Friday, February 26, 2010
symbolism in the Sioux
After the discussion of The Soft-Hearted Sioux, I became really interested in the symbolism of the color red because of the many references made in the story. I looked up the meaning of the color red and for the Sioux, it means life. This makes a lot of sense in the story because of the main events surrounding the son's attempts to save his father's life. I find the last paragraph very significant to the symbolism found in the Sioux beliefs. The last paragraph says "soon I shall know, for now I see the east is growing red. My heart is strong. My face is calm. My eyes are dry and eager for new scences." I also discovered that east symbolises "beginning" which makes this paragraph significant to what was going on in the story where he is being put to death. His eagerness for "new scenes" is the beginning of a new life, which he previously pondered about in the story. I think I might use examples like this one in my third essay about point of view and its effects. Something like how the use of first person point of view reveals inner thoughts and with the use of symbolism, like the use of the color red, brings the inner thoughts to the readers attention?
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Thanks for looking up the meanings! I agree, red symbolizing life does make a lot of sense. And I think that east meaning beginning is really interesting. I had not considered it, that death was just a beginning to another chapter or life or after life or anything else you would call it. I wonder though, what the color red in the Sarah Winnemucca story means. There it seems to be some kind of oppressive color where the slaves and indians are given red shirts to differentiate. But of course, different tribes will have different meanings.
ReplyDeleteLooking up the symbolism of the colors and East, greatly enhances the meaning of the story. It is interesting how items can take on such drastically varying readings in different cultures. For example in a communications book I was reading it was talking about how cultures vary with their color symbolism and for example, red in many traditional Asian cultures stands to represent death and red ink is only to be used on one's death certificate. Having that explaination be the last thing I'd read about the color, it had greatly biased my readings toward a more negative light.
ReplyDeleteGood thing you looked up the symbolism of the color red. Does it only mean life in the Sioux culture or is it universal to other cultures also? Knowing the significance of the color red, really enhances the story and some of the quotes better. Thanks
ReplyDeleteThe significance of the repetition of the color red makes a lot more sense now! It is interesting how it represents life, but in this story it is paralleled with the death of the boys father. When you mentioned the last scene it reminded me of rebirth. Maybe the death of the father paves a way for rebirth.
ReplyDeleteGreat use of quotes there! Well-said about the use of symbolism and good analysis about how the effect of using the first person has an impact on the readers' inner thoughts. I like that you were able to synthesize the etymological meaning of the word choice "red" and "east" to signify the influence of cultural beliefs that relates back to the text. Also, red is my favorite color and in my culture it sometimes mean luck and so it's interesting to know that it could also mean life in the Indian's culture or purity in India.
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