Symbolism In The Pigeon And Cathedral

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When reading a story, novel, or except there are numerous literally deceives that can be spotted. These literally techniques make the reading more interesting while having a specific purpose. There can be personification, anecdote, illusion and symbolism. Symbolism is the literally technique when the author refers to an object, person, situation, or place that has a more profound significance in the story. Following this further, in the two short stories, The Pigeon and Cathedral, both authors use symbolism. In The Pigeon the main character Jonathan is confronted with an issue that would not bother most people. From this, he changes himself and learns what would make his like better. Likewise, in Cathedral the main character also reaches an epiphany when he realizes how to make his relationship with his wife more fulfilling, which will improve his life. Moreover, symbolism is used in both short stories to reach a greater interpretation of the stories. In the short story Cathedral the main character does not have the greatest connection with his wife. He is jealous of her blind friend who visits, Robert, since he knows that they have always had a special bond that he lacks with her. When he tries to explain what a cathedral looks like to Robert he has a difficult time. But, when Robert insists that he draws it he has an epiphany. While he was drawing it, with his eyes shut, he knew that he was still in his house but he “didn’t feel like [he] was inside anything”. By him drawing the cathedral also reiterates the fact that he had an epiphany. A cathedral is a holly symbol, which means a place of worship, realization and rebirth. Moreover, when he is drawing the symbol of rebirth he realizes the connection that Robert has with his... ... middle of paper ... ...d precise. But by the end of they story he is admiring the homeless man while comparing him to the pigeon and realizing that a person can still be happy with no structure in their lives. That the freedom to do whatever a person wants is what he so desperately craves. Additionally, there are numerous symbols of this theme through out the short story. For example, Jonathan’s job as a security guard is symbolism. His job is very strict, he just has to stay in the same spot and keep watch for hours at a time. This job does not have much variation and he does the same thing day after day. This represents that his like constiancey. But, at the end of the day he moves from his stop which he has never done and does not open the door for a client which has never happened. This symbolizes that he is breaking away from his old self and changing into a person with less struce.

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