Response to Chapter 2--Nice to Eat with You: Acts of Communion
According to Foster, a meal, which is an act of communion, symbolizes getting along with each other and bonding. A shared meal may also mean sharing a bond through having something in common with each other, and because those eating the meal are going through the same intimate experience. In The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, the Joads are traveling towards California in order to achieve their American Dream, after the Dust Bowl wrecks their farm. Throughout their journey, they go through hardships in finding enough money to buy food, as well as shelter and unfriendly people. However, at one of the camps that the Joads decide to stay at, Ma makes stew for her family. There …show more content…
It symbolizes renewal, hope, and new beginnings. Characters may experience symbolic "cleansing" by walking through rain. As a result, they may get rid of their bad qualities as the rain washes it off, and start afresh as a new, improved person. In The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, the cynical protagonist, Holden Caulfield, is completely fed up with the adult society. He has no friends and is lonely, which causes him to go into depression. His only solace is young, naive children, such as his little sister, Phoebe. The end scene is a model for Foster's depiction of a typical rain scene. Holden takes his sister, Phoebe, to ride on a carousel. Despite it pouring, Holden stays on the bench to watch his sister, while everyone else goes under the carousel roof for shelter. Even though he gets soaked, he feels so happy at the sight of his sister riding on the carousel, that he feels like crying. Throughout the story, Holden has been struggling with the shift from childhood to adulthood. He wants to stay an innocent kid who does not have to worry about life forever. However, everyone around him is changing. His main wish is to become a "catcher in the rye", which is to "catch" kids from falling off a cliff. Falling off a cliff is symbolic of losing their innocence. In the end, he cannot handle the adult world's cruelty, which sometimes leads to sick episodes, such as wanting to puke. Afterwards, he gets institutionalized in …show more content…
Harvest could include agricultural harvest, or a personal harvest over a course of a growing season or life. In Walt Whitman's poem, Come Up From the Fields Father, Foster's characteristics of autumn are found to be true. This poem mentions fields, where the trees turn colors. The apples, grapes, and buckwheat are ripe and ready to be harvested. Whitman even uses smells and the sounds of bees buzzing to appeal to our senses, and help us to picture autumn. Because of the harvest, the farm is prospering. However, the tone changes later, going from calm peace to anxiety. The letter mentioned in the beginning, thought to have been written by the son, turns out to be a letter about the son's fatal injury. After the letter is read, the contrast between beautiful, prosperous Ohio and the "sickly white" mother is evident at this point. Although her family tries to comfort her, they end up being affected by the mother's depression as well. The letter had given the hope that the son would get better, but the narrator then starts to talk about death in a somber tone. Later, when the narrator states the fact that the boy did not survive his injury, the mother's health begins to deteriorate. The mother's state adheres to Foster's depictions of autumn being symbolic of decline, middle age, and tiredness. She is frail and refuses to eat, which is symbolic of decline and middle age. She also
According to Foster, a meal, which is an act of communion, symbolizes getting along with each other and bonding. A shared meal may also mean sharing a bond through having something in common with each other, and because those eating the meal are going through the same intimate experience. In The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, the Joads are traveling towards California in order to achieve their American Dream, after the Dust Bowl wrecks their farm. Throughout their journey, they go through hardships in finding enough money to buy food, as well as shelter and unfriendly people. However, at one of the camps that the Joads decide to stay at, Ma makes stew for her family. There …show more content…
It symbolizes renewal, hope, and new beginnings. Characters may experience symbolic "cleansing" by walking through rain. As a result, they may get rid of their bad qualities as the rain washes it off, and start afresh as a new, improved person. In The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, the cynical protagonist, Holden Caulfield, is completely fed up with the adult society. He has no friends and is lonely, which causes him to go into depression. His only solace is young, naive children, such as his little sister, Phoebe. The end scene is a model for Foster's depiction of a typical rain scene. Holden takes his sister, Phoebe, to ride on a carousel. Despite it pouring, Holden stays on the bench to watch his sister, while everyone else goes under the carousel roof for shelter. Even though he gets soaked, he feels so happy at the sight of his sister riding on the carousel, that he feels like crying. Throughout the story, Holden has been struggling with the shift from childhood to adulthood. He wants to stay an innocent kid who does not have to worry about life forever. However, everyone around him is changing. His main wish is to become a "catcher in the rye", which is to "catch" kids from falling off a cliff. Falling off a cliff is symbolic of losing their innocence. In the end, he cannot handle the adult world's cruelty, which sometimes leads to sick episodes, such as wanting to puke. Afterwards, he gets institutionalized in …show more content…
Harvest could include agricultural harvest, or a personal harvest over a course of a growing season or life. In Walt Whitman's poem, Come Up From the Fields Father, Foster's characteristics of autumn are found to be true. This poem mentions fields, where the trees turn colors. The apples, grapes, and buckwheat are ripe and ready to be harvested. Whitman even uses smells and the sounds of bees buzzing to appeal to our senses, and help us to picture autumn. Because of the harvest, the farm is prospering. However, the tone changes later, going from calm peace to anxiety. The letter mentioned in the beginning, thought to have been written by the son, turns out to be a letter about the son's fatal injury. After the letter is read, the contrast between beautiful, prosperous Ohio and the "sickly white" mother is evident at this point. Although her family tries to comfort her, they end up being affected by the mother's depression as well. The letter had given the hope that the son would get better, but the narrator then starts to talk about death in a somber tone. Later, when the narrator states the fact that the boy did not survive his injury, the mother's health begins to deteriorate. The mother's state adheres to Foster's depictions of autumn being symbolic of decline, middle age, and tiredness. She is frail and refuses to eat, which is symbolic of decline and middle age. She also