Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
What are the symbolism used in novel harry potter
Essays on symbolism in literature
Importance of symbolism in literature
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Can one item be used to symbolize more than one thing in a poem? Yes it can. In “The Vacuum” by Howard Nemerov he uses a vacuum cleaner to symbolize more than one thing. He uses it symbolize his wife, cleanliness, and his sense of purpose. Without the vacuum being used as a symbol throughout the poem then the poem would be about a man in a dirty home. Since it is a symbol it tells much more besides his home. It tells why and what happened for him to be like he is.
First, the vacuum symbolizes his wife who has died. He hints that his wife has died before he decides to tell it in the poem. He says, “Its bag limp as a stopped lung, its mouth / Grinning into the floor (3-4). He uses the bag on the vacuum to represent her lungs which just stopped working ultimately causing her death. The vacuum is grinning which he has
…show more content…
The house is a mess. The vacuum just sits there in the corner closet and does not get used. He says, “I can’t bear/ to see the bag swell like a belly, eating the dust / and the woolen mice, and begin to howl (8-10). The vacuum shows he does not clean since his wife died. He lost the cleanliness because she used to clean. He even says that there is filth everywhere in the house. Finally, the vacuum symbolizes that his sense of purpose is gone. He does not care about how dirty his home gets. He is still angry and hurt that his wife has died. He says, “And still the hungry, angry heart/ hangs on and howls, biting at air (14-15). He misses her. She is what gave him purpose in life. In the poem, by Howard Nemerov, he uses the vacuum as a major symbol. The vacuum represents his wife. His wife did all the cleaning and everything. It also symbolized how his life changed after she died. He lost the cleanliness and his sense of purpose. The vacuum cleaner represents all of it. The one thing you need in life can quit working or die. Without it how would you
Among the few things in The Jungle that is referred to a symbol is the family house. The house is a symbolic object represents the hopes and dreams that Jurgis and his family start out with. When they come to America and purchase the house it's new and welcoming, as a result Jurgis and Ona’s dream of setting aside a room to start their new lives. "They had bought their home. It was hard for them to realize that the wonderful house was theirs to move into whenever they chose." (Sinclair 30). Jurgis and Ona's excitement about their new home evokes a sense of passion within the reader, who can relate to the warmth and togetherness that is generally associated with family starting a new chapter of life. However soon after they begin to realize the severity of their burdening debt, their distaste for the house - and their marriage- begins to grow. Not only do they find that the house is poorly built; located on top of a sewage ditch, old, and very cold in the winter, but it is also a swindle according to Grandmother Majauszkiene - who moved into similar apartments in Packingtown quite a while before Jurgis and his family . At this point, the house is a symbol of the fal...
B) The symbolism of dust in Ashes for the Wind refers to the biblical story of the fall of man. Ash and dust are both very similar and in the end, Juan’s house burns down to the ground and all that is left is ashes: “for dust you are and to dust you will return." Juan was born and dies in the dust.
The author use of the simile, “The cat sneaked away toward the open barn shed and passed inside like a shadow” (48), is significant because it reflects the difference between life now and life as it was before the Dust Bowl. The shadow symbolizes the past because it is an optical illusion which always follows its object. By comparing the cat to the shadow, the author shows how everything about the farm is now apart of the past. Even the cat which is still with them, is seen as a fragment of Tom Joad’s
...ome the dream of attainment slowly became a nightmare. His house has been abandoned, it is empty and dark, the entryway or doors are locked. The sign of age, rust comes off in his hands. His body is cold, and he has deteriorated physically & emotionally. He is weathered just like his house and life. He is damaged poor, homeless, and the abandoned one.
Symbolism is the use of a person, place, or thing to represent an idea or quality. In the story The Yellow Wallpaper is filled with symbolism the pattern of the wallpaper, the moonlight, and the house. The pattern of the yellow wallpaper can be seen as a cage. This can be why the narrator feels like she is trapped inside the wallpaper. The moonlight can symbolize the narrator because during the day she remains motionless due to her husband watching her and at night she creeps through the room and remains alert and awake. “At night in any kind of light, in twilight, candlelight, lamplight, and worst of all by...
...er isolation. Therefore her house is a symbol of her loneliness and solitude. Finally, the most important example is the lifeless body of Homer Baron, which seems to symbolize the empty void in her life that was never satisfied.
