Symbolism In The Gospel Of John

After I have read the Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. I realized that there were multiple different symbols that helped convey complex ideas. For me I have found that in the Novel there are three important symbols that help shape the plot of the story and these are Methuselah the Parrot, Palindromes: Which is Ada’s journal, and lastly the green Mamba snake that killed Ruth May. The significance about all of these symbols is that they tend to add a meaning and depth to the story.

In the novel The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver, Leah Price moves to the Congo with her family as part of a missionary. Through their experiences in the Congo, and living amongst a community with many political conflicts, Leah discovers the importance of justice and selflessness. Kingsolver uses assertive and benevolent tones, and symbolism throughout the story to portray the voice of Leah, illustrating Leah’s determination to adamantly strive for justice and equality for Africa and its people, rather than believing that her heritage, her father and God are superior to those around her. Her father’s authority and idealism overshadows her point of view, as she is highly set on her father’s approval and ultimately, God’s approval too. By using phrases such as “But my father needs permission only from the Saviour, who obviously is all in favor of subduing the untamed wilderness for a garden (36)”, Kingsolver establishes Leah’s narrow-minded belief that her father is ‘A Chosen One from God’ and he will pacify the Congolese.

Through biblical allusion, religious analogy, and symbolism O 'Connor expresses the need for god and a savior. She writes the perspective of a young child named Harry who lives in a household without religion. The young man is given the mentality and ideology of Christianity and the value of baptism. He grows for a need to belong to something from his small world and gives his life to Christ.

In the opening scene of Paul’s Case, the author notes the vibrant, red carnation that Paul wears to his disciplinary meeting and the teacher’s distaste of what they believe the flower symbolizes referring to it as a, “scandalous red carnation” and how, “his whole attitude was symbolized by...his flippantly red carnation flower” (114). A defiant student, shown by his disrespect toward his teachers, Paul seems unfazed to the fact that he is in a disciplinary meeting and choses to act indifferent to what his teachers say about him. He is arrogant and holds himself to a higher status than his teachers thus causing him to feel entitled. The red carnation symbolizes his idealistic view of society in which he had hopes and dreams to elevate himself and achieve the higher status that he believes that he deserves. Paul’s world comes crumbling down though when he realizes that he could not pretend to be part of the world that he wanted to be in.

“Then Peter answered and said to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?” [28] So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly

Figurative language can be a compelling factor in literary works ranging from romantic poetry to political speeches. It forces the reader, or listener, to visualize and understand what the author is trying to say. Jonathan Edwards utilized this writing technique in his powerful sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Edwards used imagery, metaphors, and personification to express his differentiating attitudes towards both sinners and God which consisted of complete disgust in regards to the former and unwavering respect for the latter. Jonathan Edwards relied more on the composition of his writing rather than the execution of it which is why figurative language is found so often in this sermon.

It was a chilly Friday morning at Sandy Hook Elementary School; students eager to learn. Around 9:30 am, teachers heard gun fire in the hallway. Immediately, the teachers scattered to get their children to safety. The teachers, pushing them into the bathroom, shoving them in closets, or even hiding them in cabinets. Still, if someone was to enter the room, they would do their best for them not to be able to get to the children.

In Viramontes’ novel Under the Feet of Jesus, the author composes symbolic representations about the daily life of a migrant worker. Symbols used throughout the novel was the barn as a figure to represent a church, Petra’s statue of Jesus that symbolized her faith in Christianity and the baby doll with no mouth that represented the views on silence. The author uses symbolism to get her message across on how the difficulties of migrant workers. The symbols, the barn, Jesus statue, and the baby with no mouth represent the migrant workers’ stance on faith.

There are several things in life that can hold value to a person. One object can be just an object to one person while at the same time be so much more to a different person. In the short story Janus, the object that Andrea had fixated on is a simple bowl. She is obsessed with the bowl, thinking about it all of the time and worrying about it. It is not hard to see that the bowl was something much more to her than any other ordinary object.

Each Gospel writer is unique in their approach to revealing Jesus’ arrival on earth and launching of his ministry. For instance, Matthew begins his Gospel with a Jewish genealogical tree; so that he can connect Jesus to Abraham pointing to him as the long awaited Jewish Messiah; whereas Luke begins with the birth of John the Baptist and does not get to the family tree until chapter three. Interestingly, Luke’s family tree starts with Jesus and goes back to Adam perhaps signifying Jesus as lord of both the Jews and Gentiles. On a completely different level, John’s Gospel begins with a proclamation of Jesus being God who came to earth opposed to God sending a messiah (essentially, God was the Messiah). Lastly, Mark skips the birth of Christ all

The Book of Revelation, “a book to excite the senses”, is the last book of the Bible. (Powell, 519). In the year of 95 A.D., this book was written by Apostle John. He was believed to have a vision from heaven. The Book of Revelation is difficult to understand and inspires a wide range of questions, especially since there are many competing interpretations, “in a sense, to “interpret” this book is to misinterpret it, for often the appeal is to the imagination; it’s a book to be experienced, not explained” (Powell, 519).

I asked Paul what the meaning of the circular disk was. He answered that the circular disk is bread that represented life, and the body of Christ. In addition to the bread, I also asked about the wine glass, and the wine glass is supposed to be the blood of Christ. Both the wine and the bread are drank and eaten to signify the acceptance of Christ or also known as Holy Communion. But before the bread and wine are received there is prayer.

According to Harris (2014), John’s depiction of Jesus is an embodiment of heavenly wisdom and his message centers on his on divine nature. Jesus reveals unknowable truths about God’s being and purpose, and is depicted as the human form of God’s celestial world. John also does not characterize Jesus’ crucifixion in the same way as Mark. In John, the crucifixion was a glorification that frees Jesus to go to heaven, not a humiliating experience. John also does not contain any prophecies of the second coming like in other Gospels.

While the other gospels emphasize the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven, John instead emphasizes new life found in Jesus. It’s from John that we get Christ’s famous claim “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me” -John 14:6. Jesus frequently uses metaphors to hint at his identity. John records more of these analogies than any other gospel, giving us some of the most famous word pictures for Christ.

And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them saying, 'This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me '" (Bible, by Luke 22:19). The third significance is the important principle given by Jesus Christ to live a Christian life. “One should never expect to be served by anyone but to serve others and I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Bible, by Luke 22:29-30).