Willa Cather’s, “The Sculptor’s Funeral” portrays the theme of spirituality vs. materialism. This is shown through the process of Harvey Merrick, a very talented sculptor, who died of tuberculosis at age 40. Merrick was one of the very few people who escaped his hometown of materialism. He wanted to tap into his creative spirit and he simply could not do that if he stayed at home. This is depicted throughout the story with the characters that attend Merrick’s wake. Specifically the characters Jim Laird and Henry Steavens. Jim Laird, a man who grew up with Merrick and went to school with him. Laird became a lawyer to make his town proud, but they did not care unless he could twist the law in their favor. Ironically, that is why they feared …show more content…
Steavens provided insight into this, saying that Merrick “‘was surefooted enough there [regarding his artwork]. He was determined, indeed, to believe the best, but he seemed afraid to investigate.’” Merrick’s fierce independence helped him power through his past with great discipline when it came to his art. Steavens shared his admirations for Merrick’s wonderful dedication to his work. Laird was so proud of Merrick for escaping the labyrinth that was their town. He yelled at the people at the funeral saying, “‘There was only one boy ever raised in this borderland between ruffianism and civilization who didn’t come to grief, and you hated Harvey Merrick more for winning out than you hated all the other boys who got under the wheels. Lord, Lord, how you did hate him!” It took a lot of bravery for Merrick to leave his town, his friends and family to pursue what he loved. This determination worked in his favor, as he became a famous sculptor mentioned in newspapers and magazines worldwide. Even with all his fame and confidence, he was quite humble and showed it up until his last breath, when he told Steavens about his town. Merrick told Steavens, “‘It’s not a pleasant place to be lying while the world is moving and doing and bettering,” he had said with a feeble smile, “but it rather seems as though we ought to go back to the place we came from in the end. The towns-people will come in for a look at me; and after they have had their say, I shan’t have much to fear from the judgment of God. The wings of the Victory, in there”—with a weak gesture toward his studio—“will not shelter
Mr. Bannister - one of the men of the town who admires Brady greatly. He is chosen to be on the jury because he does not know how to read.
There were many of artists and writers, who demonstrated symbolism and imagery within their work of art, set in nineteenth century New Mexico. Willa Cather and Georgia O’Keeffe were best known as an author and an artist in the nineteenth century. Willa Cather had a long memorable career writing novels, short stories, poems, and essay, and contributing to any newspapers, editor, and journals as writer. She travels at length to gather material for her narrative and characters, and was recognizable with and respect by many other popular writers in the nineteenth century. In one of her novel, “Death Comes for The Archbishop”, Willa Cather demonstrates her unique ability to show remarkably compound landscapes within delightfully expressive writing. She brilliantly includes symbolism and imagery to express lowest point of emotions that are generally applicable, while artfully portraying the victories or failures of her characters. Georgia O'Keeffe spending most of her summer in New Mexico, delighted by the desolate landscape and extensive atmosphere of the desert, would explore the subject of animal bones in her paintings while she in New Mexico. The flowers, she painted the bones puffed up and captured the stillness and isolation of them, while expressing a sense of beauty that lies within the desert. She explored the symbolize and imagery in her magnified paintings of flowers that attract people emotionally, although her purpose was to express that nature in all its beauty was as powerful as the extensive of the period. As an author, Willa Cather demonstrated a history of New Mexico through her writing. As an artist, Georgia O’Keeffe was using paint and canvas to verify the loveliness scene of New Mexico. Even though, Willa Cather and...
P. McMurphy. He was a con man who faked his insanity and was asigned to the mental ward. He was wild and did not listen to authority at all. The entire time he was at the asylum, he challenged Nurse Ratched's authority. I thought of him as some sort of an out-law.
In this group of authors, the writers use their own unique personalities. They added into their writing the parts of their lives that has influenced them the most. Grouping the authors together hardly seems relevant, at least not all of them. Kate Chopin, Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman, Robert Frost, and Edwin Arlington Robinson all experienced death within his or her personal lives. Whether it was his or her parents or his or her spouse, this in some ways, showed in their writings.
The short story, “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver and the painting, by Ground Swell by Edward Hopper are similar in certain aspects, even though they take place in different settings. There is major conflict in each piece of art that creates a confusion in the tone.
O'Connor begins to paint the image of death with her presentation of the grandmother. As the family prepares for their adventure the grandmother carefully selects her attire. “A navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white violets on the brim and a navy blue dress with a small white dot in the print. Her collars and cuffs were white organdy trimmed with lace and at her neckline she had pinned a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet” (O'Connor 267). The imagery of the grandmother’s impeccable attire foreshadows her position at the end of the story. When a person dies it is common that they are adorn in their best outfit. The grandmother has symbolically prepared herself for her eternal rest in a coffin as she is dressed in her Sunday best. O'Connor continues to incorporate the theme of death into the story, as she provides the readers with the reason for the grandmother’s ensemble, “in cares of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once she was a lady” (O'Connor 267). Symbolically the grandmother is walking down the path of death.
