Religious Symbolism in And Sarah Laughed

A detailed Summary of Religious Symbolism in And Sarah Laughed

Character Analysis and Religious Symbolism in Greenberg's

>From the beginning of her career, Joanne Greenberg has excelled in creating thoughtful characters fighting to portray their independent spirit. (Hallsworth, 2) And Sarah Laughed is a short story of the lives of an unlikely couple who are living worlds apart despite the fact that they have been happily married for the past 25 years. Greenberg, whose writing incorporates a religious symbolism, pens a touching story that takes readers on a journey with a stubborn, yet loving women who reaches a level of serenity and acceptance as she bravely "places her hand out" into a new found world of expression.

Greenberg's device of writing, through literary techniques, allow And Sarah Laughed to surpass the length of detail needed to make a story such as this appealing, subsequently describing the relationship of this unique household. Her depiction of the characters as a seemingly ordinary couple, separated by lack of words, is more substantial for her purpose-writing a short story based upon the impact of their lives have on each other. Thus, the comparison of actually living with the inability to hear or living with a person who has the inability to hear

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Religious connotation is also manifested in And Sarah Laughed through the character symbolism and literary expression. The entire work contains words denoting the story of Sarah in Genesis 18, as written in the Bible. This causes the reader to become transformed into a person of faith by the end of the story. In the Bible, Sarah desires a baby, but she is unable to conceive for her husband after trying many times. Therefore, Sarah accepts the fact that there is no use in continuing trying and that she is too old to have a child. However, God tells her that she is to bear a son the following year for her husband and fulfill their wish. Sarah laughed because she was scared. When Sarah did give birth, she praised, "God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me..." In comparison to Greenberg's story, Sarah becomes closed minded to the fact that there is another way of communicating with her husband-she was scared. However, Janice, who compares to God in!

Although Sarah realized that she is loved and accepts the fact that her husband cannot speak to her with words, she begins to feel lonely. Since she has lived with "silence" for so long, it has become a part of her way of life as well and the marriage becomes "good enough". Therefore, Sarah consoles herself with thoughts that "their neighbors saw in them the dignity and strength of two people who do not rail against misfortune, who were beyond trivial talk and gossip; whose lives needed no words." To her, there was no changing this. Perhaps, her loneliness was accented when

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Approximate Word count = 1105
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English