The Thing in the Forest by A.S. Byatt is a fairytale like story that takes place during World War II. It captivates its reader with a mysterious lack of detail, keeping the fairytale aspect up to the imagination. Through symbolism, metaphors, and juxtaposing character development, Byatt shows how war and trauma kills childhood innocence. This story is about two young girls, Penny and Primrose, who are sent away from home during World War II for safety.
“The Scarlet Ibis” “It was in the clove of seasons, summer was dead but autumn had not yet been born, that ibis lit in the bleeding tree” (Hurst 350). James Hurts creates a depressing tone, or attitude, by using figurative language, symbolism, and imagery. This sad story is about a child who is born with a deficiency and expected to die however, lives. His brother soon realizes that Doodle is not like the other kids so he pushes him to be like the others, which actually hurts him more. Figurative Language helps show the gloomy tone throughout the story from the first paragraph onwards.
Thesis Statement: In the book Walk Two Moons, by Sharon Creech, Sal changes significantly from a lot of external forces in her life. Robin Sharma once said, “Change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end.” This quote really relates to Sal because when her mother left she was a mess and it was hard for her. Later, she moved and more things changed and things happened that she didn't expect to happen.
“Mom and Dad smiled at each other and laughed. It was a sound that Tree hadn’t heard from them in the longest time” (132). This shows how Tree wasn’t sure his parents were ever going to get along again, but they end up having a good time. This is an example of how family matters most and hope is always around. This situation gave Tree strength to preserve.
Death will touch each individual over the course of their lives. Whether it is a family member, friend, or stranger, most will face the idea of death before their time comes. In the case of Sek-Lung, a youthful character who has recently moved with his family, it was his grandmother. As he recalls the event, the audience receives insight into how each human perceives death differently, and the ways in which they live according to this. The nature of life and death is observed in “The Jade Peony” by Wayson Choy, using eloquent expressions of the way in which one can come to understand death, the acceptance of it, and the meaning that can be held once someone has passed away.
Having read, The Poisonwood Bible book, it was both fascinating and interesting. The author, Barbara Kingsolver, was quick with her diction and used quite a lot of figurative language. The objective of the book was to show the true meaning of Africa and show how it was difficult to convert the people of Africa to Christianity religion. The setting was present in Georgia, which later they traveled to a village called Kilanga in Congo, in which they started their journey. The main characters includes, Nathan Price who was the main character, his wife Orleanna Price, and their four daughters, Rachel, Leah, Adah, and Ruth May.
The character Penny is a protagonist in Byatt’s story “The Thing in the Forest”, and is presented in two lives or stages: childhood and adulthood. As a little girl, Penny is described as “thin and dark and taller, probably older than Primrose, and had a bloodless transparent paleness with a touch of blue in her lips” (Byatt 3). In the later stages of the story, Penny is described as having a “transparent face that had lost detail – cracked lipstick, fine lines of wrinkles – and looked both younger and greyer, less substantial” (Byatt 12). This later description can be taken as a representation of the battering from life that Penny had taken from the encounter with the thing to separation and placement with strange families, a predicament shared by Primrose who now had the same
This kind of description shows the reader how impressive and majestic this tree is, as it puts a vivid picture in the reader’s mind as something that is not only unrivaled in terms of altitude, but it can also be seen from the sea, which highlights its stature as a wholly independent object. Old as it is, this pine is strong, and does not need any assistance from the ecosystem surrounding it. The importance of this giant tree, along with other details that make the story more interesting, is what dramatizes this young heroine’s adventure.
In Duong Thu Huong’s Paradise of the Blind, Hang has been placed on a path of self-sacrifice and duty by her family. Her life unfolds in stages- childhood, young adulthood, and her eventual role as an exported worker in Russia. With each of these shifts in her life comes a shift in setting and a shift in her emotional state. Hang’s changing emotional state depicts her “coming of age” and her growth as a character. Setting is important to creation of shift in the novel, and is often described in detail.
Dana Gioia’s poem, “Planting a Sequoia” is grievous yet beautiful, sombre story of a man planting a sequoia tree in the commemoration of his perished son. Sequoia trees have always been a symbol of wellness and safety due to their natural ability to withstand decay, the sturdy tree shows its significance to the speaker throughout the poem as a way to encapsulate and continue the short life of his infant. Gioia utilizes the elements of imagery and diction to portray an elegiac tone for the tragic death, yet also a sense of hope for the future of the tree. The poet also uses the theme of life through the unification of man and nature to show the speaker 's emotional state and eventual hopes for the newly planted tree. Lastly, the tree itself becomes a symbol for the deceased son as planting the Sequoia is a way to cope with the loss, showing the juxtaposition between life and death.
This is what we encounter in this tragic story. From the beginning of the story, the author presents a lively outlook of the village life and the different people who are
In A.S Byatt’s “The Thing in the Forest”, the author uses the elements of a short story to craft a dark, mature fairytale. The title of the story, “The Thing in the Forest”, in the sense that it foreshadows the main idea of the story. The audience expects more than just a "thing", as listed in the title. Byatt emphasizes through figurative language that the main characters, Penny and Primrose, are dealing with more than just a creature in the forest that affected them for the rest of their lives, and that with this use of symbols to express a larger meaning to objects in the story. A.S Byatt emphasizes more on plot and setting, characters, theme and symbols.
The setting for most of the story is a small fishing lodge in the woods of Minnesota. The author describes this location as having “… great sweeps of pine and birch and sumac” between a few secluded buildings. Not only is the lodge isolated by
Tree gives the boy his branches so he could build a house. Tree trunk to build boat because the boy wanted to travel. When the boy was young the tree would feed the boy apples and let the boy climb up the trunk and when the boy was tired he would lie in the shade and when the boy was older the tree gave the boy all the apples for him to sell so the boy could have money and have fun
“Schoolteacher’s nephew represents a dismissal by whites of the dehumanizing qualities of slavery”. When Sethe is raped, schoolteacher observed how her body is exploited. The scars on Sethe’s back are so many that they resemble the trunk of a tree with its branches. Sethe bear scars on her back because she was whipped due to her try of escape. Amy Denver, a white girl that helped Sethe when she was running away from Sweet Home, calls the tree a chokecherry tree.