In five pages symbolism is defined and then its uses are examined in an analysis of Beloved by Toni Morrison and A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. Two sources are cited in the bibliography.
Name of Research Paper File: D0_MBsymlit.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
for something else. In the literary world, the symbol can take on the literal meaning but also the abstract or suggestive idea. Universal ideas such as the lion being a
symbol of nobility, or water as time and eternity are common types of these symbols. Other symbols meaning do not become clear until read in the context in which they
occur. This is true of two works of literature, Williams Streetcar Named Desire, and Morrisons, Beloved. In the story, Beloved, Morrison seems fond of using water as a symbol.
Beloved is a survivor of a slave ship, which crossed the water. With this crossing of the water, vast numbers of people had their way of life changed forever. Morrison
writes: "A fully dressed woman walked out of the water..."(Morrison, 50). Also, another water reference comes into play when Beloved is offered a glass of water by Denver. "Four times
Denver filled it, and four times the woman drank as though she had crossed a desert" (Morrison p. 51). This is also a direct implication of the treatment of slaves
aboard the slave ships. Because rations ran low on the ships, the captives food and water were rationed. Water, and the accompanying thirst for it, become powerful symbols in
Morrisons work because water is symbolic of Beloveds need to fulfill a basic desire, but also a thirst for freedom. Another important symbol in Beloved is a tree. The
Chokecherry tree is a riddle that Sethe gives them: "I got a tree on my back and a haint in my house, and nothing in between but the daughter I
am holding in my arms" (Morrison, 15). The answer is the scarring that she has on her back in the shape of a Chokecherry tree. In