A Northern Light Symbolism

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Hope has the incredible ability to make or break someone. People are always told to make large goals in school and employment, and try to reach those ambitions no matter how far they are. Hope is the motivation behind accomplishing dreams, but it also has the ability to break people who have hoped for something so desperately, yet never came to fruition. Only determination and personal situations can persuade hope to fly or fall. A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly highlights this ambiguous hope we depend on through the use of symbolism, characterization, and inner conflict. The fantastic symbolism in A Northern Light brings hope to life in various ways. Even if someone’s dream seems to be lost, you can still look at the leftover pieces of hope …show more content…

She is shown as a very intelligent girl who, in seemingly even dire circumstances, attempts to keep high hopes for herself, her family, and her friends. After Weaver and his mom had lost their house and all of his college fund money, Mattie was terrified at the thought of Weaver not pursuing his dreams because he wanted to stay back and support his mom. “I couldn’t bear it. To think of him stuck here. Working in a dining room or a tannery or up at a lumber camp. Day after day. Year after year. Until he was old and used up and his dreams were dead” (358). She could see the kind of incredible person Weaver could grow up to be, and she couldn’t bear the thought of him being stuck in Eagle Bay forever when his dreams were so close. She says to him, “‘Go, Weaver, just go!’ I cried. ‘I’ll look out for your Mamma. Me and Royal and Minnie and Jim and Pa and Mrs. Loomis. All of us. We will. Just go! Before you’re stuck here forever. Like an ant in a pitch.’ Like me” (358). Donnelly characterized Mattie to show how she was hopeful for Weaver, even if she knew there was no hope for her own dreams. She would be happy to stay back as long as Weaver went to

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