There are four seasons in a year, and they all have many meanings and symbolism in today's literature. Some authors use literature to symbolize age or feelings of characters. Spring can mean youth and childhood , it can also symbolize hope or happy and fresh minded feelings. Summer can symbolize a young adult or energy and vitality in a person. Summer can also symbolize love , but it can also show anger or heated arguments.Fall can symbolize the middle of a person's life or middle age,fall also shows symbolism of being tired or exhausted from the year. Winter symbolizes a lot of negative feelings or leanings and actions like death, resentment , sorrow , anger , and hatred. The life of Frederick Douglas , how to read literature like a professor and The Crucible show many signs of using seasons as symbolism in their writing. …show more content…
The Crucible uses winter to show a time of death and despair during the witch trials.”Solem Massachusetts in spring of 1692.” The story starts off in the spring and everything in the town is normal,the town is known as a religious conjugation.
But as the it nears winter and the season changes,many secrets come up as many girls are accused of witchcraft.“ It’s winter in here yet. On Sunday let come with me,and we’ll walk the farm together;I never see such a load of flowers on the earth.With good feeling he goes and looks up at the sky through the open doorway. Lilacs have purple smell. Lilac is the smell of nightfall I think. Massachusetts is a beauty in the spring!” Before John Proctor says this, him and elizabeth talk a funeral happening later that day. John proctor says that it is winter but later says that spring is a beauty, john says that it’s winter because of the feelings and emotions of death and despair circulating in the hearts of the people in the home. John uses winter to symbolize sadness inside his home and when he speaks of spring he is more excited and happy because of what spring
symbolizes. The Great Gatsby uses symbolism of seasons in the book through the whole story of the main character Gatsby.The story starts off in the spring , which is a symbolism of renewal or newness. Spring reflects Gatsby’s hope of his future goal to be with daisy the women of his dreams. Spring in this book also reflects Gatsby’s change and renewal in life. Summer symbolises excitement, lust, and joy. During summer Gatsby throws grand parties every night which reflects the excitement that summer symbolises. Gatsby also sees his dream realized as he seems to gain daisy attention and get her back once again. Summer can also symbolize heat and anger, many fights and arguments in literature happen during the summer. Gatsby gets into a nasty confrontation with Daisy’s husband,which reflects the heated part of summer. Daisy’s husband also is having an affair with a woman named myrtle, which shows more symbolism of summer through these actions. As the book ends the season changes from summer to Autumn (Fall) this time the change in a season is negative though. During Autumn everything starts to seem more bleak as leaves fall,the air becomes much cooler and dark , and the mood changes from excitement into a more negative feel. This change foreshadows things to come as many deaths happen. Myrtle has an untimely death and because George believes Gatsby is responsible he shoots him and then later commits suicide.“The next day was broiling, almost the last, certainly the warmest of the summer.” “ Were all irritable now with the fading ale, and aware of it we drove for awhile in silence.” This quote shows the symbolism of summer reflecting anger or annoyance, the writer says that that day is the hottest of the summer and they are another with each other so they drive in silence. They become annoyed because of the heat also which is reflective of what summer symbolises. How To Read Literature Like Professor has a whole chapter devoted to explaining what seasons may symbolise in literature. Many of the things said in the chapter support my reason for believing what seasons mean in The Great Gatsby and The Crucible. For example Thomas C. Foster says on page 186, “ winter with old age and resentment and death”. This quote supports my reasoning that the bulk of the crucible takes place in the winter because of the death and resentment that takes place. Also Thomas says in page 186, “ summer with adulthood and romance and fulfilment.” This supports my reasoning for Gatsby renewing his relationship taking place in summer because of the romance that summer symbolises. Seasons symbolise many things in literature, and there are many more symbolism than the ones named in this essay. I encourage you to take a closer at seasons when reading literature and try to see what they symbolise. There are the basic meanings that most know of like spring symbolises youth and childhood , summer symbolises young adulthood and energy , fall can symbolise middle age in life ,and winter can symbolise death or a person nearing it. But next time , you should take a closer look at what you're reading and see if you can find a deeper meaning of seasons.
