For each of the texts, analyse how the writer used symbolism and/or figurative language to develop an important idea.
In the two short stories The Bath by Janet Frame and The Silk by Joy Cowley, there is a common theme of death which runs throughout each text. Both writers explore the idea of death from different perspectives, from the acceptance of Mr. Blackie’s death in The Silk to the women’s fear of aging and eventual death in The Bath. Theses ideas are clearly developed through a use of figurative language and symbolism. In The Silk similes and symbolic death imagery are used to show the theme of accepting death. In The Bath metaphors as well as symbolism are used to explain the fear the women feels and the idea of death in more detail.
In Joy Cowley’s short story The Silk, similes are used extensively to promote death imagery which helps Cowley develop the idea of accepting death throughout the poem. By using similes Cowley helps the reader more clearly visualise what the impending death of Mr. Blackie will be like and how life will change without him. The use of this technique also helps put the idea of death into the readers head, almost preparing them for it. For example, when describing how Mr. Blackie got into bed, Cowley uses the simile “as gently as dust”. This implies he is weak and fragile, he is not as energetic and free-moving as he once was. It shows he is easing up and trying not to over exert. This could be taken as Cowley showing the reader that he is slowly giving up and accepting his fate. The diction here is important as it helps give a more literal idea. The “dust” could be referring to how soon Mr. Blackie will only be dust, not living or breathing later on. Another simile used to show a similar idea is when Mr and Mrs Blackie talk about the ground being “as hard as nails”. This simile is intended to communicate that it will be hard to dig a grave this time of year as it is winter and the ground is frozen over. Because it is Mr. Blackie that points this out, it gives the reader the notion that he has been thinking about his impending passing away and the fact that he is already contemplating how it will be to dig his grave shows he has accepted that he will die soon enough. Again diction here is important to further implant the idea of death into the readers mind. Cowley uses the word “nails” literally referring to how Mr. Blackies coffin will be nailed up when he finally passes.
Also in The Silk, symbolic imagery is used to show the same theme of death and Mr. Blackie acceptance of his death. The story is set in winter and there are many references to the first frost and that everything is very cold and frozen. This is symbolism for Mr. Blackies death because things die in winter and it commonly represents the ending stages in life. This helps the reader receive the idea of death in the story already just by the setting. ‘The Silk’ is also utilized as a vessel for Cowley’s death symbolism and imagery. On the whole it is a symbol for the Blackie’s relationship but deeper it can also be a symbol for Mr. Blackies life as he received it in his younger ‘glory days’ when he had lots of heart and spirit. It is cut up at the end of his life and continues to stay with him under the ground when he is left with no heart or spirit. When Mrs Blackie is cutting it into the pyjamas, "One by one the garment pieces left the silk". This is considered symbolism for Mr. Blackies body and soul, bit by bit leaving him as he passes away. More symbolic imagery is apparent when Mrs. Blackie “picked them (the silk) up and put them in a camphor wood box and covered the pajama pieces on the dressing table”. Although this seems mundane enough, it is the action that someone would take when placing a body in a coffin and covering them up. Implying Mr. Blackie is the silk and the wood box is the coffin and they will soon both be placed in a grave underground.
In The Bath by Janet Frame, an extended metaphor is used to show the main characters fear of death and how she feels a need to feel safe so the fright doesn’t become too much. She is more afraid of what happens when she’s gone and before she goes than dying itself. The metaphor used to show this point and the word choice in this metaphor is even more important to emphasize it clearly. The extended metaphor is that of the bath being like the sea. It is powerful, large, and intimating, full of unseen dangers and frights. Humans are small, weak and insignificant in comparison, which is how the woman feels towards the bath. In such a huge ocean it is easy for humans to feel alone or deserted. This refers to how the woman feels when stuck in the bath, “She was alone now” and “If I shout for help, she thought, no-one will hear me”. The same applies if she was out in the sea and the feelings of abandonment and helplessness would be similar. This extended metaphor is incredibly accurate and relates directly to how the woman feels about dying as well as the bath itself literally. The diction used to relate things to the extended metaphor is very important as it basically explains the whole metaphor and makes it clear to the reader there is one. For example, “buoying up her courage”. Buoying is a nautical term relating to the ocean and buoys, which float, marking sections of the sea. This relates to the women feeling the bath is like the sea as she attempts to “buoy” her courage so she gains more and can rise above the adversity. Another example is “feeling the tide swirl”, which is a direct comparison to the sea. This emphasizes how the water feels running past her and by using the word tide, immediately connects to the oceans tides, and this relates back to the bath being like the deep, dark and dangerous sea.
Janet Frame also utilizes symbolism in The Bath to help express how the woman is afraid of the slow progression of losing her ability to complete everyday tasks and how this will eventually lead to her death. The main symbol of this is again the bath itself. It shows how she cannot perform certain average everyday tasks and how she feels trapped, unable to escape her fate. As soon as the woman climbs into the bath, Frame uses a simile to aide the imagery and further support the symbol of the bath. As well as, expressing the fear the women feels. “clinging tightly to the slippery yellow-stained rim that now seemed more like the edge of a cliff with a deep drop below it into the sea”. By using this simile Frame helps relate to the audience how terrified the women is of the bath and what it symbolizes. This point is later reiterated when the women is stuck in the bath, unable to get out. She empties the water and feels like it is “trying to drag her down, down into the earth”. This shows how she feels as though the bath is trapping her like a coffin and she will die in it. It is quite literal and relates to how the dead are buried beneath the earth. A place she feels she will soon belong. When the woman’s stuck in the bath, “she had a strange feeling of being under the earth, of a throbbing in her head like wheels going over the earth above her”. Literally, this gives the reader the idea that the woman feels like she’s in a coffin, buried under the ground, and it shows how the woman feels like she’s dead or going to die in the bath. It is the climax of the bath’s symbolism showing how she feels, and the trapped feeling she has, leading to her fear of death because she believes death feels like this and that this is the end.
In conclusion, the theme of death is prominent in both texts but in different, specified ways. In The Silk by Joy Cowley, the use of similes and symbolism are effective in expressing the idea of accepting death. In The Bath by Janet Frame, an extended metaphor and symbolism are used to show another view of the death theme. The fear of becoming old and not as mobile, and with this comes a general fear of death and dying itself.
