The Hand By Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette

Generally, when innocence is thought of, the first speculation recalled to one’s mind is the thought of pureness and the idea that the specific individual is free from moral wrong. On the other end of the spectrum is the term known as guilt. Guilt is the emotional notion in which one feels that they have compromised his or her own standards in a negative way. In the novel Sarah’s Key, Sarah frequently proves to struggle with both guilt and innocence. These specific themes are put on display when Sarah realizes she is not going back home, the scenario in which Sarah boards the cattle car to the camps, and the tragic event in which Sarah takes her own life.

Symbols in literary works can express an idea, clarify meaning, or enlarge literal meaning. Symbols can appear in a novel as an event, action, or object. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, the author, Zora Neale Hurston, uses the symbols of the gate to show Janie’s transitions to womanhood, independence from oppression, and realization of what love is to Janie.

In the article Skin Deep written by Nina Jablonski and George Chaplin, they discuss and look deeper into the diverse differences in skin color. Our skin color has developed over the years to be dark enough to prevent the damaging sunlight that has been harming our skin and the nutrient folate that it carries. At the same time out skin is light enough to receive vitamin D.

The hand is personified in the story; “The hand, disturbed by a bad dream, appeared to respond to this startling discovery, this disgust. It regroups its forces, open wide, and splayed its tendons, lumps, and red fur like battle dress, then slowly drawing itself in again, grabbed a fistful of the sheet, dug into it with its curved fingers, and squeezed, squeezed with the methodical pleasure of a strangler.” From this description, the reader can visualize the violent nature that the hand has. In the quote, the hand is described as using its forces, having red fur that resembles battle dress, and digging into sheets. In addition, at the very end of the section the comparison of the hand squeezing the sheets to “the methodical pleasure of a strangler” is a very violent description and gives the reader a aggressive visual of the movements. Not only by the description of the hand’s visual appearance but also by the description of each aggressive fear evoking movement seem to cause the wife to fear the hand. (relates to feeling about

Symbolism is one of the major elements in "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker. The woman's search for something she has never experienced is the symbolization of the mankind's search for love and happiness. The meaning of names, occupations, power, pants, cloth, words, eyes, frogs, starts, shell, stamps are only few examples of the symbols used by the author and are very important in understanding not only the characters of the story, but also global values such as love, power, mutual understanding, and authority over another person's life.

Symbolism is used in many ways and writers use symbolism to “enhance their writing.” It can give their work “more richness and color and can make the meaning of the work deeper.” In literary work the actions of the characters, words, action, place, or event has a deeper meaning in the context of the whole story. The reader needs to look see the little things like a dove symbolizes peace, or like the red rose stands for romance. Mostly everything can have a symbolism meaning to it. For instance the flag symbolizes freedom and the stars represent the states. Even some signs are symbols like when a beaker has a skull with a bones placed like an ‘x’ behind it symbolizes that it’s toxic or bad. When people see the red light when driving that’s

The 1st symbol in the story is the Pink Ribbon. The Pink Ribbon came throughout meeting Goodman Browns wife, Faith. “Then god bless you! Said Faith, with the Pink Ribbons and may you find well when you come back. “Faith is a good person such as Goodman Brown. Pink Ribbons can symbolize peace and love.

At the beginning of the story, Brush describes the couple as “unmistakably married,” and the woman is described as being “fadingly pretty.” Although it is clear that the two are indeed in a relationship, the description of the woman reveals that she once was beautiful, but now in a much more lackluster way; a way that Brush implies may have been more vibrant in the past. Despite the fact that there is no doubt the couple is married, Brush draws a subtle parallel between the woman’s faded appearance and her relationship with her husband, insinuating that it is time-worn and only bound to grow weaker in the future. In addition to this description, Brush also vividly depicts the actions of the husband to further develop her commentary. Once the birthday cake surprise is brought out for him, he is “hotly embarrassed, and indignant at his wife for embarrassing him.” Through this repetitive indication of embarrassment and the evident

At first glance and after reading through Amazing Grace, it seems that Jonathan Kozol is going to take us on a journey through the lives of the underprivileged, but similar to the ones you read about, or hear in the news. However, this is not the case; the real underlying theme seems to be how the life and society they live in is very alike to a life in a prison, not because it talks explicitly about prison conditions in this area, but also because their lives are portrayed as being a prison. Kozol uses the views of children and adults throughout this book to emphasize this theme through their living conditions and personal lives, background and struggles.

Mrs. Fox, by Sarah Hall was published in 2014. Mrs. Fox is a short story by Sarah Hall about a woman who turns into a fox during her pregnancy, much to the dismay of her husband. Mrs. Fox describes a woman who is not satisfied with her life with her husband, Mr. Fox. They both remain detached thorough the story. When Mrs. Fox turns into a fox, Mr. Fox does not understand why his wife was not happy or satisfied in her human life. Sarah Hall does a wonderful job of displaying out an unusually intriguing setting, a breath taking characterization of the two main characters Mr. and Mrs. Fox, and she displays a dark and modern theme, rightfully earning the BBC National short story

Holding Onto the Air an autobiography by Suzanne Farrell takes the reader backstage in the dramatic life of the world-renowned Balanchine ballerina. From her childhood in Cincinnati to her retirement from ballet in 1989, Farrell's story is truly a remarkable one. The book describes at length her time with the New York City Ballet as well as her complex relationship with the legendary Balanchine. Although Mrs. Farrell goes a bit too far into the ballet descriptions, her beautiful imagery allows reader to experience the joy of performing on stage.

The hand is a significant symbol that recurs throughout the novellas plotline; it comments on the novel’s meanings by suggesting that in order to achieve your hopes and dreams you, you must work hard for it. As each character is introduced Steinbeck makes specific

One of the novels written about feminism and freedom, The Awakening which was written by Kate Chopin, talks about an average woman who wants more to life than what was expected of her. As a reader, the symbols mentioned in the book would be striking. These symbols that were emphasized were the piano, the ocean and the bird symbolize different meanings. It is obviously meant for the lead character or author to portray something in their lives at the moment. But it could also symbolize something in a reader’s mind.

“An Unknown Girl” by Moniza Alvi is a free verse poem about the author’s experience getting her hand hennaed in an Indian bazaar. Throughout the poem, Alvi makes use of structure techniques like end-stopped lines, occasional rhymes, language, imagery, and changes in tone to explore different aspects of the concept of identity.

The movie, The Ultimate Gift, is a moving example of how one man, who while in search for the “ultimate gift,” actually learned and gained many more precious gifts along the way. Jason Stevens was a man on a mission to get to the big pay-off at the end of his quest but thanks to his wise grandfather Jason gained much more than just money. Throughout his journey in the movie Jason was taught and given the gift of hard work, the gift of love, the gift of friendship, etc. After learning and receiving these gifts, it was only then that Jason would receive and truly be able to appreciate the ultimate gift that his grandfather had waiting for him. Jason struggled to complete the tasks, but with the completion of each task, he then was motivated to move on to the next task. This motivation to achieve certain “gifts” and then move on to the next one is explained in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow believed that people are motivated to achieve certain needs and then when the need is actualized then they will move on to the next one. The stages in Maslow’s Hierarchy are psychological, safety, social, esteem, and self- actualization. In The Ultimate Gift, Jason, in order to receive his grand prize, goes through stages within his missions that are very much like the steps in Maslow’s hierarchy of Needs.