I read the story, "A Visit of Charity" by Eudora Welty for english class. At the end, the girl takes an apple that she had hidden behind a bush and takes a bite out of it. This is supposed to be a significant part of the story and symbolize something, but I am not sure what. Could it be something biblical? If anyone has read this story or could help me, please answer.
2007-09-24 04:52:36 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
Some say the apple is a very rich symbol. Temptation is the first one that springs to mind. A very rich, and very old, image is that of a skeleton holding an apple.
Others say apples is symbolic of immortality and reincarnation. Along with the pomegrante, it represents the cycle of life, death and rebirth.
In many tales the Apple is the World Tree, the axis of the worlds, and it is often a doorway to the realms of Faery, being associated with the Isle of Avalon.
Apples were often given as gifts to humans by the gods, and apples are sometimes believed to confer psychic power.. As a symbol of beauty, the Apple of Discord was to determine the most beautiful of the goddesses, and thus started the Trojan war.
The fruit of the apple trees are associated with health, for their abundance of medicinal uses, from cleansing the teeth to relieving indigestion, to releiving fevers and much more.
Apple trees grow abundant fruit, and thus it is also associated with the principles of generosity and abundance. It is symbolic of love and fertility, and is considered an approdesiac.
Yet another interpretation is that apples signify liberality, felicity, peace, and salvation. Fruit of all kinds was considered to be evidence of God's kindness and a symbol of the goodness of providence.
2007-09-24 05:26:39 · answer #1 · answered by The Corinthian 7 · 4⤊ 1⤋
Apple Symbolism
2016-10-28 19:23:48 · answer #2 · answered by dopico 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
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what does an apple symbolize in literature?
I read the story, "A Visit of Charity" by Eudora Welty for english class. At the end, the girl takes an apple that she had hidden behind a bush and takes a bite out of it. This is supposed to be a significant part of the story and symbolize something, but I am not sure what. Could it be...
2015-08-10 20:26:32 · answer #3 · answered by Isobel 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It certainly does sound biblical, straight out of the garden of eden, even. If that's the case, then it's symbolizing the loss of innocence and betrayal. In the Bible Eve discards God's direct order to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but did so anyway after a little encouragement from the serpent, or Satan. I say the loss of innocence could be the symbolism, because that's exactly what eating the apple/fruit did.
2007-09-24 06:21:54 · answer #4 · answered by Stephanie E 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Temptation.
and probably also knowledge.
In the story of Adam and Eve, the apple is an obvious temptation, and why it's also for wisdom, I'm not sure actually.. maybe because there was a guy.. and on his head fell an apple and then he had the idea of gravity or something..
2007-09-24 05:45:39 · answer #5 · answered by Lord_Kiwi 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Everyone who said temptation is absolutely right. Apples also indicate witchcraft and spells. If you cut an apple open right down the middle you can see a pentagram in the middle. Think Sleeping Beauty. There are also ties to Adam and Eve as everyone has said, and it does have to do with sin.
2007-09-24 06:43:26 · answer #6 · answered by VictorC 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Temptation. Knowledge. An awakening. Yes, it's probably Biblical. Think Garden of Eden - the serpent tempted Eve to eat the fruit (usually depicted as an apple) from the Tree of Knowledge. This can be read as a story of disobedience and its subsequent punishment (expulsion from the garden), but it is also a story of awakening, maturity, the human desire for understanding, etc.
2007-09-24 05:07:56 · answer #7 · answered by truefirstedition 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
A sin.
2007-09-24 04:57:42 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