At the end of the play, John proctor is faced with the biggest calamity of his life. He was given the the choose to lie and say he is a witch or stand by his honesty and die as a marauder. john proctor name was everything to him. It made him who he is so he based his actions on it.. John wanted to live and keep his good name
Autumn is used to depict those who pose a threat towards other people, it is commonly used throughout the novel to describe those associated with the circus. The circus is seen as evil to the boys
In John Knowles’ novel, A Separate Piece, the main Character, Gene Forrester, has to learn to become friends with his hazardous roommate, Phineas, at his school, Devon, in New Hampshire. The novel is affected by a number of changes, however the largest and most significant change is the change in seasons. In Thomas C. Foster’s novel, How to read literature like a Professor, chapter twenty explains the significance of the seasons. Foster states that, “Summer [symbolizes] adulthood and romance and fulfillment and passion,” while, “ winter [symbolizes] old age and resentment and death.” John Knowles’ book A Separate Peace, all aspects of Summer, Fall, and Winter are excellently represented as explained in Thomas C. Foster’s novel, How to read
When the play sets in to action, John has had a past affair with his servant Abigail Williams. His wife, Elizabeth Proctor is very forgiving of his sin, but John has his mind set that he will not confess to anyone else, in fear of ruining his good name, and reputation. The affair between John and Abigail caused the start of chaotic witchery and accusation. After the affair, Abigail became horribly jealous of Elizabeth Proctor. Proctor realizes there is only one way to stop all the witch hysteria in Salem, and that would be to confess his sin of adultery. Although he knows he should, he continues to be determined not to confess. Also in the beginning Reverend Paris is new to town, and John insist continually that he is only speaking of hell, and hardly ever of God, as Proctor goes on to say to Parris, "Can you speak one minute without we land in Hell again? I am sick of Hell!" (Miller 30). In the drama, Mary Warren places a needle in a poppet she gave to Elizabeth; John firmly demands that Mary Warren tell the courts that she really put the needle in the poppet that day. Proctor says to her, "You're coming to the court with me, Mary. You will tell it in the court." (Miller 80). Furthermore, at the end of the play Proctor is persistent by saying that no matter what anyone says to convince him differently, he would rather die an honest man and save his name. John Proctor took pride in his thoughts, feelings, values, and his name. It took persistency to make his intent clear to others.
This creates tension in the home between John and Elizabeth Proctor. “You were alone with her?” Elizabeth says, John responds “for a moment alone aye” “why then it is not what you told me”.(222) This angers John because he is floating in his guilt for being unfaithful to his wife. Its builds a strain on their marriage and keep the couple in a cold house. Proctor has been faith full to his religion, only attending church only once a month. These actions put more reason for people to suspect that john is participating in witchcraft. “I am no good man. Nothing's spoiled by giving them this lie that were not rotten long before.”(239) John is selfish by going with the lie saying, he participated in witchcraft than to confess and say he didn’t to be with his wife and his unborn child. John lived in a lie and he Salem government took his life from
As he slouches in bed, a description of the bare trees and an old woman gathering coal are given to convey to the reader an idea of the times and the author's situation. "All groves are bare," and "unmarried women (are) sorting slate from arthracite." This image operates to tell the reader that it is a time of poverty, or a "yellow-bearded winter of depression." No one in the town has much to live for during this time. "Cold trees" along with deadness, through the image of "graves," help illustrate the author's impression of winter. Wright seems to be hibernating from this hard time of winter, "dreaming of green butterflies searching for diamonds in coal seams." This conveys a more colorful and happy image showing what he wishes was happening; however he knows that diamonds are not in coal seams and is brought back to the reality of winter. He talks of "hills of fresh graves" while dreaming, relating back to the reality of what is "beyond the streaked trees of (his) window," a dreary, povern-strucken, and cold winter.
