Imagery and Symbolism in David Guterson’s The Country Ahead of Us, The Country Behind
In David Guterson’s anthology, The Country Ahead of Us, The Country Behind, characters are portrayed effectively and succinctly through the imagery of their surroundings. Many of his stories are symbolic in that they reflect relationships and feelings of characters. Guterson’s titles have a more complex and deeper connection to the story than is first apparent. They too are often symbolic of a main character, or of relationships.
In "Angels in the Snow," Guterson describes the world as fragile because of the snow that has fallen. This fragility of the world, at that particular time, is representative of the relationship between John and Cora. The next morning the world is described as ‘a fragile, white place’ and this symbolises their relationship which has also become very fragile because of what John has revealed. The whiteness of the snow symbolises innocence and purity, but at this moment, through Cora’s eyes, John has lost the last of his innocence. Guterson also uses the act of making angels in the snow to portray innocence that is rapidly fading.
We made angels in the snow, Cora and myself, swept our arms through
the powder, left an impression of wings that would melt before the new
year.
It is as if John already knows what is to come, and is aware of how soon it will be. He is aware that his relationship with Cora has changed. She now has confirmation that John is not as innocent as he might have liked her to think. Through making the angels he is making one last attempt to seem innocent, for this is a very innocent act. John appears to think that if he can some how act innocently, he can convince Cora that he really is so.
In "The Flower Garden," Guterson continues his exploration of the fragility of a relationship between a man and a woman and again portrays this by drawing parallels with what is happening in nature. The relationship between Anna and the narrator is a very fragile one like the garden they ‘planted with nursery sets and fragile garden cuttings.’ The relationship and the garden are at the beginning of their being, and both are very fragile. Both have to be thought out, then nurtured carefully. Any mistake or misjudgment can have long and lasting consequences.
Most of the side effects arise from creatine drawing water into the body compartments where it has accumulated. This may not sound too serious, but If not compensated for with adequate fluid intake, other body tissues may be deprived of much needed fluids, especially during strenuous exercise. It is very important to remain well hydrated while taking creatine. Drink at least 1-2 ounces of water daily per kilogram of body weight while supplementing. An increase in body weight is the most widely accepted side effect attributed to creatine use. Gastrointestinal distress is the secondly most common side effect reported. Incidences of stomach cramps, nausea, and diarrhea are more commonly reported during use when greater amounts of creatine are consumed each day. These side effects are due to the presence of large quantities of undissolved creatine particles sticking around within the intestinal compartment. As creatine use in athletes is still relatively new, there are no known long-term effects. There is research for long term effects, but it is too recent for anything to be available.
...ots her memory, the blossoms her dreams, and the branches her vision. After each unsuccessful marriage, she waits for the springtime pollen to be sprinkled over her life once again. Even after Tea Cake's death, she has a garden of her own to sit and revel in.
The human body gets most of the creatine it needs from food or dietary supplements. Creatine is easily absorbed from the intestinal tract into the bloodstream. Rich dietary sources of creatine include red muscle meats (beef) as well as fish. Creatine, however, is sensitive to heat and cooking, and the full amounts available in these food sources may be reduced during normal preparation. When dietary consumption is inadequate to meet the body's needs, a limited supply can be synthesized from the amino acids arginine, glycine and methionine. This creatine production occurs in the liver, pancreas and kidneys.
In “The Violets” I entwine the past and present, the reoccurring flower motif of ‘spring violets’ sprout in both memory and reality to reflect the persona’s age and perceptions “I kneel to pick frail melancholy flowers among ashes and loam”. The violets portray the persona as an adult, whose gained knowledge and lacking innocence has created a critical, melancholic view on her world. This is juxtaposed by the persona’s childhood perception; “spring violets in their loamy bed”. In childhood, beauty was simplistic and untainted by knowledge and human experience; blessed by innocence.
Renner, Stanley. “The Real Woman Inside the Fence in ‘The Chrysanthemums’.” Modern Fiction Studies. Vol. 31. No.2. (Summer 1985). 305-317. print; reprinted in Short Story Criticisms. Vol.37. eds. Anja Barnard and Anna Sheets Nesbitt (Farmington Hills: The Gale Group, 2000). 333-339. print.
A.S. Byatt uses symbolism in her story “The Thing in the Forest” to show how children in England during World War II, like herself, felt and reacted to the events that they knew where bad but didn’t understand. This can easily be shown through the sequencing of the plot, the deeper meanings behind characters and places, and the post effects it had the main characters.
