Apocalypse Now Symbolism Essay

In his poem “The Great Scarf of Birds”, John Updike uses a flock of birds to show that man can be uplifted by observing nature. Updike’s conclusion is lead up to with the beauty of autumn and what a binding spell it has on the two men playing golf. In Updike’s conclusion and throughout the poem, he uses metaphors, similes, and diction to show how nature mesmerizes humans.

Maya Angelou talks about a caged bird and a free bird in her poem “Caged Bird.” When Maya Angelou talks about a caged bird and a free bird I think she is describing people, like the caged bird is a person who is stuck by others opinions about him/her and

Butler tells readers, “But I got my giant cage and I guess I’m happy enough about that” (218). The parrot is content with his new home, however the parrot’s new home is significant to the parrot’s current situation. Butler chooses the cage as a symbol of imprisonment, just like the husband and the wife’s marriage. In their marriage, the man would lock himself into the bathroom, whenever he almost said something about his wife’s actions. The man locking himself into the bathroom is the same way the parrot is trapped inside the cage. When the parrot wanted to talk to the wife about what he seen in her home, he was not able to. The cage parallels with the human and the parrot’s life. Both lives are represented by this cage because the parrot and the human have no way out, except for death. Death was the only gateway for both situations as a human and as a parrot.

    Abstract: According to A Handbook to Literature, motif refers to a "recurrent repetition of some word, phrase, situation, or idea, such as tends to unify a work through its power to recall earlier occurrences" (264). One such type of motif which has seemed to receive less critical attention is Ellison's treatment of birds.   Hence, my aim in this essay is to examine the references to birds in Invisible Man, attempting to show how Ellison uses the image of the bird to symbolize various forms of entrapment.

The door to the cage blends within bars. The cage keeps the birds in, unable to escape between the bars. How could this imagery possibly relate to feminism and oppression? Frye has a slightly different image and description for this hypothetical birdcage. Frye’s cage represents not only the way that one becomes trapped in a cage, but also differing perspectives of the cage. The bars have individual meanings, as does the overall scope of the cage. For example, one person may look at the cage as a single solid entity. Another person may view each individual bar that makes up the birdcage. These perspectives are called macroscopic views and microscopic

Among other animal imagery, birds appear frequently throughout the story in times of crisis. The birds often foreshadow dangers that lie ahead. For instance, when Robert's team takes a wrong turn, "the fog is full of noises"(80) of birds. Then the birds fly out of the ditch and disappear. Robert and Poole know that "[there] must be something terribly wrong...but neither one knew how to put it into words. The birds, being gone, had taken some mysterious presence with them. There was an awful sense of void--as if the world had been emptied" (81). The birds return and when Robert nears the collapsing dike and "one of the birds [flies] up cut[s] across Robert's path" as if it is trying to prevent him from going any further. Robert does not heed the warning and almost dies in the sinking mud.

First we must make the distinction between caged and free birds. The caged birds signify a well mannered, tamed, and socially acceptable human being while the free birds, or rather the birds that attack, have the liberty to act in opposition to the caged ones. In the beginning scene, after Melanie’s attempt to impress Mitch, Mitch salvages the bird she mistakenly let escape and as he puts it back in its cage says, “Back in your gilded cage Melanie Daniels”. This metaphorical cage Melanie resides in is one made up of riches where she is spoiled and superficial, but she

There is a single symbol that encapsulates the majority of these notions throughout the entirety of the book: the bird, the bird in the house, the bird "caught between the two layers of glass" that so changes Vanessa's life. Birds make too frequent and deliberate an appearance throughout the collection of short stories to be mere haphazard additions to the background; instead, they, along with the images and concepts associated with them, serve to alert the aware reader to what Margaret Laurence, through older-Vanessa, through child-Vanessa, is trying to tell us. The birds, and their associated images, are central and representative of the novel as a whole.

When Joseph Conrad sat down to write Heart of Darkness over a century ago he decided to set his tale amidst his own country's involvement in the African Congo. Deep in the African jungle his character would make his journey to find the Captain gone astray. Over eighty years later Francis Ford Coppola's Willard would take his journey not in Afica but in the jungles of South Asia. Coppola's Film, Apocalypse Now uses the backdrop of the American Vietnam War yet the similarities between the Conrad's novel and Coppola's film remains constant and plenty.

Some believe that birds help express spiritual freedom and psychological liberation with the different colors of birds that are associated with various meanings; specifically the yellow bird means you should keep your guard up. In the novel, The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers, John Bartle becomes guarded and isolated because of his internal battles created by his experiences from war. Bartle struggles with the lack of control he has over the events that happen to him in during his time in the military. He fights with his helplessness when he tries to transition to his lifestyle at home. He also cannot control how he changes as a person. When we think of war we think of the physical damage we see on the exterior but what we cannot see is the psychological damage in the interior of a person.

In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Shakespeare often uses a motif of birds in order to foreshadow future events and relationships. Shakespeare achieves this by likening two influential characters, Macbeth and Macduff, to an owl and a crow, respectively, as well as using references to other types of birds in order to set a tone.

Much like the kitchen, the birdcage is also used as a symbol for Mrs. Wright. In the play, Mrs. Peters finds the birdcage empty. The two ladies also find that the cage?s door hinge is pulled apart. The ladies conclude that someone had ?been rough with it.? The cage in the play suggests many things. A cage signifies imprisonment and captivity. This easily fits within the play and represents the confinement

In the last stanza, the caged bird’s song symbolises the emotions and cries of freedom. The combination of the two represents that there is a need for every child to reach their full potential. Something that cannot be achieved with helicopter parenting and the barriers placed upon them.

Throughout the play there are three main symbols; the bird, the bird cage and the jar of preserves. The bird symbolized Mrs. Wright and how she loved to sing because the bird was always singing. As the play progresses Mr. Wright grows annoyed with the bird and kills it. The canary’s death represented how Mrs. Wright is dead inside from her neglectful marriage. The bird’s cage symbolized the cage of a marriage Mrs. Wright was in. She felt trapped by her husband’s emotional abuse. When the bird cage broke, it represented the death of Mr. Wright and the freedom that Mrs. Wright felt after breaking free from her long, painful marriage. The last jar of cherry preserves symbolized how Mrs. Wright was still standing. After a failed marriage and losing her bird, which was the one thing she cared most about, Mrs. Wright managed

I have always enjoyed movies. But at some point I started to think of movies as more than just entertainment. I began to view them as a movie critic would, rather than just a casual viewer. Because of this perspective, I think of "Apocalypse Now" as one of the best American made movies I have ever seen. As a student of and an active participant in the late twentieth century media age, I feel justified in making this statement. In my lifetime of observation of American media, including fourteen months of intense movie watching in conjunction with my employment at a local video store, I have had an opportunity to observe a broad sampling of the films, and feel more than qualified to make this statement. By referring to