Alan Cheung ` 04.19.15
Gender Lit UH1
"The following morning, as the smoke cleared, the city's flag could once again be seen. Remember the symbol on it? A phoenix rising from the ashes. And the words beneath? Speramus meliora; resurget cineribus. 'We hope for better things; it will rise from the ashes.' " (251)
I think this passage was incredibly significant because it describes rebirth or being reborn without saying “birth or reborn”. The author also chose to repeat the phrase in Latin and English again. The author chose to keep the city flag up although it is not specifically said in the passage I can almost imagine it flapping against the wind while the city burns. It also seems like a biblical or religious text. I can see it in some form of religious text because of the use of Latin and the way it speaks about rising from the ashes. As if God or Allah had a plan to rebuild the city and to be patient and have faith in the lord. The phoenix is also a mythical creature that can is often a symbol for rebirth because they supposedly when they die they become ashes and are reborn a small baby phoenix. Phoenix's interestingly enough do not develop a sex until much later in their life. The sex they develop also may be different from the one in their previous life. These things are significant because the change is also shown in Callie, while she identifies as a female right now she later does become to identify as a more masculine identity. (AKA Cal) The author chose to include a phoenix that happens to go through a similar shift between genders with a transitional phase that the bird does not identify with either sexes.
No comments:
Post a Comment