manysplendidsunsonliterature

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What do the underground railroad stations symbolise in The Underground Railroad, and how does this relate to Cora’s experience in each state?

Reading time: 2 minutes

The novel ‘The Underground Railroad’ by Colson Whitehead portrays a disturbing yet necessary narrative of the fictional yet realistic life of a plantation slave in Southern America during the 1900s. The story follows the protagonist Cora throughout her life on the plantation, drawing emphasis on the struggles she faces there, as well as the struggles her mother and grandmother faced on the same plantation. We follow Cora as she builds the strength to escape the plantation like her mother did with another slave, Caesar, and travel to different places across the US via the Underground Railroad system to evade capture from the slave catcher Ridgeway, who failed to capture her mother.

The inspiring tale of Cora’s escape via the underground railroad is not entirely fictional and is inspired by the story of Harriet Tubman, a woman who managed to escape from slavery and risked her own life to liberate almost 100 people from slavery. Although the actual underground railroad was not a real railway, but an extensive tunnel used for transporting people, Colson Whitehead’s inspired novel showcases an actual underground railway, with each station symbolising something different. 

Cora’s journey begins as she escapes the plantation where she was enslaved in Georgia. This is where her use of the underground railroad begins. The station in Georgia is hidden beneath a barn that is hung with iron shackles. The farmer who helps Cora and Caesar into the railroad is called Lumbly, and he has a disturbing plethora of equipment used to torture slaves, including chains, leg restraints and other horrifying paraphernalia. The significance of the presence of this equipment is clear, as it symbolises the life that had contained Cora, and the life that she is leaving behind by travelling through the underground railway.

The station in South Carolina symbolises the opportunity for a greater life for Cora. The station is not adored with magnificent decor but showcases a simple table with some chairs and a basket of food. This display symbolises the life that awaits Cora and the lives of black people in South Carolina. Although it isn’t luxurious, it is freedom, where Cora is given the chance to get a job as a maid and Caesar can work in a factory. The station presents the improved quality of life that South Carolina has to offer. 

However, after life in South Carolina proves no longer safe, Cora travels to North Carolina. Once she arrives in North Carolina, she finds that the station appears to have caved in and been abandoned. Once the station agent Martin Wells finds her, he tells her that the station has closed due to ‘night riders’ descending upon the town and that the dire state of the station is actually to disguise it. The appearance of this station symbolises the lives of black people in this state.

The final station that Cora comes across isn’t a station and is more of an abandoned and overgrown cave. She meets a man named Ollie, who tells her that he will be heading to California and offers her a ride. The state of this station is particularly significant, as its emptiness symbolises an opportunity for growth. The station symbolises all that could stand before Cora, giving her an empty canvas to finally be in charge of creating her own destiny by travelling to California.

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Why is the church and religion's recurrence significant in The War Of The Worlds, and how does it symbolise a facade of safety?

Reading times: 2 minutes

The debate around the validity of religion has been floating around for a long time - is there a God? When I clasp my hands and speak openly to the image of a man in the sky, is he there? Or is it simply a tale created to calm people when they feel hopeless? We wonder; when the day comes that enough people pray for the intervention of a higher power in the time of an extinction event or mass destruction will he finally crawl down from his heavenly hiding place or is he, in fact, a fairy tale? 

The image of the church is shown frequently throughout the book, often appearing as a beacon of hope, giving the terrified civilians a feeling of reassurance. This is shown by the frequent ringing of the church bells during the crisis. At first, it seems the bells are ringing to present an image of normalcy, symbolising the stoic nature of the church, but also the blind eye it is turning towards conflict. 

As the crisis continues, the purpose of the bells changes. They are now being rung as a warning for citizens, imploring them to escape. This shift in purpose symbolizes how unstable the image of the church is. At first, it presents itself as a place of safety, where people can go to maintain normality for a brief minute, but as the conflict worsens the church itself seems as though it's making a ‘cop-out’, urging people to escape the city and go elsewhere.

The strength of religion is again questioned when the narrator seeks help from the Curate, putting his faith in the hands of a religious representative. Instead of comforting or helping the narrator, the Curate displays deranged behaviour, refusing to ration the food when the two are stuck in an unfavourable situation and his foolish behaviour eventually leads to his death at the hands of the aliens. 

The juxtaposition of the physical place that is the church changes during the conflict and after the conflict. During the invasion, the church is seen as a safe place to go, shown through the image of the man hiding from the aliens in the spire of a church. The church spire is a crucial image, as it symbolises the highest place in the church and therefore the closest to God. The spire is used throughout the story as a high vantage place to see the aliens, as well as a place high enough to escape the toxic fumes the aliens produce.

However, the strength of the church is put into question as the narrator walks through the streets and notes that the church spire is broken. The dome of St Paul’s Cathedral has also been damaged, symbolising the weakness of religion and how when the time came for help from a higher power, science and nature took care of the invasion, and the church had been damaged and had not helped.

