Out, Out Scene In Macbeth

Writers often choose their titles carefully to allow for different potential meanings. Write about some of the potential meanings of titles in the three texts you have studied.

Out, Out.

The title ‘out,out’ is taken from the shakespearean play Macbeth. In which the main character Macbeth begins to speak after finding out his wife is dead. There is a comparison between Lady Macbeth's death and a blown out candle, there is effective use of the simile “Out, out, brief candle!” The boy’s death and lady macbeth’s death are both tragic disasters. Both Lady Macbeth and the boy in ‘out, out’ have their lives taken away before it is time for them to die, they haven’t been given the chance to live a long life and die a natural life. The comparison between the two and the candle is effective as it symbolises how quickly a candle can be blown out, just like how quickly their lives were taken away from them. The use of the candle once again, shows how when the light it taken away from the candle, it is left with nothing but darkness, which is similar to how the families of Lady Macbeth and the boy would have been left with darkness in their hearts after facing such a loss. The use of “brief candle” is symbolic as it is a direct comparison to the boy, his life was taken way from him before he could even become a man and reach manhood. Another similarity between Lady Macbeth and the boy, is once both their lives have been taken away, their surroundings move on and go back to their regular routine, almost forgetting completely about the death. Macbeth shows how brief and meaningless life really is, “Life's but a walking shadow…is heard no more…signifying nothing…” Similarly, in ‘Out, out’ the boy also demonstrates how meaningless life is throu...

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...in apocalyptic future where a road is no longer used to get from one place to another, but is used to remember the past that had once been important. The title itself has a focus and highlights the theme of transience. The characters in the book never stay longer than a week in any house/shelter before moving back to the road. The majority of all of the homes have been abandoned, domestic life itself has been destroyed and forgotten. The destinations in the novel also link back to the title, if the title itself is supposedly pointing us towards the american highway, then it is useful to think about where the characters may potentially end up, they may or may not end up anywhere. They have a goal of reaching the coast, but this may appear to be too much for them to achieve. The title is symbolic of the journey the boy and the dad take to reach the ocean.