Symbolism In Thirty Acres

In “Thirty Acres” by Dr.Philippe Panneton and “Volcano” by Nancy Lord, the nature destructive force in the two prose are fire and the volcano, which symbolize the isolation, destruction in emotion and life, as well as the new changes in life. The explosion of the volcano makes Julia think of her dull life and fells despair as she know that she can't change anything, and the fire gives Euchariste a punishment for his greed and brings changes for his and his son’s relationship. The destructive force of nature in “Thirty Acres” and “Volcano”—fire and volcano symbolize the two protagonists’ isolation. When the volcano is going to blow up, the dust and cloud “feel like a curtain,” which make Julia stay at home, revealing the isolation between her life and the outside world. She feels helpless when she needs to face the disaster alone, just the same feeling that Euchariste feels when watching the red flame ripped through the crops. The fire symbolizes isolation as it separates Euchariste from his dream of making profit from the war. The sudden situation for Julia and Euchariste cause their emotional eruption. The volcano and fire symbolize the destruction in emotion and in life. When Julia sees the volcano, she recalls the problems that she has to face alone since her husband is always at work, which makes she feel lonely and despair,

As a housewife who hasn’t gone “far from homestead” for twenty-seven years, Julia wants to have new changes in her dull life. The explosion of the volcano represents her desire for changes have blown up in her mind as well. While in “Thirty Acres,” the fire symbolizes the rewarm for the father and son’s relationship as the fire leave them with nothing but each other. The son Etienne changes to become more assertive as he wants to help his father through this hard time by finding work to do in the hen-house at the end, showing the symbol of new changes that fire