He encourages the reader to live life to its maximum potential in preparation of death. The writing of William Cullen Bryant went against customary styles of writing and attempted to change the way that death was portrayed to people. Through the use of personification, strong imagery, and contemplative thinking, Bryant combines the beauty of nature with the strength of God in a way that paints death as a lively picture rather than a melancholy one. Bryant inspires the reader to live an impactful life and to accept the coming of death with a sense of renewal and
In As I Lay Dying the Bundren family faces many hardships dealing with death and physical nature. Nature plays a major role in moving Faulkner’s story. Nature takes a toll on the family in their time of despair of losing a loved one. They are challenged by human nature and the nature of the elements. Throughout the story the family overcomes the human nature of emotions and the nature of the weather. They face nature in the most peculiar ways, like a flood that keeps them from crossing, the decaying body of Addie, and how they all grieve over the death of Addie; Dewey Dell said, “I heard that my mother is dead. I wish I had time to let her die. I wish I had time to wish I had” (Faulkner 110). The forces of nature compete with the Burden family.
From the short story “The Dead”, Gabriel the character shows us how his point of view of a certain thing is seen. His wife has passed away and his attitude in the story is well seen as neutral.
As Lindsay Wagner once said, “When we shift our perception, our experience changes.” (Lindsay Wagner) Similarly, in the “The Funeral” by Gordon Parks, the speaker matures, realizing the beauteous environment he once saw is nothing more than a couple streams, hills, and dirt roads. As a child, he remembers being in awe while looking upon the stunning world around him. He saw everything through an elegant eye valuing it almost more than life itself. However, when the speaker returns home “after many snows,” (Parks, line 1) his surroundings didn’t have nearly the same effect on him. The magical place that brings elation to his childhood no longer exists. In its place, the speaker now sees gently trickling streams where raging rivers once were,
Common among classic literature, the theme of mortality engages readers on a quest of coping with one of the certainties of life. Katherine Anne Porter masterfully embraces the theme of mortality both directly and indirectly in her story, “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall.” Understanding that all mankind ultimately becomes subject to death unleashes feelings of dread and anxiety in most people; however, Granny Weatherall transitions from rushing to meet her demise in her sixties to completely denying she is on her deathbed when she is eighty. Readers have seen this theme of mortality reverberated over and over in literature, but what makes this story stand the test of time is the author’s complexity. In Katherine Anne Porter’s
Overall, the cathedral that the narrator draws with Robert represents true sight, the ability to see beyond the surface to the true meaning that lies within. The husband’s insecurities makes him emotionally blind. His inability to see past Robert’s disability ultimately prevents him from seeing the reality of any relationship or person in the story. The husband becomes more sensitive and accepts the moment of being blind has allowed him to become a better man. Finally, the cathedral drawing ironically reveals blindness to be an important factor. As a result, Carver gives interesting lessons to powerfully assess how we can find beauty and free ourselves from prejudgments and see the real world with our minds, not only our eyes.
Funeral Blues by W. H. Auden is a short poem that illustrates the emotions that he is dealing with after the love of his life passes away. The tone of this piece evokes feelings that will differ depending on the reader; therefore, the meaning of this poem is not in any way one-dimensional, resulting in inevitable ambiguity . In order to evoke emotion from his audience, Auden uses a series of different poetic devices to express the sadness and despair of losing a loved one. This poem isn’t necessarily about finding meaning or coming to some overwhelming realization, but rather about feeling emotions and understanding the pain that the speaker is experiencing. Through the use of poetic devices such as an elegy, hyperboles, imagery, metaphors, and alliterations as well as end-rhyme, Auden has created a powerful poem that accurately depicts the emotions a person will often feel when the love of their live has passed away.
The Theme of Death in Poetry Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson are two Modern American Poets who consistently wrote about the theme of death. While there are some comparisons between the two poets, when it comes to death as a theme, their writing styles were quite different. Robert Frost’s poem, “Home Burial,” and Emily Dickinson’s poems, “I felt a Funeral in my Brain,” and “I died for Beauty,” are three poems concerning death. While the theme is constant there are differences as well as similarities between the poets and their poems. The obvious comparison between the three poems is the theme of death.
Although, I find the ending somewhat predictable, I would use Gordimer’s short story, “A Beneficiary,” to highlight how the author uses figurative language and rhetorical devices to develop characterization. Not only did I enjoy examining the protagonist’s journey to enlightenment, I also appreciated studying how Gordimer utilizes certain figures and strategic devices to bring the deceased mother to life. For instance, Charlotte notes that her mother, Laila “had baptized herself professionally” as an actress since she lied about her age, her name, and her marriage (568), suggesting that she worshipped the superficial and the artificial just like her career. This concept is reinforced as Charlotte and her friends clean out Laila’s apartment and one her carries on about “the