Definition of forms such as painting, theatre
Definition and Summary of Symbolism (def not finished yet)Symbolism can be for example; an object, person, action, that could possibly have a deeper meaning to it.
Metaphors and similes are a part of symbolism, a metaphor can compare two unlikely things that are opposites by combining them and giving them a different meaning. A simile does the same except that these two words are not opposites but rather just unlikely words put together.It is not just seen in written text, it is recognizable in many different art forms as well.
Think of forms such as painting, theatre and even in video games such as Zelda. Think of the Triforce symbolizing power, wisdom and courage or body, mind and soul.Seeing a heart gives the spectator the feeling that this symbolises love and romance, while the heart is actually just an organ in the body. This is a form of symbolism as the literal meaning differs from that which it illustrates.Other Examples (Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter) Protagonist Hester Prynne wears an embroidered A on her garment, as she is a young unmarried women who has had sex. The A symbolises the adultery that she has committed. (Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby) Protagonist Gatsby throughout the novel gazes to the other side of the of the docks, where Daisy lives (his love interest). The green light symbolizes Gatsby’s hope and optimism for his future with Daisy.
Cheeks like roses is an example of a simile.Drowning in money is an example of a metaphor.Cultural Symbols:Mountains in Asian Literature symbolise something that needs to be overcome.The Yellow Wallpaper (Claire)PhysiciansIt’s important to highlight that these “highly-regarded” jobs were only assigned to the male characters of the story. This emphasises the gender roles of society during that time, that men were seen as the superior sex and that women were seriously oppressed. “If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency—what is one to do? My brother is also a physician, and also of high standing, and he says the same thing” – Never question a man JennieJennie symbolises the perfect women of this era. Day in day out she attends to her task as ‘a woman’ – cooking, cleaning and looking after the house while her husband works. “Jennie sees to everything now” (Gilman, 18) for the narrator, Jennie’s life symbolises everything she wants to escape from.
“The sly thing”. She has no respect or longing to live anything like Jennie or the rest of the women in her society. The pattern”broken neck, two bulbous eyes”This description of the pattern creates an image that reminds of the appearance of perhaps a dead person. The broken neck hints to us possible suicide, and the details afterwards describe the corpse as it hangs lifeless, almost like a zombie.The domestic pattern of the wallpaper (symbolizes society plans for women) creates such a nightmare for the narrator as she desperately wants to escape the typical domestic life of a women, but believes that if she does so she will end up the like women in the wallpaper – dead. The Journal The Cask of Amontillado (Lisa)The Cask of Amontillado was chosen by me due to already knowing the author and his work in a sense.
His style of writing appeases to me as it is quite dark and has heavy themes.Definition of the plotThe story of The Cask of Amontillado is set in the 19th century and is viewed from the murderer’s perspective; Montresor, as he lures his so called friend Fortunato to taste Amontillado wine in the catacombs where he murders him. Montresor was insulted by Fortunato, however it is never said what the insult was or if it truly was so bad that he had to murder Fortunato who considered him a friend and was presumably unaware of him insulting Montresor.
Montresor manipulated Fortunato in believing he had an exclusive wine called Amontillado in the wine cellar to make him join him in the catacombs leading there. He did so with words and by giving him wine on the way so he could not think clearly. Once they had gotten deep into the catacombs Montresor chained Fortunato to the wall and while he was intoxicated build a wall to lock him in forever so he could slowly die there.Analysis of the storyThis story is told by Montresor 50 years after killing Fortunato as to sort of brag that he has kept it a secret all this time. The reason he is telling this story now is unknown, however it can be presumed he must be at his deathbed and it can be seen as either a brag or a confession depending on the reader’s opinion.Metaphors and SimilesObjects, Functions, people and other items which serve as symbolismDeeper meaning to the story referenced with symbolismIn The South (Coty)Why I chose the story..
.I chose to do “In the South” because it is full and rich with symbols and metaphors that can be easily picked out and analyzed. It also helps that I enjoyed the story, and wanted to delve deeper into the story.Analysis of the story…The story of In The South is about two elderly friends.
