“Desire Under the Elms”
In “Desire Under the Elms”, by Eugene O’Neill, many uses of both biblical and mythological allusions can be seen. These allusions help add depth to the plot of the play by linking the play to other similar, well-known stories. Three of the best allusions are seen in Cabot’s talk about how God is a strong god, his talk about God being in the stones, and his telling Eben that he is blind as a mole.
Cabot’s talk about God being a strong god is important to the story. He tells about how hard he had to work to make the farm a good place to live. “When yew kin make corn sprout out o’ stones, God’s livin’ in yew.” This quote is an allusion to how if you work hard and believe in God you can do whatever you want. The quote is important to the story because it helps develop the character of Cabot and it tells the reader what kind of man Cabot is. It shows that he is strong, tough, and has a strong belief in God.
Another important allusion can be seen when in the same part of the story as the previous one. Now, he is talking about how the farm is his and how he worked so hard to make it what it is. He then gives an allusion to the story of Peter building his church on the rock in the Bible. He says “God’s hard, not easy! God’s in the stones! Build my church on a rock – out o’ stones an’ I’ll be in them! That’s what he meant t’ Peter.” This quote refers to Peter’s story in ...
The Allegory of the Cave has many parallels with The Truman Show. Initially, Truman is trapped in his own “cave”; a film set or fictional island known as Seahaven. Truman’s journey or ascension into the real world and into knowledge is similar to that of Plato’s cave dweller. In this paper, I will discuss these similarities along with the very intent of both of these works whose purpose is for us to question our own reality.
Question 1: In what way is the novel an allegory of The Garden of Eden?
He describes to Ella May how his whole life he has wanted to own land and be a foreman and boss but that dream was taken away by Ella May’s family, “but I never was anything, nothing more than just the old hardworking son of, well, a family of folks that lost their land to your very father” (Guthrie, 62). His family had owned the land but it was taken out from under them by Ella May’s father and they were no more than hardworking renters. That was the lowest Tike had ever been but he had not reached the rock bottom of the farming industry, so the hope of owning land was still there. Therefore, when the idea of a house of earth was presented by a government brochure that was mailed out to the farming population expressing that they could live in a safe, sanitary, and inexpensive house, the dream of building this
Both authors make a point of showing the narrow-mindedness of humans by nature. In “Allegory of the Cave”, the prisoners believed that the shadows they were seeing were reality, with nothing more to it. The comfort of the said perceived, and therefore the fear of the unrecognized outside world would end in the prisoner being forced to climb the steep ascent of the cave and step outside int...
...thern Literary Journal. Published by: University of North Carolina Press. Vol. 4, No. 2 (spring, 1972), pp. 128-132.
Land is the most valued piece any man could have. If they didn’t have land then money was hard to earn because you had no crops. Steinbeck shows this in the first chapter of The Grapes of Wrath. “And the women came out of the houses to stand beside their men-to feel whether this time the men would break.” (Steinbeck 6) This quote is after the men wake up to find their ruined corn form the dust storms. The men would become angry at his crops and the dust storms because if they didn’t get money soon they would lose their land. Though this does not apply to some men in the book, some man gave up, knowing that feeding their family was more important, that the land was already destroyed anyway. They took part in destroying the land, destroying people’s home. These men were described as part of the monster, the tractor, that they had no feeling for the land that was being plowed. “I got d**** tired of creeping for my dinner-and not getting it. I got a wife and kids. We got to eat. Three dollars a day, and it comes every day.” (Steinbeck 50) This quote is from the tractor driver that is plowing the fields for the bank. He is arguing with the tenant about not caring for the land that ...
In Raymond Carver's short story, "Cathedral", we follow along with the narrator as he unknowingly describes his own prejudice , in which he is kept from appreciating more than can be seen and ultimately begins to understand that he is the one who is blind and unfulfilled through his interaction with a blind man. The metaphors of the bound men, found in Plato's "The Allegory of the Cave", can be related to the ignorance and prejudice of the unfulfilled narrator of "Cathedral", as the bound men suffer from a literal blindness and the narrator of "Cathedral" suffers from a metaphorical blindness, both of which will keep them from the truth and skew their perception of reality. Carver uses jealousy, prejudice, and substance abuse to develop a character, similar to the bound prisoners, that is devoid of self-fulfillment and figuratively blind in his relationship with the world around him.
