Think of a physical object from a story you’ve read or a movie you’ve seen that has held some level of symbolic importance. What was the object and what story/movie was it from? What did it symbolize? Why was it so important to the story?
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In the text Ethan Frome there are two acts of symbolism linked between each other. The pickle dish and the cat. The cat symbolizes Ethan’s wifes presence when she isnt around to see him physically cheat on her with her own cousin Mattie. Although she suspects him cheating and being unfaithful in their marriage, she isnt physically there herself to catch them but the cat plays that role. During the text, the cat knocks over Zeena’s (ethan’s wife) pickle dish which was her favorite marriage gift. When the cat knocks over the dish, it breaks and the rarity of the dish makes it impossible for ethan to fix or find a new one. When the cat knocked it over and it broke that basically symbolized the marriage being destroyed because the pickle dish was stored away only to be brought out by mattie so her and ethan could have a fancy dinner date while she was gone. Zeena finds everything out by questioning how the pickle dish broke.
There are many objects with symbolic meaning in Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.” One important symbol in this novel is the green lantern that shines from the house of Gatsby’s love interest Daisy. Although Gatsby and Daisy live on two different islands known as the West and East Eggs, Gatsby can see the lantern from afar. The green lantern represents Gatsby’s distant dream to marry Daisy, and the color green represents Gatsby feeling motivated to fulfill that dream. He believes that he has the “green light” to take Daisy’s hand. The lantern foreshadows Gatsby’s efforts to win his love interest throughout the story and his refusal to let go of that fantasy.
The first thing that comes to mind are the ruby red slippers from The Wizard of Oz. To me they symbolize Dorothy’s connection to home and a sense of belonging. Ultimately, Dorothy was on a journey to find her place back home and the slippers embodied that sentiment. Perhaps why the wicked witch was so keen on having them was her own desire to belong and have a home. In the end, by focusing on her own intent and desire to be home the slippers are able to transport her there.
There was one physical object that had symbolic meaning in the movie “Inception”. A spinning top, that the main actor Dom had throghout the movie, was like a totem to him and his wife. This totem was used by them in order to distinguish their dreams from reality. When Dom twisted it and it stopped, then he knew that he was in reality. Throughout the movie Dom was using it and was looking at it most of the time. This object symbolized Dom’s painful memories and feelings of regret and fault of his wife’s death. All the time this totem reminded him about his loss. Even at the end of the movie this totem played a big role; the movie ended before the totem stopped, so no one knows for sure whether he stayed in a dream or in real life.
In the movie, “Pulp Fiction,” a physical object that had symbolic importance was the briefcase. This briefcase is vital to Tarantino’s attempt to display the lack of a God figure in the modern nihilistic world. When the briefcase is opened, a yellow heavenly light appears conveying that this item is their “God.” Jules and Vincent willing to kill for the briefcase and will not let anyone take it from them. However, the viewer never sees what is inside the briefcase and there is truly no meaning behind it. It makes no difference what’s in the briefcase. All that matters is that Marsellus wants it back, and thus the thing is endowed with worth. If Jules and Vincent did have an objective framework of value and meaning in their lives, they would be able to if the contents of the briefcase were ultimately of value and which actions were justified in retrieving it. The briefcase acts as a false God that wrongfully motivates their actions. The fact that the code to unlock the briefcase is 666, further showcases the empty and immoral path these men and most Americans led in the 1990s.
When thinking of a symbolic object, my mind immediately focuses on the scholar rock from the film “Parasite”. It was a rock given to an impoverished family, and was said to bring wealth and prosperity. In the beginning of the movie, the rock did just that as the all the members of the family got jobs and began earning money. However half way through the movie we see the rock floating in water, clearly meaning that it was fake all along. However even after realizing it was fake, the son holds on to it claiming it will not leave his side. This ends of being very ironic as the rock is the weapon used by a crazy man to beat the son’s head in. At the end we see the son throwing the rock out, and this time it sinks to the bottom.I believe the rock represents the son’s hopes and desires, as even though his family was in a tough situation he believed that one day they would be wealthy and live comfortably. However after the death of his sister, the son fell into despair and saw that his thinking that he could quickly become rich was very childish. Also the rock may symbolize a turning point in the character, because at first he attributed the family’s success to the rock. At the end he realized that they succeeded because of their own efforts and that it had nothing to do with a mystic rock, which is why he threw it away.
