but they did not hear her. This, too, solidifies the idea of Abel that Rhys wrote of perhaps herself in yet another rejected scenario.

It seemed as if the journey was lonely for this character. The words “she” tells me this and also the fact that the setting is very calm and serene but without emotion from the character. From beginning to end, Rhys used symbolism to allow me, the reader, to relate and perhaps dig deeper into the meaning of things. The character stood by the river, which is symbolic of life. She did not walk into the river, she stood by it. This is symbolic of the entire story itself, since in the end of the story we find that the woman was indeed already dead and looking back into her own life. This was a journey that the character took alone.

The character then walks down a road. This road is very symbolic to this story. The description is that the road is “much wider than it used to be”. This indeed tells me that the character took her life for granted. She had never truly taken the time to see the beauty in the things around her; this is why the road seems so much wider to her now that she has passed on. The day “was a fine blue day”. The color blue is used to tell the reader that it was a peaceful day. Rhys wrote on to tell us that the character noticed the pine tree was missing from outside of her own home, as her journey led her to her old doorstep.

This is symbolism of immortality. Her old house had been painted white, which provides the feeling of life or purity. The character’s observation of the boy and girl playing in the yard was one that I will never forget. The colors of the yellow grass as she approached them and the gray in the boy’s eyes as the character tried to speak to him. This is when I first realized that the character was indeed a ghost looking in on her old life. The usage of colors throughout “Used to Live Here Once” is what drew me into this story. At my initial read of this story, I just thought that the writer liked colors.

When linking these colors to symbolism, it gave me a much deeper perspective on what Rhys was trying to tell me, the reader. The lonely journey that this character was on was reflective of the lonely journey she lived when she was alive. It, once again, confirms that the decisions we make in life are what determine the ending of our journey. The last piece, “A Worn Path” had a setting that would draw in any reader who appreciates in-depth detail that, although in third persona narrative, makes you, the reader, feel as if you are standing there in the story along with the character.

The setting throughout this story is indeed a pathway through the woods. Welty started the story out with “a bright frozen day early in the morning”. I hate being cold, personally, but Welty’s initial setting description made me feel excited to see what would happen if I read on further about the events on the “frozen day”. According to journal writer, James Robert Sanders, “the story begins conspicuously on a cold December morning, and just as quickly we are made aware that there is an old black woman”. Suanders, 1992) Continuing my reading, I found the character, again noting the use of the singular “she” throughout the piece, to be “an old Negro woman” “along a path through the pinewoods”. Welty described this woman as “very old and small and she walked slowly”. The pity set in on me at this point to think that a lady of her age was walking alone in the woods. She carried a cane, “made from an umbrella”. The setting, although starting out in an exciting manor, had, at this point, turned more so into pitiful. She seemed destitute by this fact.

There she was, in the woods alone, using an umbrella to swat through the brush to ensure there were not any animals hiding along her pathway. When Welty wrote that “the sun made the pine needles almost too bright to look up at”, it brought me back to the excited feeling again. It was as if the story had gone from exciting to pitiful and fearful back to exciting again. I felt like Welty was trying to keep a positive spin on a negative situation. Continuing on with the reading, I found the character again in a battle, but this time with thorns from a bush.

Once she freed herself from the thorns, she said “sun so high” which again gave the offset to the negative event. Shortly after, the character was faced with a log that she must cross over a river. This woman could not catch a break on her journey but still she kept going with intent to succeed and make it to her destination. Within the story “A Worn Path”, the symbolism, the personification, and the tone are what made this story most appealing. The story, itself is interesting. However, when you add in the extra benefit of symbolism, the reader can get a more in-depth look and feel for what the writer is trying to make us feel.

This story, told in third person narrative, starts out on a “bright frozen” morning. This symbolism provided me with a feeling of hopefulness. Although it was frozen outside, it was bright. The character walked down a path. It seemed she only had one path to walk down. Her only choice was actually going down that path or not to. Her eyes were blue which gave me the feeling of peacefulness. Her face was described with golden color beneath her wrinkles and yellow color under her dark cheekbones. This symbolism gave me the idea that although she was aged and seemingly poor, she still possessed dignity and pride.

To describe the wrinkles on her face, Welty personified a little tree to be standing in the middle of the character’s forehead. Immediately, I was able to visualize this much better than I would have without this connection. The character continued on her path in the “sun” and cold, passing pine trees, thorns, and speaking to animals. The sun is symbolic of life. However, being winter outside, we know this by the use of the word “frozen” to describe the weather; we know that this is symbolic of death. I took this to mean that the character was dying but trying really hard to fight to stay alive.

