Variable Loss of Innocence

Variable Loss of Innocence

  • Submitted By: lowskiplu
  • Date Submitted: 03/01/2009 4:31 PM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 618
  • Page: 3
  • Views: 709

Both “No Great Mischief”, written by Alistair MacLeod and Dylan Thomas’ “Fern Hill ” all reflected loss of innocence as a theme by using imagery and symbolism. In the poem, Dylan Thomas suggested a mature changing from childhood to adulthood which resulted as loss of innocence was a inevitable outcome of growth. However, in the story, Alistair MacLeod explored a unexpected process of childhood to adulthood which happened on an individual by describing an event. In the poem, which author used imagery to reveal his childhood, “now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs…Time let me hail and climb” (3,4). As he “was young”, then gave us a picture of “easy under the apple boughs”, which reflected childhood is always easy enjoyable and innocent, individuals didn’t have to think about the complex stuff but “hail”. As same as in the story, “they went out on the ice in single file, the string of their moving lights seeming almost like a kind of Christmas decoration”(Pg.159), which also described an image of adults going out to save kids’ parents, however, the moving lights in kids’ mind was “like a kind of Christmas decoration”, which also reflected the innocence of childhood in existence exactly.

The quotation in the poem, “in the first, spinning place, the spellbound horses walking warm out of the whinnying green stable ” (34) which began to describe the nature process of loss innocent by using symbolism, “horses” here symbolizes time of life, lively childhood eventually passed away with time unnoticeably goes by “warm” life time, which also meant loss of childhood innocence but was kind of naturally changing. Compared with the story, “and further there were gone ” symbolized the fact kids’ parents’ gone, which suddenly remind kids about the truth: their parents were already gone but this was their own individual experience that other students didn’t have, which made them losing innocence much faster than the other children.

By the ends of two literature...

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