The movie Schindler’s List is heart-wrenching to watch, but one of the images that always left a lasting impression in my mind was the little girl in the red coat. The movie is an entirely black and white film with one of the only colored images being that of the girls red coat, but throughout different scenes, their appears to be a young girl possibly five years old, innocently walking through scenes of unbelievable horror, Jews being beaten and executed in the streets. She finds shelter in an abandoned building, hiding under a bed. It gives hope that maybe she escaped the atrocities that unfolded but later in the movie there is a wagon carrying the bodies of murdered Jews, and in the pile is unfortunately the little girl in the red coat. The little girl symbolized the innocence of the Jewish people during the Holocaust, they did not deserve to die and the murders were unwarranted. The red coat symbolized the blood that was shed and possibly the boldness and danger of the Holocaust, and how blatantly it was ignored just like the girl walking through the streets. Till this day I have reservations about wearing the color red because of this movie.
The red apple in Snow White was a symbolic importance to the story. The red apple symbolizes the hatred from the Queen, because the Queen is not the fairest one, since Snow White is alive. The red apple made the Queen the fairest of them all. The red apple also symbolizes happiness, because it controls whether Snow White has the opportunity to be happy or the Queen to be happy about being the fairest. So, without the apple, the Prince would not have met Snow White or it would not have made the Queen happy if Snow White was still alive. In my opinion, the apple ultimately symbolizes temptation and sin. This relates to the story of Adam and Eve as well, because the apple tempted the Queen to be the fairest of them all. To do that, she the Queen had to kill Snow White and that is a sinful act.
In the famous novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde, the object that held symbolic importance was the self portrait. Dorian, what most would consider a perfect man, had a portrait painted of himself. He soon realized that his body would to continue grow old and lose its beauty, but the beauty captured within the portrait will forever remain unchanged. He wished he could age like the portrait, and this became his curse. Dorian received the “gift” of remaining young and beautiful forever, but the portrait became a depiction of his soul. As the story progresses, Dorian’s beauty remained intact but he continuously becomes a worse person. This makes the self portrait more hideous each day, eventually driving Dorian mad. The self portrait is the most important aspect of the story because it caused the downfall of the main character.
I recently watched the movie called “Weathering with you”, and in that movie, an object that held significance was the ring shared between the two characters Hina and Hodaka. In this movie, Tokyo is under constant downpours and it will not stop raining unless Hina would use her powers to make the day sunny for a certain amount of time. However, there is a downside to this where every time she would use her power, it would make her transparent and slowly connect her to the weather and soon disappear. Hodaka would slowly fall in love with her and wanted a way to show her that, so on her birthday he purchased a special ring for her. However, on her 18th birthday, she soon was connected to the skies and disappeared without a trace. While in the sky her ring falls down to Tokyo where Hodaka picks it up and tries to find a way to connect back to her. The ring he gave her was a way to symbolize the connection they had and the strong bond that Hodaka had with her. He would soon find his way back to her and he would prevent her from ever using her powers so they can enjoy their life together.
