As a symbol, the snake can hold ambiguous meanings. With every shedding of
As a symbol, the snake can hold ambiguous meanings. With every shedding of
The story of the snake dance starts with the Hopi hero named Tiyo. Tiyo had gone on a voyage and entered a room in the underworld where people were wearing snake skins. Tiyo was initiated and learned to pray to the rain. After being initiated, he receives two maidens who help the corn grow by singing. Tiyo brings the two maidens to the surface of the earth and the snake woman becomes his wife and the other becomes the bride of the flute youth. Shortly after marriage, Tiyo’s wife gives birth to reptiles and Tiyo flees.…
veryone feels the need to escape once in a while. To escape means to try to get away from the everyday trauma’s that occur. In the story Horses of the Nigh” by Margaret Lawrence, the character Chris constantly escapes reality. The author is suggesting that the effect of escaping from the reality of life too a great extent, can lead to dire consequences. The need to escape reality is shown through symbols.…
The epitome of society is symbolized by the Widow Douglass’s home. After all, it is there that Huck is forced to wear civilized clothing, eat and speak in a civilized manner, and act civilized in all possible ways. He runs away from this symbol of civilization to the freedom of the river. Then, of course, there is Jim, the symbol of all enslaved people in the South. He is downtrodden, looked down upon by all of the other characters in the book, and desperately seeking his freedom. In contrast to the rest of society, however, he is loyal and honest. Huck Finn, the protagonist of the book, contains an element of symbolism as well. He symbolizes the struggle between a person and his conscience, as well as between society and free-thinking. Throughout…
Stephen Crane uses symbols in the story, to help develop the conflict. Both The train and Scratchy Wilson are symbols. Jack Potter and his bride travel on the train that “seemed simply to prove that the plains of Texas were pouring eastward.” Trains are fast and like a bullet unstoppable. In the story , the train is a symbol of progress. This locomotive brought people from the west to the east, it brought advancement, and it brought a change way of life.Scratchy Wilson symbolizes progression through subtle hints in the story like wearing a shirt,” which had been purchased for purposes of decoration and made, principally, by some Jewish women on the east side of New York.” Scratchy Wilson practically represents the Wild West and all those folks…
In the short story “The Things They Carried,” written by Tim O’Brien, there is a lot of symbolism in each specific object that was mentioned. According to Dictionary.com, a symbolism is the practice of representing things by symbols, or of investing things with a symbolic meaning or character. A symbol is something used for or regarded as representing something else; a material object representing something, often something immaterial; emblem, token, or sign. The things each soldier carried defined each individual soldier. The story was very detailed in the objects the soldiers carried which tied into the emotional things the soldiers carried.…
Holler, C. (1984). Lakota Religion and tragedy: The theology of Black Elk Speaks. Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 52(1), 19-45, 32.…
The snake is a common factor in a number of James Dickey’s poems. In many cultures, snakes are associated with death. In Egypt, snakes were used for sinister purposes such as murder and suicide. In Greek mythology, snakes were often associated with deadly presences. Medusa, the Gorgon, had snakes growing from her head instead of hair. In Christianity, the Serpent tempted Adam and Eve into eating the forbidden fruit. God cursed the Serpent “above all animals”…
The author’s diction heightens the power and force behind the snake as it responds to the man. When the man first stumbles across the rattlesnake, it is “undulant” while “waiting” and holding its ground in calm “watchfulness.” The diction conveys slight tension in the otherwise still setting. The atmosphere feels tranquil, and while the snake is cautious, it is still at ease. This tranquility disappears, however, as the man attacks, and the snake “shoots” into a dense bush and shakes its “furious” signal after a “twitch” of its tail. The snake’s movements show much more power than they did before the man attacked. In turn, the atmosphere becomes more tense as the snake becomes more forceful. The diction describing the snake before and after the man attacks creates a contrast…
To represent both good and evil, Hurston used a snake in the story. Traditionally, the snake is one of the oldest mythological symbols in history, and it is used to show the dual aspects of good and evil. Snakes have also represented rebirth, healing, sexuality, transformation, immortality, guardianship, poison, and vindictiveness, to mention a few of the things they represent.…