Which focuses on life and death. Set in southern India two friends and their relationship to one another is shown to us throughout the story. The author shows us in the story the two individuals thought and views on both life and death, and to how they interacted and viewed those that are around them.Metaphors and Similes”He was my shadow,”(Rushdie)A metaphor for the relationship between the two characters. You see throughout the story how much these two rely on each other on a day to day basis and they have formed routines around each other. For example in the beginning they walk out onto the verandas at the same time, and like every other day they have the same basic conversation to start the day “Their words were not new”(Rushdie) Senior was referring to how Junior was his shadow in life, and how he probably could not see life without his friend there.”Sour fruits like you.”(Rushdie)A metaphor on Seniors outlook on life.
In the story we see Senior have a negative disposition towards life and family. We clearly see at times he does not truly love his wife he says to her “Not having much choice at my age,” he would say to her, hurtfully, “I chose you.”(Rushdie). This shows that he does not think highly of her and is cold towards her. Along with others in the story namely D’Mello “Whenever D’Mello visited Junior, Senior sulked and refused to speak”(Rushdie)Objects, Functions, people and other items which serve as symbolismThe tree:”It has stopped growing now, Junior said,” (Rushdie)Trees have been used in literature before to symbolize life and even death in the case of this story it symbolizes death. Junior and Senior had watched this tree grow for a long time. And at the point of the story that the tree is mentioned is shortly before Junior dies. And junior notices and comments on the fact that the tree has stopped its growth(Rushdie).
Which symbolizes that the tree is going to start dying. Which reflects the situation that Junior himself will be in shortly. Death.
The scooter and drivers drive byWhen the Vespa speeds past Junior and Senior, and leads to juniors fall and eventual death. The people on the Vespa kept on driving as if nothing had happened even though Senior was yelling and calling after them calling them “assassins” among other things(Rushdie). This series of events could symbolize how the younger people in this world treat and view the elderly. They rush and make decisions in life without considering or noticing the impact on the elderly for the most part, and how the old will eventually die off making way for the young to prosper. The characters last names “v”Both characters have the same last name, “they shared a name, a long name like so many names of the south, a name that neither of them cared to speak.
By banishing the name, by reducing it to its initial letter, “V,””(Rushdie) Is a symbol that represents that they are bonded together and demonstrates their closeness, even though we know from context clues that they are indeed not related. But these two friends are so close that they could very well be mistaken as such. The Yellow Wallpaper (Claire)Why I chose this story…This story offers ample opportunities for analysing symbolism as it gives the reader an insight to the larger meaning of the plot.
Overall, I enjoyed reading the story and found the theme of racism extremely interesting to read and research. Analysis of the story…This is an important story that highlights the diminishing gap between the white and African-American community. It is set in the recently integrated South of the 1960’s. O’Connor tells a story of a young graduate living with this widowed mother (Aull, 2006), as they encounter a woman of mixed race on a bus.
The Author shares with us an insight to the characters thoughts and opinions on racial issues, as well tinto complex family and community relationships.Metaphors and Similes”Julian raised his eyes to heaven” -religious metaphor”had cut himself emotionally free of her. – Julian’s relationship with this mother Objects, Functions, people and other items which serve as symbolismThe Reducing Class and the purple hatHis mother goes to a reducing class (weight loss programme) at the Y. O’Connor was particular with his choice of words here as the programme symbolises far more than her simply losing just weight, rather more her reducing circumstances. To the class she “was one of the few members..
.who arrived in hat and gloves and who had a son who had been to college.” (O’Connor, 1965) .She obviously cares a great deal about her appearance and the image she creates to society. However later on in the story, a black woman appears to be wearing the same hat as the mother.The same hat that apparently could “pay the gas bill with that seven-fifty” was spotted with a black woman.
