Do Now: Break back up into your groups, and write a quick recap of symbolism: What is it? Also, one of each in the middle (motif assignment, motif examples, chapter 12 HW)

Motif Defined In a literary work, a motif can be seen as an image, sound, action, concept or other figure, that has symbolic significance and contributes toward the development of theme (Webster). Motifs are images or objects that are reoccurring throughout a text. For example, the “Journey” motif is often accompanied by someone traveling, which can be represented by a reoccurring image of cars,trains, planes.

Motif Defined Often, the “Revenge” motif is accompanied with images of blood or the color red.

A motif is: A concept in the novel that is supported by reoccurring images, color schemes, language, and other figures. Concepts such as “Alienation,” “Self-Reliance,” “Revenge,” which help support the central theme of the novel. These concepts are then supported by images, actions, language (what the characters are saying) and other figures

Motif Example Motif 1: Escape Quote 1.: “I crawled back into bed and pulled the sheet over my head. But even that didn’t shut out the light, so I buried my head under the darkness of the pillow and pretended it was night” (Plath 117). Rationale 1: Esther is always looking to get away from what’s troubling her, and this quote represents that theme of escape. Esther is comforted by the darkness of the pillow and the idea of night, which keeps her from the responsibilities she faces in the light/daytime.

Motif Example Motif : Purity Example: The longer I lay there in the clear hot water the purer I felt…” (Plath 20). Rationale: Throughout the novel, Esther is trying to get her self clean, both physically and spirtually, whether that’s in a bath tub or wearing the color white. In this example, Esther is trying to cleanse herself from New York City through bathing.

MOTIFS You Can Explore From The Bell Jar The Suicide Obsession Alienation Light vs Dark Contrast Silence Death Birth (babies) Marriage Whiteness/Purity Attempt at Perfection Mirrors Fashion Newspaper Clippings Beauty Wealth Writing The Fig Tree

Group Outline 1. Each group must finish finding 3 symbols from their chapters with a quote and rationale for each symbol. 2. Each group must find two motifs anywhere from chapter 1 through chapter 11 with a quote and a rationale for each motif. 3. Each person in the group, including the scribe, must hand in a written copy with their name and group number. 4. The symbol and motif segments can be on the same sheet.