Symbolism

Warrior Scholars,

The week flew by! Most of our week was spent on preparing for our benchmark and reading Jimmy Santiago Baca's personal narrative, "Coming Into Language." This is a powerful piece that highlights the importance of language in our lives.  Although we don't always stop to think about it, language provides us with the power to communicate --to express our emotions, aspirations, and fears.  Remember that language is power. Your voice matters!

Below you will find my favorite parts of the piece. These are gems that I find poetic and that resonate with me!  This piece meant more to me this time around.  I felt connected to it because writing is currently helping me heal and process what is going on.  Maybe in the future I'll feel comfortable enough to share some of my personal writing pieces! For now here are my favorite parts:

• "I stumblingly repeated the author’s name as I fell asleep, saying it over and over in the dark: Words-worth, Words-worth."  
• "Suddenly, through language, through writing, my grief and my joy could be shared with anyone who would listen. And I could do this all alone; I could do it anywhere."
• "Each word steamed with the hot lava juices of my primordial making, and I crawled out of stanzas dripping with birth-blood, reborn and freed from the chaos of my life. The child in the dark room of my heart, that had never been able to find or reach the light switch, flicked it on now; and I found in the room a stranger, myself, who had waited so many years to speak again."

Symbolism REVIEW:
Definition:  
A symbol is an object that represents, stands for, or suggests an idea, visual image, belief, action, or material entity. Symbols take the form of words, sounds, gestures, people or visual images and are used to convey ideas and beliefs

*Remember that some symbols are universal in meaning and despite language differences, we can all agree on the meaning of it.  Other times, however, symbols can carry a personal significance to us. 

Examples:

• The American flag - symbol for patriotism and freedom (but people in other countries might see it as a sign of hate, anger, etc)/
• The scarlet ibis: The ibis symbolizes Doodle.  They are both beautiful and fragile.
• Stop sign: Symbol to stop
• Bathroom signs: Symbols for the female and male restrooms. 
• McDonald's sign: Symbol for the fast food chain or animal cruelty (up to you to decide).
• Black: Symbol for death or mourning.
• Red: Symbol for love or passion.
• Heart: Symbol for love. 

Homework:
*Answer your discussion posts (remember your group number). Remember to use academic language and to use examples from the text!

Have a great weekend! Stay healthy! Thanks for being supportive of me and for bearing with my Darth Vader voice. :)