This begins to portray the social climb of the black community at that time, and to the mother her reducing worth and value as both skin colours slowly begin to be seen as equals. A black woman could seen in the same shops and purchasing the same clothes as the white. “A purple velvet flap came down on one side of it and stood up on the other; the rest of it was green and looked like a cushion with the stuffing out.” (O’Connor, 1965).
Ironically though it doesn’t sound flattering in the slightest. Julian admits “it looked better on her than it did on you (his mother)”. (O’Connor, 1965) This emphasizes her reducing social mobility. The PennyThe handing over the penny to Carter represents his mother’s patronizing and condescending attitude towards the black woman, as well as her naivety.
An act of kindness to her probably, is instead seen to use as symbolising the continuation of blacks’ dependence on whites. (Sparknotes) The busBuses in reference to race is symbolic now following Rosa parks ‘Montgomery Bus Boycott’, where in 1955 a black woman refused to move to the back of the bus (designated area for blacks on buses in the 50’s, and for continuing to sit in the front she actually got arrested. This was the beginning of the civil rights movement being publicized in the United States. It is symbolic that the incidents and main climax of the story takes place on an bus, with all races, as it highlights again this social upward for the black community.. It also could be worth nothing that all characters get off at the same stop; all at the same point now on the social ladder.
The title “Everything that rises must converge” (O’Connor, 1965) On the one hand the word ‘rises’ symbolises African-Americans in the United states rising in social standards to join white people as equals, and unfortunately on the other hand, for Julian’s mother the ‘rise’ and ‘converge’ symbolises her blood pressure which ultimately leads in the end to her death. Saint Sebastian This early patron saint of Athletes was killed for believing in christ. “…
waiting like Saint Sebastian for the arrows to begin piercing him” (O’Connor, 1965), (describes Julian). By the end we understand he actually symbolises the mothers as similarly to him, she dies at the end for clinging onto her prejudiced beliefs. O’Connor, F ( 1965, January ) Everything that rises must Converge Retrieved from https://hubl.hu.nl/archive/file/129676Aull, F (2006, May 02) Everything That Rises Must Converge NYU school of Medicine Retrieved from http://medhum.med.
nyu.edu/view/86 Retrived from __ http://www.sparknotes.com/short-stories/everything-that-rises-must-converge/themes.html The Story of an Hour (Lisa)This story was chosen due to the name, it interested me as there can be such a great difference in the amount of events that can happen during an hour. Definition of the plotThe story of an Hour revolves around Mrs. Mallard, the wife of Brently Mallard, who from the very beginning of the story seemed to have died in a train accident. The protagonist of the story, Mrs.
Mallard, is a woman afflicted with heart troubles. From the other characters in the story the reader can deduct that she is a very fragile woman that could die even by hearing some upsetting news. Two of her family members come to visit her to give her the unsettling news that her husband has died in a train accident. Shortly after getting the news that her husband has died in a train accident. Instead of being overcome with grief, it gave her a sense of freedom for the first time. She cries, but those are tears of joy rather than sadness. Further along the story, nearly every single element she interacts with references or symbolises to her new found freedom. She is overcome with happiness up until the final moment of her life and the end of the story where she discovers her husband is still alive and her freedom and, with that shock, her life are taken away from her.
Analysis of the story <<<<<<<<< The time period in which the story is set was during an era where women did not have many rights. They took their name and status from their husbands and were never really their own person. The story definitely shows this as Mrs. Mallard is being held by her husband and by becoming a widow she's essentially being freed from that state and can live by her own rules.Metaphors and Similes""Go away. I am not making myself ill." No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life throughthat open window." contrasting making herself ill by standing in the open window and feeling more alive than ever unlike her husband whom she presumed dead.
“She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.” wishing to live long and happily, to shuddering at the thought that she might live long but not being happy in the slightest.Objects, Functions, people and other items which serve as symbolismFreedom is symbolised by an open window full of opportunities.Her heart disease could refer to her situation of not having certain love or freedom anymore, limiting her in her life.
