Monday, March 21, 2011.

1. Recap I Had Seen Castles. Begin reading p. 60 - pg. 76. Explain motif of "birds flying" and symbolism of castle and sheep. (Per. 1: Read only to pg. 76. ) Per. 2&4 read to page 79.

2) Explain symbolism and connection of first chapter empty room to pg. 76.

Notes:

Motif: a recurring image, idea, or theme in a work of literature, film, etc.
Symbol: a symbol represents something larger/greater than itself.


Symbols in I Had Seen Castles:



Castle: symbol of John's childhood

Castle: pg. 25-26 The castle is a gift from father as a young child. He plays with it until he outgrows it and then sees it in the basement during his teen years growing up. John is growing up; he no longer plays with the toy castle, but he is still a growing teen.
pg. 70-71: John sees a real castle far off in the distance. John becomes a grown man with childhood a great distance away.

sheep: soldiers, innocent and naive; following the government's instructions, they waited for the farmer (the government) to take them home, but many were killed in war (sheep lay bloody, half alive) like many of the soldiers, who died almost immediately after beginning to fight, alone and afraid.
Birds: symbolize freedom; the birds recur throughout the novel, first on pages 4, 59, and 70.

Empty room: symbolizes the trauma of war. See page 4 and page 76.