Symbolism in the Hairy Ape
The Hairy Ape is an expressionist play by Eugene O'Neill and was produced and published in 1922. It is a symbolic work that deals with the themes of social alienation and search for identity in the presence of technological progress (Cardullo 258). The play speaks to the industrialization that was taking place during that era. In an expressionistic play, the number of characters is kept minimal and attention is focused on a central figure with other supporting characters included but not individualized or fully developed. They serve merely as background voices to help highlight the central character's conflict. Most characters are simply representative types or members of groups and symbolic of class structures in society.
Yank, the central character and hero of The Hairy Ape, is a representative of modern workers who felt socially alienated and questioned their purpose and position in larger society. O'Neil uses Yank…...
The broken unicorn is the concrete image of their broken relationship - everything that Laura pins her hopes on but nothing in reality. Laura cannot recognize that she is special; she has the ability to make other people feel better. She tells Jim after he breaks the little figure, "It doesn't matter. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise" (Williams 1014). Her scene with Jim ends in a hopeful kiss that is filled with promise, but that is just another fleeting image (Timpane). In reality, he is engaged, and a relationship with Laura is impossible.
Williams writing can by lyrical and full of imagery, as critic Bloom notes, "He takes colloquial speech, often the colloquial speech of the South, and through a keen ear for its rhythms and patterns, its imagery and symbolism, lifts it to the level of poetry" (Bloom 67- 68). For example, Amanda, when telling her story about…...
mla
References
Bloom, Harold, ed. Tennessee Williams' the Glass Menagerie. New York: Chelsea House, 1988.
Crandell, George W., ed. The Critical Response to Tennessee Williams. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996.
Fordyce, William. "Tennessee Williams' Tom Wingfield and Georg Kaiser's Cashier: A Contextual Comparison." Papers on Language & Literature 34.3 (1998): 250+.
King, Kimball. "Tennessee Williams: A Southern Writer." The Mississippi Quarterly 48.4 (1995): 627+.
It is only with this understanding that the needless sacrifice can end.
Shirley Jackson presents a myriad of symbols in "The Lottery." The title of the story, the procedure of the lottery, the names of the characters, and the people that participate in the lottery and those that do not are all symbols or can be interpreted as such. These symbols also indicate different views of sacrifice.
Sacrifice is present in many forms using the symbols of this story. Traditional sacrifice, which Jackson symbolically criticizes as outdated is represented through the tradition of the lottery and the worn out black box. Religious sacrifice is demonstrated by the symbols alluding to Christianity and elements of Islamic culture. Sacrifice as was present in the Day of Atonement lottery is symbolized through the procedure of the lottery in the story. Notions of sacrifice including the use of a pure person and the use of…...
mla
Works Cited
Al-Joulan, Nayef. "Islam in Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery.'" Cross-Cultural Communication 6.2 (2010): 29-39.
Bogert, Edna. "Censorship and 'The Lottery.'" the English Journal 74.1 (1985): 45-47. Print.
Cervo, Nathan. "Jackson's 'The Lottery.'" the Explicator 50.3 (1992): 183-184. Print.
Jackson, Shirley. "The Lottery." Classic Short Stories. B&L Associates, 2007. Web. 12 April 2010 .
Other characters serve as more direct and specific symbols in the story. Mrs. Mercer, the guest of the narrator's aunt on the evening that the narrator finally manages to get to the bazaar, is one such character. She, like the narrator, has been waiting for the narrator's uncle to return, and both expected him much earlier than he eventually appears. Mrs. Mercer, in fact -- a "garrulous woman, a pawnbroker's widow," as she is described -- eventually leaves, not wanting to be out at night. The freedom that this otherwise pathetic-seeming woman enjoys heightens the frustration that the narrator himself feels while waiting for his uncle, and symbolizes the workings of the adult world that completely ignore and discount the narrator's own feelings due to his youth. His sexual frustration is in part due to the lack of importance and adequacy he feels at the hands of the adults in…...
Symbolism plays a major role in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's "Clothes," Ralph Ellison's "Battle Royal," and in Colette's "The Hand." In "Clothes," the narrator is a woman in India from a traditional Bengali family. Her parents go through a lot of trouble to arrange a good marriage for her, to an Indian man who now lives in the United States. The husband-to-be flies all the way to India to meet the narrator, who dresses for her bride viewing. hat she wears and how she dresses become powerful symbols of cultural and personal identity, also representing specific stages of life. In "The Hand," the narrator is a woman who was recently married to someone she barely knows, as if it were an arranged marriage. hile she is in bed as her husband sleeps, the narrator contemplates her life. Her thoughts shift to issues related to gender roles through the symbolism of her…...
In a metaphorical way, this image is transposed on the image of the woman "showing her teeth." She responds with the symbolic implications that she too is living in a sate of fear and resentment.