In the story “An Indian Father’s Plea”, the story shows how culture is oftenly affecting how one views others and the world by showing what Wind-Wolf did as a child before he went to school. For example, throughout the story, the father of Wind-Wolf shares to his teacher what Wind-Wolf was exposed to as a child, “. Because of this, Wind-Wolf’s educational setting was not only a “secure” environment, but it was also very colorful, complicated, sensitive, and diverse.” This can show that the child is exposed to his Native-American culture and later in the story, the father talks what the child does spiritually with his mother and what he experienced in his tribe. “Wind-Wolf was with his mother in South Dakota while she danced for seven days straight…
The author's Diction heightens the rancher's commitment to protect the people and the doubt he feels about the decision. Although the man's first “instinct” was not to kill the snake, he realized that it was his “duty” to kill it because of the “ominous” danger it posed to the ranch. The man's natural “instinct” and his moral “duty” to protect the ranch do not align, creating the conflict that the reader identifies with. The man recognizes the “ominous” danger posed by the snake, leaving him with an obligation to remove the danger. At first, the rancher's thought was to “let [the snake] go” for the rancher “never killed” an animal and not “obliged” to kill, but he “reflected” that it posed as a threat to the ranch, thus having to remove it. The rancher wanted to “let [the snake] go” for he has “never killed an animal” because he does not “feel the satisfaction” of killing as a sport. The rancher was very hesitant to kill, but he “reflected” that he needed to protect. The man's obligation and regret about killing the snake creates a conflict that generates the readers emotions through Diction; the Imagery further illustrates this conflict.…
ne of the common features found in the literature about Native American folklores is that it exhibits a big and rapid influence by the dominant culture which results in the discontinuity between old and new, mostly the latter selected over the former. This book’s chapters except for the prologue and epilogue each chapter is consisted of three voices: folktale narrative, historical, and modern personal feelings. The author seems to model via this format how in Kiowa people’s conscience the time and space work and how they view the discord between the enriched past and nihilistic present for them, as seen in the different tones. This book explains how the mixing of culture during their history has molded Kiowa’s contrasting views towards the…
It sounds simple enough to consider the role of the trickster in Native American culture, but examination of various literatures from The Norton Anthology of American Literature leads one to discover the ambiguity of the term ‘trickster’ within this individual culture. The trickster figure can be seen on one hand simply as a composition of amusement, a form of entertainment within a culture of oral storytelling which held, and still holds, great prominence in the culture of Native Americans. This amusement does, however, create moral messages, potentially forming an educational portrayal, widening the perspective of the trickster’s role. The appearance as a powerful and potentially dangerous figure is emphasised in the texts which I have studied. Often the trickster appears to hold superiority and wisdom over others, presenting its commonly perceived role as a powerful creator, present since time began. This is especially prominent in the Coyote trickster, who is discussed by Guy H. Cooper in Coyote in Navajo Religion and Cosmology, an article to which I will reference. As well as exploring the trickster itself, the ways in which the trickster character educates the reader/listener is also important, contributing further to its wide role in the culture of Native Americans. The ambiguity of the trickster has ensured excessive scholarly analysis, and I plan to examine specific essays in William J. Hynes’ and William G. Doty’s Mythical Trickster Figures in order to analyse this universal yet culture specific fictional figure to a satisfying extent.…
Crazy Horse, born Curly Hair, was born in the early 1840’s from father, Crazy Horse, and mother, Rattle Blanket Woman. The beginning of the book illustrates the progression of Curly Hair from childhood, through maturity, into warrior. Most books about American Indian tribes in the early years of United Sates colonization emphasize on the conflict between Americans and Native Americans, but Bray also focuses on the struggles Crazy Horse faced within his own community. Tragedy struck at early age of four for Crazy Horse when his own mother hung herself. The incident commenced a life of isolation for the warrior and the immersion into religious beliefs and practices. As someone who is intrigued by the religious side of history, I applaud Bray for skillfully illustrating the religious rituals. Bray does a wonderful job accentuating Crazy Horse’s quest for religious freedom through the depictions of his visions and rituals. Nonetheless, the author also addresses the issues between the Lakota tribe and Americans.…
How does D.H. Lawrence describe the snake and capture his opinion of it in his poem “Snake”…