Flower: Flowers come up a lot throughout the book so far and are definitely a motif. They could also be a symbol. In general, flowers could be a symbol of new beginnings. Possibly fragile beginnings, like the beginning of a marriage or the beginning of a life. Since so far there is a marriage about to happen and a baby. There are also specific flowers that get mentioned. For example, "a plant called Jupiter, with blood-red flowers, but then it died". So that could be a beginning that didn't work out. Because the father ended up dying. I think that flower could represent something delicate and new and could be a symbol for life.
Knives: Knives get associated with death a lot in the book and the knife could obviously be a symbol for death. But it could also be a symbol for passion, and for blood since a knife draws blood. It also seems like it could be a symbol for strength. The mother seems to be afraid of knives because of their potential to do harm. but then on the flip side, the son needs the knife because he has to go to the farm and cut the vines and they need those tools to make a living. So it's interesting the contrast between knives being something potentially dangerous but also something that is useful and necessary. So the knife could represent, in the play, something or things which one struggles with because it can be good and it's necessary for well being but it is also potentially harmful. This could apply to numerous things, even relationships.
Horse/ lullaby: A horse needs water in order to live, yet for some reason the horse doesn't want water. So the horse must represent someone or something that is rejecting what they need. And they keep saying for the child to go to sleep and that the horse begins to cry. But it doesn't really make sense why the horse is crying once it's choosing not to drink the water? It also says "don't come! don't enter! go off to the mountain. through the gray valleys. the mare awaits." The mare is the female horse so that's an interesting point that the horse is going off to the mountains to find a female. So isntead of being something that the horse needs which it is rejecting, since a horse is expected to get water, the horse could represent someone who is going against the norms of society. And maybe it's because of love? Or another cause? Then a couple pages later they continue the lullaby and talk about a "Silver dagger" in the horse's eye and blood that is "stronger than water" so if blood represents family or sacrifice maybe that means more to him?
comments:
Courtney's Blog: "It's interesting how you mentioned the child as a possible symbol? I think that is a good idea. What do you think the child could be a symbol of? Possibly innocence or new beginnings?"
Sara's Blog: I like how you mentioned the archetype of the neighbor. I agree it seems really stereotypical of a neighbor to know lots of information. But then a lot of it may or may not be true which is also interesting. I wonder if that will be important as the book goes on and who could a "neighbor" represent in society?
I thought your ideas were very convincing. You support your claims with content from the play very effectively and also clearly state your thinking process. It helped me a lot. Good job.
ReplyDeleteI like what you said about the flowers. Flowers seem to be really important so far in the play and I never connected it to death and a new beginning before. Your ideas about the horse are also interesting. I also viewed the horse as potentially representing someone rebellious.
ReplyDeleteI liked what you said about the flowers, I think the blooming of flowers goes well with what is going on in the play so far. the marriage, young children growing, all of those go well with blooming flowers and I find that connection intruiging.
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