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

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: 1145
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• 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

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

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

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

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

More than 130 years after the final shots of the War Between the States, the symbol of the Confederate Southern Cross is still a powerful topic throughout the South. ... In 1991, the NAACP passed a resolution that stated the Southern Cross was a racist symbol that reminded Blacks about slavery. ... By removing Confederate symbols, such as the flag from public view, aren't these groups denying America a part of Black history? ... I know the Southern Cross is a hurtful symbol to those in the Black community because of slavery and racism. ... The Good-Ole boy southern politicians used the So...

• Word Count: 1754
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

When reading poem 1, I was left with the impression that the speaker was innocent, nave and a good-natured little boy. ... They would simply be replaced by another and possibly even younger boy. I believe that Blake uses the word lamb as a symbol of how these boys were sacrificed in their line of work. ... Blake is clever in his use of symbols and colour. ... Here the black coffins are a symbol of the chimneys, and being locked up in them suggests captivity - there was no way that they could escape their lives (until death). ...

• Word Count: 2076
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

"Stapford Brooke says that "No word can tell the imaginative greatness of the scene on the black and lovely moor and in Lear's black and lovely heart. " The storm scene reflects king's sufferings and the lessons he learns through these sufferings. ... "My wits begin to turnCome on, my boy. How dost, my boy? ... He pierces deep into the hidden blackness of mankind. ... It symbolizes disturbance in hell, in heaven, in earth, ˜in Lear's external and internal kingdom, and in human mind, it is a symbol of chaos (disorder). ...

• Word Count: 986
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

For example "Mother to Son- the mother says "So boy don't you turn back, don't set you down on the steps cause you find its kinder harder, don't you fall now-. ... In many of Langston Hughes poetry, nature serves as a strong symbol for triumphs and defeat of the soul. ... Nature serves as a symbol for the captivity and death of the soul. ... Nature becomes a symbol for the burden of the anguish of the soul. ... In the above mentioned works, images of nature serves as a symbol of the freedom of the soul, yet serving as a symbol for the burden of achieving that freedom, and th...

• Word Count: 1518
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Through the symbol of the conch, the importance of stability, order, and civilization are established. ... The symbol of order and civilization continued to lose its value as Jack mocked its importance. ... Another important symbol in Lord of The Flies is the symbol of the fire, which represented the boys?... But, as time progressed the boy's desire to return to civilization was replaced by the primal desire to seek, kill, and destroy, as seen when the boys chant, "Kill the beast! ... After a while, Ralph could no longer see the humanity within the boys.He gazed at the green and black mas...

• Word Count: 920
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

When Jack Robins sang in the bar as a young boy, he began a cinematic revolution. ... His wearing of a blackface in this song was also a symbol or metaphor for being American. ... A powerful scene is when Mary enters the room and Jack is applying the black face paint, he is clearly distraught and conflicted by his Jewish culture and his career. ... In the final song of the play, "Mammy," blackface is used again as a symbol. ... So, as his father's ghost appears behind him in the synagogue it is a symbol of acceptance. ...

• Word Count: 1489
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

The author, Eudora Welty, uses many, and most of them are nature symbols. ... Other symbols soon become evident to the reader. ... Snakes, of course, are one of the most widely used symbols for evil, deception, and danger. ... Phoenix's vision, that of a little boy who brings her "a little plate with a slice of marble cake on it,"" may very well be the image of her grandson (107). Next, she notices "big dead trees, like black men with one arm standing in the purple stalks of the withered cotton field- (107). ...

• Word Count: 727
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

When Aschenbach arrives in Venice, he catches a ride to the dock in a black gondola. The color of the gondola is an obvious symbol for the impending death foretold in the title. ... The girls are very stiff and plain, but the boy is dressed in bright blue. The boy's beauty and brightness stand in sharp contrast to his sister's stark plainness. Aschenbach finds the boy incredibly beautiful and he cannot help but stare at him. ...

• Word Count: 1531
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

The black veil is a symbol for the guilt he feels for his sins and that all men hide behind their sin. ... When Poe was a young boy, his father abandoned him and his family. ... In "The Minister's Black Veil", Father Hooper is isolated from the congregation because of his black veil that he hides behind. ... The veil is a symbol for the secret sin that all people carry within themselves. ... Another symbol is the Puritan interest in the concept of "sin". ...

• Word Count: 1698
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Shorts, shirts, and different garments they carried in their hands; but each boy wore a square black cap with a silver badge on it. Their bodies, from throat to ankle, were hidden by black cloaks which bore a long silver cross on the left breast and each neck was finished off with a hambone frill" (18). ... He had come to the conclusion that since he had cartain skills that he was best fit to lead the group, "I ought to be chief," said Jack with simple arrogance, "because I"m chapter chorister and head boy. ... Golding also uses the face paint used by Jack and his hunters as another symbol of ...

• Word Count: 921
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School