Essay/Term paper: Symbolism in "strange news from another star"

Essay, term paper, research paper:  English Papers

"Strange News from another Star" is found to be a story which contains

numerous symbols which in many cases contain some important, abstract

information. Symbolism is something which is very difficult to explain

due to the fact that not everyone sees the so mentioned symbol. They

don"t quite see it as you, because no two minds are the same, which

implies the fact that they don"t react equally to something which must

be internally interpreted as it is not present as mere information. On

this essay I will try to back up with concise words, why I believe that

something is representing something abstract, as well as with

information from the author.

One of the first symbols that we may find, is actually the star. A

star is known as a gaseous sphere, which with nuclear fusion and fission

may actually give out huge amounts of energy. Obviously a star is a

inhospitable place, so I believe that the star actually represents a

planet or a country.

The flowers, which have a very important part in the plot of the book

are a symbol as well. They, have always, as least as far as I know, had

a special message. A message of love, tranquillity, joy and they

represent the harmony of nature itself. In the first stage of the book,

we may see how a problem, the earthquake, has made the people in the

star loose a vast amount of flowers. They lost some of the tranquillity

and joy that had invaded their lives. And when they look for a messenger

to go find flowers, they"re talking about re-finding the tranquillity

and lack of fear that they wanted.

I believe that the burials, actually represent life. It may sound a bit

peculiar, but in real life once you get accustomed to living a happy,

joyful life, you then will not be able to live without it and so, you

will need to do practically anything, as the people in the star did, to

find the "flowers".

The symbol of the deity that the youth saw in the temple, I understand

that by the way in which the story progresses the symbol is actually

representing the fact that war, or trouble (the bird of prey) destroys

all happiness or good hearted feelings. I think that the representation

is what I mentioned above, because when the messenger "goes" to the

foreign star he sees destruction and a total lack of joy.

We may find another symbol which goes from pages 55-59. It"s the

conversation that the youth holds with the king who"s nation is in war.

It"s apparently a symbol because even-though it has important, concrete

information for the story, there"s more to the phrases themselves. They

can be abstracted and that"s when I see that the conversation is

actually trying to explain the way in which the humanity is being

erratic by trying to find happiness. To achieve happiness, you must

first get rid of sadness, poverty, trouble, etc (war is the symbol used

to represent all of them). It may not be found just by ignoring the

others. In the king"s star they weren"t happy because all of the nouns

mentioned above were present. A proof of that may be the fact that when

trouble, the earthquake, arouse in the province of the youth then they

lost the peace and tranquillity, represented by the flowers that they

had had.

And ultimately I will mention the symbol which the black bird

represents, it"s what I believe is the image of the harshness, horror

and terror of war. Which may reach such levels of futility that it may

apparently only be seen as a dream, or even more correct, would be to

say that it"s like a nightmare.