What would you do if a six-foot tall bunny rabbit named Frank came, and said that the world will end in exactly 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds. In the movie Donnie Darko directed by Richard Kelly. The main protagonist Donald Darko, also known as Donnie. Is sent on a mental journey through space and time, all while trying to figure out exactly what happens at the end of the countdown. After watching this film for the first time, it left me with many unanswered questions. I felt as though this movie was one that forced you to use your own interpretation, and imagination. It made me think about otherworldly possibilities, ideas, and if the concepts of time travel were actually possible. I turned to the novel How to Read Literature …show more content…
Donnie Darko has a lot of symbolism in it. Symbols don’t just have one single meaning. If they did, that would be called allegory; where one thing means one thing only. “Symbols, though, generally don’t work so neatly. The thing referred to is likely not reducible to a single statement but will more probably involve a range of possible meanings and interpretation” (Foster). The symbols I found most peculiar and interesting were ones that you could attach more and more meaning onto. My favorite one being Frank himself, and his relation with Donnie. From the outside along the text, you would just see the main imaginary antagonist torturing his victim Donnie, but there’s more than …show more content…
Frank has proven throughout the movie that he can be God, and the Devil. He wanted to swoop in when Donnie was vulnerable, and had lost his faith, and proof of God. Frank made himself known, and saved Donnie from his inevitable death of a falling plane turbine. Donnie’s belief in a higher power was reassured by Frank's presence. But to everyone else around him, Frank is just another illusion of a paranoid schizophrenic. Manifesting from all of Donnie’s doubt and empty proof of God; Frank was created subconsciously to guide Donnie through his final chaotic moments on Earth. One of his revelations in the film was that “...every living creature on Earth dies alone” (Donnie Darko). Which I believe to be ironic because Donnie does end up dying alone. With only his thoughts, and dreams to keep him company now. The director Richard Kelly probably wanted some type of polar extreme balance in the film. A character that could be friend and foe; someone exactly like Frank. Almost like a symbol of a coin; there’s two sides to
The symbolism throughout the movie was pretty clear. An example of symbolism would the lightsabers. The lightsabers, as Ben teaches Luke, are the traditional weapon of the Jedi. Ben tells Luke that the lightsaber is precise and elegant, and he also says it is a weapon. Luke is placed in his father’s footsteps
One example of symbolism is the main antagonist Kaine. Kaine possibly could symbolize suffering, sacrifices, loss, and most important, determination. While trying to find Kaine, Michael suffers along the way while overcoming the obstacles set in his path. In the end of the book, Michael actually is left on his own after both of his companions die. He then uses determination and drive to find Kaine and fight him. This proves that Kaine could symbolize sacrifice, suffering, loss, and determination because of the loss of Michael’s friends, the suffering at the hands of Kaine, and the determination Michael uses to find him. Another way James Dashner uses Kaine as a symbol is by his name. In fact, Kaine actually means ‘Tribute’. James Dashner could have taken advantage of this name to hint at the sacrifices the main character Michael would have to make and the determination he would have to show in order to defeat Kaine. To elaborate on the idea of symbolism, another symbol could be the Path. The Path is what Michael, Bryson, and Sarah were told to find to help them find Kaine. Michael and his friends faced a series of many arduous obstacles and challenges they had to pass in order to get through the Path. Even when Michael looses his two loyal best friends, he kept on going in order to reach Kaine. This means that the Path could symbolize assiduousness and
Symbolism is one of the most effective and powerful elements in writing. We see various examples of this all throughout "The Things They Carried." Symbolism enables us to tell a story one way, while all along trying to say another. I believe Tim O'Brien has achieved success in doing so in "The Things They Carried."
A symbol is a person, object, or event that suggests more than its literal meaning. Symbols can be very useful in shedding light on a story, clarifying meaning that can’t be expressed with words. It may be hard to notice symbols at first, but while reflecting on the story or reading it a second time, the symbol is like a key that fits perfectly into a lock. The reason that symbols work so well is that we can associate something with a particular object. For example, a red rose symbolizes love and passion, and if there were red roses in a story we may associate that part of the story with love. Although many symbols can have simple meanings, such as a red rose, many have more complex meanings and require a careful reading to figure out its meaning. The first symbol that I noticed in Ethan Frome is the setting. It plays an important role in this story. The author spends much of the first few chapters describing the scene in a New England town Starkfield. When I think of a town called Starkfield, a gloomy, barren place with nothing that can grow comes to mind. As the author continues to describe this town, it just reinforces what I had originally thought.
