The Farmer's Children Literary Analysis

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In “The Farmer’s Children,” Elizabeth Bishop uses different literary techniques to portray her theme. “The Farmer’s Children” tells the story of two young brothers, Cato and Emerson, who have to sleep in the cold in their father’s barn in order to protect the tools inside. These brothers also have to endure parental neglect from their stepmother and father which causes them to freeze to death in the barn. One technique that is used by Bishop is the characterization of the parents. In addition, Bishop uses an allusion, which is a reference to a work of art in another work of art, and symbolism to further show how the characterization of the parents affected the two brothers. In “The Farmer’s Children,” Bishop uses the characterization of the parents of Cato and Emerson, the allusion to “Hansel and Grethel,” and the symbolism of the stepmother’s snowflake quilt to portray the theme of how parental neglect can lead to negative consequences.
The characterization of Cato and Emerson’s stepmother and father is what lead to the parental neglect on the two brothers. In the short story, “The Farmer’s Children,” the stepmother is characterized as …show more content…

The neglect from the parents is amplified with the symbolism of the snowflake quilt and the allusion to “Hansel and Grethel.” In the real world, parental abuse and neglect can negatively impact a child’s life forever. Examples of long term effects would be depression or drug and alcohol abuse. Bishop portrays these examples of the cruelty of neglect by using certain literary techniques in “The Farmer’s

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