The reality that Elisa aspires to is again conveyed through the imagery and symbolic of a longing for a better existence. This can be seen when she whispers, "That's a bright direction. There's a glowing there." (DiYanni 464/465) the imagery refers to some other more amenable reality and relates to the underlying feeling that all is not as it should be in her life. This also relates to the images of possibility and hope at the start of the story; for example, "...she looked toward the river road where the willow-line was still yellow with frosted leaves so that under the high grey fog they seemed a thin band of sunshine. This was the only…...
mla
Works Cited
DiYanni, R. Literature: Approaches to fiction, drama and poetry. (2nd ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill. 2004.
Wyche agrees with this notion, adding that the station's position "between two sets of rails, whose significance lies 'in their figurative implications' (Renner qtd in Wyche 34), and between two contrasting landscapes that symbolize the couple's options" (Wyche). One side of the tracks, the landscape gives the couple the scene of the hills and the valley and on the other side of the tracks trees and grain flourish on the banks of the river. This scene "illustrates Jig's choice 'between sterility and fertility'" (O'Brien qtd. In Wyche 19). Johnston writes that the description of the Ebro valley "embodies the poles of the conflict too: It is both barren and fruitful. On the side which they sit facing, there are no trees and no shade, and in the distance the country is brown and dry; on the other side of the valley, there are 'fields of grain and trees along…...
All of this was represented in the figure of Daisy Miller. On the other hand, James also perceived this American entity as being and ugly American' who was uncultured, crude, ego-centered, and grasping. andolph, Daisy's younger broth, perfectly epitomizes this other allusion.
Other symbolisms appear in the Coliseum where the place itself is symbolic of the ruins of a decadent empire -- again the symbolism of a meaningless, drift less life. Famed for centuries of martyrdom and meaningless cruelty and barbarity as site of gladiatorial games, the Coliseum is fitting scene for Daisy's young life to have met its abrupt end.
Daisy, herself, may be said to have been a symbol of martyred innocence, reminiscent of the Christian (and other) martyrs brutalized in that spot.
Interwoven in the scene is Winterbourne's act of analogically throwing Daisy to the lions (as the omans did their victims long ago) as witnessed when daisy tells…...
mla
Rome represented glory and corruption, youth and vigor as well as death and decay. Daisy Miller went through all phases, both in reality and as conceptualized by Winterbourne (in other words, in the mind of her beholder). Starting off the story in the flush of youth, energy, freshness, and expectation, Daisy ends as Rome did ruined and destroyed. And her destruction was in both a moral and physical realm. Moral in that Winterbourne condemned her for her apparently loose morals, and physical in that she died an untimely death. In other ways, Daisy Miller died metaphorically, too, in that her death was unmissed and unmourned by the inhabitants.
It also has a "Merton College Library" (93) inside along with period bedrooms were "swathed in rose and lavender silk and vivid with new flowers" (93). Nick tells us that the house has "bathrooms with sunken baths" (93) and Gatsby a private apartment in the house complete with a "bedroom and a bath, and an Adam study" (93). The bathroom even has a toilet seat of "pure dull gold" (94). Gatsby's tailor lives in England and "sends over a selection of things at the beginning of each season, spring and fall" (94). All of this extravagance symbolizes a total lack of regard for anything but the here and now. Gatsby, a single man, lives in a home too large for him and he still has his own apartment in the home. He has a staff that waits on him and he goes to great lengths to keep his home…...
mla
Work Cited
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Bantam Books. 1974.
"The drowned face always staring," and "the drowned face sleeps with open eyes" are lines in Rich's poem that correspond with the symbol of drowning as death in Crane's "The Open Boat." The symbol of drowning is that of respect for nature and especially for the power of the ocean over human life.
Darkness is another symbol shared in common by these two works of literature. Although Rich's poem has a more optimistic tone than Crane's short story, both works show how the sea is not just about the power to take a person's breath away; the sea also takes away all light from human life. However, this is where "The Open Boat" and "Diving into the reck" start to differ. In "The Open Boat," the darkness of the sea consumes the characters. Some of the men die due to their rough encounter with the sea. In "Diving into the…...
These aren't real apples of course, they are symbolic of the tasks he had yet to complete, the poems he had yet to write, but he is overwhelmed by these possibilities. "For I have had too much/of apple-picking: I am overtired/of the great harvest I myself desired" (27-9). His hyperbolic description of "ten thousand" (that's one million) apples to touch confirms that he is completely overwhelmed by what was left undone. One million apples left unpicked. One million poems left unwritten. One million possibilities that will never come to fruition.
The fruit was not all good -- not all the words of the poems were worth keeping, perhaps, and those that were edited out "struck the earth…went surely to the cider-apple heap/as of no worth" (33, 35-6). Cider is not worthless, however, and the apples that fall to the ground are all part of the cycle of life and work.…...
Steinbeck utilizes the imagery to reinforce the mood of Elisa and the tone of her marriage.
