Symbolic Elements Essays

  • Ambrose Bierces’ An Occurence At Owl Creek Bridge

    1122 Words  | 3 Pages

    he reaches the bank of the creek, he runs for what seems like forever. He finally reaches home, where his family is waiting so anxiously for him. However, Bierce chooses to surround this intriguing tell with elements that carry visual, concrete, and intangible symbolism. The symbolic elements of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” imply that the protagonist, Peyton Fahrquhar, is out of touch with reality, which evidently leads to the added twist at the end of the story. Many of the symbols in the

  • truthhod Quest for Truth in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness

    2848 Words  | 6 Pages

    Africa. The novel's climax was not comprised of actions, but of moral discoveries and intellectual awakenings. A stylistic device utilized by Conrad throughout the novel is the highlighting of themes by setting certain symbolic elements in opposition to contrasting symbolic elements. In order to accomplish this, he relied heavily on metaphors. Metaphors only gain meaning, as they are associated in the reader's mind with images or ideas that are beyond the intrinsic meanings of the words themselves

  • Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

    665 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the greatest fourteenth century text. It was written by an unknown author between 1375 and 1400. The story begins at Christmas time, and there are many symbolic elements. The Green Knight is a color which symbolizes Christmas. Also, changing seasons and the coming of winter symbolize the passing of life and reminds us that Death is unavoidable. The author also skillfully illustrates human weaknesses in the descriptions of Gawain's

  • Three Forms of Irony in Shakespeare's Macbeth

    2740 Words  | 6 Pages

    of a man who's ambitions have brought him to commit treason and murder. Visions of power grew within his head until his thirst for power causes him to lose that very source of his ambition to the blade of Macduff's sword. It is the ironic and symbolic elements such as this in the play which contribute to much of the acceptance the work has enjoyed for centuries. Three forms of irony may be found in the play, Macbeth: Dramatic irony, being the difference between what the audience knows and what a

  • Free College Essays - Allegory and Symbolism in Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

    1487 Words  | 3 Pages

    followed (Adams 71). The use of symbolism in "young Goodman Brown" shows that evil is everywhere, which becomes evident in the conclusion of this short story. Hawthorne's works are filled with symbolic elements and allegorical elements. "Young Goodman Brown" deals mostly with conventional allegorical elements, such as Young Goodman Brown and Faith. In writing his short stories or novels he based their depiction of sin on the fact that he feels like his father and grandfather committed great sins. There

  • Tibetan Oracles

    3952 Words  | 8 Pages

    and acted upon is through possession or trance induction. Trance induction in the Tibetan State Oracle is a complex process involving certain physical deprivations and stimuli from various sources of anything from music to hyperventilation. Symbolic elements as well as visualizations induce possession and trance in the oracle. (Ellingson 58) Certain questions about the spirituality of the oracles arise. It could be argued that oracles are taught to act in spiritual ways and that these actions

  • Symbolic Elements in Moby Dick

    1321 Words  | 3 Pages

    Symbolic Elements in Moby Dick There is a symbolic element in every great literary work, which makes the author's message more tangible and real to his readers. In Herman Melville's Moby Dick, one such element is the idea of the "counterpane," or tapestry, of humanity, that is woven throughout the story as a symbol of the world's multiculturalism. Melville develops this symbolism on at least three levels, proving that the world is indeed a counterpane of diverse cultures, races, and environments

  • Symbolic Elements in Summer and Smoke by Tennessee Williams

    753 Words  | 2 Pages

    Symbolic Elements in Summer and Smoke by Tennessee Williams The most striking feature of Tennessee Williams Summer and Smoke as performed at the Guthrie Theater was the transformation of the characters. There are several elements that reflect this transformation. These elements are set, costumes and character mannerisms, which are all symbolic. As a result of these complexities, the audience is exposed to a very deep and meaningful production. Summer and Smoke illustrates the transformation

  • Symbolic Elements In Ayn Rand's Anthem

    847 Words  | 2 Pages

    Anthem Setting Anthem is a novella written by Ayn Rand in 1937. Anthem is set in the far future after the “Unmentionable Times” end and the human race has been reduced to basic and simple technology. The majority of the story is narrated in a hidden and forgotten tunnel under the City in which Equality 7-2521, the narrator and author, lives. The latter part of the story is written in the Uncharted Forest after Equality 7-2521 leaves the society that wouldn’t accept him or his ideas. Symbols

  • A Lacanian Study of Motherhood in the Poems of William Wordsworth

    1983 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Three Orders and his account of The Mirror Stage in relation to the ego. For Lacan, the Mirror Stage is not ... ... middle of paper ... ...ressing or painful situations, although we may have forgotten of origins of the compulsion. In the symbolic realm we also begin our unending search for Objet (petit) a, the lost object that must constantly be sought in order, we feel, to complete us: an unobtainable other. For Wordsworth, this Objet (petit) a appears to be the mother figure and his compulsion