She kept washing her father clothes time to time, and she still remember how he used to wear them. Washing her father’s shirt was a daily habit that she did for her father. It also shows that she is very care about him. Then she states, “From among all bodies in the world, / animal, human. / Only one exuded that sweat. / I breath it in/ for the last time.”, this part shows the solid relationship that only has with her special father. From all around the world the “smells of sweat” on her father’s shirt was the only one that was so special to her. It clearly reflects the uniqueness of her father and their binding relationship. She tries to breath the “smells of sweat” from the “shirt” for the time because she will never have change to smell that sweat again. this is the only time that she could smell and memory about her father. The action also indicates deeply the daughter’s love for her
The old man “rolls up his sleeves to show us who he was”(Kooser 12). He does this to show the swagger he had when he was younger. It is obvious the old man no longer obtains this swagger. Most people roll up their sleeves if they want to show off their muscles or they are going to do some strenuous physical activity. In this poem the aged man is not doing anything except picking up a few tools and putting them down. The old man is wearing a tight black shirt (Kooser 11), because this one way the old man trys to fit in with the young crowd. This depicts a sad image, because it may remind the reader of small children that try hard to be cool, but for some reason are never accepted by their peers. The tone of the poem this poem is melonchaly. No matter what this old man does he will be just another old man. The speaker also illustrates that the setting is at a yard sale on a chilli morning. This leaves the reader in sad state of mind. The old man has not shown any emotion at all, until this point. For some reason after the man puts the tools down, there is an indication that he feels pain. The old man puts the tools back because he is not able to do any physical activity. The tools are also broken, and the man cannot use them. These tools may symbolize this man. In years past these tools could fix anything and were useable. Now they are broken, frail, and
As the first poem in the book it sums up the primary focus of the works in its exploration of loss, grieving, and recovery. The questions posed about the nature of God become recurring themes in the following sections, especially One and Four. The symbolism includes the image of earthly possessions sprawled out like gangly dolls, a reference possibly meant to bring about a sense of nostalgia which this poem does quite well. The final lines cement the message that this is about loss and life, the idea that once something is lost, it can no longer belong to anyone anymore brings a sense...
In the first paragraph similes and personification are used to show how his mental state is beginning to show change. In a flashback he remembers the first time he thought for himself “The night I kicked the pill bottle in the dark, like kicking a buried mine” (Bradbury 1). In this scene he starts to realize that there is something wrong with his society. How it was no big deal the his wife, Mildred had just tried to kill herself. His views on everything about society changed this night. He realizes that he wan...
Shuttle was able to find comfort in things she probably didn’t even care about before the loss of her husband. This is also the purpose of the poem, Shuttle turned to poetry to safely release her emotions and share with the world how she was mourning with the loss of her husband. The author’s relationship between the setting and her poem is quite unique as well. I’ve never come across a poem where the author finds comfort in things you would find around the kitchen. This poem does depict society in a way. It comes to show how lonely a person can feel despite being in a world filled with billions of people. However, I am still unclear as to why she found comfort in the kitchen, she could have chosen the living room or any other room but she didn’t. This may be tied to the fact that women are often portrayed as people who cook and clean and that the kitchen is the heart of the house, or simply because it was the room filled with the most memories. Overall, my favorite line of the poem is “I am trying to love the world” I feel that when people go through a hard moment in their lives, they are often quick to blame the problem on the world and hate it right away, but Shuttle is staying strong and is trying to be thankful that at least she was given the opportunity to live and experience things in life that some people often don’t
...d precise. But by the end of they story he is admiring the homeless man while comparing him to the pigeon and realizing that a person can still be happy with no structure in their lives. That the freedom to do whatever a person wants is what he so desperately craves. Additionally, there are numerous symbols of this theme through out the short story. For example, Jonathan’s job as a security guard is symbolism. His job is very strict, he just has to stay in the same spot and keep watch for hours at a time. This job does not have much variation and he does the same thing day after day. This represents that his like constiancey. But, at the end of the day he moves from his stop which he has never done and does not open the door for a client which has never happened. This symbolizes that he is breaking away from his old self and changing into a person with less struce.
The wind seems to be a symbol of hope. Hope that he has entrusted in the form of nature. A hope that maybe he can trust that there is no such thing as a ghost that is lurking around tapping on his widows and chamber doors. The narrator looks for a way to make the wind the source of his problems instead of the potential cause that he is having repercussions from a broken
The author uses symbolism as well in this story to support the theme. Firstly, the author uses a closed door as a symbol of separator. The closed door separated her from her sister and her friend. She is free from the surroundings. Although she "wept at once" (69) after her husband's unfortunate, things are changing now. "The open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair" (69) reveals that Louise's true feeling. In the following paragraph, Chopin uses "blue sky" (69) as a sign of hope; twittering "sparrows" (69) as a sign of happiness. The reader can confirm that her husband's death is only a temporary hurdle and she recovers quickly from the grief. Now she looks hopefully to the future, future of independent and well deserved freedom.
Similarly, the furniture in the house is as sullen as the house itself. What little furniture is in the house is beaten-up; this is a symbol of the dark setting. The oak bed is the most important p...