DUE ON 12/4
Name_______________________Period_____
IMAGES, SYMBOLS, AND MOTIFS
IMAGES – Words that create pictures in the reader’s mind or suggest special impressions. They help a reader mentally
experience what the characters in the literary selection are actually experiencing. A well-written description should arouse a
particular response or emotion in the reader's imagination. Images can be visual or sensual – smell, taste, touch, or color.
SYMBOL – An image, person, place, or thing which also represents something larger or more abstract, in the way a flag
symbolizes a country. By using symbols, the writer has the opportunity to suggest larger meanings in their works without
specifically discussing them.
MOTIF – A recurring pattern of features – objects, images or symbols that are carried through an entire work of fiction. In
the Lord of the Rings, the One Ring is a motif for the corrupting nature of power.
POSSIBLE MEANINGS
Holden’s Red Hat
Pency Prep
Central Park
Museums
Movies
Unmade Phone Calls
Allie’s Baseball Glove
Erasing Profanity
The Ducks in the Park
“Little Shirley Beans”
Record
Mummies
The Carrousel
IMAGE, SYMBOL, AND/OR
MOTIF (Can be more than one)
Quote Analysis
In order to develop your analytical thinking skills, you are going to read each quote below and respond
with thoughts, questions, inferences, your interpretation, and/or predictions of what may happen next.
Quote and Page #
Ducks in Central Park
"I was wondering if it would be frozen over when I got
home, and if it was, where did the ducks go. I was
wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon got
all icy and frozen over" (13).
Red Hunting Hat/Cap
"I'd put on my red hunting cap when I was in the cab,
just for the hell of it, but I took it off before I
checked in" (61).
Museum:
“The best thing, though, in that museum was that
everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d
move” […] “Nobody’d be different. The only thing that
would be different would be you. Not that you’d be so
much older or anything. It wouldn’t be that, exactly.
You’d just be different, that’s all” (121).
The Carrousel:
"The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the
gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say
anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it's bad if
you say anything to them" (211).
Analysis of quote
Sample Response:
Is Holden really wondering where the ducks go, or is he
thinking of something else? Why does he care about the
ducks when he has bigger problems in his life? Maybe
Holden connects the ducks to something else in his life. I
think that Holden could be losing his mind. I wonder if he
will try to visit the ducks on his journey home.
Now it's your turn. Read the quote to the left then write
a response here: