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Accepting Your True Nature
The story by David Michael Kaplan "Doe Season" demonstrates Andy's journey into Womanhood. Andy's portrayed as someone who wants to fit in from the start without even realizing what she is doing."We are hunting, Andy thought"(Kaplan 474). This shows her innocence of not gathering the reality of what she is doing and proving that she is only thinking about how happy she is to be fitting in with the men. In the story, while driving to the location Charlie said "I don’t understand why she is coming" because he is a man who believes hunting is only for men and that gender roles should always be followed(Kaplan 473). "Doe Season" suggests that innocent girls that yearn to fit into the male world may act in harmful
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ways contradicting to their true nature. Andy's change to Andrea conveyed female empowerment which the story showed with symbols such as the Doe, the blood and Light. Femininity is the overall theme happening throughout the story and the Doe being in the title of the story is a powerful symbol which is crucial to Andy's transition. "According to the Dictionary of Symbolism in prehistoric rites of passage doe's may have symbolized female initiates" meaning they are believed to have led young girls unto the route of womanhood which in this case the doe was actually hunting for Andy to guide her to her true nature. The death of the doe was valuable to show Andy the reality of what she was doing all along, leading her to dream due to guilt that reveals her inner true feelings. "Animals-I don’t know how she does it, but they come right up to her"(Kaplan 473). This was foreshadowing how the doe was hunting for her to guide her into adulthood. "Andy's got a good shot, its her deer."(Kaplan 480). It is her deer because it's her guide which she has to kill in order for her "turning" to occur. She is hesitant and her father wants to help her by asking "do you want to shoot it punkin?"(Kaplan 479) which he has to do because the "men" want to shoot it. Her decision to do it even if it's against her nature is showing her willpower as a women to commit to something. The doe was a major part of the story representing femininity overall since it's what led Andy to become Andrea. In the story there was also mention of Blood.
This is the second symbol that conveyed female empowerment "According to the Dictionary of Symbolism Blood globally represents life itself, as the element of divine life that functions within the human body."(). The main source of life are women since they are the ones to give birth, Yet Andy took a life away when she shot the doe she " smelled the smoke, but I don’t remember pulling the trigger"(Kaplan 480). Which shows her remorse. The blood in another way represents the women's menstrual cycle, to symbolize the start of Andy's adulthood. Andy's guilt was strong she could not fathom the harm and suffering she has caused to such an innocent creature. In her dream "She had found the doe's heart, warm and beating. She cupped it gently in her hand. Alive, she marveled. Alive"(Kaplan 482). She was so happy to find the doe alive because she felt her guilt weaken ,but then "The heart quickened under her touch, becoming warmer and warmer until it was hot enough to burn"(Kaplan 482). The warmer it became, represents her guilt building until she could not handle it. Then "… a streaming rush of blood,… it covered her hand and arm, and she saw to horror that her hand was steaming."(Kaplan 482). Her hand was steaming because again her conscience was in horror itself of the terrible act she committed. The blood represents life which a women parts and yet Kaplan uses it to represent horror and …show more content…
guilt. The Goodness of light was another symbol that conveyed female empowerment throughout the story.
"According to the Dictionary of Symbolism by Allison Protas "light is a source of goodness" as well as Knowledge, purity and morality"(Protas). In the story when Andy says "There has to be a moment when it all changers from dark to light."(Kaplan 477) represents that even through darkness there is a moment when light or goodness begins. Foreshadowing her realization of her being in the "dark" and not seeing what she is actually doing until it all comes to light. She also described the light as blue "she sensed light, blue and pale, light where before there had been none."(Kaplan 481). Which the Dictionary of symbolism states the color having "strong connections with nearly all forms of WATER; for this reason it can have feminine, cool, and reflective qualities."(Protas) In her dream she also said the does "body, like everything around her was silvered with frost and moonlight"(Kaplan 482). This part is showing her feminine side coming fourth since silver is usually represented as feminine and purity according to the Dictionary of Symbolism in which the light from the moon is casting on everything to show her innocence surrounding her only to be corrupted by what she had done. Light is used in the story as the goodness and purity of a young girl corrupted to reveal her true
nature. Ultimately, Andy's change to Andrea conveyed female empowerment with symbols such as the Doe, the blood and Light. The doe was representing her guide into adulthood as the blood represented her guilt and the start of her adulthood. While the doe and blood represented her coming into adult hood the light represented her innocence being lost. Overall the story represented the desire some girls have to fit in to the point of denying their true nature only to come to terms with who they are due to experiences they endure.
In the novel, light is used as a symbol of a normal life that is dictated by the normality of society. This is illustrated when Ruth
Her dream about the doe after shooting it shows her remorse and brings more symbolism to the story. The dream shows Andy’s curiosity as she examines the doe and the gunshot wound. As Andy touches the doe’s heart, “The heart quickened under her touch, becoming warmer and warmer until it was hot enough to burn. In pain, Andy tried to remove her hand, but the wound closed about it and held her fast” (Kaplan 479). She felt trapped, this is representative of her guilt (Q&A). The dream continues, “She cried in agony… her hand pulled free, following a stream of blood “(Kaplan479). The pain followed by the presence of blood is representative of uncomfortable changes of growing up and the consequences that come along with
The process of finding out who one is can be very turbulent and confusing. Through growing up one goes through so many different changes in terms of one's personality and deciding who they are and what they want to be. The little girl in David Kaplan's "Doe Season" goes through one of these changes, as do many other adolescents confused about who they are, and finds out that there are some aspects of a person's identity that cannot be changed no matter how hard he/she tries. Andy is a nine-year-old girl who doesn't want to grow up to be a woman. When she talks of the sea and how she remembers her mother loving it and how much she hated it is a clue that she prefers to be a "boy". The sea is symbolic of womanhood and the forest is symbolic of manhood.
