Journal 4

Symbolism is a tool that authors use to convey meaning beyond the plot. Symbols can allow readers to gain insight into a character’s thoughts or provide a sense of dramatic irony or foreshadowing. For example, in the story “The Tenth of January” Elizabeth Stuart Phelps uses blood imagery to signify that something is about to change in her protagonist Asenath’s mind. Most often the narrator uses blood to describe a source of light, such as flames or the sun, refracting off of a body of water in order to signify that something is about to happen: “An oriflamme of scarlet burned in the west, flickered dully in the dirty, curdling water, flared against the windows of the Pemberton, which quivered and dripped, Asenath thought, as if with blood” (Phelps 4). Shortly after this passage Asenath sees her fiancée looking at her close friend Del in a way that he never did for her. Blood is also used to describe the river on the morning of the fire. The use of blood imagery is a way of describing how flames are reflected on water, which is especially ironic considering why so many girls died in the Pemberton Mill fire.