Discuss the Use of Imagery of Light and Dark in of Mice and Men

There are many examples of light and dark shown in “The Pearl,” by John Steinbeck. There are examples of light and dark shown through the pearl, people, and other objects. The main character Kino, who is poor, expects good things coming from the pearl but much darkness comes with it. Many occurrences of light and dark shown in the book is through Kino’s interaction with the pearl, malicious people, and objects valued by Kino.

In The Painted Door, the setting is a small farm which supports a man named John and his wife, Ann. The farm on which they live is rather desolate as they are not in a very close proximity to any of their neighbours and are often secluded to their house during the winter seasons with their only interactions being a game of cards with their neighbour, Steven. This scenario in which these two live can be reflected by the environment around them. The story takes place in the midst of a tremendous blizzard, the blizzard is so powerful that Ann can’t walk outside without being pushed over by the wind. This snow covered abyss exemplifies how alone the couple is. The darkness and literal isolation from the rest of the world are clear indicators of this. The dark and cold also represents how Ann views her relationship with John. She yearns for his affection and his attention, but despite these needs all John ever does is work. He works himself to the bone so that Ann can be comfortable with her place in life failing to realize that all she’s ever wanted was affection and company, which she eventually finds in Steven. The Lamp At Noon also makes good use of its setting to help develop the themes as well as the marriage of this story’s couple, Paul and Ellen. The setting of this story is a dried up farm where no crops grow. The whole farm is shrouded in a cloud of dust and wind. The dust fills the air of Paul and Ellen’s house completely smothering everything with dust. Ellen, coming from a richer household, urges Paul to leave believing that they have no future here and that the crops will never grow again. Ellen left a life of comfort and luxury for a dusty, decrepit farm, resulting in feelings of isolation, anger and hopelessness. However, Paul is determined to stay and live off the land, he has faith that the crops will grow and their farm will be prosperous once more. This is

The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien is said to be one of the greatest children's novels of all time. The novel, due to its use of such characters as goblins, elves, trolls, giants, and others is in tradition, a fairy tale. The tale centers on a small hobbit by the name of Bilbo Baggins. It follows the journey of a band of dwarves, a wizard named Gandalf, and their robber, Bilbo on their way to retrieving treasure that had long been taken away from them. The hobbit traveled all over Middle-Earth, beginning with Bilbo's tiny hobbit-hole in the ground, to Mirkwood forest, to finally reaching the Mountain in which the dragon Smaug lives. Tolkien uses a large amount of imagery in his writing which can been seen through settings in The Hobbit. The

Then, in the seventh stanza the narrator talks about when she finds the orange she has a “vision” of its “exotic land”(29-30). She goes on describe “the sun/ you swelled under/ the tree you grew from” (30-32). Using visual imagery, this setting sounds almost perfect. Kelly uses this imagery to suggest that because if the orange is perfect, it must have come from perfect beginnings. If the orange is her lover then, she is saying that because he is such a perfect person he must have had a wonder life leading up to this point. Another piece of imagery is when the narrator “[climbs]/ the hill, [looks] down/ on the town [they] live in/ with sunlight on [her] face” (41-44). This visual imagery is used to set a romantic scene in which the narrator is finally happy, and at peace that she has found the perfect orange. When the narrator looks down on her town it’s her looking back and reflecting on her life before she met her true love. The sun light on her face is the bright future she and her lover are going to have together. In the last stanza Kelly uses visual imagery to end the poem with the narrator “[walking] away/ [leaving] behind a trail/ of lamp-bright rind” (49-51). The visual imagery of her walking away leaving behind the rinds of the oranges is the way Kelly ends this poem. The narrator and her lover are walking away from their past lives and starting a new one

Steinbeck uses light imagery by saying the quote(pg.38)”Instantly the table was brilliant with light, and of the shade threw its brightness straight downward, leaving the corners of the bunkhouse still in dusk”. This quote shows visual imagery because it represents light being shown on a table and some of the light going downward. It shows a scene of foreboding because it says corners of dusk representing darkness meaning later in the book something bad will happen. Steinbeck represents dark imagery in this quote (pg.44) He walked to the other end of the bunkhouse and turned on the second light. “Darker’n hell in here”. This quote represents kinetic imagery because it represents Carson walking. It represents tactile imagery because it is touching

In the novella Kitchen, Banana Yoshimoto uses light and dark imagery to develop realistic characterization and to support her fantastical style, while effectively projecting pathos upon the readers. Throughout the story, Mikage unveils that life is a process of healing where grief and sadness are needed to truly appreciate happiness. Such abstract ideas and emotions are detailedly brought about by Yoshimoto’s usage of the four seasons of the year to provide a main timeline of the events concerning Mikage’s encounters with death, as well utilizing cosmos as a form of pathetic fallacy during the more miniscule experiences. In the grand scheme of the story, there

