Symbols In The Sandman

Portrayal of Symbols and its Usage in Literature A brilliant story by James Hurst, “The Scarlet Ibis” has many examples of symbols and use of symbolism. The short story is about two brothers, the narrator and his brother, Doodle. Doodle faces critical problems with his health, and the story tells the tale of his struggles of their few years together. The author cleverly uses symbols often to show profundity in their journey. Symbols in literature are where an object or a figure represents an idea that is used in the narrative to further develop plot as well as giving depth into the story.

The darkness in Hazel's eyes at the end of the novel is comforting and symbolizes salvation (Brown). The darkness that Enoch runs into, and is wearing, symbolizes alienation and friendship. TOne of the few female characters presented is a young lady named Sabbath and her blind father Asa. The eyes of Asa, and his daughter's weird sexual fetish with Hazel, represent the symbol of innocence, ultimate demise, and hopelessness. She uses the symbol of "darkness" throughout the novel as a recurring object to justify salvation, alienation, friendship, blindness, and redemption. The darkness symbolizes the redemption. Ultimate salvation that is supposedly coming to Hazel. The color of the suit is black; therefore, the darkness, embedded in the suit, symbolizes his salvation and redemption throughout the novel. He wears it and it wears him. It is inescapable. The blind theme of the novel has nothing to do with human eyes. It has to do with the fact that the characters have all blinded themselves; they have shut their eyes to the truth of Christ (Brown). Blindness is not something to envy and is no less than a handicap, but it's an easy out from the truth of

This focus on eyes alerts the reader to pay close attention not only to Hazel’s eyes and what he sees, but also what others may be seeing. Even Hazel’s name is linked to the imagery of eyes, as hazel is both a common eye color and Hazel’s vision is often “hazy” or stuck in a “haze”.

In Tim Burton’s film, Edward Scissorhands, A boy named Edward sits in a castle, because the maker of Edward died of natural causes. So a women, whose name is Peg finds him, when she is trying to sell her product. She feels bad for Edward so decides to take Edward home to take care of him, and fix him up. In the meantime, Edward does all kinds of things like trims bushes, cuts hair, and cuts dogs hair which is really useful, because no one even pays him, he just does it out of kindness. Then Kim’s boyfriend Jim drives Edward into his dad’s house causing him to set off an alarm. The alarm causes the police to come to his house. After the police come Edward gets in trouble, and gets thrown in jail for a while. After Edward gets out he gets in trouble again for causing destruction of property and gets chased back inside the castle. The film is really unique, because of the characters, setting, and plot.

What is symbolism? Symbolism is representing things by symbols, or of investing things with a symbolic meaning. In “The Outsiders” there are many symbols that represent different ideas of the characters and novel

Authors may use this item to tell the story with different items and by using symbolism many

( 185 ) The eyes are only allowed to see certain things and they are portrayed in a careful watchful tone like those of the owl-rimmed glasses. The ever-present theme of seeing and not seeing. The eyes are condemning as they view the futile efforts of Gatsby as he tries to obtain the American dream. Nick becomes the eyes that see the full picture and how other people affect Gatsby through the writing of his book. The eyes see through everything and everyone through actions and words.

Alfred Whitehead, an English mathematician and philosopher, once said, “Symbolism is no mere idle fancy or corrupt degeneration: it is inherent in the very texture of human life.” In almost every story, there is some form of symbolism being used. Sometimes it is used in the characters, the setting, certain objects, the weather patterns, etc. Not only does symbolism have a great effect on the story itself, but it affects how the story is perceived. “Young Goodman Brown”, “The Minister’s Black Veil”, and “The Birthmark” are all full of many forms of symbolism. The themes of these stories are shown through the symbolism of the characters, their traits, and the objects.

Legend of Zelda is arguably one of the most popular and successful video games of all times. The first version of this game was released in the 1980’s and has attracted an army of fans. The game and its story have evolved over time but the main characters and the feeling has always remained the same. And if you are a die-hard Legend of Zelda fan surely you can’t be without a Legend of Zelda tattoo?

"The Misfits" is a character study about people who are unable or stubbornly unwilling to adapt to the world; or to the changing world. The title characters have all been seriously hurt in the process of living and are searching (consciously and unconsciously) for ways to cope with what has happened to them in the past. To the extent that they represent an almost universal condition, the film is a symbolical study, with each character meant to illustrate a different means of coping with the realization of one's growing irrelevancy. The initial setting is Reno, symbolically appropriate because as the quickie divorce capital, it is a place where people try to remove the excess baggage of their pasts. Roslyn (Marilyn Monroe) has come there for this purpose and her new freedom is a beacon to her three male co-stars.

Symbolism is an effective method authors can use to portray a deeper meaning beyond the surface of a story’s plotline. Different characters, settings, and objects can serve as a symbol that represents a bigger picture. Ralph Ellison does a great job using symbolism throughout the story “Battle Royal”. Ellison wrote “Battle Royal” in 1947 to show the different obstacles African Americans had to endure during this time period. Oppression and slavery were widespread during this time. Throughout the story the reader can identify situations that can be analyzed beyond the surface.

I wished he had a pair. At first glance, his eyes looked like anyone else’s eyes. But if you looked close, there was something different about them. Too much white in the iris, for one thing, and the pupils seemed to move around in the sockets without his knowing it or being able to stop it. Creepy” (740).

In a well-written short story, different literary elements and terms are incorporated into the story by the author. Ernest Hemingway frequently uses various literary elements in his writing to entice the reader and enhance each piece that he writes. In Hills Like White Elephants, Hemingway uses symbols to teach the reader certain things that one may encounter during daily life. Symbolism may be defined as relating to, using, or proceeding by means of symbols (Princeton). The use of symbols in Hills Like White Elephants is utterly important to the plot line and to the fundamental meaning of the story. Through this use of symbolism, the reader can begin to reveal the hidden themes in this short story.

In the contemporary film “Stranger Than Fiction” by Marc Forster, Harold Crick, the main character is being written about in a book without him knowing that the voice in his head was the narrator. To make things worse the author does not even know that her main character is real and that everything she writes down happens to him in real life. Symbolism is vital and it adds depth and emotion to the film by making the film more relatable to the audience, makes a greater impact, instead of just being a scene that is straight through, it is more flexible, and it is also a crucial part of the plot as one symbol can drive the characters to be more dynamic and last the length of the whole plot.

There are themes in every piece of fictional literature ever written. A theme is the central idea of a story that is fictional. A theme can be everything from good verse evil to as simple as light and darkness. In any story there may be more than one theme in it. Some stories have numerous central ideas that can be seen in the one. Most people only focus on one while there may be five that are important to understand to understand the story. The Tell-Tale Heart like some has numerous themes that are all important to understanding the story.