She goes from facing an open window but sinking into a chair, being held back by the exhaustion. To breathing and standing in the window, a closed door behind her, and seeing the world open up in front of her as if the chains holding her back are being released not scared anymore.Dull eyes gazing into the blue open sky. Dull eyes being her sickness or her weakened state longing for the outside world, the blue sky.The weeping, or crying, she does after hearing of her husband’s death can symbolise her letting go of her constrained past.”countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves”, Sparrows in literature often represent a bad omen and death, but in Greek mythology the birds are seen a sign of love. In The Story of an Hour this love may even represent the love Mrs.
Mallard feels for her new life of freedom.The name of the protagonist is Mrs. Mallard. A mallard is a duck and ducks can symbolise insulation from the outside world.
Mallard being the name taken from her husband might symbolise that her husband is trying to protect her from the outside world.”clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the west” the west may symbolise freedom as well as death due to it being the direction in which the sun sets and the world of the dead is located.Deeper meaning to the story referenced with symbolismThe name itself may bring a deeper meaning to the story of this woman. Perhaps the The Story of an Hour aims to tell the story of the main character. More happened during this short hour in her life compared to her whole life of confinement. Which seems fitting as after this hour her life ends, being it physical as well as emotional due to seeing her husband alive again and realizing her life of freedom is taken away from her once again.
Hanwell in Hell (Coty)Why I chose this story…I chose this story simply because I liked it. I was able to relate to Hanwell in many ways. It gave me issues with finding symbols, but I managed in the end.
Analysis of the story…This story revolves around the memory of Mr. Black’s about a man he met in the past named Hanwell. Hanwell was a man who had lost his family due to the suicide of his wife. His three children had gone to live with their uncle, and Hanwell even though you do not find out until the end desperately clung to the hope that they would return to live with him in his tiny home.
This story in my opinion is about Hanwells depression, and hope for the future more than just Mr. Blacks memories of Hanwell.Metaphors and Similes”Different life”(Smith, 2004)This is a metaphor to the experiences of the past feeling as though they were in a different lifetime. Hanwell and Mr. Black had just discussed their respective times during World War Two. Sharing their units, places they had been, battles they had taken apart of, and other memories from the war(smith). These experience probably felt as though they were detached from his current life and were something that he had left behind a long time ago, please note I am putting myself and my experiences in Hanwells place to put myself in his shoes to get a sense of what he may have been feeling, because I too have been to and experienced war.
Objects, Functions, people and other items which serve as symbolismHanwells DemeanorHanwells demeanor throughout the story is a symbol of his defeated self and his depression he is feeling in his life. All through the story we see Hanwell look down at his feet, looking off in the diner as though he is afraid, and his wary nature, all of which Mr. Black mentions of Hanwells actions and Demeanor(Smith, 2004). These are all things that tell us as the reader that Hanwell feels defeated and depressed.Hanwells comment on beautiful women.Hanwell says “A signal that the world is good.
Beautiful women help you know that.”(Smith, 2004). This simple phrase symbolizes indirectly how he views his own daughters. We find out that he misses and hopes his daughters will return.
And that statement could be his way of saying that his daughters are what he feels that are all that is good in his life even though they are absent, and it’s one of the things that gives him hope despite that we can can probably surmise that he is battling some sort of depression.The foxIn the story Hanwell uses his boot to snap the neck of a maimed fox to put it out of its misery(Smith, 2004). This simple act symbolizes the way that Hanwells former wife commited suicide. It is also this readers belief that even though there is no evidence of it in the story it could have been Hanwells way of saying that he wishes he would be put out of his misery due to his depression.
The red paintHanwell finds out from Mr. Black that the “yellow” paint he bought to paint the room he set aside for his daughters was not in fact yellow. And Mr. Black comments to himself as he paints “The red paint was so dark that it repelled the light”(Smith, 2004). At this point the red paint can symbolize the relationship between Hanwell and his daughters, how he keeps sending “rays of light” in the form of letters to his daughters, and they like the red paint repelled all advances from him(Smith, 2004).