Pieces of literature, in this case a short story, are composed of different literary motifs. They can help reveal a theme of a story, set a certain tone, or evoke a mood. In the story “Three Dirges” in Requiem Guatemala by Marshall Bennett Connelly is one short story that has many literary motifs. There’s the development of theme, use of time, point of view, foreshadowing, and more. This essay will focus on one of the many literary elements that can be found in the short story: image and symbol patterns.
The short story “Three Dirges” is found in the book Requiem Guatemala. The whole book is about the Guatemalan Civil War which ran from 1960 to 1996. This fight was between different leftist groups that had the support of the indigenous Maya people and the government of Guatemala. The poor people of Guatemala decided to turn against the government and their ways of oppression. It was a brutal war and more than 200,000 people were killed. People were taken from their homes, raped, and abused. After years and years of blood war, Alvaro Arzu became president in 1996. In the end, there was a peace accord signed in 1996. Today they are still working This horrific time in history is what inspired the book by Marshall Bennett Connelly. The usage of image and symbol patterns can be seen when the …show more content…
They add support to the words and help the audience to understand the unwritten things in the text. In “Three Dirges”, the literary motifs of images and symbols helped to show how dark the event of the boy’s execution was. This short story that covers the Guatemalan Civil War. It was a dark time and the government tortured the indigenous people. Without images and symbols, readers would not be able to understand the great tragedies and horrors that the oppressed people faced. These motifs, along with others, express emotions without explicitly stating them which adds to the reader’s overall
The short story “Three Dirges” is found in the book Requiem Guatemala. The whole book is about the Guatemalan Civil War which ran from 1960 to 1996. This fight was between different leftist groups that had the support of the indigenous Maya people and the government of Guatemala. The poor people of Guatemala decided to turn against the government and their ways of oppression. It was a brutal war and more than 200,000 people were killed. People were taken from their homes, raped, and abused. After years and years of blood war, Alvaro Arzu became president in 1996. In the end, there was a peace accord signed in 1996. Today they are still working This horrific time in history is what inspired the book by Marshall Bennett Connelly. The usage of image and symbol patterns can be seen when the …show more content…
They add support to the words and help the audience to understand the unwritten things in the text. In “Three Dirges”, the literary motifs of images and symbols helped to show how dark the event of the boy’s execution was. This short story that covers the Guatemalan Civil War. It was a dark time and the government tortured the indigenous people. Without images and symbols, readers would not be able to understand the great tragedies and horrors that the oppressed people faced. These motifs, along with others, express emotions without explicitly stating them which adds to the reader’s overall