Along her path, these hurdles, the thorns, the logs and creeks, the path being uphill, passing through a cotton field, the field of dead corn, her speaking to animals and imagining people along her journey in the woods, this is all part of the symbolism of things she was fighting to stay alive. It was her struggle. She began dancing with a scarecrow, something that is supposed to scare away birds, or in this case death, and here she was dancing with it. It just shows her eagerness to stay alive and fight off the negativity, the death.

Although she seems crazy throughout this journey, her own focus, the one thing that she stays sane in regard to, is life and her desire to stay alive. When the character started to walk through “trees silver in their dead leaves” it was certainly symbolic that death was shortly forthcoming. Just as I start to think she is about to die, she comes upon a spring and sweet gum and water. It was as if she was being given one more chance. She laid there on the ground and had a dream that “she reached her hand up, but nothing reached down and gave her a pull”. This dream symbolized to me that God was not ready to take her, not just yet.

That is when the hunter found her. The hunter felt pity on her and I understand this because he says he would have given her money if he could. In town, she asked a lady to tie up her shoe for her before she reached her final destination. Her need to be presentable for her entrance into the medical building to get her grandson’s medicine shows that she still has class and self-respect. Her journey to the medical building, although alone and difficult, was made possible through the love for her grandson. Had she not made that trip, her grandson would have died. Each of these literary pieces was different by means of the nding to the journey in which the character had taken. “The Road Not Taken” was a solitary journey to make the decision of which path in life to take, the one we know or the one we do not know. “Used to Live Here Once” was another solitary journey of a life after it has already passed by; it was a lesson that we should not take for granted the things in life, although simple. “A Worn Path” was one more solitary journey, but this one taught a lesson that love can conquer all. Each journey I read for this paper has taught a value life lesson. The journeys we take are altered by the decisions we make along the way.

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Symbolism – My Antonia

Literary device – Symbolism Symbolism is the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities: symbolic meaning attributed to natural objects or facts. “There seemed to be nothing to see; no fences, no creeks or trees, no hills or fields. If there was a road, I could not make it out in the faint starlight. There was nothing but land: not a country at all, but the material out of which countries are made” (10). “In all that country it was the spot most dear to me” because when all of the land has been cleared for farming, this “island” where two roads meet is the only place where the tall prairie grass still grows undisturbed” (62). Even while we whispered about it, our vision disappeared; the ball dropped and dropped until the red tip went beneath the earth. The fields below us were dark, the sky was growing pale, and that forgotten plough had sunk back to its own littleness somewhere on the prairie” (50-51). Willa Cather My Antonia In the book, My Antonia, Jim Burden finds himself an orphan leaving his beloved home to a new, stranger place. When he first arrives he observes the country and how different the surroundings are. Throughout the story Jim finally settles in and has a new friend, Antonia. Many things happen and soon we are mourning over the death of Mr.

Shimerda. His death was a big event and effected Antonia and her family. Her family was forced to work three times harder to keep themselves alive. As you transition into book two, more conflicts are invited and new symbols. There are three main types of symbolism that are appealing to the eye. The first quote uses the prairie as a symbol of Jim’s friendship with Antonia during his childhood. It may also symbolize the immigrants and the vast size of the prairie. Which may suggest both the opportunity for a new life and the overwhelming fear that goes with trying to create a new life.

The third quote is usually missed as a sign of symbolism. The gravesite is a remnant of the prairie in its purest form, and it symbolizes Antonia’s and Jim’s longing for the past. It is also unwelcoming and “the sky cries as if in sorrow, and the elements in the new land are not friendly, just as they have not been welcoming to Mr. Shimerda” (61). In the final quote the symbol is the plough. It symbolizes man’s “beautiful and harmonious” connection to the land. The imagery suggests Jim’s impending separation from Antonia and while Antonia remains on the prairie, Jim leaves for good. Willa Cather uses many examples of symbolism.

The lighting is one that is seen in many books, such as Of Mice and Men and more. A vivid description of light shows every major change that occurs in the novel. For example, at the end of the novel, after Jim leaves Antonia for the last time, he stands alone on the prairie roads in “the slanting sunlight” and reflects on the “incommunicable” past he shared with Antonia. The light from the sun is setting and at this time Cather uses the light to show the ending to Jim and Antonia’s relationship. Symbolism in this novel is important in deciding the lives, actions, and moods of the characters.

