Matthew M. Courchaine
Professor Teresa Trevathan
English 123
17 November 2016
Examining Predominant Symbols In Jackson’s “The Lottery,” O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard To Find,” and Updike’s “A&P”
Symbols are one of the most powerful literary tools available to any writer, and unsurprisingly the greatest writers are masters at tastefully and provocatively deploying symbols in their works. To this end, twentieth-century American writers Shirley Jackson, Flannery O’Connor, and John Updike are among this upper echelon of writers who have consistently demonstrated a mastery of symbolism throughout their respective short stories. For example, in Jackson’s short story “The Lottery,” she engages masterfully with the symbol of the “stone;” in O’Connor’s …show more content…
In this story a family is on a road trip to Florida when they crash and then are encountered upon by a recent prison escapee named “The Misfit” and his two fugitive accomplices (O’Connor). One by one the Misfit has each of the family members from the crash walked out deep into the adjacent forest so that they can be killed one by one with ease and secrecy. For instance, the Misfit asks the boy John Wesley, "Would you mind stepping back in them woods there with them” (O’Connor). These forested woods are described ominously as “tall … dark and deep” (O’Connor). In this light, then, the forest symbolizes the doomed existential position of the road-tripping family members. Forests are typified by nature, and nature is lawless and amoral; the family is thus accorded no civilized protections against death in the “dark and deep” forest. The woods in this portion of the text are like a black hole; as soon as the family enters the woods at the Misfit’s request, they are doomed to die. Thus the symbol of the forest in “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” represents the doomed existential position of the road-tripping
Professor Teresa Trevathan
English 123
17 November 2016
Examining Predominant Symbols In Jackson’s “The Lottery,” O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard To Find,” and Updike’s “A&P”
Symbols are one of the most powerful literary tools available to any writer, and unsurprisingly the greatest writers are masters at tastefully and provocatively deploying symbols in their works. To this end, twentieth-century American writers Shirley Jackson, Flannery O’Connor, and John Updike are among this upper echelon of writers who have consistently demonstrated a mastery of symbolism throughout their respective short stories. For example, in Jackson’s short story “The Lottery,” she engages masterfully with the symbol of the “stone;” in O’Connor’s …show more content…
In this story a family is on a road trip to Florida when they crash and then are encountered upon by a recent prison escapee named “The Misfit” and his two fugitive accomplices (O’Connor). One by one the Misfit has each of the family members from the crash walked out deep into the adjacent forest so that they can be killed one by one with ease and secrecy. For instance, the Misfit asks the boy John Wesley, "Would you mind stepping back in them woods there with them” (O’Connor). These forested woods are described ominously as “tall … dark and deep” (O’Connor). In this light, then, the forest symbolizes the doomed existential position of the road-tripping family members. Forests are typified by nature, and nature is lawless and amoral; the family is thus accorded no civilized protections against death in the “dark and deep” forest. The woods in this portion of the text are like a black hole; as soon as the family enters the woods at the Misfit’s request, they are doomed to die. Thus the symbol of the forest in “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” represents the doomed existential position of the road-tripping