Symbolism In A Quilt Of A Country

“We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is that they invent us; we are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges” (Gene Wolfe, Shadow & Claw). How do the texts use symbols to develop an individual’s role in society? In A Quilt of a Country, Anna Quindlen used a quilt as a symbol, in Once Upon a Time, Nadine Gordimer used the parents as a symbol, and in the Gettysburg Address, the symbol used by Abraham Lincoln were the soldiers who fought for our nation; these symbols help the reader understand the Man vs. Society conflict. A Quilt of a Country uses the symbol of a quilt. “America is an improbable idea. A mongrel nation built of ever-changing disparate parts… [a nation] built of bits and pieces that seem discordant, like the crazy quilts that have been one of its great folk-art forms…” (Quindlen, 3). The quilt represents unity. Despite the difficulties, America managed to

“[The security fence] was the ugliest but the most honest in its suggestion of the pure concentration-camp style, no frills, all evident efficacy. Placed the length of walls, it consisted of a continuous coil of stiff and shining metal serrated into jagged blades, so that there would be no way of climbing over it and no way through its tunnel without getting entangled in its fangs. There would be no way out, only a struggle getting bloodier and bloodier, a deeper and sharper hooking and tearing of flesh” (Gordimer, 16). The parents represent fear. They took more and more security measures to protect the family from burglaries because of what the husband’s mother said. They created their own downfall and brought about their son’s demise. The symbol reveals to us the Man vs. Society conflict because of the thieves and other people on the streets that do bad deeds. The family wouldn’t presume to let them come close because they were scared. In the family’s perspective, it was them versus all the dishonest, untrustworthy