Fire and Water
Transcript: Fire “…my hands dry and quiet on its dry pages. My throat, too, is dry, and my mouth. As I brush my fingers over my own wrist, the skin seems too white after the sunburned years, and too dry, powdery as blown dust when the rains failed, flaking with dryness as an old bone will flake and chalk, left out in a sun that grinds bone and flesh and earth to dust as though in a mortar of fire with a pestle of crushing light” (Laurence 54). Water Religion FIRE Job 29:18 “Then I thought, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days like the pheonix. Death Symbolize Life Support: Realisation of her spiritual longing for water Thesis: Fire and Water illustrate one's internal struggle's through destruction and rebirth Weakness Mark 1:17: "Come after Me, and I will make you become fishers of men." Support: Fish Imagery Murray F. Lees and Hagar sharing light “I wouldn’t cry in front of strangers, no matter what” (Laurence 242). VS. turning to ash “I drag myself to the surface” (Laurence 289). “Nothing is ever changed at a single stroke, I know that full well, although a person sometimes wishes it could be otherwise” (Laurence 88). - The phoenix is a symbol of Christ and his resurrection - Hagar strives to be reborn, yet cannot escape, she has lost hope in a God who is able to do so 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. “'I can’t, Matt.' I was crying, shaking by torments he never even suspected, wanting above all else to do the thing he asked, but unable to do it, unable to bend enough” (Laurence 25) This leads to... “I try a little, to pray, as one's meant to do at evening, thinking perhaps the knack of it will come to me here. But it works no better than it ever did” (Laurence 160). Fire and water consume and salvage “Marvin. He’s alone. My mind surfaces. Up from the sea comes the fish. A little further – try. There” (Laurence 303). “They’re not actually burned you know, not until afterward. It’s the smoke…. But how do I know its quick? It might not be. I’d only know for sure if it happened to me” (Laurence 233). “I wouldn’t cry in front of strangers whatever it cost me” (Laurence 242). “What's so merciful about him, I'd like to know?” (Laurence 120). “I wouldn’t let him see me cry, I was so enraged” (Laurence 9). realizing her fragility Passion “She only had herself to blame, for she was a flimsy, gutless creature.. caring with martyred devotion for an ungrateful fox-voiced mother... when Regina died... the old disreputable lady rose frrom sick- smelling sheets and lived. No need to say God rest her soul, for she must be laughing spitefully in hell, while virginal Regina sighs in heaven” (Laurence 4). Old Testament WATER New Testament Water representing God's love Hagar resists religion, being "caught in God's net", yet ends up cleansing herself of her guilt tangled in the fishing nets in the cannery. “My mind surfaces. Up from the sea comes the fish. A little further- try. There” (Laurence 303). “The leaves of my lilac bushes were burnt yellow, and the branches snapped if you touched them” (Laurence 169). Old Testament- often in the old testament water is used as examples of God's power and wrath, of fear, and of death “I wrest from her the glass, full of water to be had for the taking. I hold it in my own hands. There. There" (Laurence 308). Drought Support: Spiritual Thirst - warmth - light New Testament- water is connected with cleansing and the idea of eternal life being free from sin HAGARS NAME: means flight, yet she has never been able to fly away from her life into a new one, as a pheonix can, she is trapped, and wishes for the ability to create fresh starts, to burn away her past and begin anew. Intro comparing her pain to drowning Fire and Water Responsible life is uncontrolable and wild, like fire Support: Inability to escape Fire represents God's wrath Acceptance Water is a symbol of life, it is a necessary element which without, we as humans would not be able to survive. “I was never much a one for church... I'll tell you frankly. But I prayed like sixty when trouble came, as every person does... but nothing ever came of it” (Laurence 120). Fire and water are parallels Fire = a destroyer and yet a purifier water = a drowning force and a sustainer of life They contradict each other, and move in a constant cycle of good and evil. This ever shifting perspective on religion is something that most people face, it is very rare when someone goes through life without questioning their belief system or lack of one. Works Cited Water = feminity John and Dan = frail, like Hagar's mother “But this rain’s ease is deceptive. There’s an unpleasant persistence about it. It could get on a person’s nerves, to listen for long” (Laurence 161). 'I feel I might not be able to return, even if I open my eyes. I may be swept outward... forced into the rough sea, held under
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