Symbolism is also significant to understand the underlying issues of the Allen couple. The most compelling symbol in the story is the chrysanthemums, serving as the children Elisa does not have. It is obvious how she care for the plants that they are more to her than just plants; they are the creations that she gives back to the world. She cares for the in an extraordinary way, much like a parent would care for a child. e are told there are "no aphids, no sow bugs or snails or cutworms were there, no sow bugs or snails or cutworms" (1327) in Elisa's garden. e can also tell that she loves her plants because the flowerbed is also tended to with the utmost attention. They are an extension of her and when she gives…...
mla
Works Cited
Steinbeck, John. "The Chrysanthemums." The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Cassill, R.V., ed. New York W.W. Norton and Company. 1981. 1326-35.
Symbolism in Nathaniel Hawthorne's orks
Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of the great nineteenth century masters of American fiction. "The Scarlet Letter" and "Young Goodman Brown" are two Hawthorne works that contain heavy symbolism of sin and immorality.
Hawthorne, being of Puritan heritage, sets his "Scarlet Letter" in the seventeenth-century Puritan settlement of Boston. The protagonist of his story, Hester, is forced to wear the scarlet letter "A" on her breast to symbolize her sin of infidelity, of which resulted in a daughter, Pearl. Then when town officials try to take the child away, a young minister comes to the aid of the mother and child, enabling them to stay together. In this story, man is sinful and moreover, human maladies are essentially punishments from God. Although Hawthorne portrays the young minister as compassionate and just, he also depicts him with physical and psychological symptoms that are taken to represent an unhealthy mind…...
mla
Work Cited
Donoghue, Denis. "Hawthorne and Sin."
Christianity and Literature; 1/1/2003; pp.
Gartner, Matthew. "The Scarlet Letter' and the book of Esther: scriptural letter and narrative life." Studies in American Fiction; 9/22/1995; pp.
Modugno, Joseph R. "The Salem Witchcraft Hysteria of 1692 and 'Young
Symbols are referents which many people use in order to: (1) describe abstract feelings and concepts into concrete ones, (2) reveal ideas or truths through the use of symbols, (3) used to evoke feelings or ideas through the use of symbolic meanings or simply by (4) representation. Symbolism are used in almost every aspect of people's lives, such as the use of symbols in mathematics, science, anthropology, and other studies relevant to the study of human life. More importantly, the most difficult forms of symbolism are perhaps found in literature, wherein symbols are not bound by a set of rules just like in the study of sciences. Instead, symbols in literature are subjective, and can be interpreted into various meanings.
The concept of symbolism will be discussed in analyzing three popular and well-known symbolist poems: "Correspondences" and "To The Reader" by Charles Baudelaire and "My Familiar Dream" by Paul…...
The symbols seem extreme at first but as we become comfortable with the idea, the symbols make perfect sense.
hile some symbols in Frost's poetry are extreme, others are more subtle. In "Design," the poet uses the smallest of objects to serve as symbols. In addition, he uses them in an unusual manner to make an impact upon the reader. He tells us the spider is white, dimpled, and fat, similar to a chubby baby. The moth is akin to a paper kite. These images a re happy ones that we do not normally associated with death. The moth is rigid, even though it is like silk and the reference makes readers think of the silk lining we find in coffins. The speaker then begins to speak about the "characters of death and blight / Mixed" (Design 4-5) as the "the ingredients of a witches' broth" (7). These symbols of…...
mla
Works Cited
Frost, Robert. "Birches" Robert Frost's Poems. New York: Pocket Books. 1971.
-. "Design." Robert Frost's Poems. New York: Pocket Books. 1971.
-. "Fire and Ice." Robert Frost's Poems. New York: Pocket Books. 1971.
-. "Nothing Gold Can Stay." Robert Frost's Poems. New York: Pocket Books. 1971.
You can find great information on Scene 3 of A Streetcar Named Desire here: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/streetcar/section3.rhtml
The use of language varies a lot between Stanley (very coarse) and Blanche (full of lyric and emotion when she speaks about her husband). Symbolism is particularly important, because Tennessee Williams was very focused on more than just what was said by the characters. He wanted the people who read his work to experience more than just the words of the people in the story.
It's also possible to find the scene on YouTube so you can watch it and understand more about the motifs and....
In August Wilson’s Fences, the author explores several themes as they relate to the central themes of race, fatherhood, and manhood in the United States. One of the themes that he tackles is the concept of fate, though the approach is less about life being preordained as it is an examination of how history, social circumstances, and upbringing can combine to make some events appear preordained or fated rather than the intervention of some type of divine or supernatural fate. This contextual analysis of manhood in a political situation that seems designed to challenge it was explored by
What an excellent question! In fact, one of the things we encourage students to do is make sure that they understand what an assignment is asking them to do before tackling the assignment. A critical review is an analysis of material that you are exploring, which involves you examining its strengths and weaknesses and putting those together in a cohesive argument about the merits and deficits of the material as a whole.
Critical reviews can be used in almost any area of academic study, though the approach for a critical review will vary according to the subject and....
Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library
of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
