Katherine Anne Porter's The Grave

Katherine Anne Porter’s, “The Grave” consists of themes involving the initiation story of the female protagonist, Miranda, into her maturity. These themes are interwoven by the portrayal of symbolisms involving Miranda as she experiences a coming of age, from girlish innocence to knowledge.

The prominent element style in which Katherine composes is through symbolism. The two main characters, Miranda and her older brother Paul, explore and discover individually unique treasures in a family cemetery: “[S]he saw a silver dove no larger than a hazel nut, with spread wings and a neat fan-shaped tail…. Paul had found a thin wide gold ring carved with intricate flowers and leaves”. A dove in literature may be identified as an emblem of peace,

Miranda is a girl of merely nine years and contradicts the standard image of females, wearing “dark blue overalls, a light blue shirt, a hired-man’s straw hat, and thick brown sandals”. She is criticized and disapproved of by the ladies and elderly women of her “rigorous community”, although it had not been a prevalent agitation to her until an epiphany occurs.

Having traded their interests, Paul and Miranda swapped their finds for which item was more desirable. Porter emphasizes Miranda to be “smitten at the sight of the ring and wished to have it”, whereas Paul was “more impressed by the dove”. In studying her newfound ring, Miranda suddenly loses interest in hunting and beings to ponder the essence of femininity. Also, Miranda wears the ring on her thumb, which may signify her unqualified, undeveloped relation to womanhood.

The young female protagonist’s imaginations include aspiring to “taking a good cold bath, dust herself with… violet talcum powder… [and] put on the thinnest, most becoming dress she owned, with a big sash”. These luxurious desires Porter clarifies through Miranda’s stream of consciousness were influential and effective in emphasizing her blossoming transformation of