Use of Biblical Imagery in Cather’s Sapphira and the Slave Girl
Throughout "Sapphira and the Slave Girl", Cather uses Biblical imagery to depict critical events. Specifically, Nancy's flight to freedom, and Mary's overcoming a potentially fatal illness. Cather continually uses Biblical imagery when describing Nancy's journey out of slavery and into freedom. For example, Mr. Colbert sees Nancy as going "up out of Egypt to a better land", clearly connecting her with flight of Hebrew slaves out of Egypt in the Bible. Connecting Nancy's escape to the Biblical pilgrimage of Moses to the "promised land" serves to reinforce the underlying righteousness of her actions-- as well as the inherent evil of slavery.
In depicting her actual journey, the reader once again encounters Biblical allusions. This occurs in Cather's description of the black preacher who will protect Nancy on her way to Canada. Cather portrays this man almost as a disciple, his voice being described as "solemn yet comforting" sounding "like the voice of prophecy" (239). Ascribing such a sage-like persona to this man solidifies the righteousness of both Nancy's, and Mrs. Blake's, efforts to defy slavery's bonds.
Mary's "communion" strikes me as another important event whereby Cather uses Biblical imagery. In this particular incident-- which invariably saves Mary's life-- she "walking in her sleep" drinks the bowl of broth intended for Mr. Fairhead (259). Cather depicts Mary as preternatual, being "a white figure" which "drifted"--rather than walked-- "across the indoor duskiness of the room" (259). Mary, seemingly in an altered state, in guided by what one can interpret as instinct, or "divine forces", which lead her to the soup. Similar to the black preacher's voice, Mr. Fairhead sees Mary's actions as "something solemn. . . like a communion service" (259). From a Catholic perspective, the purpose of communion is receiving the "body" and "blood" of Christ, thereby receiving "new life". One can see, in this instance, why Cather would deliberately paint this scene in Biblical terms, because Mary-- wuote literally-- receives a new chance at life from the soup she drinks.
Similar to Nancy's flight from slavery, Mary's drinking of the soup is an instance of an individual defying detrimental societal conventions. While taken as correct, the remedy for Mary and Betty's illness is not only wrong, but fatal. Cather thereby uses Biblical imagery to reinforce the righteousness of Mary's actions, even though they go against what society--specifically medicine-- sees as the "correct" course of treatment.
Does Phyllis Wheatley use religious references to warn her readers about slavery and sin and its repercussions?
In Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Jonathan Edwards created the emotion of fear by using imagery and figurative language to persuade his audience. He used imagery and figurative language so the wrath of God is more fearsome and gave you a mental picture of hell in your head.
In “The Crossing” McCarthy uses biblical allusions, symbolism, and tonal shifts in order to describe the experience of the protagonist.
Gluttony, Avarice, Wrath, Lust, Pride, Envy, and Sloth are all commonly known as the “Seven Deadly Sins”. Each of these seven sins plays a major role in development of the different characters. In Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales”, the Pardoner committed sins through gluttony and avarice; the Wife of Bath through Pride and Lust; and also the Monk through gluttony and wrath. However, omnipresent on all the characters are the different deadly sins that led to their development and morality.
Through O’Connor’s religious background, the audience must closely analyze the true message of her story through her symbolism. Her shocking and grotesque ending of the short story challenges individuals by questioning what is good and what is evil. O’Connor’s symbolism found in her setting and main characters truly embody her view of modern society. She uses these elements as a representation for the realistic paths individuals struggle to choose between: the path involved in sin concerning money, good looks, and pride or the path towards God concerning morals, values, and respect for humanity.
With a few short words he could conjure powerful emotions and images that would better help his readers understand his life and experiences. The bible was a touchstone between white and black audiences. The reading public, and certainly the paying reading public, was largely white. The people who could effect change based on reading Douglass' book were white. Lisa Margaret Zeitz, in her essay, “Biblical Allusion and Imagery in Frederick Douglass' Narrative” wrote “the white abolition audience for whom Douglass wrote...would certainly have responded to a language of religious reference, but Douglass was probably not consciously catering to their tastes” (56). This may be taking it too far. Douglass was almost certainly aware of the effect his
"Paul's Case," by Willa Cather, is a story that deals with a young boy who does not feel that he lives a life befitting of him. Upon a close reading, it is evident that "Paul's Case" is ruled by irony and symbolism, which are apparent in the story through the words of the narrator. The irony woven throughout the text builds up to an epiphonic moment, a main paradox in the story, which reveals to the reader Paul's true nature.