The theme I shall be discussing (do not need this-introduce it in a more sophisticated way! is light and the significance and development of it throughout the novella. The use of light is used in various sections of the novella and is first symbolic when we are introduced to Curley’s Wife,” the rectangle of sunshine/was cut off”. Some readers may interpret from this that Curley’s Wife wants to be the centre of attention so she “cuts” off the only light source presented in the passage. Others may understand from

In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses a plethora of imagery to discuss the withering despair of the American Dream. To begin his novel, Steinbeck uses imagery to create an analogy towards the Garden of Eden. This is shown through his description of the “golden foothill slopes” and “sycamores with mottled, white, recumbent limbs” (Steinbeck 1). This imagery symbolizes George and Lennie’s American Dream; full of hope and life. However, alike the Garden of Eden, when man comes along, the beautiful, tranquil, perfect environment, becomes scarred.

Mirroring aspects that happen at the start of the novella, George preaching about how his life would be without Lennie, Lennie offering to run away to a cave, and George once again restating their dream. Although many similarities are shown between these two chapters, the change incorporated is so much more apparent. With the restating of the dream it dies. By the last time George tells this fantasy to Lennie, he now knows it is impossible to reach. George had once said the dream with hope and now repeats it with pessimism.

A constant stream of broken dreams ushers a new sense of hopelessness into those endowed with brilliance, those without intelligence living unconscious of such disappointments. Throughout the whole novel, Lennie lives with his aspirations to own land; it is his only inspiration to keep working despite his tedious life. Even as Lennie is shot he is still granted the satisfaction of never realizing that his aspirations would never come to fruition. Thinking of his dreams, “Lennie giggled with happiness…” seconds before George pulled the trigger, leaving Lennie “slowly [settling] forward… and… lay[ing] without quivering.” (Steinbeck 106-107). This demonstrates that even upon his brutal death Lennie was still able to be happy. Because of his inability to recognize his incoming slaughtering, Lennie was granted blissful ignorance. Throughout his whole existence he has the American dream in mind, never having to alter course due to harsh oppressions onslaught from reality. Hopelessness never slithers into the crevices of his mind; he never has to deal with the crushing depression brought from constant

By the end of the poem there is another shift in tone. The tone takes on a more hopeful meaning. Now, Bryant uses the spring season to compare to a new age. He mentions, “The youth in life's green spring, and he who goes/ In the full strength of years, matron, and maid,/ The bow'd with age, the infant in the smiles.”(68-70) The rebirth of human life compares to nature in the sense that when nature is reborn in springtime everything turns green. The reader ends the poem with an enlightened sense of feeling instead of the dark and gloomy feeling they felt at the beginning of the poem.

Shakespeare shows the dualism of the light and dark by metaphorically using darkness as a symbol of depression.There

With the numerous literary devices at hand, a poet can choose to portray a topic in infinite ways. With this potential diversity two poets may write of the same topic yet may each may represent the subject as completely different symbols or may convey them with separate attitudes. One such example is the set of poems written by Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost. The two poems, We Grow Accustomed to the Dark and Acquainted With the Night, each portray darkness as something beyond its literal meaning, yet in each poem the dark signifies a different idea. By using literary devices two opposite representations of darkness are formed. In Dickinson’s poem, darkness represents a difficulty that must be overcome. To her, darkness is not a negative or positive thing, it simply is. This differs from Frost, to whom darkness has negative implications. In his poem, the night is used to portray is singularity and acceptance. While Dickinson uses the idea of adjusting to darkness to signify the overcoming of obstacles, Frost instead associates the dark with the isolation that he has accepted. While Dickinson uses the idea of adjusting to darkness to signify the overcoming of obstacles, Frost instead associates the dark with the isolation that he has accepted.

The realism movement of the late nineteenth century produced works in literature that were marked by reduced sentimentality and increased objectivity. The goal was to let details tell the story, and remove noticeable bias of the author through scientific and detailed descriptions. While this form of storytelling undoubtedly is most accurate, it creates difficulties for authors to incorporate their themes into the story. This resulted in an increase in symbolism in realist works. The objects and descriptions within the story are the author’s vehicle for displaying the values and themes of the work. Light and darkness are symbols commonly used in literature, and have held specific symbolic

The author is showing that there is terrible things in the world and that they will try to take everything from you. The terrible things will drag you down wait for you to get back up then drag you down again. This can teach you to be aware that these terrible things are coming to get you. To know that they can take away everything you have your home, family, friends but you stay strong. You hide your self into the deepest cave so they can’t find you and take everything you have.