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Use of Symbolism
Essays on symbolism
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Use of Symbolism
Essays on symbolism
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
An example of Symbols being used is in Night by Elie Wiesel he says ¨never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky.¨ These sentences are symbolizing the babies that he saw die and then be burned in the fire. Another example in the book night is “Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever.” this uses imagery to create a vision in your head of what it was like to be there.
A house characterized by its moody occupants in "Schizophrenia" by Jim Stevens and the mildewing plants in "Root Cellar" by Theodore Roethke, fighting to stay alive, are both poems that reluctantly leave the reader. The house in "Schizophrenia" raises sympathy for the state the house was left in and an understanding of how schizophrenia works as an illness. In "Root Cellar", the conditions disgust at first, but then uncover a humanly desperate will to live in the plants. Both poems contribute to their vivid meaning by way of well placed sensory details and surprising personification.
In the novel Night, the word night ironically is a motif, appearing again and again throughout the novel. One of its many appearances occurs near the beginning of the novel when Elie and his family are going to move into a smaller ghetto. “It was to be the last night spent in our house.” It next appears on the train when they hear that Aushwitz will be their last destination and that conditions were good. “Suddenly we felt free of the previous nights’ terror.”
Night gives a gloomy and desolated feeling, a feeling horrifically fitting to the scenario they were in. A clear and vivid example of this is when the farmers threw food into the wagons to see a fight and watch humans murder each other over crust from bread. One boy kills his own father just to get a small piece of bread!
Symbolism is the use of symbols to portray something else in the story. The Great Gatsby uses this device very often. An example of this would be, "Involuntarily I glanced seaward-- and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock. " The green light, in this case, represents a better life and/or Daisy. Gatsby is the one looking toward the green light, which is "minute and far away" to say that he craves it, but it's just out of his grasp.
Symbolism in literature was appeared in mid 19th century in France. It is the use of an item that causes the reader to think about what it stands for. The meaning it holds depends in the individual. Therefore, different people may have different understanding to the same
“Having anxiety and depression is like being scared and tired at the same time. It 's the fear of failure but no urge to be productive. It 's wanting friends but not socializing. It 's wanting to be alone but not wanting to be lonely. It 's caring about everything then caring about nothing.
In Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” he writes a story about a husband's journey to his epiphany. Robert, a blind man, teaches the husband how to see without his eyes. Often a person with the ability to see takes this for granted, leaving them only to see what is on the outside rather than seeing people, and things for what they really are. In this short story, Carver conveys the narrators epiphany through the symbol of the cathedral. Carver develops a story with symbolism throughout his story, beginning with the first line, “This blind man, an old friend of my wife’s
“Symbolism is the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense.” Symbols can add a deeper meaning than just an object itself that the author is trying to make. Symbols can also foreshadow what is yet to come. The audience can interpret a symbol in many ways it depends on their experience. In Southside Chicago the Younger family is struggling to have hope as they are always facing society.
Symbolism in general is the building blocks to all sources of literature and can shape a piece of writing in many ways. Symbols in general can portray what something or someone represents, giving a deeper and metaphorical meaning to a symbol. Symbolism is often used within poetry, literature, music, or even art. This is how an author conveys a different meaning to the audience. For example artists may use the color “red” not only because of the color theory, but to convey love, passion, and maybe even health.
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a short story told through diary entries of a woman who suffers from postpartum depression. The narrator, whose name is never mentioned, becomes obsessed with the ugly yellow wallpaper in the summer home her husband rented for them. While at the home the Narrator studies the wallpaper and starts to believe there is a woman in the wallpaper. Her obsession with the wallpaper slowly makes her mental state deteriorate. Throughout The Yellow Wallpaper Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses many literary devices such as symbolism, personification and imagery to help convey her message and get it across to the reader.
(p. 65) Night is used as metaphor for darkness and death in the book “Night”. The first quote tells us that the experience was so bad in the camp that he can’t forget it. Because he can’t forget what has happened he has become a shadow for his life that makes him remember the terrible experience, which sealed his life. His life is sealed, because of the bad experiences that he had gone through.
Symbolism can use an object (like a tree of birds), or art, (like Melinda’s art project or Mr. Freeman's canvas) to represent an abstract idea. Laurie Halse Anderson uses symbolism to hint at a certain mood or emotion, rather than just blatantly saying it. So, the use of symbolism is important because it helps create meaning and emotion in a story. Symbolism makes a book fun to read, the symbolism produces a thought provoking work of art and it, (like in this book), adds meaning to seemingly unrelated objects and elicits emotions in the
Symbolism is an artistic expression used in writing when one thing represents another. Shakur uses two embedded symbols in his poem; concrete and a rose. The concrete in which the rose cultivates is not a symbol that
Alfred Hitchcock used various symbols throughout the film Psycho to allow the viewer to get an insight of what is happening in the film. Symbolism is an exceptional way to entice the viewer as it creates suspense and makes it better to understand the film. Alfred uses paintings as a symbol, which can be seen in multiple scenes, to symbolize a certain character in the film to the painting and foreshadow events in the film. This allows the viewer to get more detail on the character’s personality and what is about to happen.