Symbolism is immensely spread through this novel, as well as an immerse amount of color. For example, the green light gatsby strives for. Gatsby states that the "single green light" on Daisy's dock that Gatsby gazes wistfully at from his own house across the water represents the "unattainable dream," the "dream [that] must
...colors, help to create a feeling of eternity in the passage. This is displayed in the quote “the water rose further and dressed Simon’s coarse hair with brightness” (pg.154). These lights that are around Simon symbolize him rising up to heavens.
I want to start with some of the things light symbolizes in the story and in life today. In Anthem, Equality 7-2521 even talks about how light is very precious. “We stole the candle from the Street Sweepers. We larder be sentenced to ten years in the Palace of Corrective Detention if it be discovered. But this matters not. It matters only that light is precious and we should not waste it to write when we need
The setting takes place mostly in the woods around Andy’s house in Pennsylvania. The season is winter and snow has covered every inch of the woods and Andy’s favorite place to be in, “They had been in her dreams, and she had never lost' sight of them…woods always stayed the same.” (327). While the woods manage to continually stay the same, Andy wants to stay the same too because she is scared of growing up. The woods are where she can do manly activities such as hunting, fishing and camping with her father. According to Andy, she thinks of the woods as peaceful and relaxing, even when the snow hits the grounds making the woods sparkle and shimmer. When they got to the campsite, they immediately started heading out to hunt for a doe. Andy describes the woods as always being the same, but she claims that “If they weren't there, everything would be quieter, and the woods would be the same as before. But they are here and so it's all different.” (329) By them being in the woods, everything is different, and Andy hates different. The authors use of literary elements contributes to the effect of the theme by explaining what the setting means to Andy. The woods make Andy happy and she wants to be there all the time, but meanwhile the woods give Andy a realization that she must grow up. Even though the woods change she must change as
There is a distinct symbolism of light in this novel. While growing up Equality 7-2521 wanted to be assigned to the House of Scholars, but instead was made a street sweeper. While doing his daily job he discovers a tunnel from the Unmentionable times. He ran away to his secret tunnel every night where he rediscovers the light bulb. His invention represents his curiosity and the beginning of his individualism. Light is used again when giving Liberty 5-3000 a private name of “The Golden One” and his final name “Prometheus” at the end of the novel. Prometheus is the Greek God that brought fire to men from the Gods. Equality 7-2521 feels the name fitting for himself because of his rediscovery of the light bulb.
The image and scent of blood symbolizes the unending guilt of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. The blood on their hands represents the inability to annul the murder from their memories. While sleepwalking, Lady Macbeth was aggravated with own hands. She was seen muttering, “Out damned spot! Out, I say!” (V,I,39) This proves that her evil deed in still on her conscience.
In the short story Doe Season, by David Michael Kaplan, the nine-year-old protagonist, Andrea, also known as Andy, the tomboy goes out on a hunting trip and endures many different experiences. The theme of coming of age and the struggle most children are forced to experience when faced with the reality of having to grow up and leave childhood behind is presented in this story. Many readers of this story only see a girl going hunting with her father, his friend Charlie, and son Mac, because she wants to be one of the guys. An important aspect of the story that is often overlooked is that Andy is going hunting because she doesn't want to become a woman because she is afraid of the changes that will occur in her body.
Symbolism “acts as webbing between theme and story. Themes alone can sound preachy, and stories alone can sound shallow. Symbolism weaves the two together” (Hall). Symbolism uses the story to convey the theme. Darkness is used in the novel to show the secrecy and lies that the story has. The whole story involves secrecy among two women and a man. Without symbolism the story would just have a very dark house and two very mysterious and disturbed women. Instead there is a feel of secrecy right from the beginning. Symbolism gives the story excitement, while also providing the reader with a good read. The author can read the first few pages and determine the story is not a happy
“Her face was fair and pretty, with eyes like two bits of night-sky, each with a star dissolved in the blue.” This elaborate simile creates a mental image of the natural beauty of the young princess, Irene, by comparing her eyes to the night sky. The simile also parallels the depth of Irene’s soul to the dark, endless night sky.
Throughout the story, many different colors are used. Every color in the rainbow can be seen throughout the story. One major example is the yellow brick road the Dorthy has to travel down in order to get the the Land of Oz. The color yellow is interpreted in many different ways by different people. To me the color yellow symbolizes happiness and joy. The yellow brick road is what leads Dorthy and her friends to the magical wizard, and once they reach him I am sure that they will be filled with joy and happiness. I remember that the color yellow symbolizes joy by thinking of the sun, which starts a new day and
These lines may seem confusing if not read properly. At first look, these might not make sense because the night is acquainted with darkness, but when the lines are read together as intended, one can see that the night is “cloudless” and filled with “starry skies” (1, 1-2). The remaining lines of the first stanza tell the reader that the woman's face and eyes combine all the greatness of dark and light:
The green light signifies Gatsby’s hopes and dreams. Nick thinks back to when Gatsby observes the green light across the bay from West Egg and says, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us” (180). The “orgastic future” represents the American dream in which everyone has the equal opportunity to live in prosperity and happiness through hard work and success. Gatsby’s dream is full of potential, but the memories in his past end up against him and his potential diminishes as his life