The outcome of the invasion is a major factor in the argument put forward by H.G. Wells that religion is futile in the face of a crisis, due to how the apparent apocalypse ends. As the narrator is walking through the streets and sees no aliens, he learns that a bacterial infection has wiped out the aliens, as they had built up no immunity on Mars. 

The fact that although the church and religion put up a facade and appeared as though they were a place of solace and something for people to put their trust in, at the end of the invasion, the church had been left broken, while science and nature had protected the planet. This is significant because although the symbol of the church is brought up throughout the book as a saviour, ultimately the image of it symbolises its futility in the face of danger.

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A closer look at the significance of the presence of the song ‘Never Let Me Go’ in Chapter 6 of Never Let Me Go, and how this explains the further symbolism of the song throughout the novel.

Reading times: 2 minutes

In my experience of reading dystopian literature, a novel that comes to mind when studying Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro is The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, a story that addresses very similar themes to Ishiguro’s novel; a fight for the protagonist to simply retain her autonomy in a society that views her as a uterus to serve the more important. Although her experience within this society is dismal, simple pleasures give her joy, such as butter, which maintains her hope in freedom, she says as long as the handmaids ‘butter our skin to keep it soft, we can believe that we will someday get out, that we will be touched again.’

This motif of ordinary pleasures being kept hidden from a dystopian society is shown in Never Let Me Go as well, in the form of Kathy's tape of ‘Never Let Me Go’ by Judy Bridgewater. Kathy and the other students at Hailsham are clones, and their sole purpose is to be organ donors to their ‘possibles’ until they complete (die). Although Kathy knows the controversial topics that must be avoided at the famous boarding school that she attends, called Hailsham, such as smoking, she keeps this tape because it touches her deeply, despite it showing a cigarette on the cover, something that is banned for students. 

Kathy often finds herself playing the specific song from the tape, and although she doesn’t listen to most of the words she is drawn to the chorus that repeats the words ‘Never let me go… Oh baby, baby… Never let me go,’ and pictures herself as a mother in the future, nursing her baby that she struggled to have. 

The image of Kathy looking into her future and swaying with her baby, singing ‘Never Let Me Go’ is heartbreaking because as the reader we know that young Kathy will never grow up to have a child due to her status, and at this point, she does not know of her fate. This is where the symbolism of the song becomes clear, as it represents a scene of longing for something that will never happen, a theme that occurs frequently throughout the book. 

Then it all gets even sadder, as while Kathy rocks with her imaginary baby, she catches Madame watching her through a crack in the door and crying. Revealed to us later in the book, Madame is a strong supporter of clone rights and seeing her sob while watching Kathy makes the scene that much sadder.

However, in my personal experience, this scene makes me angry for Kathy. Madame, who is a distant person to the students, and seldom shows any emotion or care for them while knowing their situation is now caught sobbing witnessing Kathy in a vulnerable private setting. I believe it is ironic. Although Madame is a supporter of clone rights, at the end of the day she gets to go home and know that she has a say in her destiny, a luxury that a young Kathy does not.

The use of this song is significant, as it embodies the fears and inevitable fate of the clones. It also draws the difference between Kathy and her friends. At the end of the book, Tommy asks Kathy why she doesn’t just give up being a carer and complete. He sees her being a carer as wasting her purpose, as she will end up completing anyway. However, Kathy wants to prolong her life and seize opportunities, something that the lyrics of ‘Never Let Me Go’ symbolise, Kathy’s desire to not let go of her autonomy, and although she knows her fate is coming, she won’t let it get in the way of the little freedom she has left.

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How does the Monster in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein symbolise the Victorian fear of the progression of science?

Reading time: 2 minutes

Many literary works that have come out of the Victorian era have showcased a common theme: a fear of what could come of the progression of science. 

It’s no wonder that this fear was prevalent in Victorian society, considering that for centuries the slow progression of scientific advancement met a sudden burst of discoveries and developments in the 18th and 19th centuries. Scientific developments such as Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory as well as the peak of the Industrial Revolution shocked the traditionally polite and religious Victorian society and led to an outcry. Many people’s core beliefs had been fundamentally changed, especially the religious, who considered it blasphemous to suggest that God did not create the world in seven days.

These fears manifested themselves in literature, with publications such as Frankenstein portraying the public’s fear directly, as well as Jekyll and Hyde and The Picture of Dorian Gray (although this mainly focused on fears of social progression). Although the main theme of Frankenstein encapsulates the Victorian public’s fears, this post will focus more on the presentation of the Monster and how his character symbolises the consequences of careless human interference with science.

