In The Little Black Boy, William Blake confronts this issue of racial bias between white and black people through the voice of a young, black boy. ... From the opening stanza, the Little Black Boy calls for knowledge of God's purpose when creating people whose skin is black and it presents the struggles against religious perception here in the humanly world. ... " Because white is the symbol of purity and innocence, the boy's statement is immediately addresses the racial indifference and inserts the boy's desire to be white. The boy acknowledges that because he was born bla...

• Word Count: 876
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

"Signs and Symbols" starts off with an elderly couple going to visit their son in a mental institution for his birthday. ... "Signs and Symbols" takes place within the United States where a boy suffers from "Referential Mania" which is a condition that makes one believe that objects around them are conspiring against oneself. ... Some other clues that point to the boy's death are playing cards, the wife wearing a black dress with no make-up, and the birthday present that the parents were bringing their son. ... In the United States, women typically wear bla...

• Word Count: 1066
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Therefore, the theme in "The Piano Lesson" shows the complexity of African-American attitudes toward the past and black heritage compared to plans for the future. ... The setting of this drama took place in the 1940s in the home of Doaker Charles, Berniece's and Boy Willie's uncle. ... "The Piano Lesson" had such writing elements as symbols. For instance, throughout the whole play, the piano played an important and central symbol. ... Some family members, especially Boy Willie, challenged the use of the ghost returning to haunt the family. ...

• Word Count: 1379
• Approx Pages: 6

The specs are a symbol of man's ability to perceive and think, man's greed, and the boys" vision of civilization. Piggy is the most intelligent boy and has the clearest perception of the boys on the island. The fact that he wears glasses is a symbol of his intelligence. ... Piggy's glasses are a stereotypical symbol of intelligence, a useful tool that shows man's innovativeness for good or bad, and a symbol of blind prejudiced and cruelty that man can possess. ... At the end of this scene, the immense evil represented by this powerful symbol can once again be seen as S...

• Word Count: 970
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Now throughout the whole story many human rights symbols appear. ... Also a few times throughout the piece it mentions objects that they call "the black gallows." ... The black gallows were used to put innocent people to death. ... One of the symbols of religion at the end of the execution was the fact that both Jesus and the boy hung on longer staying alive. ... Through the little boy, religion is playing a big role in the story, along with the human rights symbols. ...

• Word Count: 1023
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Louis grew up to be a generous boy who accepted others. ... Louis was a large boy at age 12. ... Louis was the only black boxer in the white world. ... Louis was the African Americans hope and symbol. ... Before the fight whites accepted Louis as the representative of America values fighting against a symbol of Nazi racism. ...

• Word Count: 942
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

This is where two black servants, Sam and Willie, work for the white family. ... He wanted the little boy to be proud of something, proud of himself. ... The kite triggered neurotic thoughts but exhilarated the despairing boy. ... When the conflict supernovas, Hally lashes out on his two black friends. ... As a young boy Hally had to be sent to escort his drunken father home. ...

• Word Count: 1140
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

This is where two black servants, Sam and Willie, work for the white family. ... He wanted the little boy to be proud of something, proud of himself. ... The kite triggered neurotic thoughts but exhilarated the despairing boy. ... When the conflict supernovas, Hally lashes out on his two black friends. ... As a young boy Hally had to be sent to escort his drunken father home. ...

• Word Count: 1145
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

"Suddenly the manager's boy put his insolent black head in the doorway, and said in a tone of scathing contempt: 'Mistah Kurtz -- he dead.'" ... The main symbols were Marlow and Kurtz who was a maverick and a savage beast that lived in the domain of the purely evil jungle. ... Another reoccurring term was the symbol of the "pilgrim". ...

• Word Count: 1204
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Lawrence introduces us to his childhood - as an important part of his life - using a piano as a symbol of this stage. ... The piano is more than a symbol of music enjoyment, it is a "guide", a moment when the poet and his mother gathered on Sundays for a precious moment. ... He pictures a small boy positioned beneath the piano, this is more than just a childhood memory. ... At this point he refers to "the great black piano appassionato", where a great intensity is reflected on the memory of the poet. ... I think this is attached to the nostalgia felt by the poet ("the singer") about the ...

• Word Count: 343
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

This is why Twain uses Jim, a black slave, as a symbol of society's racism and ignorance. ... The fact that a white boy apologized to an older, black slave, was ground- breaking and very controversial for this time period. The apology reflects Twain's feelings towards blacks himself. ... Jim is a symbol for the racist ideas and intolerance that plagued our nation for so long. Moreover, he is the symbol for the hope that someday, our country may someday be free of hatred and prejudice. ...

• Word Count: 477
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

This is an auditory symbol the speaker refers to because he remembers the power his father possessed, being able to "break" the cold, and "drive it out" for the love of his family. ... His father got up in the "blue-black cold" to do work for his family. ... The father's love was not very well represented to the young boy, but the warm house is a symbol of the father's love for his family. The tone of the poem is a thankful one, but also full of guilt the boy feels for his father. ... The father's actions toward the boy were austere, meaning stern in disposition or appeara...

• Word Count: 759
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

The magazine publishes articles that would catch the mind of a teenage boy, like upcoming movies, music, and video games. ... The woman is wearing a black dress like she would be going to a funeral. ... The two colors, black and green, are the colors on a box of Salem Cigarettes. ... The brand of cigarettes, Salem, is in larger white lettering in the bottom left hand corner with a ying-yang symbol behind it bringing attention to the name. This ying-yang symbol and the phrase in the middle of the page, "stir the sense" can be associated with each other, in that the two sides of the ying-yang sy...

