Today, we spoke briefly about "The Birthmark" by Nathaniel Hawthorne being an allegory--a story in which the characters, events, setting, objects, etc., are all symbols of something larger than themselves. For example, the crimson hand upon Georgianna's check represents the flaw that is in all humanity. Select one of the following and explain what you think it symbolizes: Alymer, Georgianna, Aminadab, the laboratory, the red geranium. (The deadline to post a response to this question is midnight Wednesday, October 26, 2011.)Monday, October 24, 2011
A Touch of Crimson
Today, we spoke briefly about "The Birthmark" by Nathaniel Hawthorne being an allegory--a story in which the characters, events, setting, objects, etc., are all symbols of something larger than themselves. For example, the crimson hand upon Georgianna's check represents the flaw that is in all humanity. Select one of the following and explain what you think it symbolizes: Alymer, Georgianna, Aminadab, the laboratory, the red geranium. (The deadline to post a response to this question is midnight Wednesday, October 26, 2011.)
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4 comments:
In the story Georgiana symbolises society and how everyone is seen. Even though all the men think she is beautiful and the women are jealous of her she still sees herself as ugly. Just like the world looks at each other. No one thinks of everyone as beautiful. Everyone is imperfect in some way. Unless your a barbie or a ken doll.
In "The Birthmark" I believe Georgianna symbolizes perfection, however Hawthorne adds a birthmark to her face, this little birthmark is used to symbolize the imperfection in everyone. The story strongly portrays through Georgianna that no individual is perfect. Hawthorne also demonstrates that there is nothing wrong with the birthmark, however, other women find the birthmark as a imperfection to merely appear perfect themselves. However, Georgianna perfect with the exception of the birthmark decides to get it removed, yet she dies when it is removed. This example is another supporting detail to prove no individual is perfect.
I believe Georgianna symbolizes everyone. We all have an imperfection and yet we try to hide it or, or Georgianna's case, remove it. Some people, like the boys who like Georgianna, like our imperfections, but not everyone can learn to love them and then we are expected to hide it. We do this because society expects us to be perfect, despite our imperfections. Society wants us to hide our imperfections so we can all be "perfect" and be a perfect society.
In "The Birthmark", the character Aminadab represents imperfection. He is unattractive and less intelligent than Alymer; however, he is able to see that Georgianna's birthmark is not a mark of shame, but is merely a sign that nothing will ever be completely perfect.
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