Symbolic Convergence Theory

the text opens up a new perspective of the text that offers a new, deeper meaning of the text itself as well as the characters within the text. Dolar defines one source of the uncanny as “the point where the real immediately coincides with the symbolic to be put into the service of the imaginary” (15). In other words, the real,…

much tension. Mama, in the midst of the conflicting ideas and discussions, keeps a house plant that is close to her for many reasons. The plant is a prominent symbol because it is symbolic of the hope that she still has in her family’s success. The author brings up the plant repeatedly in the play as it radiates symbolic messages at every step of the story. The plants primarily function in the story is to be a representation of Mama’s hopes for a better future for all of her family. The plant…

Canyon is quite the sight to behold, as Walker Percy states in “The Loss of the Creature,” but how can humans embrace their experience of the Grand Canyon if they possess “the symbolic complex which has already been formed in the sightseer’s mind”(1)? This complex which some might not even know they posses. Percy discusses his theory that humans are not getting the full value of life by unintentionally accepting their roles as a passive consumer, allowing them to be persuaded without knowing. He…

Salva water meant freedom, if he had water he could walk longer and find a safe place to stay. Water represents hope because it allows Salva to stay alive and fight for a place in the world. The title of the book being A Long Walk to Water is very symbolic because literally in Nyas timeline she had a very long daily walk to the pond to retrieve water. Salva walks hundreds of miles to find a place to live and goes many months without enough water or even food. Salva then creates his clean water…

the spiritual disparity between the server and the Jesus figure. Yet, by utilizing the placement of the kitchenware, the postures of the figures, and the server’s seeingness and hearingness, Velázquez reveals the server’s physical relationship and symbolic transformation from being the lesser to being equivalent to the Jesus figure. At the bottom right corner of the painting, the clove of garlic is in front of the mortar and pestle, suggesting that the tools and the ingredient are ready to be…

The Maya was an ancient civilization renowned for their remarkable architecture as well as their exceptional knowledge in astronomy and mathematics (Peterson and Haug 2005, 322). Reaching their population peak around 750 A.D, the Maya experienced societal collapse between 750 and 950 A.D (Peterson and Haug 2005, 322), the cause of the collapse remaining a heavily debated topic today by archaeologists. This essay will argue that the primary contributing factor of the Maya collapse was drought;…

influence their lives, such as words or gestures. Symbolic Interactionism, a micro sociological perspective that was heavily influenced by Erving Goffman, Charles Horton Cooley, and George Herbert Mead, is a concept that analyzes society through the personal meanings that people place upon actions, objects, and daily occasions (Appelrouth & Edles 2008).…

movement of air caused by solar energy and the interaction of warm and cold air - this convergence forms cells or belts over the Earth’s surface. George Hadley (1685–1768) a British physicist and meteorologist, who first described this theory in 1753, did so using what is known as the Single-Cell Atmospheric Global Circulation Model or Hadley Cell (The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007). Hadley’s Single-Cell theory failed to consider the Coriolis Effect which prevents air from traveling…

The symbolic approach to ritual was first written about by Victor Turner (1920-1983), who studied the Ndembu tribe of Zambia, and studied their use of symbols in rituals and rites of passage. Clifford Geertz (1926-2006) was an American anthropologist whose largest and most important works were on the Balinese cockfights in Indonesia, and defined culture as a web of ideas expressed in symbols, that can have multiple meanings. Stanley Tambiah (1929-2014) was a Professor Emeritus at Harvard that…

Functionalism, Conflict Theory, and Symbiotic Interaction Functionalism The functionalist theory states that all social institutions exist to keep society functioning (Conely, 2015). Each social institution and process exists to serve a unique function to society, allowing it to continue running smoothly. This theory can be used to explain the strong prevalence religion has on society today. Before science gained popularity, people needed something to use to explain the then unexplainable…