-
Symbolism of The Child
Critics who treat adult as a term of approval, instead of merely a descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these are the marks of childhood and adolescence […] The modern…
-
Unicorns in Art, Storytelling and Marketing
If you’ve visited the girls’ section of a chain store recently you’ll have noticed that unicorns are in this season. These 2020 unicorns are a particular type of unicorn — coloured in soft pastel colours and with their eyes closed. It’s not just unicorns with their eyes closed this year — all the cute animals…
-
Doctor Jack-o’-Lantern by Richard Yates Analysis
“Doctor Jack-o’-Lantern” is a short story by Richard Yates, the first in his 1962 collection Eleven Kinds of Loneliness. The story of the new kid in school is very popular in children’s literature, which is of course written for children. But what might a New Kid In School story for adults look like? This is…
-
Disorientation And Spatial Horror In Fiction
I’ve been thinking about ways in which a storyteller creates a sense of unease for the audience, but spatially. We might call this spatial horror. I’m talking about disorientation, dizziness, light-headedness, fear of falling, and various senses outlined in the graphic below.
-
Tunnel and Cave Symbolism
In symbolism, there is often a manmade and naturally occurring equivalent. The tunnel is the manmade version of a cave, the sewer a sea (littoral) cave.
-
Poison by Katherine Mansfield Short Story Analysis
Poison” (1920) is a short story by Katherine Mansfield, the last in the Something Childish and Other Stories collection, published by Middleton Murry four years later, after her death. Commentators have noticed veiled references to “My Last Duchess”, a poem by Robert Browning about a murderous duke.
-
Symbolism of Containers
Vessels or containers are as important for the space they contain as well as for any material they hold. Containers tend to be associated with women. As motifs running throughout a story they can also symbolise physical or emotional containment, either self-driven or imposed upon a character from outside. When Did Humans First Use Containers?…
-
The Harlot’s Progress Archetypal Story
‘The Wise Virgins’ published 1864 by Sir John Everett Millais
-
Symbolism of the Veil
A veil symbolises a separation. The separation might be: Veils are typically made from diaphanous material. At first glance the nature of the separation appears flimsy. Importantly, the separation is two-directional. ‘To believe in [a ghost] is to believe not only have the dead the power to make themselves visible after there is nothing left…
-
Taking The Veil by Katherine Mansfield Short Story Analysis
“Taking The Veil” is a short story by Katherine Mansfield, published in her collection The Dove’s Nest (1930). Our main character Edna should be feeling great right now. She’s eighteen, she’s beautiful and she’s in love. One slight problem. She is about to become a Bride of Christ, also known as taking the veil. (Or…
-
Symbolism of Shoes, Feet and Footprints
Shoes and footwear contain plenty of symbolic meaning. Horse shoes are different again, but I’ll include horse shoes here for comparison. Early Nancy Drew stories were high concept hooks which generally paired two disparate things which are nonetheless related in some obscure way. In The Clue of the Tapping Heels, those two things are tap…
-
Symbolism of Black, Darkness and Night
Across the globe, black has negative connotations. This is probably because night-time is black, and historically night-time is the scariest, most dangerous time for humans. Our eyes have evolved for daylight. That’s why I’m combining ‘night’ and ‘black’ when delving into symbolism. Black is not technically a colour, rather an absence of colour. Artists are…
-
Symbolism of Arrows
The arrow is both a weapon and also a sacred symbol. Divination with arrows over the years affects how we think of them and use them today. The weapon of Apollo and Diana, signifying the light of supreme power. In both Greece and pre-Columbian America, it was used to designate the sun’s rays. But, because…
-
Unappealing Cats In Illustration
Considering how similar cats look in reality, breeding and colour differences aside, it’s surprising how illustrators come up with so many ways of depicting cats in art. Like any other fashion, cat faces have also changed according to era, even though the faces of actual cats have remained… the exact same. How Humans Created Cats:…
-
Bluey Australian TV Show Storytelling
Remember that time an episode of British cartoon Peppa Pig was taken off air in Australia? It was the episode which taught kids that spiders aren’t scary. Not a lesson Aussie kids need to learn. Well, fast forward a few years and Australian kids now have their own cartoon series reminiscent of Peppa Pig. Bluey…