Assignment:
Directions: Write a fully developed paragraph of at least 250 words for each of the following questions. Support all claims and responses with specific details from the stories. Cite page numbers.
Be sure to read the "Checklist for Writing about Symbols" on page 267 in Backpack Literature for ways to avoid far-fetched interpretations. Remember, not everything is a symbol.
1. Plato's Allegory of the Cave
Actions
A. Define allegory, using the definition provided in Backpack Literature or the Key Concepts page of this lesson.
B. Identify at least six (6) symbols from the story and explain what each of these symbols suggest in this allegory. That is, what are they "standing in" for?
C. How does understanding these allegorical associations (symbolic meanings) help us to understand Plato's message? What is his message (or what is the allegory's main point)?
2. The Cathedral by Raymond Carver. Identify all of the symbols you see operating in the story.
A. Identify the symbols, which may either be physical objects or descriptions (of setting, character, etc.), or they may be names (of people or places), or any other concrete thing that seems to suggest more than its literal meaning.
B. Explain both the literal meaning (or use) of the object and the symbolic meaning(s) of the object or description.
C. Explore possible connections between the symbols in the story and its theme.
D. Support all claims with specific textual detail. Note that the story must support the symbolic meaning you interpret for an object or description. Simply because an object is often referenced symbolically--a rose, for example--does not mean that it is always used symbolically. The author must give us reason for reading the object as a symbol. (See page 267 in Backpack Literature for more on this.) Sometimes a rose is just a rose. Or, as Freud would say, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
3. Any two (2) stories story from. That is, for each story you will write a fully developed, 250-word paragraph that does the following: The lottery by Shirley Jackson and The one who walk away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin
A. Identify the symbols, which may either be physical objects or descriptions (of setting, character, etc.), or they may be names (of people or places), or any other concrete thing that seems to suggest more than its literal meaning.
B. Explain both the literal meaning (or use) of the object and the symbolic meaning(s) of the object or description.
C. Explore possible connections between the symbols in the story and its theme.
D. Support all claims with specific textual detail. Note that the story must support the symbolic meaning you interpret for an object or description. Simply because an object is often referenced symbolically--a rose, for example--does not mean that it is always used symbolically. The author must give us reason for reading the object as a symbol. (See page 267 in Backpack Literature for more on this.) Sometimes a rose is just a rose. Or, as Freud would say, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
- The Cathedral
- The lottery
- The one who walk away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin
Attachment:- Plato, The Allegory of the Cave.rar