In the short story “The Possibility of Evil,” Shirley Jackson uses several symbols to tell the story about Miss Strangeworth. One symbol she uses consist of the roses that Miss Strangeworth treasures. The roses represent the love and perfection of Miss Strangeworth. As we know, Miss Strangeworth believes that the world is horrible and unclean and that she is the only perfect person. She loves her roses dearly which emphasizes her needs for everything to be perfect just like her. She values her roses so much because only she takes care of them making them a symbol of perfection and becomes one of the items that Miss Strangeworth loves and sees as superior to other roses. Another symbol Jackson uses compose of Pleasant Street, the street that
Everything was great, every day was the same except that particular day when your life
Symbolism is strongly represented through Kaplan’s short story. The symbols represented are the ocean, the killing of the doe and the woods. Visiting the ocean for the first time at the Jersey Shore was new for Andy. Since then she had been awfully frightened of the ocean. She believes the ocean to be a huge, vast that constantly moved, keeps shifting
...e of the meanings to be determined by the reader, but clearly conveys the meaning behind others. Such variety provides something or someone for any reader to relate to. Symbolism, hidden or obvious, serves to connect the reader with the characters of “The Things They Carried” and follow their development with interest and ease. In many cases, symbols answer the question which the entire story is based upon, why the men carry the things they do.
“I was crying and all, I don’t know why, but I guess it was because I was feeling so damn depressed and lonesome” (53), Holden says. As humans, we have a hard time belonging in society. This is the same case for Holden Caulfield, the main character from the Catcher in the Rye. The Catcher in the rye, a novel by J.D Salinger, is about Holden, a lost boy in desperate need of help. Throughout the novel, Holden seems to be excluded by the world around him. He continually attempts to try and belong in a world in which he is isolating from. In this novel, Salinger uses symbols such as the red hunting hat, the ducks and Allie’s glove to support the theme, belonging and isolation.
Innocence lies within everyone in at least one point in their lives, but as reality consumes them, that purity begins to vanish slowly as they learn new experiences. In the coming of age novel set in the nineteen-forties, J.D Salinger writes about a sixteen-year-old boy named Holden Caulfield who stands between a road that separates childhood from adulthood and is confused about which path to take. On a three-day trip in New York away from his family and fellow peers at school, Holden encounters many situations in which lead him to think twice about who he wants to become and how he wants to guide others who are in the same situation he is in. In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D Salinger utilizes symbolism, vivid imagery, and slangy diction to expose Holden’s struggle to preserve the innocence of the people that he loves while alienating himself from the adult world he calls “phony.”
He starts to really care for Dwayne because they both have depression in common. At one point in the movie, Frank and Dwayne were having a conversation and Dwayne mentioned he wished he could sleep till he was 18 so he could skip all the bad parts of high school. Frank then quotes a French writer, “When it gets down to the end of your life and you look back at all those years that you suffered, you will realize those were the best years of your life because they made you into the strong person you are now”. Frank and Dwayne then continued to talk about the struggles of life. Is seems to me the way Frank can reflection on his own depression can really help others. It shows that he understands what he did and that he will handle it differently next time. There were no blatant biological and psychological stressors that influenced Frank’s depression. There was no indication of past family medical problems that would have made him susceptible but according to Beck’s therapy Frank probably inherited a genetic disposition that made him susceptible to depression. If Frank wasn’t predisposed, he could have handled all of the bad events without getting mad and impulsive. He could have had a positive outlook instead of going into deep depression and trying to kill himself. The social-cultural/environmental stressors were the primary influences that cause his depression. He believed he was a full grown adult and was supposed to have his life together but it was the complete opposite. He had a romantic failure, a career disappointment, he lost his job, his homosexuality stigma, and then he lost his apartment. For most of the movie he was handling his depression really well, but it wasn’t until he ran into is ex-student/lover that his improved mood started to spiral back downward into a depressed mood. This showed he still has
In almost every story, one can find symbolism throughout the text to help the reader better understand what the writer wants the reader to takeout from his/her story. Symbolism is something that must be analyzed and explored to experience a deeper meaning to the story. Sometimes, symbolism throughout a story may not be noticeable when first read, but going back to analyze the text can add a deeper meaning to words and can also help to enhance the meaning behind the story line. In some instances, symbolism can leave a reader to ponder what the writer is trying to express with the symbolism used in the story; for symbolism can be interpreted differently and can have many layers of meaning to it. Some good examples of short stories that use symbolism
What is symbolism? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary symbolism: is the use of symbols to express or represent ideas or qualities in literature, art. What is the writer or artistes trying to intemperate in their work? William Faulkner and Edgar Allan Poe were literary geniuses in their use of dark and subdued writing styles, but in my opinion no one takes the time to look in depth into the real meanings of there works . This paper will elaborate on the use of symbolism in “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe.
In Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, symbolism is quite prevalently used to portray the development of the heart of darkness. Conrad used a variety of symbols, including characters, objects, and ideologies.
Twenty-eight days…six hours…forty-two minutes…twelve seconds, that is when the world will end. The movie Donnie Darko, Frank tells Donnie that the world will end in just a short time. Throughout the movie, different literary devices are experimented to give the movie a deeper meaning. This provides the audience with a hidden message that gathers the viewer’s attention while keeping them entertained. Donnie Darko is a movie that has imagery, symbolism, and foreshadowing and by merging these devices creates a film that holds their audience’s attention.