Symbolism In Stephen Crane's Works
Describing, and living the emotional rollercoaster between each character as they grew in success or perished in horrible ways. This book transforms the human mind through each one of the literary challenges that Larson uses to make a deeper connection to the readers. It takes you to a new state of mind when in Holmes head, and gives you inside look of how, and what a serial killer thinks. Yet with Burnham it gives you a inside look at the growth of the city, and the bond between people. This book would not be complete without the contrasting of the light and dark, heaven and hell, and good and evil aspect
In the book Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton multiple objects are used to represent big moments in the book and is heavily used. There are many objects that clearly relate to people and relationships between people. The first emblem that represents love between Mattie and Ethan is Mattie's red scarf and ribbon in her hair. The first symbol is the pickle dish representing Ethans and Zeena’s relationship. The final commodity is the cat which represents Zeena.
“The Cranes” Family is never left behind, or forgotten. The statement that ended Peter Meinke’s story could have several different meanings. This sentence symbolizes the birds to the couple and describes the husband shooting himself. The husband had many reasons for shooting himself.
Symbolism is like a spider web, every symbol is connected to another symbol and it never stops. Authors use symbolism in their writing because it communicates a deeper picture and helps connect the story more to the main idea. In the book, The Natural by Bernard Malamud, there is multiple symbolic meanings used throughout the book. Each of all the symbols connect back to the main idea and create a highly detailed story. The first example of symbolism is water and how it is used in books to show life.
Crane’s short story, The Monster, is about how Henry Johnson, the coachman, severely burns his body in the attempt to rescue the Dr. Trescott’s young son, but rather than receiving high acclaims within the town, he is ridiculed for his burnt face and disabilities. While Henry Johnson losing his face is quite a loss, the real loss is the mask every townspeople had prior to the house fire. When the townspeople lost their mask, it revealed the true face of how unkind they are towards those who look or act different than the social norm. Judge Hagenthrope speaks to Dr. Trescott in reference to Henry Johnson, “No one wants to advance such ideas, but somehow I think that that poor fellow ought to die,” revealing that some people within the town
Zenobia Frome, wife of the titular character of Edith Wharton’s novel Ethan Frome, is not a pleasant woman. In a passionless marriage, Zeena attempts to maintain control over her husband even when not present, while Ethan explores a budding relationship between himself and their hired girl, Zeena's cousin, Mattie Silver. Wharton explores the consequences of an unhealthy relationship lacking in love and passion though the symbolism of the Fromes’ cat and the red glass pickle dish. “The cat, unbidden, jumped up between them into Zeena’s empty chair” (34). Although not directly a result of Zeena’s distrustful demeanor, the cat acts on her behalf while she is away seeing a doctor in the next town over.
Edith Wharton is an American author of the late nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries. In her novella Ethan Frome, Wharton uses symbolism to develop the theme of her story. Ethan Frome takes place in Starkfield, Massachusetts in which there's little tolerance towards sinful deeds. Around the Frome house many objects take a symbolic meaning to the importance of the story. Therefore Wharton uses much symbolism and imagery in the story to explain to the readers what is going on emotionally inside the characters and what is going to happen.
J.D. Salinger fully utilizes the literary device of symbolism in characterizing Holden Caulfield in the novel, Catcher in the Rye. Whether through a red hunting hat symbolizing a desire for individuality or ducks representing an escape from life’s challenges, Salinger conveys Holden’s struggles deftly, his traits elegantly, and his character development insightfully. Salinger takes one of Holden's most apparent qualities, his desire for uniqueness, and expresses it through his red hunting hat. Aside from being different through its garish red color, Salinger adds another layer of character through the way he shows Holden wearing it. "... I swung the old peak round to the back -very corny I'll admit, but I liked it that way."
When reading a novel, readers do not often realize that many authors use the same types of characters and symbols. Applying a literary lens to a novels can help readers better understand why a novel was written. A literary theory is, “A term for analyzing, classifying, defining, interpreting, and evaluating literature” (Davidson). When observing a piece of literature with an Archetypal lens analysts can identify these patterns. According to Literary Devices, “In literature, an archetype is a typical character, an action, or a situation that seems to represent universal patterns of human nature” (literarydevices).
One chapter in Thomas C. Foster’s book How to Read Literature Like a Professor that were not only extremely challenging, but was also enlightening and surprisingly engaging was Chapter 12: “Is That a Symbol?” In this chapter, Foster states that “So some symbols do have a relatively limited range of meanings, but in general a symbol can’t be reduced to standing for only one thing” (Foster, 105). This conveys that, generally, symbols have different symbolic meanings even though some symbols may have a very limited range of meanings. Essentially, this means that symbols in literature often have different symbolic meanings. The idea mentioned above is upheld by Cormac McCarthy’s book All the Pretty Horses, as the horses in the book are symbolic
In “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey, he presents a character named R.P. McMurphy. Kesey parodies the biblical figure Christ with McMurphy with subtle references throughout the novel. However, even though he is compared to a Christ symbol that doesn’t mean he behaves like one. McMurphy is seen as a Christ symbol, not only because of references, but because of his gradual self-growth throughout the novel that allows him to embrace his “divinity” and help others. McMurphy is a mockery of the figure Christ because Christ was a humble, charitable, giving, honorable man who was pure and Mcmurphy is the opposite of that.
The Open Boat This story makes clear one more times the idea that nature is ultimately indifferent to the human condition, possessing no consciousness that we can understand. The reality of nature’s lack of concern for human beings is becoming increasingly clear in The Open Boat, by Stephen Crane. The oiler’s death and lack of explanation surrounding it reinforce the randomness of nature’s tricks and symbolize the indifference of nature toward man.
Stephen Crane’s poem, “Do Not Weep, Maiden, for War Is Kind” quite clearly speaks to the horror and grief of war, but does so in a roundabout way that comes across as sarcasm; in fact, it is exactly this heavy use of verbal irony that drives his message home to the reader. Verbal irony, put simply, is the use of words to deliberately convey the opposite of their direct or literal meanings. For example, the first stanza of Crane’s poem reads, “Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind. / Because your lover threw wild hands toward the sky / And the affrighted steed ran on alone, / Do not weep.
After finally leaving the hotel he heads to a saloon in the town behind the hotel, Romper, where he is stabbed by the Gambler and meets his final resting place. This whole situation is ironic as if he was not paranoid of being killed nothing after would have occurred and there could have been a good chance the Swede was not going to be killed. This situation helps support the idea that the quote describing Stephen Crane applies to the story as it shows how the story itself is an
Art is way of expression. People can use actions and art or express themselves in ways other than speaking. In the book Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, symbolism holds a big significance. The trees mentioned throughout the book symbolize Melinda’s changing “seasons” (her “growing” as a person). People, like trees, go through phases, they freeze in the winter, becoming nothing but lonely limbs without leaves covered with white slush.
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