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Motifs Aid In The Development And Information Of Major Themes

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Motifs aid in the development and information of major themes by employing recurring structures, symbols, contrasts, and literary devices. These motifs can recur throughout mythology and modern-day religions to literature written in the 1600s. Each culture has its own interpretation of the motif used to help portray the theme. Throughout literature from various cultures and religions, motifs are identified as sharing similar or dissimilar themes. Pandora's Box from Greek mythology and the bible story of Adam and Eve share similar motifs, among them being a similar story structure. Pandora's Box, also known as Works And Days, written by Hesiod and translated by Gregory Nagy, starts with an angered Zeus. After Prometheus betrayed Zeus by stealing …show more content…

However, in Christianity, God directs Jeremiah to buy a clay jar. From there he was directed to smash it before the leaders of the people and say a prophecy (Tefan). In addition, in the Bible, clay jars are used to point out humans' weakness without god. “We may bend, but by God’s strength, we will not break or be shattered” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9). Without him, though, we are easily broken by this world. We are referenced as a jar of clay to point out our weakness without God.” (Holmes). The recurring motifs between mythologies and modern-day religion extend beyond Pandora's Box and Adam and Eve. The stories of Icarus and Lucifer both contain motifs explaining the same morals. In Greek Mythology, Icarus and his father Daedalus, a famous Greek inventor, are both inside Labyrinth. To escape, Daedalus makes each pair of wax wings so that they can escape by flying over the maze. His father warns him not to fly too close to the sun, as the wings are made of wax and they will melt. Both father and son take flight over the labyrinth. Nevertheless, in his pride at being able to fly, Icarus flies too close to the sun. His wings begin to melt, until they break

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Symbolism is something that is used very much in literature. Authors use this literary element to tell stories within the story. Motifs are a reoccurring element that has any sort of symbolic significance in a story. A theme in a story is a central concept of the story. Bernard Malamud used all three in his writings.

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Motifs can be expressed by symbols. Motifs are any elements that appears in one or more works of literature of art. Motifs explains the Theme in stories. It adds images and ideas to the theme to present throughout the narrative. Motifs provide compositions with a traceable pattern, meaning it can mean something.

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“Nothing is more wretched than the mind of a man conscious of guilt,” said the historical Roman playwright, Plautus. A motif is a recurring narrative element, such as a pattern or symbol. Authors often use motifs to reveal an underlying theme of the literature or symbolize a specific character or idea. Alice Hoffman utilizes the motif of minnows in her book “The River King” to reveal that Carlin had to let go of her guilt to overcome the grief of losing Gus. When Gus died, Carlin felt that she was at fault because they had been in a fight before his death, and this led to extreme feelings of guilt eating her alive every day.

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A motif can be an object, imagery, language, or even structure the author includes in their writing to elevate its depth and reveal things about specific characters. Throughout her novel, The River King, Hoffman uses the motif of the swans to demonstrate that the more people try to escape love, the more it will

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A literary motif is a recurring event that is present somewhat universally in many works of art and

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Motifs are narrative elements with symbolic significance that connect back to a theme. Motifs are often used to help the reader understand a character or to reinforce a theme. Alice Hoffman uses the motif of swans in her novel, The River King to symbolize that when humans try to push love away, it will always come back to them. First of all, when Hoffman is explaining Betsy’s role in the book, she mentions, “...

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1550 Words | 7 Pages

Collins depends on motifs such as food , media and surveillance ,secrets and traps as well as symbolism. She also makes use of foreshadowing and allegory to further link the events together . In a literary work, a motif is" an image, sound, action or other figures that have a symbolic significance and contributes toward the development of theme" (Litrarydevices). Suzanne Collins uses several motifs to assist in the development of the themes, such as food , media and surveillance ,secrets, forms of entrapment and solidarity . Those motifs combine together to further illustrate all themes in general and the themes of oppression and rebellion in

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As in most stories, children don’t always listen to their elders. Icarus was so excited about flying that he did fly too close to the sun. The glue melted, and he fell into the sea and was lost. Daedalus flew to Sicily and was taken in by the king. King Minos was very angry, and he made up his mind to find Daedalus.

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The Compound The theme of the Compound is cooperation. One time working together is important was when Eli and his family had to survive in the compound for 15 years thanks to the dad. Another evidence that working together is important is when Eli and the older sister tries to escape the compound. The last reason why working together is important is getting along with his sisters and brother. This is an example of how they have to work together because Eli used to only hang around his brother Eddie.

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915 Words | 4 Pages

For example, in the Greek creation myth, the humans were made from clay and

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There are a couple of accounts of the story of Pandora and the Jar. There are many similarities between the different accounts and also between the story itself and others. Pandora and the Jar is a story written by the ancient Greek poet Hesiod. It tells the story of how Zeus punished the god Prometheus for deceiving him by sending a girl named Pandora who would release suffering into the world to plague the nations. Many centuries later the author Nathaniel Hawthorn wrote the novel A Wonder book for Boys and Girls which include the story The Paradise of Children.

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the novel Red Queen Mare believes she is one of the two different types of people in the world: red and silver. Mare was born red-blooded. Silvers have different sorts of super human powers, as Reds do not, so they are treated almost as slaves to the Silvers. Reds carry out pretty much all of the dirty work. This is one of the reasons why Mare hates Silvers.

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Comparing and contrasting the similarities between the Greek mythology of Pandora and the Biblical writings for Eve, is an enlightening topic. In Greek, the name Pandora means, “all gifts.” Hesiod had written, many literary works that included Pandora and her creation by Zeus. “Theogony” was one title work of Hesiod’s and the other was, “Works and Days.” Hesiod brings to light, in his writings that Pandora was created for the purpose to deceive man.

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Native American stories have made their way into American literature and entertainment ever since cultural contact, especially the stories with animals as characters. In Native Americans stories you will notice that they use the animals as the motifs. A motif is an idea that is present throughout the whole story. They are noticed easily in the stories; they play a significant role in defining the moral of the story. Native Americans use animals to tell their stories, the animals have contest of who can do what the best or who can accomplish something that the other animal cannot.

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A motif is a recurring idea or object that helps the audience better understand a piece of literature. The witches cursing of the captain is an extremely important scene because now any other instance of insomnia can be directly related back to the witches. The correlation between the witches and insomnia can then help the audience detect the supernatural presence of the three Weird

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