The initial instance in which Janie encounters the idea of love and begins her journey toward self-realization is when she is lying beneath a pear tree as a sixteen-year-old in Nanny’s back yard and receives her first kiss from a boy named Johnny Taylor. On that afternoon, Janie lied on the ground observing the act of pollination between a bee and a flower on the pear tree, igniting her sexual curiosity. This sexual curiosity that she experiences is not vulgar, but rather intimate. The narrator displays Janie’s sexual perception of the pollination by describing the acceptance of the pollen from the bee as “the thousand sister-calyxes arch[ing] to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothin...
“Apparently with no surprise” by Emily Dickinson presents the trials and tribulations that a flower must overcome if it is to survive. Dickinson creates a microcosm of the real world and a deep ecological study of human kind. Her word choice betrays a hidden disdain for human beings egotistical aims.
The speaker personifies the flower by describing how the moon-lily sings: “…it is singing—very far/ but very clear and sweet” (10-11). The voice of the flower is the voice of the woman. The flower is calling out to the man. The fact that the flower has to call out to the man implies that he does not accept the love of the woman. The speaker also describes the distance between the two people. He states, “The voice is always in some other room” (12). Once again the speaker is describing distance, but the man does not try to close the distance. The reason the man does not try to close the distance is because he does not love the woman. The lily represents the female and their love. In the poem, the speaker talks about a “garden” which is a metaphor for the female’s life (13). In the garden the speaker describes the flower as “in bloom” and that the flower “stands full and/ proud” (13,14-15). This section of the poem tells the reader that the woman’s love is strong and unwavering. The speaker compares the woman’s love to a lily because the love is pure of heart and beautiful. The relationship that the poem depicts is unhealthy for the female. The woman is putting too much effort into a nonexistent
As the poem progresses, the flower blooms underneath the touch of the man, representing that their passion for each other allows her spirit to bloom just as a flower does. Philip Jason notes the effectiveness of Williams’ metaphor to Queen Anne’s lace, writing, “…it is mainly through metaphor that he transforms his observation, his still life, into a dynamic field of action that reveals the life and energy hidden.” Just as Jason proves, the metaph...
The main character in John Steinback’s short story: The Chrysanthemums, is a married woman named Elisa Allen. She is a hardworking diligent young woman. In the opening chapters of The Chrysanthemums, Elisa is seen heartily in a great degree tendering to her gentle flowers. Powerful she is – gentle and conservative with her strength. She knows her weakness. Like the gentle calm flow of water embedding itself into layers of strata – which forms the highest peaks and grandest canyons.
*Although Medea is arguably the most intelligent character in Euripides’s piece, shown in her dialogue with Creon, she has become ridiculed, and viewed as barbarous and less desirable following her separation from Jason. She is no longer a wife to a Greek man. She is simply an outsider, and a burden on a prosperous
On the other hand, the garden itself within The Secret Garden can be classified as a cultivated natural therapeutic landscape. What makes the garden truly remarkable as a therapeutic is its role in Mary’s coming of age, considering that prior to Mary’s exposure to the garden she was raised without an appropriate adult role models but nonetheless reached emotional maturity. In addition, the garden is considered a true therapeutic landscape due to its role in healing not only Mary, but also Colin and Archibald
In the short story by John Steinbeck, The Chrysanthemums, symbolism, allegory and foreshadowing flood the story from start to finish. Steinbeck’s chosen words to describe the setting, plot and conclusion allows readers to evaluate and analyze the story in many ways. The story begins by describing the setting as enclosed, gray and repressive. Elisa Allen is introduced as the central character of the story, onto which the symbolism and allegory mainly affect. As the story develops further, Elisa’s encounter with a Tinker, leads her to “explode those repressed desires,” (Shockett) which have been suppressed by the symbolically “closed pot” (Steinbeck) in which the story takes place. The use of literary techniques
Medea’s illegitimate marriage and the betrayal of Jason drive Medea to extreme revenge. Medea chooses to act with her immortal self and commit inhumane acts of murder rather than rationalize the outcomes of her actions. Medea see’s this option as her only resort as she has been banished and has nowhere to go, “stripped of her place”. To create sympathy for Medea, Euripides plays down Medea’s supernatural powers until the end of the play. Throughout the play Medea represents all characteristics found in individual women put together, including; love, passion, betrayal and revenge. Medea’s portrayal of human flaws creates empathetic emotions from the audience. The audience commiserates with Medea’s human flaws as they recognize them in themselves. Medea plays the major role in this play as she demonstrates many behavioral and psychological patterns unlike any of the other Greek women in the play; this draws the audience’s attention to Medea for sympathy and respect.