Life as a human is dictated by an inborn hunger or purpose, and people, in general, will act on this hunger for their own personal gain in their individual ways. This hunger, be it for wealth, land, love, power, revenge, or pride, can, and will be the undoing or failing of all mankind as Miller so clearly points out in his play 'The Crucible';. This essay will explore the motives of characters within the play and even the motives of Arthur Miller himself and therefore show how conflict stems from certain recognisable human failings including those mentioned above, fear, and hysteria.
The Crucible – Human Nature Human nature was fully to blame for the disaster which took place in Salem in 1692. Human nature is what your character is made of in trying situations, and in 1692 scientific knowledge was extremely poor by today's standards and so all reoccurring problems were blamed on an evil force, whether it be the devil or witches or anything the imagination could conjure, hence human nature was being tested regularly. The decisions people made were critical to the disaster's progression, in today's scene in would have been dismissed within minutes, but the paranoia floating around in the town kept the ball rolling. People were so terrified of the thought of evil that any suggestion of it would create a preordained judgement in the mind of anyone, especially those who made judgement of the accused. To get to the supposed
Authors often have underlying reasons for giving their stories certain themes or settings. Arthur Miller’s masterpiece, The Crucible, is a work of art inspired by actual events as a response to political and moral issues. Set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, The Crucible proves to have its roots in events of the 1950’s and 1960’s, such as the activities of the House Un-American Committee and the “Red Scare.” Though the play provides an accurate account of the Salem witch trials, its real achievement lies in the many important issues of Miller’s time that it dealswith.
Although a strict society composed of high morality and disciplinary laws may be necessary for safety, it causes internal conflicts within the individuals. In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller a theocracy in Salem rules and guides the citizens into doing what is “right”, but eventually backfires due to issues of reputation and jealousy. Society has a lot of influence on the citizens, and with a bad reputation, it is nearly impossible to live in a Puritan society. Salem’s strict Puritanical social structure causes personal struggles for the individuals involved in the events of The Crucible, and then eventually these personal struggles affect the society overall.
Persecution has been a round for sometime and can be traced historically from the time of Jesus to the present time. Early Christians were persecuted for their faith in the hands of the Jews. Many Christians have been persecuted in history for their allegiance to Christ and forced to denounce Christ and others have been persecuted for failing to follow the laws of the land. The act of persecution is on the basis of religion, gender, race, differing beliefs and sex orientation. Persecution is a cruel and inhumane act that should not be supported since people are tortured to death. In the crucible, people were persecuted because of alleged witchcraft.
Nine critical approaches are utilized when analyzing a piece of literature in order to appeal to a variety of critics. Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible can be interpreted from numerous approaches, but one lens that is unmistakable throughout is the psychological criticism. From a psychological standpoint, one gains access to the mindset of both the author and the characters within. In addition to this, the reader also acquires a greater understanding of the motivations, behaviors, and mental state that each character possesses. Through psychological criticism, one can obtain information on a character’s motivation, the likelihood of their actions, and which behaviors are consciously made.
In every conflict there always seems to be at least one person to blame. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, many problems arise that deal with live and death. Many innocent people in this play were hanged during the Salem Witch Trials. Of course, there are many people that may be blamed. In The Crucible, one may find Abigail Williams, The Putnams, and Mary Warren to blame. Abigail was manipulative, The Putnams were very jealous, and Mary Warren was weak-willed.
A group of teenage girls were secretly dancing in the woods with a black slave, named Tituba. When they were discovered of what they were doing, the girls started accusing certain individuals in the village of dealing with witchcraft. Within a blink of an eye, the entire village is controlled by a devil that exists within the fear of each person. A drama of suspense and impact, Arthur Miller's The Crucible, explores through the individuals' vengeance, fear, reputation, and quest for power.
John Proctor faces many decisions in response to his moral dilemma to try to save his life. One of the difficult decisions John makes is to reveal that he had an affair with Abigail Williams and thereby has committed adultery. If the local court convicts him of this crime, he faces being jailed. Also by admitting this crime, John reveals a weakness in his character. This flaw in his personality will make it harder for him to stand up in the community as an honorable and believable person. In trying to convince others that witchcraft does not exist John’s dishonesty with his wife will make him less convincing to the community.