Sunlight on the Grass Essay Example for Free

Sunlight on the Grass EssayFor the purpose of this assignment I will analyse two stories. Firstly I will examine the Compass and Torch by Elizabeth Baines and will demonstrate how the objects in the title relate to the characters of the story and represent key write ups. I will thus discuss Something Old, Something New by Leila Aboulela and highlight the ways in which the title relates to the story.Firstly the Compass and Torch is a story to the highest degree a modern male child setting out on a camping trip with his estranged become. The grok and torch are used symbolic all in ally throughout the narrative to reflect the boys flavourings and relationship to his family.I feel that the secure symbolises a lack of direction or the absence of a relationship surrounded by father and boy. This can be demonstrated when they are about to leave the car for their journey together at the bottom of the hill. The man looks up for the root time at the path they will take, whi ch runs from the gate to the brow of the hill. Then he groans I didnt bring a compass. The lack of compass showing with nothing to guide them the chance for them to get closer in their relationship is doomed. However, the narrative continues to suggest that the compass is not required, that with love and hope in their hearts, father and son will always be bonded. Compasses are things boys and dads tend to have, but which, when they are alert and strong at heart, they can leave behind.The compass can also be seen as a metaphor for the pull of the boy between his divorced parents. This idea is shown when the boy had gone upstairs face for his torch and overhears his Mother and her boyfriend Jim conversationing in the kitchen. The boy might have remembered it, the compass, as they were leaving. But he couldnt wait to get going, for it all to be over And the way his stupefy said hardly anything, and made her face blank whenever Dad spoke to her or looked her way. This text demonstr ates that mother and father remain hostile following their divorce and reflects the boys awareness of this and feelings of being in the middle of it all.The story demonstrates how the camping trip is an chance to strengthen the father son relationship, with the torch signifying the path of reconciliation, used as a tool to light the way to a immature future. This is highlighted when, as the boy is sitting in his fathers car, he shows him he has brought his torch, representing the boys longing to bond with his dad. as the man drops into the driving seat something in the boys chest gives a little hop of joy and he cries excitedly, oh I brought my torch.This idea is further reinforced in the narrative when we discover twain father and son have torches, Two torches are for lighting a bigger space in the wilderness, for lighting it together. Two torches are for father and son to back each other up.Furthermore, the colour of the torches seems to hold some significance. It is shown that the boy has a red torch whilst the father has a green one. I feel this is deliberate and hold connotations similar to a traffic light system where the red torch symbolises the lack of relationship with this father, with no way of moving ahead whilst the fathers green torch reflects the idea of rebuilding the relationship, with the possibility of new horizons.Although not in the title of the story the horse is also symbolic of the boys mother and highlights further how Baines uses symbolism to represent characters throughout the narrative. For example whilst on his journey with his father a horse appears. The horse comes up to the car. She nudges up, puts her nose over the edge of the door. The man bats her awayI feel this represents the mothers need to protect her son and the struggle the boy feels between his parents. The quote above illustrates the father not wanting the mother to be involved, to take a step back. Similarly the horse nuzzles the rucksack top and the man pushes h er away.In Something Old, Something New, Leila Aboulela writes about a wedding due to take place between a Scottish man and his Sudanese bride. The title is therefore appropriate to the story as the popular wedding phrase something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue.However, the title goes deeper than that and relates to the story in many more ways representing a number of key themes.The groom is depicted as a man desperate to find himself. He has dropped out of medical school and is unsure on which direction his life should take. He converts from Catholicism to Islam and his new spiritual beingness seems to have saved him. Indeed, the narrative demonstrates how his view of Islam is different to his brides. She associated Islam with her dark skin, her African blood, her own weakness. She couldnt really understand why anyone interchangeable him would want to join the wretched of the world. But he spoke with warmth. Religion for her seems a flaw, but for him represents a new beginning in life.This theme of conflicting ideas of old and new is also depicted when he arrives in Egypt to meet his bride and her brother. Back in Scotland, her ethnic difference seemed exotic, exciting but at one time in her home country he realises its nothing new any more He became aware that everyone looked like her, shared her colour, the women were dressed like her.The occasion also utilises the Nile as a metaphor for the proposed marriage. The Nile is one of Egypts most anticipated sights, but on closer inspection the groom finds it is not as he expected yes its beautiful he replied. But as he spoke he noticed that the rivers flow was forceful, not innocent, not playful. Crocodiles no doubt lurked beneath the surface. I feel this represents the marriage that his idealised view of his wedding and his bride suddenly turning worryful, with the lurking crocodiles a metaphor perhaps for her overbearing brother.With this fear in place, the groom begins to yea rn for the comforts of home and staying at the Hilton hotel represents to some degree the characters longing for home comforts. The Hilton used as sign of the Western world in contrast to the barren landscape of Egypt. The hotel lobby was impressive, the cool tingling blast of the air-conditioner, music playing, an expanse of marble. He felt soothed somehow, more in verify.Another example of this is when the character struggles to follow the strict Islamic custom of mourning following the girls Uncles death. He shrugged, he did not want to talk about it, was numbed by what had happened, dulled by the separation from her that the mourning customs seemed to impose. Furthermore the anxiety he feels about this new culture is noted over again He had thought, from the books hed read and the particular British Islam he had been exposed to, that in a Muslim country he would find elegance and reason. Instead he found melancholy, a sensuous place, stripped to the bare bones.The idea of a n ew life and a new culture suddenly turning sour in his mind is reinforced with the theft of his British passport contributing to a feeling of a loss of identity.To abstain I feel I have demonstrated how the stories titles relate to the overall meaning of the story and how symbolism is used to portray characters and to enhance the mood and smack of the narrative. Where possible I have provided key examples to support my ideas and to illustrate my understanding of the texts.