The Monster stands as a reminder of the consequences of meddling with science. Specifically, the moment that Victor Frankenstein creates the Monster is when he has the mental realisation that his carelessness has had consequences. Before the Monster is created, Victor cares little for ethical methods of scientific progression, in favour of doing whatever he deems necessary to make a revolutionary discovery, such as graverobbing and interfering with the law of nature. However, after he creates the Monster, he realises that by interfering too much with science he has created a biological sin, as the creation of the Monster symbolises how this specific progression of science has gone too far.

Another example of Victor’s negligence towards his scientific experiments is shown through his abandonment of the Monster. Although the Monster is born as a ginormous man, it has the intelligence of a newborn, and through Victor’s choice to run from his creation, he leaves the Monster to fend for itself. 

Since society perceives him as a beast, he learns to protect himself the only way he can, with his brute strength that others don’t possess. The Monster comes across as violent, yet we learn in the book that he is not inherently violent, and just learning from the only experiences he’s had in his life, ones of rejection and fear from Victor. The Monster’s symbolism of careless scientific progress is key here, as it shows how significant Victor’s negligence is, and how it has not only impacted him but other innocent people.

Although the Monster is used to symbolise Victorian society’s fear of scientific progression, it becomes clear throughout the novel that it is not the fear of scientific progression that society should fear, it is careless and irresponsible scientific experimentation that they should fear. Practically speaking, Victor Frankenstein is the protagonist of the novel, and the Monster is the antagonist, standing in Victor’s way as he aims to fix his scientific blunder. 

However, we learn as the story goes on that not only has Victor’s negligence led to the creation of the monster, but it also continues to fuel the Monster’s actions, as he continuously neglects his creation. If Victor had taken the steps to deal with his discovery properly, he could have taught the Monster how to function and avoided any casualty, and (this is me being ambitious) possibly had this mistake turn into something revolutionary for the progression of science, with more ethical routes in place.

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How does Jackie Kay present different opinions to Joss Moody’s bandages in the book Trumpet, and how does this symbolise how taboos around gender affect people’s perception of transgender people? 

Reading time: 2 minutes

I’ve always found it interesting that one simple opinion about someone’s appearance or how they present themselves can affect our entire perception of them. For example, when you’re sitting with your older relatives and someone walks past - a normal occurrence, and then you hear the dreaded words:

‘My God, would you look at that awful tattoo! Well, you know she’ll really regret that when she ages.’

Suddenly the woman is demonised; she’s no longer an average citizen going about her day and is now a foolish, rebellious idiot.

This attitude is replicated frequently in Jackie Kay’s ‘Trumpet’, with Joss’s bandages symbolising prejudice against transgender people. Binding is a common practice for many transgender and nonbinary people, as well as people experiencing gender dysphoria who are aiming to feel more comfortable in their bodies and is fluid depending on the person.

In their simplest form, Joss’s bandages are for a functional purpose; they act as tools to help Joss cover his breasts so that he can be perceived as a man. They appear to be somewhat of a safety blanket for him, which is shown in the passage when Joss first opens up to Millie, showing her the bandages and his breasts underneath. This topic is very close to Joss’s heart as he seems close to tears during this interaction. Joss’s discomfort surrounding his breasts is seen again later, but in a more routine setting, as though he has settled into his discomfort and it's just background noise in his everyday life, as Millie says that ‘he was always more comfortable once he was dressed.’

Joss’s discomfort with his body is not the only example of this displayed in the book. It seems even more of an offence to other characters in the book, such as the funeral director, Albert Holding.

The funeral director’s experience with Joss’s bandages presents just how quickly one small opinion about someone can change your entire perception of them. Holding is initially deeply confused about Joss’s lack of a penis. Once Holding comes to remove Joss’s bandages and reveal his breasts, this confusion turns into shock and disgust. His discovery about Joss’s gender changes how Holding sees him, noting that suddenly Joss looks much more feminine than before. 

Joss’s bandages are a significant recurring theme, as they are symbolic of how people see Joss. To him, the bandages are something that makes him more comfortable, but not something that defines him as a person, which is shown in the chapter ‘Music’, as Joss defines himself as having ‘no body, no past, nothing’ and describes his journey as the music itself takes him through the motions of being a little girl, to a man, to an old man and then to an old woman. 

However, there is another side to the symbolism of the bandages, which is how they present people’s negative opinions of transgenderism. Holding’s immediate preconceptions about transgender people are shown through his reaction to Joss’s bandages, and how they completely warp his idea of Joss in his head, changing to view Joss through a feminine lens after he discovers his genitals.

This is where Millie’s standpoint comes into play, as it shows how she sees the bandages not as a symbol of Joss’s gender, but as a symbol of Joss as a person, separate from his gender. Her action of sleeping with the bandages after Joss’s death symbolises that Millie’s love for Joss is deeper than his anatomy, and separates her from the other characters in the novel, who are dictated by hate and preconceptions, and shows that gender doesn’t have to define a person.