Skip to Content (press Enter/Return)
Essays
Topics
preview

The Writer in the Family

Better Essays
Open Document
Pain Shown Through Symbolism

How does one show his or her pain? Jonathan’s agony from the death of his father is

shown throughout “The Writer in the Family” by utilizing symbolism. To Jonathan, it’s as if his

father did not die a ‘complete’ death and that haunts him. This pain is shown in a unique way

throughout the story. Jonathan, as he tells this first person narrative, does not come right out and

put words to his feelings concerning his father. At the start of the story Jonathan plainly states

that his father died in 1955 and he explains the situation of how Jonathan’s aunts on his dad’s

side choose not to tell Jonathan’s grandmother about his father’s passing, but he does not reveal

the sorrow resulting from the death of his father. Instead of clearly stating Jonathan’s feelings,

Doctorow utilizes symbolism throughout the story to readdress Jonathan’s pain. The problems

with Jonathan’s father’s grave, the discomfort of Jonathan trying on clothes of his father’s and

the bad dreams Jonathan experiences are all symbols used sporadically to reflect on the pain felt

by Jonathan due to the death of his father. In “The Writer in the Family,” E.L Doctorow uses the

symbolism of the father’s missing headstone, the dreams Jonathan has of his deceased father and

Jonathan’s reactions as he tries on his father’s suit to reveal his inner conflict over his father’s

Feid 2

The first instance revealing Jonathan’s inner conflict is the image of his father’s

missing headstone. Jonathan, along with his brother, Harold, and his mother, Ruth, travel to the

cemetery one day to visit where his father, Jack, is buried. Jonathan notes, “…father’s grave was

planted with tiny shoots of evergreen but it lacked a headst...

... middle of paper ...

...d use of symbols.

Works Cited

Doctorow, E.L. “The Writer in the Family.” The Language of Literature. Ed. Arthur N.

Applebee, et al. Evanston, Ill; McDougal Littel, 2000. 1157-1164. Print.

Neil Heims, Critical Essay on “The Writer in the Family,” in Short Stories for Students. Ed. Sara

Constantakis. Vol. 27. Detroit: Gale, 2009. 273-276.

Matterson, Stephen. “Why Not Say What Happened? E.L. Doctorow’s Lives of the Poets.”

Critique. Vol. 34. No. 2. Jan. 1993. 113-125. Excepted and reprinted in Short Stories for

Students. Vol. 27. Ed. Sara Constantakis. Detroit: Gale, 2009. 281-283.

Michelle Tokarczyk, Critical Essay on “The Writer in the Family,” in Short Stories for Students.

Ed. Sara Constantakis. Vol. 27. Detroit: Gale, 2009. 273-276.

“The Writer in the Family.” Short Stories for Students. Ed. Sara Constantakis. Vol. 14.

Detroit:Gale, 2009. 263-283.
Get Access
Related
Get Access