After I have read the Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. I realized that there were multiple different symbols that helped convey complex ideas. For me I have found that in the Novel there are three important symbols that help shape the plot of the story and these are Methuselah the Parrot, Palindromes: Which is Ada’s journal, and lastly the green Mamba snake that killed Ruth May. The significance about all of these symbols is that they tend to add a meaning and depth to the story.
In the Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver, the Price family forcefully goes on a journey to the Congo to assist Nathan, the fatherly head, in educating the people of the Congo about the word of God. Throughout the novel, Nathan uses the symbol of the bangala tree as a comparison to Jesus considering “bangala” means something precious and dear. However, the meaning of this word changes completely when spoken improperly. In the beginning of the novel Nathan's experiences of the time he spent in war are revealed, which causes him to be moved my selfish desires to save everyone.
For example, “I remember believing I can walk on water’ is symbolic as it represents the image of Jesus Christ and the biblical allusion ‘as the drying face of land rose out of the earth’s seamless waters’ references the book of Genesis. Upon reading At Mornington the religious undertones of the poem were noted through imagery, allusion and the recurring reference to water. The audience could relate to the universal religious spirituality within this poem, believing it to be an innate spirituality
In this parable there are only a few symbols, but they have great significance. Zach is the first symbol presented. Zach represents an elite student who is overcome by temptation and sin. April is the second symbol presented. April is presented as the cause of the temptation.
In the book The Outsiders by S.E Hinton can be link to other forms of literature by symbolism and their meanings. The book can be connected to the poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost. In the poem Nothing Gold Can Stay, each line represents special symbolism in many places or characters of The Outsiders. In the first line of the poem “Nature’s first green is gold”there is more meaning than you think; the literal meaning is the start of the changing of seasons.
In the novel The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver, Leah Price moves to the Congo with her family as part of a missionary. Through their experiences in the Congo, and living amongst a community with many political conflicts, Leah discovers the importance of justice and selflessness. Kingsolver uses assertive and benevolent tones, and symbolism throughout the story to portray the voice of Leah, illustrating Leah’s determination to adamantly strive for justice and equality for Africa and its people, rather than believing that her heritage, her father and God are superior to those around her. Her father’s authority and idealism overshadows her point of view, as she is highly set on her father’s approval and ultimately, God’s approval too. By using phrases such as “But my father needs permission only from the Saviour, who obviously is all in favor of subduing the untamed wilderness for a garden (36)”, Kingsolver establishes Leah’s narrow-minded belief that her father is ‘A Chosen One from God’ and he will pacify the Congolese.
However, this symbol could have some relations to religion, people associate fire with the divine wrath. Claiming that the wicked are punished by fire in the depths of Hell, but in this story the fire is used on the innocent making Elie begin to doubt the power of God later defying him. The other symbol important to the story is a little more obvious and is used in the title as well. As we look further
Through biblical allusion, religious analogy, and symbolism O 'Connor expresses the need for god and a savior. She writes the perspective of a young child named Harry who lives in a household without religion. The young man is given the mentality and ideology of Christianity and the value of baptism. He grows for a need to belong to something from his small world and gives his life to Christ.
Symbols are often characters, animals, objects, and or actions. In The Grapes of Wrath, a symbol that I first came across when reading was the turtle that was trying to continue its journey in the rough terrain. It was run over by a truck, that threw it on to the other side of the road and it still got up and continued its way. The turtle directly symbolizes the Joad’s. Like the turtle, the Joad’s are thrown off track by the harsh environment, but continue on their journey through the hardship.
(Maus 2005) In the story of “Young Goodman Brown”, the traveler carries a serpentine staff and towards the climax of the story, he makes a new stick by stripping twigs, wet with dew. However the moment his fingers touch them they withered and dried up. The traveler is as destructive as they come; he is feared by Puritans. The whole point of the Puritan’s journey into that forest, although each individual’s is different, is so they can get a glimpse of this traveler and what he is capable of and in turn realize how much they actually need God. The serpent on his staff is a symbolization that he is like the serpent in the Garden of Eden.
In the two books “Things Fall Apart” and “Poisonwood Bible” throughout the whole book symbolism is shown. You see it through characters, things, and places in both books. Symbolism is used in literature when one thing is meant to represent something else. It also helps create meaning and emotion within the story. In “Things Fall Apart” some examples of symbolism would be the Locusts, fire, and growing yams.
In the opening scene of Paul’s Case, the author notes the vibrant, red carnation that Paul wears to his disciplinary meeting and the teacher’s distaste of what they believe the flower symbolizes referring to it as a, “scandalous red carnation” and how, “his whole attitude was symbolized by...his flippantly red carnation flower” (114). A defiant student, shown by his disrespect toward his teachers, Paul seems unfazed to the fact that he is in a disciplinary meeting and choses to act indifferent to what his teachers say about him. He is arrogant and holds himself to a higher status than his teachers thus causing him to feel entitled. The red carnation symbolizes his idealistic view of society in which he had hopes and dreams to elevate himself and achieve the higher status that he believes that he deserves. Paul’s world comes crumbling down though when he realizes that he could not pretend to be part of the world that he wanted to be in.
Throughout “The Bronze Horseman”, Pushkin used symbolism. The river Neva, Peter the Great, his statue, and even Evgeny are all hold another meaning. The use of symbolism in ”The Bronze Horseman” was vital to the poem. Without symbolism, the poem is simply about a man losing his mind in St. Petersburg.
The symbolic item that I think has a deeper meaning from others is fire. Fire can mean so many different meanings but in the book fire symbolizes chaos, fear and destruction. First, of all like I have mentioned in the beginning fire can stand for an infinite amount of reasons. But one of the meanings of fire is fear, which in the story when Jeanette Walls was three years old that
The snake on the end of the staff represents the devil. No other animal makes you think of the devil like a snake does. In Young Goodman Brown, the staff is brought into the story when Goodman Brown meets the man in the woods. “But the only thing about him, that could be fixed upon as remarkable, is his staff, which bore the likeliness of a great black snake, so curiously wrought, that it might almost be seen to twist and wriggle itself, like a living serpent.” (par. 13)
