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March 09, 2006
River of symbols
O'Connor, ''The River'' -- Jerz: American Lit II (EL 267)
The meaning of several symbols I found in the story remains unclear to me, but here is what I found interesting.
Bevel is chased by pigs twice in this story, once by the actual pig from the pen and at the end when Mr. Paradise resembles a pig chasing him in the river. Mrs. Connin points out that the pig from the pen "favors Mr. Paradise". Mrs. Connin also tells Bevel that Jesus drove "a crowd of pigs" out of a man.
Bevel's father "found her (Mrs. Connin) looming in it (the door), a speckled skeleton in a long pea-green coat and felt helmet." It sounds as if she is a warrior of some type with great stature to be able to wear a helmet and loom, but she is also presented as a skeleton with no protection or mass.
The line of Mrs. Connin, her children, and Bevel walking to the river looked like "a skeleton of an old boat with two pointed ends."
Some physical imbalances were also mentioned. Bevel has only one arm in his coat when his father is getting him ready to leave with Mrs. Connin. ""He ain't fixed right," a loud voice said from the hall." Later, Bevel's coat is hanging lower on one side because of the weight of the stolen book. "The damp plain coat dragged down on one side."
Mr. Paradise is said to have a missing ear.
Posted by JenniferDiFulvio at March 9, 2006 04:15 PM
Comments
That's a great set of observations, Jennifer. What do you make of them all? Remember a symbol doesn't have just one meaning... it can mean several different things at the same time. Ambiguity is the raw material that poets work with.
While the short story doesn't always rely on ambiguity, the point of an O'Connor story is often an *absence* of a good thing, rather than the *presence* of a bad thing.
For instance "bevel" means an angled cut applied to a corner or edge. It's a slant, something that's not a right angle.
Posted by: Dennis G. Jerz at March 9, 2006 11:14 PM
Jennifer,
Interesting point of view. I read this and looked right over it. I never really gave thought to what Ms.Connin was wearing or what it symbolized. You made another good point on the pigs actually I thought that it was rude of the boys for trapping Bevel (Harry) into taking the board off the pig cage. Your points of symbolization make me think even more and to look more closely at what I read. I usually read and then reflect but you pointed out a lot of things that I really didn't pay attention to and makes the story a little more interesting and gives it a different meaning in some respects.
Posted by: LisaRandolph at March 10, 2006 10:55 AM
I would have never thought of what you came up with. Great ideas and observations. It didn't really seem like that guy was much of any good. Anyone who marrys just to marry then runs off is what kind of a person.
Posted by: Melissa Lupari at March 10, 2006 01:56 PM
Thank you! I needed some way to fit all this together.
If there is an absence of a good thing for Bevel, it would be someone to guide his literal, innocent thoughts. Mrs. Connin is a hope among his dreary life, but she presents him with so much confusing information that he ends up looking to the river for answers. He is listing to one side throughout the story and needs someone to set him straight.
Pigs aren't exactly the scariest image I can think of, but to a 4 or 5 year old, I could see how a snorting gray thing running after you would be frightening. This symbol fits into the "absence of a good thing" category as well. Bevel originally thinks pigs are cute and wear bow ties and he finds himself to be misled again in reality. There is an absence of a truly scary image, but Bevel didn't need much to be scared to death.
By the way, I've felt throughout my blogging that calling the child Bevel was like taking sides with the fantasy of the story since his real name was Harry.
Posted by: Jennifer DiFulvio at March 10, 2006 03:57 PM