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Lord Of The Flies Symbolism Essay

‘Lord of the Flies’ is frequently read as the story of changing identities. The plot gives an opportunity to trace the process, in which several boys turn into savage beasts on an isolated island. These changes do not occur overnight, but are accompanied by a series of profound implications, which make the story extremely realistic and teaching. In this essay I will turn my attention to exploring this process of losing identity and ultimate human devastation. ‘Lord of the Flies’ is the narration about the three identities, lost through violence, savageness, and inner moral conflict.

Identity loss as the leading theme of the book

The loss of identity among boys and their ultimate moral devastation is the major conflict of the book. Golding was extremely interested in investigating the inner causes and complications of such identity loss. It is difficult to justify these irreversible changes by external conditions in which the boys found themselves, yet for someone this justification may seem possible.

The fight between their freedom and self-control has become the biggest challenge the boys had to face. In this fight self-control was tragically defeated, giving place to wildness, cruelty, desolation and violence. The humans are weak under the rays of freedom which are colored with unreason and the desire to hurt. Those boys have become the brightest depiction of the traditional human identity, regularly exposed to temptations which it cannot stand.

Ralph and his changing identity

‘Ralph too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh. The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering.’[1] Ralph’s presence on the island led him to the state when he could not control his premature instincts anymore. The outstanding feature of Ralph’s personality in this story is that he experienced the loss of his identity twice: the first took place when he appeared on the island, and the second occurred after he was elected the leader and could not successfully hold that position.

The change which occurred to Ralph could be connected to some magic spell of the island, but unfortunately this change found its reasonable explanation. Ralph was a well-bred and disciplined young boy, but being on an island without any adults significantly contributes into his identity loss. He could not perform the role of the leader and reasonably recognized the difficulties of being without parents.

The loss of his leadership identity made him realize his ineffectiveness which he tried to compensate through cruelty and violence. ‘Ralph went for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of a true, wise friend called Piggy.’[2] The moment when Ralph sees the officer and realizes that his life is saved, becomes the culmination of his devastation: he simultaneously perceives the irreversibility of his change and the power of evil which exists in every human soul.

Jack as the symbol of release from former identities

Jack is completely different from Ralph; he is not subjected to reflecting upon the despair of his identity loss. ‘I’m scared of him, and that’s why I know him. If you’re scared of someone you hate him but you can’t stop thinking about him. You kid yourself he’s all right really, an’ them when you see him again; it’s like asthma an’ you can’t breathe.’[3] In his identity loss and devastation Jack has gone beyond reasonable measures, making the other boys afraid of him.

He has demonstrated his ill nature to the fullest. Through his example, the reader reveals the tragic truth: human evil does not have any measures. The mask which he used in hunting, in reality was ‘a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness.’[4] He was unreasonable enough to call for disregarding his leadership, which broke one of the major human principles, and led to disorder and freedom to fight with each other.

Piggy: a tragic victim of his identity loss

Out of the three major characters, Piggy is the most civilized, and the biggest victim of the identity loss among the boys. This may put a contradictory tint onto the whole discussion: the reader risks thinking that reason cannot lead to any positive outcomes. Yet, this assumption is deceptive. Piggy’s age and appearance (glasses, in particular) turn him into an outcast from the start. His identity is lost through the efforts of others: he is called fatty, and he is mocked on for wearing glasses. These glasses are inseparable from his identity, as they let him watch the world in its true colors.

As soon as they are taken by other boys to make the fire, he realizes that blindness and identity loss are synonymic. The loss of his identity has not led to devastation: it has led to his death which made him the victim of those who had lost their identities earlier. ‘How can you expect to be rescued if you don’t put first things first and act proper?’[5] The tragic character of Piggy’s identity loss is that it did not stem from Piggy’s character but was urged by other’s cruelty. He was the only person who lost his identity through his death.

Conclusion

The process of identity loss leading to devastation starts from the moment boys appear on the island. They do not display any strivings towards rescuing themselves, but prefer swimming in the lagoon. They hide their faces behind the masks, and hide from consciousness, shame, and reason. Their education is turned into primitiveness – the brightest sign of identity loss. Trying to kill the boar and dancing around it in the blood dance is the scene at which transformation into savages and as a result, identity loss is completed. There is no way back towards being civilized. The gradual degradation which all boys experienced broke all connections with their previous world. The appearance of the officer on the island has indicated total devastation of the boys’ moral identity.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

GOLDING, William, Lord of the Fli

[1] W. Golding, Lord of the Flies, Penguin Non-Classics, 1999, p. 103.
[2] ibid.,  p. 184.
[3] ibid., p. 83.
[4] ibid., p. 55.
[5] ibid., p. 38.

