It's true. One of my friends found a quote by the author (I think it was Old Man and the Sea, but it might have been something different. I don't remember. It was like 10 years ago). The quote was the author saying that there is no symbolism and nothing deeper than the surface story. Our english teacher just seemed to glass over and ignore that quote and kept on going as if it didn't matter what the author said about his own story.
it used to bother me so much in English class, i am nearly certain that most of these authors did not intend every other word to be an allegory for something, often i think they were just writing nice stories with good morals. its just human nature to find patterns in everything its the same part of your brain that latches onto conspiracies so of course you can find "symbolism" alllllll over a book that relates to the original moral or whatever of the story.
Oh wait no thats not the answer. The answer is
"blue curtains signifies that the mans wife is going to have a baby, and they are hoping to have a boy. Why do they want to have a boy, students?
Having gone to a private christian school for high school, it was always, "Who do you think the author intended as the Jesus figure in this story?"
Me: "This is The Odyssey! It was written before Jesus was born!!!"
Teacher: *condescending look that says "don't be stupid. there's always a Jesus figure."*
'Course, every single character in the Sound and the Fury seemed to be a Christ figure, and my class argued over which one it really was. We also had fun making up random bs and interpreting things to much while our teacher just sat there rolling her eyes.
it was frustrating back then and it is still frustrating now even though i don't get raped with these made up symbolics anymore, i mean, why the fuck people, why the fuck.
i had this very awesome english teacher who'd have us read Sheakespeare's sonnets and then when we got to that shall i compare thee piece, she'd make fun how her hair is also like wires and she also walks funny so it could very well be all aplied to her. we also managed to go through the whole catcher in the rye without any symbolism shoved down our throats which i think was my teacher's important personal achievemnt. C:
I love my English teacher because he doesn't inapropriatly interpret thebook we are reading (les miserables). And for Christmas we are watching some scenes from the musical and will discuss how they missed it
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· 9 years ago
Tell your teacher that I love her/him. But seriously, you can easily interpret Les Miserables.
You realize that all this is, is fandom interpretation before the internet spread the word about what a fandom is. This is literally what we do with our fandoms, it's not new concept they just new how to hide to craziness better before the internet.
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· 9 years ago
I hate when it happens. And it's the same for, for example, Latin Americans authors.
"blue curtains signifies that the mans wife is going to have a baby, and they are hoping to have a boy. Why do they want to have a boy, students?
Me: "This is The Odyssey! It was written before Jesus was born!!!"
Teacher: *condescending look that says "don't be stupid. there's always a Jesus figure."*
i had this very awesome english teacher who'd have us read Sheakespeare's sonnets and then when we got to that shall i compare thee piece, she'd make fun how her hair is also like wires and she also walks funny so it could very well be all aplied to her. we also managed to go through the whole catcher in the rye without any symbolism shoved down our throats which i think was my teacher's important personal achievemnt. C:
Every foreskin fumigating time.