Symbolism Motif and Theme

Objects, characters, figures, and colors used to represent ideas or concepts

• Symbol

• Theme

• Motif

The controlling idea or central insight of a story

• Symbol

• Theme

• Motif

Means more than what it is

• Symbol

• Theme

• Motif

Recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help develop a text’s major themes

• Symbol

• Theme

• Motif

It is a unifying generalization about life or remark about the human condition

• Symbol

• Theme

• Motif

“Paul’s Case” by Willa Cather

He wore…a red carnation in his jacket’s buttonhole….When the weather was warm the girls made lemonade, which was always brought out in a red-glass pitcher….He came out of the room in his red robe….He remembered the old woman from whom he had bought the red flowers….The carnations in his coat were drooping with cold, he noticed; all their red glory over.

Based on the passage above, what would be a logical motif?

• cold weather

• lemonade and summertime

• the color red and flowers

• the glass pitcher

“Everyday Use” by Alice Walker

“Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!” Dee said. “She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use.”

“I reckon she would,” I said. “Goodness knows I been saving ‘em, for long enough with nobody using ‘em. I hope she will!” I didn’t want to bring up how I had offered Dee a quilt when she went away to college. Then she had told me they were old-fashioned, out of style.

“But they’re priceless!” she was saying now, furiously; for she has a temper. “Maggie would put them on the bed and in five years they’d be in rags. Less than that!”

She can always make some more,” I said. “Maggie knows how to quilt.”

Dee looked at me with hatred. “You just will not understand. The point is these quilts, these quilts!”

“Well,” I said, stumped. “What would you do with them?”

“Hang them,” she said. As if that was the only thing you could do with quilts…. “You just don’t understand,” she said, as Maggie and I came out to the car.

“What don’t I understand?” I wanted to know.

“Your heritage,” she said.

Based on the passage above, what would be a logical statement of theme?

• A person’s heritage can only be remembered by displaying items, like hanging a quilt.

• It’s important to know how to quilt in case you need to stay warm.

• The narrator has two daughters, Maggie and Dee. Dee wants a quilt that the narrator is going to give to Maggie.

• One’s true heritage is something he or she holds within the heart and lives out in real life, not something that is simply displayed on a wall just because it’s a trendy thing to do.

What would be a logical explanation of how the quilt is a literary symbol in "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker?

• The quilt symbolizes the heritage of this family and represents where they’ve come from and the people who have come before them.

• The quilt symbolizes Dee’s temper and represents the warmth that it provides as well as the hatred that it causes.

• The quilt symbolizes Maggie’s talent with making quilts and represents the art of home-made mementos.

• The quilt symbolizes fashion and represents the stylish trends of hanging quilts on the wall like art.

“The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara

“Will you look at this sailboat, please,” say Flyboy, pointing to the thing like it was his….

We all start reciting the price tag: “Handcrafted sailboat of fiberglass at one thousand one hundred ninety-five dollars.”….

“This boat for kids, Miss Moore?” say Q.T.

“Parents silly to buy something like that just to get all broke up,” say Rosie.

“That much money it should last forever,” I figure….

“Let’s go in,” Miss Moore say like she got something up her sleeve. Only she don’t lead the way. So me and Sugar turn the corner to where the entrance is but when we get there I kinda hang back. Not that I’m scared, what’s there to be afraid of, just a toy store. But I feel funny, shame. But what I got to be shamed about? Got as much right to go in as anybody….

Who are these people that spend…$1000 for toy sailboats? What kinda work they do and how they live and how come we ain’t in on it? Where we are is who we are, Miss Moore always pointin out. But it don’t necessarily have to be that way, she always adds then waits for somebody to say that poor people have to wake up and demand their share of the pie and don’t none of us know what kind of pie she talking about in the first darn place.

Based on the passage above, what would be a logical statement of theme?

• Sometimes people don’t know that there’s a better life beyond the one they are living until they’re pushed outside their comfort zones and challenged to make new opportunities for themselves.

• Miss Moore is a teacher who wants to open the eyes of her students to see that they can be whoever they want to be.

• Sometimes toys cost more than they should, and people should be careful about wanting things they can’t afford.

• Parents don’t need to buy expensive toys for their children because the toys end up broken anyway.

What would be a logical explanation of how the sailboat is a literary symbol in "The Lesson" by Toni Cade Bambara?

• The sailboat symbolizes life’s opportunity, which is equally available to all people yet seems unfairly more accessible to people who grow up with money.

• The sailboat symbolizes an expensive toy, which anyone can buy if he or she can afford it.

• The sailboat symbolizes shame, which some people feel when they go to places they haven’t been before.

• The sailboat symbolizes handcrafted items, which often take a long time to make and end up costing a lot of money.