Define the terms symbol and imagery, and analyze how each of the stories uses symbols to add depth to the quality of the story.

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Define the terms symbol and imagery, and analyze how each of the stories uses symbols to add depth to the quality of the story.

A child loves mother unconditionally and wants to spend as much time with her as possible. However, the same little one cuddles mummy’s sweater while she has to work at night and let her baby go to bed without her. Does it happen because the baby loves the sweater too? Obviously this is not the case. The sweater symbolizes the woman who was seen wearing it so many times, whose perfumes can still be smelled on it. Everyday objects may acquire symbolic value, which allows a unique way of expression and also effectively stimulates imagination. Similarly, a little boy enjoys stories describing wind that can he can feel on his face, singing birds that he can hear, and breathtaking views that he can see. All these are only images of his memories, but create an exciting world of “almost real” experiences. The more images triggering mind to bring memories of sensation of testes, touch, sights, the more authentic and vivid the story appears. Both, symbolism and imagery are tools used cleverly by William Faulkner in “A rose for Emily” and Shirley Jackson in “The lottery”; consequently, the two short stories are pieces of wonderful, deep, and moving literature.

Symbols in “A Rose for Emily” have a deep and underlying insight to the story. Faulkner uses them to represent the intangible qualities of Miss Emily Grierson, such as her physical and emotional deterioration. The Grierson house description compliments effectively the image of Miss Emily itself. In its prime, the house appears as “white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scroll balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies” (Faulkner 74). It can be assumed that it is build not only for function, but also to show off and to impress the other townspeople. Similarly, Emily Grierson dresses in a conspicuous manner, as all wealthy women of this time. She “carried her head high enough as if she demanded more than ever the recognition of her dignity as the last Grierson” (77). Both Miss Emily and her house stand out and give an impression of wealth to onlookers. As the story progresses, the physical decline the woman and the house are exposed to become clear. Just as the house is “filed with dust and shadows” (79), Emily ages and “she had grown fat and her hair was turning gray” (78). Ultimately, at the time of Miss Emily’s death, the house is seen by the townspeople as “an eyesore among eyesores” (74), and Miss Emily is perceived as a “fallen monument” (78). Both are lifeless and empty. Maybe even more significant is comparison of Emily’s unwillingness to change and the appearance of the Grierson’s house. Miss Emily refuses to obey the tax law and recalls the since departed mayor, Colonel Sartoris, who “remitted her taxes” (75). She does not want to pay taxes and does not accept any way of treating her different than one from her youth time. Emily believes she, as a successor of affluent family, deserves unconditional respect from the rest of the world. Likewise, just as Miss Emily held herself high, the house is presented as “lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps” (74). It can be assumed the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps are used to symbolize townspeople who were seen by Miss Emily as unimportant and purposeless. This comparison proves that Faulkner’s use of symbols in “A rose for Emily” was a extremely effective way of building the depth of the story.

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While reading “A rose for Emily” the pictures and impressions presented in the story appear easy to imagine thanks to the writer’s use of details. Faulkner creates a very horrifying image of death which prevalently occurs throughout the whole story. Five actual deaths discussed or mentioned in passing saturate the reader’s imagination with a very strong and distinct icon of this phenomenon. The plot begins with narrator’s recollections of Emily’s funeral that happens to gather the entire community. “Our whole town went to her funeral” (Faulkner 74) says one of the observators. This simple statement triggers series of images that ...

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