Friday, 3/6

Today we talked about Symbolism, the use of an object to represent a larger idea.
Analyzing symbols can help you to interpret the meaning of a text and build an argument about it.

Steps of Analyzing Symbols:
1) Summarize the text
2) Look for Objects: things/places/people that have deeper meaning
3) determine the meaning of the Object
4) How does this help you interpret the text as a whole?

We began by reading a few paragraphs from Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.
We summarized the paragraphs (the main character is standing alone, staring at a green light, and wanting it).

1. You identified the object of the green light as significant.
2. We determined that green often represents ambition and greed, as well as (American) money.
3. We looked at an existing interpretation of the green light.

• The author's claim is that the green light represents Gatsby's desire for Daisy (another character)
• Notice that the author uses quotes (but perhaps too extensively--and without citing).
• Toward the end, he makes the claim that the green light might also represent society's desire for the American Dream.

Next we examined Dylan Thomas' poem "Do Not Go Gently Into That Goodnight."

1. The poem is written to Thomas' dying father and lists different groups of men who regret not having accomplished more or put their gifts/talents to better use

2. There are few objects here, but you noted the repetition of the words "rage," and "night."

3. We interpreted "Night" as "Death" and "Rage" as a resistance to death, or a desire to accomplish more in one's life

4. Rather than dismiss this poem as the grief of the poet, you determined that this poem instructs the reader "to want more."

Finally, we looked at Carolyn Forche's poem "The Colonel."

1. We noted that the poem describes a dinner inside the Colonel's house. We see family and domesticity and normalcy. This is interrupted by moments of violence in the shape of a pistol, broken glass, and finally the Colonel himself who dumps a bag of ears on the table.

2. You identified ears as a symbol.

3. We interpreted the ears as:

• proof of dead/murdered people
• instruments of listening/hearing

4. The final lines divide the ears, some of them listening, some of them "pressed to the ground." We interpretted this as the Colonel's disregard of human life as well as his subjects' listening or waiting for what is coming, looking into the future when the Colonel is deposed.

Assignment: Using your knowledge of symbolism, read and respond to "She Used to be My Girl," an episode of the popular American television show The Simpsons.

You will need to 

1) summarize the episode 

2) identify at least 5 symbols 

3) interpret at least 3 of these symbols 

4) state what these symbols suggest about the meaning of the episode/show as a whole.

(The scheduled assignment of reading Jessica Neuhaus' academic article, "Marge's Blue Hair..." is pushed back one class session; however, it is a long article. I suggest you begin reading early. Please find this using the Kean Library database.)