Symbolism in "a New England Nun"
analytical Essay
555 words
Symbolism in "A New England Nun"
The main character, Louisa Ellis, lived a life which paralleled both of her pets' lives, her dog Caesar's and her yellow canary. The animals and Louisa are trapped by their captivity, and because they have lived like this for so long, no longer crave freedom. Both Louisa and Caesar live solemn and isolated lives. This is shown when Freeman describes Caesars house as "half hidden among the tall grasses and flowers" (258). Given the setting of where Louisa lives, she is fairly isolated as well. There is only a little road running through "the quiet and unguarded village" (265) which she lives in. Because it is quiet, one can make the conclusion that there is little interactions between the townspeople and Louisa. They fear her dog, for it has bitten once when he was a puppy, and tend to stay away. Freeman does a good job in portraying the solitude among the characters. By showing their day-to-day routine and the setting of the houses and town, it is clear that Louisa is isolated and Caesar is hidden from society.
The location of the home of Louisa and Caesar's dog house is not the only way Freeman depicts isolation in the story. Louisa's dog Caesar, who Freeman compares to a hermit, was chained up in the yard. He lived a lonely existence with only his dog house and a couple feet of chain to restrain him. The dog became accustomed to solitude and seemed quite content. Her little yellow canary is also constrained to his cage. Comparable to the dog, the bird is usually found "turned into a peaceful yellow ball night after night", which could mean that it feels at ease in its tiny cage. Caesar was a prisoner of his home, and the canary is prisoner to his cage, similar to how Louisa was...
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... wildly, beating his little yellow wings against the wires" (259). When Joe is around Caesar, he threatens to take the dog off his chain and release him into the town. To Louisa, taking the dog off his chain symbolically relates to her being freed from the constraints Joe is putting on her. Because she, like the dog, have been alone for so long, it would be frightening to go out and experience new things. People tend to do what they know, and for fourteen years, Louisa and her pets have been accustomed to solitude. The man's influence is seen as disruptive since it threatens change on Louisa's life. The symbolism Freeman portrays between the pets and Louisa is immense and obvious. Because of this, it is easy for the reader to make such connections. Freeman's choices make this an easy to read story that appeals to all readers at all different skill levels.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how freeman portrays the solitude among the characters in "a new england nun."
- Analyzes how freeman depicts isolation in the story. louisa's dog, caesar, was chained up in his yard, and her yellow canary was constrained to his cage.
- Concludes that freeman intends louisa to be a woman dominated by strong spoken man, but in "revolt of mother," the mother was also seen as dominating by man but then stood up to him at the end.
- Analyzes how freeman's title, "a new england nun," depicts louisa as an isolated, orderly, celibate woman.
- Analyzes how freeman's choices make this an easy to read story that appeals to all readers at all different skill levels.
Related
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In this essay, the author
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- Explains that henry, a lonely nine-year-old boy's greatest wish, was to get an unconditional love and companion. however, his parents didn't want dog, which would have been another obligation.
- Analyzes how henry's mother, more than his father, "would have preferred a happy child," which is one of the reasons why they divorced five years later.
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- Explains that the abolitionist movement condemned the importation of cuban bloodhounds for use in suppressing the seminoles.
- Analyzes how southerners adopted the "cuban method" of pursuing and intimidating enslaved people, a prong in the early development of the slave power thesis.
- Analyzes how the fugitive slave act of 1850 decried the law's insult to "good citizens" in making them "the blood hounds not only of the slave owner, but of that most debased of human beings."
- Analyzes how the prominent appearances of the animals in harriet beecher stowe's uncle tom’s cabin convey the barbarity of legree and illustrate the all-encompassing corrupting power
- Analyzes how the use of the term bloodhound coincided with the rapid growth of a political ideology to which the power of slaveowners was an intrinsic threat to the nation.
- Explains that the republican party was formed as the party of free labor and free soil. its adherents found an inherent dignity in hardworking and enterprise.
- Analyzes how the slave society of the south was perceived as a curse upon the poor white men whose economic opportunities were devoured by the plantations.
- Analyzes how james henry hammond's 1857 defense of slavery inflamed northern public opinion and thrust a powerful new term into the american political vocabulary.
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- Analyzes how john russell bartleby's glossary of american slang includes derogatory terms for the southern slaveholding class, such as "slavocracy" and "slavocrat."
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- Opines that we all have a responsibility to protect the environment and teach our children the importance of protecting the creatures around us.
- Analyzes each work separately and emphasizes how the characters in these works showed humanity and responsibility in each situation, as well as the vision of nature and the feeling of guilt or remorse.
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- Analyzes "dog's death" by john updike to appreciate the harmony and coexistence between a responsible human being and his pet, no matter that it was an animal.
- Analyzes how jim willis' "before i die" is a magnificent piece of literature where we can appreciate the feeling of sadness, frustration, confusion and desperation of an animal that just want to feel freedom before he died.
- Analyzes how the poem is a desperate cry for freedom and what for them are the basic rights of any household animals, such as dogs.
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In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how august strindberg symbolizes the naturalistic view of human behavior through animal imagery.
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In this essay, the author
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- Analyzes how crooks feels a great deal of loneliness, as he is an outcast on the ranch.
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In this essay, the author
- Analyzes the theme presented in fifteen dogs, that without an escape from social hierarchy, one is often doomed to misery, either as oppressed or a cruel dominant leader.
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In this essay, the author
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- Analyzes how marie, a product of an abusive family, is influenced by her past, as she perceives the relationship between callie and her son, bo.
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- Explains mays, kelly j. "puppy" the norton introduction to literature. new york: w.w. norton &.
1100 wordsRead More