In the film, Fight Club, soap, although unexceptional, holds hefty symbolism. One of the leading characters, Tyler Durden, crafts soap, which is just one of his many occupational schemes he undertakes. However, this product has one key element that no other has: It’s made with human fat, which Tyler sources from dumpsters situated outside of a plastic surgery facility. Tyler keeps this secret ingredient disclosed, supplying it to unassuming department stores, who sell his soap for a handsome sum. This plays on his notions regarding the wealthy, such as that they are consumed with materialism and fail to see the true virtues of life. The irony of his business is that he is reselling the fat that the rich paid to have surgically removed back to them. He feels that this top social tier will consistently refuse to acknowledge the work and sacrifice that granted them with day-to-day items. Overall, Tyler is deeply satisfied with his customers’ crude ignorance, feeling it lives up to his expectations. Another interpretation of the reoccurrence of soap throughout the film is the idea of having the ability of washing away one’s past and begin anew. This can be applied to the wealthiness appearing “clean” to others, but can also be associated with the narrator’s rebirth, and his rapid shift in lifestyle/how he sheds his former life.
The first thing that popped into mind when I read “physical object … symbolic importance,” was the yellow picture frame on Monica and Rachel’s apartment door from the TV show FRIENDS. The frame actually held little significance throughout the show, but it was always there. I started to read into why they put the frame there, but the reason was that the frame use to be a mirror and someone had broken it. So the director felt that yellow complimented purple so he decided to put it there. Even though what i read might be true, the yellow frame would always be caught in the shot, therefore making me believe that it had an alternative importance. Since it will always be there, it meant that your friends will always be there, just like the title of the theme song, “I’ll Be There For You.” And finally the end shot of the series was the purple door and the yellow frame. The yellow frame soon became a representation of the show yet it was not talked about once.
I read the original “Cinderella” by the Grimson brothers a while back. Throughout the story her stepmom gave her the impression that she would be able to attend the ball if she picked up all the lentils from the ashes. The lentils became symbolic and represented hope, Cinderella , with the help of pigeons would pick up the lentils with an illusion. The lentils played a key point in the story, through them she communicated with her biological mother via the pigeons, which are a symbol innocence and are released at funerals. The lentils also helped set a setting, it told me as the reader that the home was humble, the stepmom could not afford a servant nor had much options to eat. Overall at times physical objects has an untold message and in other occasions give background information about the rest of the setting.
One very clear physical symbol I can think of is the Plymouth from “The God of Small Things” by Arundhati Roy. Pappachi had lost his power in the household. Within the setting of the novel the oldest man in the house is to be respected no matter what. However, he loses his family’s respect after abusing his wife, so he goes out and buys a Plymouth that he doesn’t let anyone touch. This is a way of him still showing that he still has some power. Pappachi dies, and towards the end of the book the car wears down and is just taking up space parked next to the house. It was once a status symbol is now just trash. This mirrors the family in the book, they had all been broken down by the end of the novel.
When I think of the importance of setting, it brings me back to high school when many of us read The Catcher in the Rye. The novel was set during the 1950s, which was an important period of transition for many following WWII, and it is an important time of change for Holden too as he enters into the adult world. A piece of the setting that really stuck out for me was the Pencey Prep Boarding school. Everything about this place screams conformity from the matching uniforms students wear to the matching ideologies that are taught. Seeing as one of the major themes in The Catcher in the Rye is nonconformity, many of the thoughts and actions of Holden juxtapose the setting of Pencey Prep. Holden even goes so far as to classify those who align themselves with Pencey Prep as “phonies”. When you look at the book as a whole, this piece of setting important to the story because it introduces you to a lot of the frustration Holden has with conformity and social class without outright saying it.
In the movie “Gangs of New York” there is a knife that was given to Amsterdam by his father. This knife has tremendous value to Amsterdam. In a scene from Amsterdam’s childhood, his father purposely cuts his fave with the knife and before Amsterdam has the chance to wipe it off his father says “The blood stays on the knife.” His father ends up dying that day. I believe the blood on the knife is a symbol of his father always being with him even after death. Although the only thing Amsterdam has from his father throughout the movie is the knife, the blood on it is a reminder that not only is his father physically to the knife but also to him. The knife and Amsterdam both has his father’s blood.