• Word Count: 934
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

The gun was an external symbol that Wright used to symbolize Dave's struggle. ... The gun was just one of a few symbols that Wright could have used. ... The symbols have changed since Wright wrote literature. ... Like Dave, many young black men focus more on the external symbols than the internal symbols. ... Society was always teaching them that they would always be considered a boy no matter what they achieved. ...

• Word Count: 614
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

But we do not know their names, we are introduced to them as "the fair haired boy" and Piggy is known as "a shorter fat boy who called to him." ... Apart from the blood and gore he later on becomes addicted to we fires see him vaulting onto the platform, "his black cloak flying and circling." ... In the novel it is described as the authority symbol. ... The conch, a mere symbol of normality on the island was gone and all who clung to it fell apart. ... The conch, a flawed symbol of authority and therefore a contributor to the bad on the island. ...

• Word Count: 1194
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Symbolism means the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities. ... Immediately the reader understands that the word "black" is used to symbolize death. ... The speaker is a little boy that realizes how difficult his life is. ... The young boy tells that his father sold him at a young age. ... Irony was captured when the little boy cried "Weep!...

• Word Count: 803
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

A shy quiet Negro boy comes to a white smoker in a Southern town he is to be awarded with a scholarship. ... At the end of the "battle-, the boy dreams that he has opened the briefcase given to him with his scholarship to a Negro college and that he finds an inscription reading: "To Whom It May Concern: Keep This Nigger-Boy Running." ... At the paint factory, the narrator must mix a few drops of black chemical into a cream-colored base to make white paint, a symbol suggesting a social formula that racial color is most noticeable when contrasted against a totally opposite color. ... pg. 199-201...

• Word Count: 1401
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

Boy was I wrong. ... The background of the portrait was a dark color, and the mother was wearing a long black dress and the detail on her dress were made by huge brush strokes that you would only be able to see if you get up close. The little boy was wearing a white shirt and black pants and the creases on his pants were also made by huge brush strokes by using the brushstrokes on the clothes of the mother and the son made the portrait look more realistic. ... And on the other side of the picture there is a dark red wall, I know that this might have some type of symbolism, but I can't ...

• Word Count: 872
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

Boy was I wrong. ... The background of the portrait was a dark color, and the mother was wearing a long black dress and the detail on her dress were made by huge brush strokes that you would only be able to see if you get up close. The little boy was wearing a white shirt and black pants and the creases on his pants were also made by huge brush strokes by using the brushstrokes on the clothes of the mother and the son made the portrait look more realistic. ... And on the other side of the picture there is a dark red wall, I know that this might have some type of symbolism, but I can't ...

• Word Count: 880
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

"Life isn't black and white. ... The color grey is a prevalent symbol throughout the novella. ... Delano refuses to recognize that a black slave can establish a threat in a white man's domain, even after seeing a black slave hit a white boy on the ship. ... The color gray is first illustrated as a symbol throughout the story when Melville depicts the setting, "Everything was mute and calm; everything grey" (Melville 1). ... The color of grey that is prevalent throughout the story is a key symbol that shows the inability to split all of humankind into black and white....

• Word Count: 1327
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography

When he opened it, he found a letter that said, "Keep this Nigger boy running." ... He listens to Louis Armstrong's "What Did I Do to Be So Black and Blue." ... He used the symbol of the American flag, on the naked woman, to show the satire upon American corruption of sexuality. ... Also, the letter the hero receives, during his nightmare, has a distinct meaning to it (Black 24). ... Since most Negroes were unable to read at that time, they were unaware that the note had something to the extent of "Keep this Nigger boy running." ...

• Word Count: 839
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

The story has many symbols throughout that relate to the moral in many different ways. ... The author uses the blonde white woman, a rug, constant lies by the white man, and other symbols to show the various hardships that the narrator must endure, in his quest to deliver his speech, and all are representative of the many hardships that blacks went through and go through now in a fight for equality. ... This is symbolic of the black race" fight for equality and how uneducated or inexperienced blacks are easily misled by white people. ... The rug is another important symbol in the story. ......

• Word Count: 1103
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

McCarthy does this on purpose, by creating this relentless, colorless landscape it enables his symbols of optimism to stand out. ... In the world the boy knows there is no use or need for such a concept. ... This shiny object covered in the black enamel of this meaningless world can be chiseled away and return it to its original value of meaning. ... The man and his boy find the old man as they are traveling. ... Not only was the Coke a symbol of the past and what used to be but then the boy selflessly shares some with his father. ...

• Word Count: 1484
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

Inside the black race dwells an unspoken division as well. Lighter-skinned blacks in this story act superior to darker-skinned blacks. ... The river discussed at the beginning of the story is a symbol of the human spirit. ... Another important symbol in the story is the black stallion. ... A third and less apparent symbol in this story is a flint used by a young boy named Ned. ...

• Word Count: 1101
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

SUGAR CANE ALLEY Sugar Cane Alley is a movie about a young boy named Jose growing up in Martinique with his grandmother, Ma Tine. ... To be a black person in Martinique was hard and frustrating. In the movie it seemed that to be black was a sign of slave labor and a member of a low social class. ... For a black person to come from a poor town, and succeed in school was unbelievable and impossible. ... As I reflect back on the film, I would use a single quote to refer to this symbol of community-"It takes a whole village to raise a child." ...

• Word Count: 489
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School