Even though Mrs. Turpin is already “saved” because of her Christian faith, she needs a revelation from Mary grace to realize that her world view i...
In class we read a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne about a minister, Mr. Hooper, who shows up one day to preach wearing a black veil. The whole of the congregation were shocked and spent almost the entirety of the story trying to get Mr. Hooper to remove the veil. In the end, Mr. Hooper dies and is buried with the veil. The various aspects of Nathaniel Hawthorne’ life and background influenced the ideas expressed in “The Minister’s Black Veil”, therefore creating the different character and their views.
Many teens, young adults, and even adults are faced with social media addiction. Do people realize this addiction is a serious problem or is it just simply ignored because it is considered as a “hobby”? These things cannot be ignored especially when it is considered a habit. Social media may have not been looked at as a problem when social networking sites were coming out to the public, but today it is very clear that more people are becoming dependent on social networking sites. It seems as if nowadays everyone has a Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or Instagram account. It is the norm for the 21st century and it is how people communicate and network today. People log on different social networking sites numerous times a day. Some people argue social media is a hobby, and it is only a habit that is not considered dangerous. Today’s social media has grown quickly and as it spreads more people are becoming addicted and not focused on what really matters in the outside world.
Development must take cultural specificity in to account, this is because our plant is made up of various ways of being human and varying ways of wellbeing. It is inherent to think the way we do and the distinction here obviously is what is common sense to ‘us’ is not common sense to the Ashaninak people. This leads to the idea that the earth is not a commodity but a social agent, a network of sociality where indigenous groups interact with sociality, Sarmiento Barletti (2014). Lewis Henry Morgan (1877) divides the social evolution of humans in to 3 basic stages, each stage was distinguished by a technological development. An each stage had a correlate in patterns of subsistence foe example marriage, family, and political organization. Morgan...
Even though social media has many attractions, it also has many defects. Social media has its pros and cons, but unfortunately has more defects than goods because of all the affects it has on our mental health. Not only is social media causing addiction, anxiety, depression, and mental health problems, but includes “the decrease in real life social community participation and academic achievement, as well as relationship problems, but all these symptoms indicate potential addiction”, said Daria J. Kuss and Mark D. Griffin (Kuss, D.J. & Griffins, 2011). Many people who use these social networking sites tend to believe that they are perfectly fine, yet we walk around the street and see people on social media while walking, while talking with others, and even when driving. We look back in time and would never guess that social media would ever exist, nor would it take over our society. Technology has created many good things but also many bad things. For which all comes to believe that our society is in a crisis with excessive use on social media. Therefore excessive use of social media “can indeed” contribute to addictive behavior (drugs, tobacco, and alcohol) and of course mental health issues. One may say that all this information about social media may be a bit exaggerated, but things like this have occurred. But the complete truth is that these networking sites are like they say ‘weapons of distraction’, a big waste of
In “The Minister’s Black Veil”, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Hooper’s isolation to reveal the judgemental assumptions and moral values of the community. By assuming of the different possibilities of a sin he could have committed, the community demonstrates their true colors. When Hooper first arrives, they are swift to imagine that a grave sin is the purpose for the black veil. Also, by isolating Hooper, the town demonstrates how judgemental they are and how important appearances are to them. Finally, the community fails to realize the intention of the veil by constantly speculating the sin that causes Hooper to wear the veil.
In The Minister’s Black Veil Nathaniel Hawthorne presents Reverend Hooper who suddenly chooses to hide his face with a morbid black veil. The exact symbolism of the veil causes great discussion among scholars and readers alike. While it is suggested that the veil symbolizes sin, Reverend Hooper’s black veil can be interpreted to represent three distinct areas of sin.
Van de Walle, J. A., Karp, K. S., & Bay-Williams, J. M. (2013). Elementary and middle school