Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The use of symbolism in the novel
Importance of Symbolism in literature
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: The use of symbolism in the novel
The rime
To begin, in the story “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” you can take many lessons from this and apply it to your daily life. The story is about Mariners, or sailors, who were traveling to the South Pole. The Mariners began to get off track and got stuck in dead water. They had no wind to move them so they were just stuck in the open. In the story there was an albatross, or a big bird, who was a sign of good omen. It meant it was good luck. They felt like they were going to be saved because of the bird. It was a good sign that there was land nearby. As a joke, the older Mariner decided to shot the albatross with his bow as a joke. Well the other Mariners definitely didn’t take it as a joke. In this story there were three main messages
…show more content…
In the story, the older mariner decided to shoot the bird as a joke. He didn’t think much of it at that time, but as we all know, it made a very big consequences. It is believed that the reason why the mariners got stuck in the dead water was because he shot the bird. The bird was supposed to be a good omen of luck, but since he was shot and killed, they had bad luck. So due to the fact that they are stuck in dead water, they ran out of water and food so the mariners begin die. This really shows that because of our bad life actions, your consequences are death of your fellow people and the only living people around you die. This may be a little far fetch to our daily lives. But this does show that a simple joke can turn into a deadly without anyone knowing …show more content…
Life is a precious thing and we shouldn’t take any of it for granted. It may not seem so. Many people go hunting and kill animals. Now don’t get me wrong I’m no vegetarian, but I think if you are going to kill an animal it should be used for good reasons. This means don’t kill an animal for no reason or just for fun. It is too precious of a gift to take it for granted. Humans are an entirely different case. Humans are not to be killed or to be taken lightly. In the story, the older mariner basically killed those innocent people because of a joke. It wasn’t fair to them to have been killed because of his joke that just went a little too fair. He took life for granted and didn’t think twice about it. After reading this it really shows the true reason why we shouldn’t take any life for
In the narrative poem “Cautionary Tale of Girls and Birds of Prey” the author, Sandy Longhorn, tells the story of a young girl who is afraid of a hawk, and her inconsiderate father who doesn’t take her concerns seriously. The story shows how her father is determined to get rid of her fear of the hawk, because he thinks it is both foolish and childish. The daughter very well knows the capability of the hawk, however her father doesn’t acknowledge it until it is too late. In the poem, Longhorn uses alliteration and rhyme to help explore the theme of how being inconsiderate towards others can in the end hurt you as much as it hurts them. The poem takes place on a little farm where the girl and her father live with all of their livestock.
“The sea's only gifts are harsh blows, and occasionally the chance to feel strong. Now I don't know much about the sea, but I do know that that's the way it is here. And I also know how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong but to feel strong. To measure yourself at least once. To find yourself at least once in the most ancient of human conditions. Facing the blind deaf stone alone, with nothing to help you but your hands and your own head.” – Christopher McCandless, Into the Wild
Even when Jim is in this awful war-stricken place, one thing that he can still find comfort in, and which reminds him of his peaceful home is the birds, which are everywhere, still living their lives unaffected by mans war. This shows how nature is unaltered by mans cruel antics against other man, and how life and nature must, and will go on through all circumstances.
Throughout “The Birds,” the suspense in the story is used to portray the tendency for people to lose all reason in situations that are extremely complex. "[Du Maurier] forces Nat and the reader to remain in a claustrophobic house where all they can do is sit, listen, and wait for the inevitable terror that’s certain to return" (Kattelman 13). Not only is the point of view restrained to Nat, but it follows all of his actions, thoughts and inner monologue about survival. As a second-hand witness, the reader experiences all of the anxiety and anticipation he experiences. As soon as Nat checks for survivors, he witnesses that "[t]he line was dead. He climbed onto a bank and looked over the countryside, but there was no sign of life at all, nothing in the fields but the waiting, watching birds" (Du Maurier 97). After the attack of the birds, the surrounding area is completely wiped out. The suspense of being alone creeps into Nat 's head as he takes off to work on his house. The isolation drives him crazy because he does not know how to deal with it. Just like Nat, humans make decisions based off of what is real to them. Psychologically speaking, when reality becomes questionable, all familiarity and comfort with the situation go away due to people 's loss of power in knowledge (Kattelman 12). When the characters of "The Birds" are forced to confront
The husband ordered his servant to set out traps to capture the bird. So, his servant catches the bird and returns it back to him. “The husband takes the bird to his wife and before her eyes he killed it out of spite breaking its neck with his hands.” (Sutton 171) The blood from the bird splatters over her chest (Sutton 172).
