Final synthesis essay totem:oldman PDF

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Lab 3: Introduction to your team Lab 3: Introduction to your team Lab 3: Introduction to your team Lab 3: Introduction to your team Lab 3: Introduction to your team experiments...

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Thomas King’s story “Totem” and Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s story “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” use symbolism to show how the characters solve their hostile environment. The first story is about the land of the Indigenous people and how they are being forced into reserves and trying to be demolished by the government. The second story is about Pelayo and his wife, Elisenda, who discover a poor old man with gigantic wings in their courtyard who heals people. It is clearly shown, through the characters Walter and Elisenda that human beings feel in control of what they perceive to be a hostile environment. In the first story the totem pole is creating a hostile environment for Walter in the art gallery. The totem poles are making loud noises, “it’s grunting” which is annoying him and causing him to feel unsafe, so he tries to control it (King 16). The way he tries to control the totem poles is by removing it however, when he does this it ruins the paintings of the other exhibits thus creating a bigger hostile environment. Walter then finds his peace after multiple attempts of trying to remove the totem poles, he just lets it be. Garcia Marquez’s story also explains how Elisenda finds her piece in her hostile environment. The old man infringes on Elisenda, he crashes and lands on her property and she tries to rationalize her hostile environment. She sticks him in the coop and wounds him in order to rouse him into more entertaining behaviour for the people. However, her environment becomes even more hostile when people start showing up to look at the old man. She rationalizes it buy making a profit off the old man by charging and admission for the people. When Elisenda watches the old man grow back his wings and fly away she is relieved, “Elisenda let out a sigh of relief”, she is finally back to her peace (5). The authors in both stories interpret how the symbols connect with needing to have control. In “Totem” the museum symbolizes the land, the staff symbolize the government and the totem poles symbolize the Indigenous people. King uses this to portray how the government feels in control and view the Indigenous as a hostile act and want to restore it back to what makes them feel comfortable. When the totem poles make chanting sounds, that Walter finds disturbing, it is essentially portraying how the indigenous people are fighting for themselves by letting out sounds of frustration and such. To solve this hostile act, Walter, who represents the government, tries to get rid of the totem pole, “get rid of it, said Walter.”, which results in finding his inner peace (16). The author shows how the government feels in need to be in control of the Indigenous People. This is also seen in Garcia Marquez’s story when he symbolizes the old man as Jesus. He uses this to show the connection between Jesus’ story and the old man’s story which is similar. First off, he describes the old man as shabby, “he was dressed like a ragpicker.”, appearing to the poor as one of their own, just as Jesus is a poor carpenter (1). Elisenda feels as if the old man is a hostile act so she has him beat and kept up in a coop. Similarly, the roman soldiers feel as if Jesus is a threat and have him beat and crucify him on the cross. Then, the old man does not move for quite some time until his wings grow back, and he flies away. Jesus was on the cross and could not move till he resurrected from the death. The roman soldiers, like Elisenda, feel

the need to be in control to restore the feeling of safeness. It connects to the point because it signifies that it is true, that humans have to feel in control of a situation that is feeling unsafe. King and Garcia Marquez both incorporate symbolisms to understand that humans have to feel in control of what they perceive to be an essentially hostile environment. This is because as a human it is normal to try to make a situation that does not feel safe, to feel safe. King uses the totem poles to represent Indigenous People who are being assimilated by the government. Garcia Marquez utilizes the old man as a representation of Jesus to show the connection between their lives. These short stories reveal how the characters Elisenda and Walter deal with the hostile environments....