Use Of Imagery And Symbolism In The Flowering Judas

Ship Breaker by Paola Bacigalupi, “The Flowering Judas” by Katherine Ann Porter, and “The Midnight Zone” by Laura Groff are all stories steeped in imagery and symbolism that portrays the characters progression in thoughts and turmoils in those immediate moments. Although these texts bring to light many aspects of their characters they all focus on the character's inner turmoil and ethics in decision making which in turn shows growth of the characters ideals. Although these texts bring to light many aspects of their characters they all focus on the character's inner turmoil and ethics in decision making which in turn shows growth of the characters ideals. In a way, the setting is a secondary character in how it reflects the themes prevalent

This idea is particularly shown when Laura compares her values and idea of herself as ““corrupt as braggioni” (45). For Laura, she viewed her corruption as a sin, something that shouldn't be happening, because she hadn’t been happy with Bragionni and when she realized the pain that she caused when she has tied herself down to a husband that doesn’t love her and making herself suffer because of him the setting reflects this when they are on “Sixteenth of September Street, listen[ing] to Braggioni with pitiless courtesy, because [Laura] dares not smile at his miserable performance. Nobody dares to smile at him. Braggioni is cruel to everyone, with a kind of specialized insolence” which is then further enhanced by the setting as Laura show how the setting describes how revolutionary “should be lean, animated by heroic faith, a vessel of abstract virtues. This is nonsense, she knows it now and is ashamed of it. Revolution must have leaders, and leadership is a career for energetic men. She is, her comrades tell her, full of romantic error” (Porter 47). For the reader, these two quotes show that the setting is in favor of sticking to the status quo, to not deviate from routine. This means the setting is impressing upon the reader this idea if routi;e which in itself is

This is predominantly seen when Groff describes how the woman is having an out of body experience saying she shall “the forest of light”(100) while also contradicting herself earlier by saying “darkness poured in” (98). In a similar fashion, this is represented by Laura in “The Flowering Judas” through the idea that now that Bragioni is gone from the house she is “free” (52) the author then goes on to describe that Laura confused “life with death” (52). Consequently, all of these quotes resemble how death was prevalent in the setting for “The Midnight Zone” ; it was the woman and how she saw both death and life, and Laura and she saw her life, as it included death. This shows that the setting affected them through their perception of their lives because both characters viewed themselves as near deaths , both in different ways but also the same. This helps show the readers that they saw death as the only escape from their cages because death is a constant; all-knowing, loving a blank slate. This is what appealed to them; this is how the setting affected them because it pushed them to question whether life was really worth living . It left them so vulnerable to manipulation and horrendous treatment because of their vulnerability. This, in turn, shows how place affects the character through the consequences of these actions.