The Power Of Death: The Death Of A Man

856 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Personal essay about grief

Death is inevitable. At a point in everyone’s lives they will face death, whether it’s falling face first into death or witnessing it. The power of death changes a person, especially the power surrounding the death of a loved one. In this short, the author presents the reader with an anonymous man who is dealing with the death of a wolf, which the reader can only assume was dear to the character, which explains his reproachful behavior. The man carries the wolf's bloodied body through the forest terrain in search of a proper place for burial. In searching for a burial space he openly shows his emotions for the wolf. In this excerpt, the author uses imagery, symbolism, and diction to convey the profound impact of the wolf’s death on the male protagonist. Throughout the piece the author uses symbolism in nature and …show more content…

After the wolf has been subdued, the man begins to examine death’s place in the world. Between lines 62 to 65, the author displays the man’s interior monologue which details his newfound thoughts about death. “But which cannot be held never be held and is no flower but is swift and a huntress and the wind itself is in terror of it and the world cannot lose it.” In this quote the author uses a flower to symbolize life. The text says, that death is not a flower and cannot be held yet terrifies both humankind and nature. A flower is a living, but not sentient, physical object that can be held. A flower is used to symbolize something similar to death. A flower is a delicate object that can be crushed with even the slightest amount of force, but also has a self defense system, thorns. The flower is symbolic of life and the ‘swift huntress’ is symbolic of death. When anything dies, it’s the end of existence and existence is all that a life form knows. Consequently, everything in our world is fearful of the inexplicable and unknown, which is

Show More
Related

  • Nancy Cato's Poem 'The Dead Swagman'

    646 Words  | 2 Pages

    My initial response to the poem was a deep sense of empathy. This indicated to me the way the man’s body was treated after he had passed. I felt sorry for him as the poet created the strong feeling that he had a lonely life. It told us how his body became a part of the land and how he added something to the land around him after he died.

    Read More

  • How Does Kate Chopin Use Syntax In The Story Of An Hour

    241 Words  | 1 Pages

    The author initially uses words with negative connotation, such “wild,” “storm of grief,” and “sank into her soul” (1), to suggest a normal reaction to the death of a loved one.

    Read More

  • The Theme Of Death In The Most Dangerous Game By Richard Connell

    1078 Words  | 3 Pages

    Death is an inevitable part at the end of human life, despite how many people try to avoid it. Sometimes death is seen as a sacrifice, as noticed in “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst. However, not all sacrifices are deaths, as seen in “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell. In both stories, upon analysis and comparison, one can see the similarities and differences involving the theme of sacrifice. When the two stories are put side by side, one will see that Connell and Hurst both use death in a way that displays character development. This is shown when Brother of “The Scarlet Ibis” becomes regretful and Rainsford of “The Most Dangerous Game” becomes what he once hated, the reader will also realize how the characters’ personality traits

    Read More

  • The Symbolism of Death in Alistair McLeod’s "The Lost Salt Gift of Blood"

    697 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Alistair McLeod’s collection of short stories the Lost Salt Gift of Blood; death seems to be a constant companion. Death is important and perhaps even symbolic in this collection of short stories. It is important because it has the power to affect people and relationships, invokes freedom and even predetermines ones future, through the death of animal’s people and the impending death of others.

    Read More

  • Handmaid's Tale Women Quotes

    691 Words  | 2 Pages

    Flowers can be seen to represent emotions that are felt when opressions on women are seen. Poisonous flowers represent the determination that these women use to find a better life in this society

    Read More

  • The Crossing Cormac Mccarthy Analysis

    520 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many find reverence and respect for something through death. For some, respect is found for something once feared. In a passage from The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy, a man cares for a wolf that has died. The prominent religious motif and the paradox contrasting beauty and terror create a sense of awe that is felt by the narrator as he cares for the wolf.

    Read More

  • The Agony Of Dying Lewis Thomas Analysis

    521 Words  | 2 Pages

    Instead of just throwing the topic of death into his reader’s faces, he tries to slowly ease them into it. Starting with the death of a tree, it is something so miniscule and less emotional. It allows Lewis to bring up the topic of death without bringing up so many emotions. Then to head deeper into the conversation he talks about the death of a small animal, a mouse. By bringing up the idea of something that is living and breathing it opens the reader’s heart to let more emotions flow. Lewis’s final barrier is broken when he starts discussing

    Read More

  • Jane Kenyon’s The Blue Bowl

    1326 Words  | 3 Pages

    The diction Kenyon employs for her description of the poem’s physical and psychological setting serves as Kenyon’s primary means for presenting her argument regarding the nature of the mourning process and its failure to help those who have lost loved ones. The poem’s first stanza begins as follows, “Like primitives we buried the cat with his bowl. Bare-handed we scraped sand and gravel back into the hole(1-4).” The first two words, “like primitives,” give the reader immediate insight into Kenyon’s opinion regarding the nature of the burial itself. She sees it as a means of coming to grips with death that is less evolved than the mental state of those that it attempts to help. When the first stanza is interpreted as a whole, the reader is...