In this case, knowing the ocean can be unpredictable these mean still chose to go through with their journey. Even though the probability of dying is low, taking a risk that could mean losing a life is not worth it. Therefore, people need to be knowledgeable about the activities that they are going partake in. For example, In “To build a Fire,” a man went on an expedition to map out a pathway and he went all alone, along with his dog. This man did not learn enough about his expedition until he got himself involved in the life or death situation. “That man from Sulphur Creek had spoken the truth when telling how cold it sometimes got in the country. And he had laughed at the time!” Consequently, the man had died on this journey, for making decisions that were risky. Another example of getting involved in a life-or-death situation is volunteering to go to war. Although these people want to protect their country, they need to know that there is a risk involved in going to war. For example, In the story “Moral Logic of Survival guilt,” it talks about soldiers who choose to go to war, and either come out dead or
The Next thing louie knew was climbing into a raft with his captain Allen Phillips and Francis McNamara being in the ocean for months with little to no food and surviving on the rare seagull and rain water, then Francis passing away. Then one day as Louie saw land and started to swim towards it, the Japanese navy saw him and captured as a prisoner of war furthermore sending him to a prisoner of war camp. Now here he was and the shell of the once famed track runner was deteriorating of what was left of him as the days went on. It was a struggle for him waking up next day and hoping that he wouldn’t be killed by the “Kill All Act,” which said to eliminate all the Prisoners if allies came to rescue the camp. But what was the worst fear of the “Bird.” The Bird would relentlessly beat any prisoner that did anything wrong, but would go out of his way to make Louie miserable. He would do almost anything, from holding up logs for 30 minutes or making him clean a pig pen with his bare hands. The Bird was the fear of anyone but Louie despised him more than anything. So when Louie though about if he would have spent an extra 5 minutes he would
They are forced to contend with the realization that their survival does not matter to nature. The correspondent comes to the realization, “When it occurs to a man that nature does not regard him as important, and that she feels she would not maim the universe by disposing of him, he first wishes to throw bricks at the temple, and he hates deeply the fact that there are no bricks and no temples” (Crane 213). While the men may try to pin their trouble on the “mythicized deity,” that really does not serve them. When discussing this, Hilfer says, “The discomfiting thing about nature is that though we can address it, our messages can only come back stamped ‘return to sender’” (251). No matter how much the men in the boat try to make sense of what is happening to them, they cannot find the being or force behind
The author realizes the wrongfulness in killing someone who’s living a healthy life, we see this when the author states, “I saw the mystery, the unspeakable wrongness, of cutting a life short when it is in full tide.” Even though he does not object to these actions he does not agree with them.
Hunting can lead to death or death of others. In the story the most dangerous game Zaroff kills people instead of animals. He gets bored of killing animals so he starts hunting humans. He treats human as if they are animals. Rainsford the main character falls off his ship and ends up on the island. Zaroff greets Rainsford into his home but then later tells him about the game. Zaroff wants to hunt Rainsford. The short story was written by Richard Connell. Zaroff is a very good hunter who hunts humans for fun. Rainsford is a professional hunter who ends up on the island. Fear and danger can be felt by the bravest of men.
In the short story, “The Most Dangerous Game,” by Richard Connell, Sanger Rainsford, the protagonist, arrives at the mysterious Ship-Trap island, owned by the ruthless antagonist, General Zaroff. Once Rainsford is at Zaroff’s private estate, both men realize they share similar beliefs regarding how animals understand, however, their feelings diverge on the issue of hunting humans. Their contrasting views on human hunting makes Zaroff turn on Rainsford, which is the driving force behind their feud. Rainsford views Zaroff’s game, of hunting humans for pleasure, as cold blooded murder, although Zaroff believes, “No animal had a chance with me anymore,” (7). Zaroff creates an island that he presumes will grant him great pleasure because it will
... out that nature, although it does impact the men's lives, does not have any connection to the outcome. With his short story, Crane challenges the idea that men and nature are connected spiritually. He even challenges the idea of religion by leaving the outcome of the men simply to the experience that they have. The boat, an oar, and some directions from their captain save the men from death, not a divine guide. One man simply does not make it to the shore alive. The view of man and nature within this story is somewhat pessimistic, pointing to the philosophy that we are hopeless in the face of circumstance. The point Crane makes in the end is that although people are often victims of circumstance, humans have one another to help survive difficult experiences.
As the ancient Mariner described his adventures at sea to the Wedding-Guest, the Guest became saddened because he identified his own selfish ways with those of the Mariner. The mariner told the Guest that he and his ship-mates were lucky because at the beginning of their voyage they had good weather. The mariner only saw what was on the surface -- he did not see the good weather as evidence that Someone was guiding them. Also, when he shot the Albatross, the Mariner did not have any reason for doing so. The Albatross did nothing wrong, yet the Mariner thought nothing of it and without thinking of the significance of the act, he killed the bird. At this, the Guest was reminded of how self-absorbed he, too, was, and the sinful nature of man. At the beginning of the poem he was very much intent on arriving at the wedding on time. He did not care at all about what it was that the Mariner had to tell him; he did not want to be detained even if the Mariner was in trouble. Instead, he spoke rudely to the mariner, calling him a "gray-beard loon", and tried to go on his own way.
little boat in a vast sea versus the people on the shore is symbolic of
The catalyst for the emergence of Christian symbolism occurs when the mariner commits a sin by murdering one of God’s creatures. By killing the albatross, he inevitably brings about a series of trials amongst himself and those aboard the ship. Though the significance of this sin is first unseen by the mariner, supernatural forces quickly condemn his actions as a severe crime against nature. With no real reason, the mariner kills the albatross and soon realizes the magnitude of his actions. Viewed beyond simply a good luck charm, “At length did cross an Albatross, Through the fog it came; As if it had been a Christian soul, We hailed it in God’s name” (ll. 63-6). The idea of the Albatross representing Jesus Christ is a direct parallel in the Christian religion. The death of the Albatross is reminiscent of the death of Jesus in that both died as a result of another’s sin and betrayal of God’s word. Similar accounts of betrayal are portrayed ...