  • Jacques Lacan

    3307 Words  | 7 Pages

    the center of society evolved from Freud’s. Lacan views our development in life as three stages or phases that one must enter into in order to become a part of society. The goal of these phases is the stabilization of signifiers. ‘Signifiers’, the elements of memory that make up the unconscious are floating around the unconscious. These ‘signifiers’ are held together by the phallocentric order which is realized in the stages of development. This may be confusing, but related to the narrator it becomes

  • Symbolism, Imagery and Allegory in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and A Streetcar Named Desire

    2110 Words  | 5 Pages

    imagery and allegory to that effect in both Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and A Streetcar Named Desire. Both plays tend to share the same kinds of symbols and motifs; sometimes they achieve the same meaning, sometimes not. It is possible that Williams' took elements from A Streetcar Named Desire to make Cat on a Hot Tin Roof a success. After the success of A Streetcar Named Desire, Williams' next 2 plays The Rose Tattoo and Camino Real didn't relive the success of their predecessor, therefore it is prudent

  • Comparing Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Coppola's Apocalypse Now

    3613 Words  | 8 Pages

    American officer. He, too, must travel upriver, but this time it is on the Mekong River in Vietnam. However different, both of these stories have many similarities throughout. Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now share many of the symbolic elements. One of these elements is the battle between the good and the evil sides of man’s soul. As a general in Apocalypse Now said, "There is a conflict in every human heart between the rational and the irrational, between good and evil, and the good does not

  • Symbolic Elements in The Lord of the Flies by William Golding

    563 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding the stranded boys come into contact with some particular elements that represent an idea which are called symbols. These symbols include the beast which represents the fear of the unknown and the darkness of mankind. The second symbol is the signal fire which represents hope. The third symbol is the conch shell which represents order. Golding indicates that when man is taken out of civilization, they have a natural instinct is to become evil, darkness

  • catching feelings

    878 Words  | 2 Pages

    In lacans readings we are told that the birth of desire has a series of complex steps that have to take place beforehand. The loss of the real is the first step which later leads to the unconscious, then leads to the symbolic which creates the birth of desire. In novels such as The Hunger games there are a series of events that take places where the reader can witness the birth of desire. The main characters Katnies and peeta both have their own series of events that lead to the birth of some kind

  • Racial, Social, and Symbolic Elements in Desiree's Baby by Kate Chopin

    1175 Words  | 3 Pages

    trying to erase away the memory of his wife Desiree, and his son. Armand’s bonfire symbolizes Armand wanting to start over and forget his past. Throughout the short story many elements of symbolism was used to convey a central message those include discussing symbols of racism, social class distinction, and the symbolic elements involving the difference between the gender roles. In “Desiree Baby”, author, Chopin emphasizes racism by selecting certain words to symbolize the association between light

  • Symbols in Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye

    709 Words  | 2 Pages

    As the source of the book’s title, this symbol merits close inspection. It first appears in Chapter 16, when a kid Holden admires for walking in the street rather than on the sidewalk is singing the Robert Burns song “Comin’ Thro’ the Rye.” In Chapter 22, when Phoebe asks Holden what he wants to do with his life, he replies with his image, from the song, of a “catcher in the rye.” Holden imagines a field of rye perched high on a cliff, full of children romping and playing. He says he would like to

  • Junot Diaz's Otravida, Otravez: The Ever Present Past

    939 Words  | 2 Pages

    postulates a perspective of life where one’s present and future always reflects their past in some way. Diaz incorporates symbolic figures to convey how a person’s past can be carried into the future. Diaz’s use of symbolic figures includes the dirty sheets washed by Yasmin, the letters sent by Virta to Ramon, and the young girl who begins working with Yasmin at the hospital. These symbolic figures and situations remind the readers that the past will always play a major role in one’s present. Additionally

  • Symbolic Nature in Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson

    602 Words  | 2 Pages

    with imagery, atmospheric tones and moods, symbols, and themes influenced by nature. David Guterson too used nature to mold and shape his novel, Snow Falling on Cedars. Guterson was able to make is themes flourish and shine through his artistic and symbolic use of nature incorporate in the novel’s plot. Guterson achieved capturing and touching readers’ hearts through his themes unfolded from the help of nature being used symbolically. The snow storm that citizens of Amity Harbor endured and last throughout

  • Comparison B/w The Wanderer And The Seafarer

    670 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the history of British Literature, there have always been the themes of loneliness, torment or exile. Many times authors speak from their experiences and at times those experiences have to do with misery and discomfort with their lifestyles. In the Renaissance age, times were not always happy and people chose to pass on stories generation to generation to reveal their feelings and experiences. Poems made a great impact in easing the pain. In the poems, "The Seafarer" and "The Wanderer"