    Read More

  • Psychological Analysis of Death: The Death of Ivan Illych

    1016 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Death of Ivan Illych brings an excellent in-depth description of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’s 5 cycles of grief theory. In the book, it shows how Ivan Illych goes through these cycles in their own individual way. The cycles that Kubler-Ross uses in her theory are: denial, anger, depression, bargaining, and acceptance. To get a better understanding of these cycles, this paper will describe each cycle and provide quotations that will help develop an idea of how someone going through these cycles may react.

    Read More

  • essay 1

    770 Words  | 2 Pages

    The theme death has always played a crucial role in literature. Death surrounds us and our everyday life, something that we must adapt and accept. Whether it's on television or newspaper, you'll probably hear about the death of an individual or even a group. Most people have their own ideas and attitude towards it, but many consider this to be a tragic event due to many reasons. For those who suffered greatly from despair, living their life miserably and hopelessly, it could actually be a relief to them. Death affects not only you, but also those around you, while some people may stay unaffected depending on how they perceive it.

    Read More

  • Death and Emily Dickinson

    1312 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Death, the end of life: the time when someone or something dies” (Merriam-Webster, 2014). The definition of death is quite simple, the end of life is inescapable. I chose to write about death and impermanence because it is something we all must inevitably face. People often deal with death in a number of different ways. Although it is something that we must eventually face, it can be hard to come to terms with because the idea can be hard to grasp. Some of us fear it, others are able to accept it, either way we all must eventually face it. In this essay I will look at two different literary works about death and impermanence and compare and contrast the different elements of the point of view, theme, setting, and symbolism. The comparison of these particular works will offer a deeper look into words written by the authors and the feelings that they experiencing at that particular time.

    Read More

  • Jane Eyre vs House of Mirth Lily

    2029 Words  | 5 Pages

    word “art” which may imply something about the materialistic world that she tries to be a part of. Interestingly, and perhaps most symbolic, is the fact that the lily is the “flower of death”, an outcome that her whirlwind, uptight, unrealistic life inevitably led her to.

    Read More

  • The Sleeper Literary Analysis Essay

    1056 Words  | 3 Pages

    Death can both be a painful and serious topic, but in the hands of the right poet it can be so natural and eloquently put together. This is the case in The Sleeper by Edgar Allan Poe, as tackles the topic of death in an uncanny way. This poem is important, because it may be about the poet’s feelings towards his mother’s death, as well as a person who is coming to terms with a loved ones passing. In the poem, Poe presents a speaker who uses various literary devices such as couplet, end-stopped line, alliteration, image, consonance, and apostrophe to dramatize coming to terms with the death of a loved one.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Mary Oliver's 'When Death Comes'

    1381 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the first instance, death is portrayed as a “bear” (2) that reaches out seasonally. This is then followed by a man whom “ comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse / / to buy me…” This ever-changing persona that encapsulates death brings forth a curiosity about death and its presence in the living world. In the second stanza, “measles-pox” (6) is an illness used to portray death’s existence in a distinctive embodiment. This uncertainty creates the illusion of warmth and welcomenesss and is further demonstrated through the reproduction of death as an eminent figure. Further inspection allows the reader to understand death as a swift encounter. The quick imagery brought forth by words such as “snaps” and “shut” provoke a sense of startle in which the audience may dispel any idea of expectedness in death’s coming. This essential idea of apparent arrival transitions to a slower, foreseeable fate where one can imagine the enduring pain experienced “an iceberg between shoulder blades” (line 8). This shift characterizes the constant adaptation in appearance that death acquires. Moreover, the idea of warmth radiating from death’s presence reemerges with the introduction to a “cottage of darkness” (line 10), which to some may bring about a feeling of pleasantry and comfort. It is important to note that line 10 was the sole occurrence of a rhetorical question that the speaker

    Read More

  • The Last Night That She Lived

    956 Words  | 2 Pages

    The speaker started the poem by desiring the privilege of death through the use of similes, metaphors, and several other forms of language. As the events progress, the speaker gradually changes their mind because of the many complications that death evokes. The speaker is discontent because of human nature; the searching for something better, although there is none. The use of language throughout this poem emphasized these emotions, and allowed the reader the opportunity to understand what the speaker felt.

    Read More

More about The Power Of Death: The Death Of A Man

Open Document