The Storm Symbolism

In “How to read literature like a professor” by Thomas Foster he explains different literary techniques that writers use when writing a story. Some of these techniques were symbolism, tone, major conflicts, foreshadowing and using certain settings. Even though all of these techniques are important to the story, symbolism is more important because it is used the most throughout the book. Symbolism is the use of people or objects to portray a certain idea or quality of something.

Kate Chopin wrote the short story “The Storm” one of her most bold stories and did not even intention to publish it (Cutter 191). The two main characters in the story are Calixta and Alcee. They both used to be attracted to one another in previous years, but now they are both married to someone else. After Alcee arrives to Calixta’s house looking for shelter they are driven into a passionate moment. In the story “The Storm” the storm has a significant meaning; without it the affair of Calixta and Alcee performed would not have been as powerful as it was between them. “The Storm” has a great deal of symbolism throughout the story: the clouds, the use of color white, the storm relative to the affair, the after effects of the affair, Calixta,

To begin with, the use of symbolism creates obscurity, and causes the reader to examine the story. To further explain, the symbols also causes the reader to look deeper into the story's meaning, as it creates an interaction between the story and the reader. As a result, it enhances the effectiveness of the story. For example, a quote in the story states, “We all dancer an Owl dance, a Friendship dance, and a couple of Circle dances”(Sears 21).

Symbolism is a prominent part of many short stories. Within the stories “The Smile”, “The Chrysanthemums”, and “The Ones Who Walked Away From Omelas”, symbolism is heavily relied on to fully understand and comprehend each story. Although there are many literary devices used within the short stories, symbolism is predominantly used to develop and bring forth the message of each story.

Literary elements such as symbolism are found in almost any piece of writing. Symbolism is used to portray the deeper meaning of something by representing it with anything the writer chooses. In the short story, ¨Cathedral,¨ Raymond Carver uses many forms of symbolism to portray the different events and their meanings within his writing.

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

In a Good Man is Hard to Find, this grandmother is very selfish, talkative and manipulative. Throughout this story the grandmother portrayed all of these different personality traits. She is like no grandmother that you have ever seen.

In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” there are a few characters who are in constant conflict. The grandmother, as all other grandmothers, can run a person’s ear into the ground with her eccentric views and aimless ramblings. She is never direct and spins her conversations into long detailed stories. Her inability to stop talking is what ends up getting her killed (959). Every so often there is peace and quiet, but not that often. Bailey her son often shows discontent for his mother. She apparently gets on his nerves, but there is probably still love for her although the story never quite expresses it. The children wonder why the grandmother came along, but they know she would not have stayed at the house even if she could have been “‘queen for a day’” (948). The grandmother’s clothing makes her stand out as a prominent old lady so much that if she were to be found dead on the side of the road, people would at once recognize that she is a lady (948). The reader can tell the grandmother is

The religious symbolism in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is not hard to find. From the hippie name of June Star to the name John Wesley, who was also the founder of the Methodist church. Another big piece of symbolism is the lack of women names in the story, with all the females being referred to as mother, Red’s wife, or grandma, with only June Star having a name. This lack of women's names is symbolic, with O'Connor trying to express how women have been religiously treated as less than men,

The line that summarizes the grandmother in the story “ A Good Man is Hard to Find” is “ she would have been a good woman if someone was there to shoot her all her life.”The grandmother is a typical human being. In many aspects she is selfish. She wants her way and is willing to do anything to get it. For example, once she knows that she is unable to convince her grandson to visit the house which she describes in the story, she shifts her attention to the grandchildren.

Kate Chopin implies in the selection, "The Storm" that the setting and the plot reinforces each character's action, but only two characters exemplify the title itself, Calixta and Alcee. The storm becomes the central element of Alcee's unrequited love for Calixta and ultimately the instrument of their forbidden love to each other. Hurston concurs in the "The Storm" that a forbidden relationship can become a cancerous love and silent death sentence.

As discussed earlier, Southern Gothic includes irrational, evil, and horrific thoughts, many which seem to contradict one another without a deeper look into their true meaning. “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is a story seemingly fully made with these contradictions and examples of Southern Gothic literature. This is mostly seen through the behavior of the Grandmother. Throughout the beginning of the story, she almost makes herself appear a protagonist and reveals her cruel selfishness. The Grandmother even accused her own son, Bailey, of putting his own kids in danger just to get him to change his mind for her own personal gain (O’Connor 5). Furthermore, the Grandmother makes racist comments regarding a black child to her grandchildren in the car (O’Connor 10). Ironically, the Grandmother sees herself as “a valiant defender on social decorum in a world of barbarians” (Bandy 114). Once faced with the potential of death at the hands of the Misfit, the Grandmother’s tune changes to her religious beliefs and tries to convince the bandit of her way of moral thinking (O’Connor 28). Bandy continues and accuses the Grandmother of this hypocrisy by stating that the Misfit has given a greater deal of thought into Jesus than she ever has (114). These extreme examples of good and evil through the Grandmother’s journey in this story do not seek to explain or answer the hypocrisy we all share, but solely to show the tragic reality of the human condition in a uniquely Southern Gothic

Symbols are important in each story to define the theme. Close observation of the symbols within each story proves to one their

In Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” the grandmother and the Misfit become the main focus even though the other characters are involved in the story. Throughout the entire story, The Misfit is portrayed as the symbol of evil because he was in jail; he escaped from jail, and he committed murders. The grandmother believes to be greater than the people that she are around because of the “good” that she portrays. The conventional meaning of good, or possessing or displaying moral virtue, is not the particular good that the grandmother is trying to portray throughout the story. The grandmother believes that good

Flannery O’Connor also begins her story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” with the introduction of Grandma, the main character. The grandmother appears to represent godliness and Christianity. She is said in the story to have “lacked comprehension, but… had a good heart”.