In the book, “The Great Gatsby” by Fitsgerald, one example of symbolism is money. Money plays a huge role in the story as the topic of new money vs old money comes up. Gatsby is an example of new money as he becomes rich through illegal ways. Tom and Daisy are considered old money because they are old money. This idea comes into play as Gatsby falls in love with Daisy and the clash of old vs new money begins. Fitzgerald shows that no matter how hard Gatsby tried, he could not become something he wanted to be. The book ends with talking about Gatsby’s hard routine when he was younger and it explains how he became. Fitzgerald showed that there was a clear distinction between old and new money.
In the show, Black Butler, there was a blue ring that the main character, Ciel Phantomhive, had which was a symbol of his family’s power, status, and legacy. That was all it really meant until later on in the series where it is learned that the ring was never really his but his twin brother’s ring. This gave the object a lot more value and depth as it became more than just a symbol of the family name but a sign to Ciel that he has to move forward by himself and taking the ring from his brother became the way that could be explained without needing to be explicitly said.
In Lord of the Flies upon arriving on the island one of the boys, Ralph, found a conch shell and this would be used to show the difference between order and chaos throughout the book. At the start Ralph uses the conch to bring everyone together to establish rules. In the meetings the people are only allowed to speak while holding the shell to maintain order within the meetings. The conch had this amount of power because the boys believed in it. When they stop believing in the conch it lost all of its power and complete chaos flooded the island. The boys went from young and innocent school boys to complete savages. This shows how hard it is to establish order and how harder it is maintain it.
In the movie Memento by Christopher Nolan, the main character Leonard Shelby uses pictures as the basis of his motivation throughout the movie. Shelby suffers from a rare untreatable case of anterograde amnesia. This means that randomly throughout the film he loses his memory. Due to being dealt with blunt force in a violent incident regarding him, his wife and intruders his damage is permanent and he cannot remember anything past that incident. He wanted to get avenge his wife so he decided to investigate the murder. A big issue was that since he had no memory there way no way for him to mentally make notes during the investigation. To replace his memories he instead used tattoos and pictures to guide him and point him in the right direction to who the killer is. He took notes such as “do not believe his lies”. “She has also lost someone. She will you out of pity”. What Leonard does not realize is that his wife survived the attack. His wife had died due to testing his memory and demanding insulin shots, which he did not remember so he essentially Leonard killed his wife. Leonard Shelby killed the intruder years ago, yet he still hunts him because every time he’s told by others of his real past he uses the pictures as ways to divert himself. Leonard can not face the depressing reality of his situation so he instead uses the pictures as a way to make his life exciting and to have some meaning. The pictures symbolize his delusional lifestyle.
In the movie, Crazy Rich Asians, there was an emerald ring that was extremely significant. This ring is originally Nick’s mothers ring that Nick had made for her because his father did not want to propose to her with the family ring. The main character Rachel’s boyfriend named Nick is planning to propose to her but there is an issue. His mother doesn’t think Rachel is suitable enough for him to marry. Nick tries to propose to her with a ring that he had made regardless of what his family thinks, but Rachel turns him down because she does not want Nick to choose between her and his family. During his second proposal, while Rachel is boarding a plane to fly back home, Nick reveals not the diamond ring that he had made for her but the emerald ring. This is significant because it shows that Nick accepts her, his family accepts her, and his mother has finally accepted her.
I immediately thought of the iron throne from Game of Thrones. The whole series focuses around the desire for power, as different characters all want to sit on the throne and rule the kingdom. The throne itself is symbolic of this desire for power. It is a huge throne made out of iron swords, a pure display of violence and bloodshed. It is symbolic of the person who sits on top of it; they must have won battles and taken many lives to earn that place. An obsession with power is the downfall of Daenerys, as she begins to lose sight of her morals and instead aims to be the victor and conqueror. In the end, her dragon mourns the loss of its mother and melts the iron throne. This is symbolic because the throne represented the yearn for power which caused so much violence and suffering. The dragon destroyed that symbol of power once and for all.