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Symbolism in a Seperate Peace

“A Separate Peace” Throughout the novel, many settings reveal characters and events that had great importance in the book. The tree, the Assembly Room and the White Marble Staircase revealed Finny’s accident, and how the characters reacted. At the tree, Phineas is shaken from the tree and into the Devon River. Finny breaks his leg, creating the climax of the novel and a while after, Brinker hosts a trial to discover the truth about what really happened at the tree in the Assembly Room. During the trial Gene is revealed as a coward.

He begins to make up lies to show that he didn’t push Finny out of the tree. He eventually starts to proclaim that he was standing at the bottom of the tree when Finny fell. When Brinker and the other young boy who had been questioning him came closer and closer to the truth, he began to come off very defensive to the audience; arguing with what they were accusing him of. As Brinker went on and on about what may or may not have happened, Phineas will not listen, and this portrays his character as very naive.

For example, Phineas seems to be blindsided by the friendship he and Gene share, and believes that Gene truly was at the bottom of the tree, and also that he just simply lost his balance. Further into the trial, Leper Lepellier is called into the Assembly Room and clarifies what really happened the day at the tree. The truth was, Gene was standing on the limb right next to Finny and jounced the limb, causing the fall. Hearing this news, Finny is completely dumbfounded. He leaves during the trial very quietly and when Gene calls out to him, he responds, “Never mind.

I don’t care. ” This concluded the trial. The Marble Staircase is also a very significant setting in the novel. After the trial, Finny stumbles down the marble stairs, re-breaking his leg, Finny soon after dies from bone marrow entering his blood streams. This setting and the event that took place here impact Gene immensely. “Then these separate sounds collided into the general tumult of his body falling clumsily down the while marble stairs. ” Gene says this as he is listening to his ‘best pal’ fall to his death. Fifteen years later, Gene revisits Devon School.

Gene’s first visit was the Marble Staircase, where he reminisces about his best friend. Many settings John Knowles incorporated in the novel also reveal Finny, Gene and many of the other boys’ personalities. For example, one setting that was very substantial during the novel was the Playing Fields. At the Playing Fields Finny invented a gamer called Blitzball. Many of the boys enjoyed playing Blitzball (instead of the instructed game of Badminton) because Finny made the rules as the game progressed, showing his leadership as well as athletic side.

During the game, Finny created a rule that there will be no teams, showing that he wants everyone to be included. John Knowles portrays Gene as a follower within the game of Blitzball. For example, Gene does exactly what Finny tells him to, when he tells him to. Additionally, Leper Lepellier’s character is also shown within the game. At one point, Gene throws the ball to Leper, he says “Leper looked up in anguish, shrank away from the ball and voiced his first thought, a typical one, “I don’t want it! This scene shows through Lepers tone and actions that he is very shy and lonely, hence his given nick-name of ‘Leper’. In chapter three Finny and Gene take . When Finny convinces Gene to go to the beach to go to the beach with him, it reveals that Gene is willing to do everything in his power to earn Finny’s approval; even if it means failing the math test he should be studying for he would attend the next morning. While being at the beach the boys do activities such as swimming in the ocean and drinking in the bar.

This represents the main theme of the novel, “A Separate Peace,” which is the reason this setting has such great importance. At the end of the night Finny tells Gene that he is his best pal. When Gene doesn’t say the same, it reveals that Gene may not truly feel the same. Another example of a setting that reveals the characters and events is the tree. Many important events take place at the tree. For example, one night Gene and Finny take a walk to the tree and climb it together. They then decide to form the Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session.

Finny, again showing his leadership, made the rule that he and the other new members of the society would meet every night, creating something fun for the boys; creating peace. Also at the tree, Gene shows a huge betrayal when he causes Finny’s fall, and also the climax of the novel. This happened because of Gene’s extreme jealousy of Phineas. The settings John Knowles includes throughout the book help the reader understand the characters and events that happened further in depth. The settings also show the main theme of the book; creating a separate peace for the boys of the summer of 1942.

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