Unlocking Symbolism in Literature
This worksheet helps grade 9 students identify and analyze symbolism in literary texts, enhancing their reading comprehension skills.
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Unlocking Symbolism in Literature
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Read each question carefully and provide thoughtful answers. Pay close attention to details in the literary excerpts.
Read the following excerpt from Ernest Hemingway's *The Old Man and the Sea* and answer the questions that follow.
He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish. In the first forty days a boy had been with him. But after forty days of not taking a fish the boy’s parents had told him that the old man was now definitely and finally *salao*, which is the worst form of unlucky, and the boy had gone at their orders in another boat which caught three good fish the first week. The old man’s sail was patched with flour sacks and, furled, it looked like the flag of permanent defeat.
1. What might the 'patched sail' symbolize in the excerpt?
The old man's wealth
His perseverance despite hardship
His desire for a new boat
The calm nature of the sea
2. Explain how the description 'flag of permanent defeat' for the furled sail contributes to its symbolic meaning.
3. In literature, a symbol is often an object or idea that represents something .
4. The number 'eighty-four' days without a fish could symbolize the old man's against overwhelming odds.
5. Symbolism is always explicitly stated by the author in a literary work.
True
False
6. Consider a common symbol, such as a dove or a red rose. In a paragraph, explain what this symbol typically represents and provide an example of how it might be used symbolically in a story or poem.