The Allegory of the Cave is a parable that demonstrates how humans are afraid of change and what they do not know. In this work, Plato suggests a situation in which men are living in an underground cave. The one entrance is located near the top and there, a burning fire casts shadow. The men of the cave are chained so that they can only see the wall and cannot turn around. When objects pass by it creates a shadow on the wall. The shadows are the only thing they can see and therefore is the only thing they know to exist (747). Somehow one of them gets loose and wanders outside the cave (748). When he gets out, he is astonished at what he finds. He comes back in to tell the others about what he saw. The other men think he is mad and plot to kill him (749). This illustrates how fear, inherent in the primitive nature of man, only serves to promote his ignorance.
The cave allegory does not stand alone in the Republic, for it is best understood as a successful philosophical conclusion to a trilogy of allegories. This trilogy, expressed in beautiful pictorial and poetic fas...
The use of biblical references in literature is to bring out the special meaning that the author is trying to get to his readers. In the article “What is the function of an allusion in literature” by Daniel Liden, Liden states “The use of the Biblical allusions serve not only to communicate lines from the Bible, but also to evoke the many emotions and ideas that people associate with those passages.” Borges tries to get his readers to have an experience that relates to the bible by implementing illusions i...
Huck Finn, being the young, uneducated boy he is, cannot fathom how the idea of religion and praying can help him. He frequently is taught lessons in Christian beliefs, but he takes them literally, and doesn’t understand the ideas. He tries multiple times to pray, but the concept doesn’t make sense to his realistic, one way thinking. This mindset is what makes Huck who he is, the adventurous, practical boy who likes to live his life away from the shackles of society’s values. “Miss Watson she took me in the closet and prayed, but nothing come of it. She told me to pray every day, and whatever I asked for I would get it. But it warn 't so. I tried it….” (Twain 23). This constant battle to understand religion
The novel Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson has many themes that present themselves throughout the book. One such recurring theme is a search for truth. The characters in the book do not fully realize that they are searching for truth, but they do feel a vague, "indescribable thing" that pushes and prods their minds to actualize a higher plane of thought. This search for a higher plane by the characters of Winesburg nearly parallels another literary work of ancient Greek origin- Plato's "Allegory of the Cave," which is a portion of his famous writing "The Republic." I contend that the town of Winesburg is the equivalent of the Cave in Plato's writing.
C.S. Lewis was the 20th century’s most popular proponent of faith based on reason. As a child, he created an imaginary world where personified animals came to life, and later, he wrote the book, Chronicles of Narnia. How did he transform from a boy fascinated with anthropomorphic animals into a man of immense faith? His transformation to the Christian religion happened as his fame began to flourish. People wrote him, asking him about his claims about the truth of Christianity (Belmonte, Kevin). As I attended the drama of Freud’s Last Session, I was engrossed into the plot of the play and was constantly thinking about how it pertained to the objectives of the World Literature class. I not only connected the content of the play to its context, but I also reached out to apply the context to a discussion on a broader scale. I then discovered why the context of literature is imperative for true understanding of the w...
With Milton’s timeframe and era for writing Paradise Lost in mind, we can justify his choice to incorporate an allegory into his epic. Allegories present meanings on two levels, one literal and the other hidden, which often expresses a moral or idea produced by the author. With this in mind, the allegory is key to understanding many parts of Paradise lots since Milton addresses so many issues in this one scene. Within the allegory alone, we discover extensive symbolism and wonder if there are more details to be uncovered each time we study the epic. Milton effectively elicits his readers’ attention by raising such controversy and holds our fascination with his intriguing hidden ideas, meanings, and symbolic relationships.
The story of the Fall of Man is known to many people not so much through the Bible as through John Milton's Paradise Lost. Milton's work presents a version that has become part of biblical custom, and to a certain degree aid in the understanding of the Creation and the Fall based on Milton's additions and explanations. The poem's monumental influence aside, Milton's unparalleled perspective has made Paradise Lost one of the most significant works that is relatable to his own era and the present. However, religion is not the only aspect that can be presented at a contemporary angle. By bringing in symbolic figures he invites allegorical interpretations that allow similarities to be made about community structure. Milton appeals to a modern audience by recognizing the structure of society throughout Paradise Lost. Today’s generation remains familiar with this societal component and its various interpretations.