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Symbolism: Reality or Imagination

            
             Short stories provide readers a in depth look into the lives of the characters involved in the plot. Symbolism plays a large role into this perception. As a plot unfolds, the reader is caught up in the story plot leaving them to wonder whether it is reality or imagination. .
             The Lottery is a good example of this perception. Symbolism begins from the beginning to the end. Without the symbolism, the story relates only a handful of characters in mixed up roles. Symbolism promotes a perception in the reader to look deeper into the roles the characters play and often into the life of the author of the story. .
             Symbolism is used by authors to keep the interest of the reader but also to portray their own lives into the story through those characters. The Lottery is one such story. Shirley Jackson had several bouts with mental illness. Characters in the story and bizarre ending reflect on her life and health problems. .
             The Lottery reflected back to her life going back to her childhood. When she was in school, other children began to throw stones at her. When she left the playground, she had gone home and wrote the story of the stoning of Mrs. Hutchinson. Mrs Hutchinson represents Shirley in her younger years and the frustration she felt. .
             Jackson often wrote of evil but under a sort of comedic way. Her use of symbolism to inspire the reader to look deep was unique. If not for this type of writing, Ms Jackson would not have had her stories published. Her twisted way to represent the characters and plot her readers reflected in her stories. .
             Other such authors use the same technique to relate their own lives into their stories. Guy De Mauspant, author of The Necklace, used the same technique. All of his stories reflect the insecurity of himself through his characters. His characters usually reflect self centered egotistical persons. They are usually caught in the moment. .
             Mathilde in The Necklace represents one such person.


Essays Related to Symbolism: Reality or Imagination

1. Reality

Everyone has a dream in this life, the only difference is if they choose to live the dream or the reality. ... Williams demonstrated how the Wingfield family struggles to get a grip on things through using symbolism, foreshadowing, and irony. To begin, the consistency of using symbolism assisting the development of the plot. ... The collection also represents the colorful and exciting imagination Laura devotes herself to. ... In conclusion, it is difficult to give up on living their dream, but on the other hand one must know the distinction of dreams and reality. ...

  • Word Count: 561
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Robert Frost

In Robert Frost's "Birches," the theme of reality vs. imagination is discovered through images of bent birches, symbolism of a boy swinging the trees, and the tone of words used. ... Reality vs. imagination is explored with the symbolism of a boy used to represent imagination. ... Here Frost shows that imagination just had victory over reality. ... The theme of reality vs. imagination is explored through images of bent birches, symbolism of a boy swinging the trees, and the tone of words used. ... The tone Frost uses proves that he prefers imagination rather than reality. ...

  • Word Count: 1056
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

3. Secret Life of Walter Mitty

By daydreaming, one might be able to escape the petty details of life and obtain freedom from their reality. ... Walter Mitty is described as a meek and mild-mannered, hen-pecked husband who learns to escape reality through daydreams (Thurber 77). ... For example, both Walter Mitty and Rip Van Winkle use their imagination and dreams to escape adult responsibility and their shrewd wives (Sweet 77). Sweet interprets Mitty's character as another Rip Van Winkle and the use of symbolism here shows the reader how Walter is able to escape his reality and daydream into a place of no return. ... ...

  • Word Count: 803
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

4. Indian Art - Aesthetics and Symbolism

Artwork from the earliest Indus Valley civilizations and the Harappan period spawned a revolutionary new wave, thus inspiring many to carry on the somewhat crude (to western eyes) but amazing blend of skill, mastery and imagination that became the hallmark of popular Indian folk art. ... The extended symbolism of that would be his destructive power being used to recreate and reform, at both corresponding ends of each side. ... Symbolism plays a pivotal role in Indian art, more so than art from any other culture. This is largely based on the role of symbolism in Indian religion itself. ... The ...

  • Word Count: 1282
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

5. Paul Gauguin's Transition - Post-Impressionism to Symbolism

Paul Gauguin was one of the few leaders that led Post-Impressionism.1 Eventually Gauguin would completely turn away from nature and look to his imagination seeking creativity from his inner self.2 Paul Gauguin's Post-Impressionist background influenced the primitive quality of his paintings as he transitioned into the new art form of Symbolism. ... Thus there is little likelihood that Gauguin's original audience would have been able to understand and dissect the Tahitian legends that Gauguin carefully implied on most of the 66 paintings he took back to Paris in 1892.16 As all of G...

  • Word Count: 1179
  • Approx Pages: 5

6. Symbolic Light and Colors in The Great Gatsby

The central conflict in "The Great Gatsby," (announced by Nick in the fourth paragraph of the book), is the conflict between Gatsby's dream and the reality that "the foul dust which floats in the wake of his dreams." ... As we shall see, the color-symbols render, with a close and delicate discrimination, both the dream and the reality "and these both in their separateness and in their tragic intermingling. ... His imagination has created a "universe of ineffable gaudiness," of "a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty" "a world of such stirring vividness that it may be repr...

  • Word Count: 664
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

7. Techniques used in

Coleridge's imagination enables him to unite with his friend, Charles, through nature. This idea is conveyed through symbolism, and emphasises the effect of Coleridge's imaginative on his attitude towards nature. ... His imagination defines the three stanza structure of the poem. ... Upon returning to reality, the persona views the lime-tree bower in a new light, "pale beneath the blaze hung the transparent foliage". ... The symbolism of the rook, similar to the sensory image employed during the poet's imaginative journey, emphasises the key element of the poem, contrast. ...

  • Word Count: 641
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

8. Labyrinth - Product of Jim Henson's Imagination

Faeries, gnomes, goblin kings, dreams, symbolism and fantasy; these are the most essential building blocks in the wildly creative world of Jim Henson's movie, "Labyrinth." ... Many children find entertainment in "transporting" themselves into mystical realms through reading fiction novels, watching movies, and the creative outlet of pure imagination. ... Labyrinth is a multifaceted movie that uses symbolism and fantasy to tell the tale of a young girl's journey from childhood to adolescence. ... From this book, Sarah recites the words of the play that is about to become her reality....

  • Word Count: 2010
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

9. Science And Religion

The sterilization of symbolism in science results in a meager envisioning of reality that materializes whatever contemporary physics says is nonmaterial. ... The same can apply to symbolism in science. ... Basically physicists have suffered a severe loss: their hold on reality (1985:15). ... She says that "It is the impulse of our imaginations to order the world with a view to understanding and contemplating it -- something which must be done before theory-building can ever start" (1985:134). ... Quantum theory, at this particular time, has reignited the imagination of science and perha...

  • Word Count: 2403
  • Approx Pages: 10
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

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