Before Reading

The Blue StonesAllegory by Isak Dineson

What problems are caused by JEALOUSY and GREED?

Jealousy and a desire for wealth are part of the human experience. But what happens when these feelings go too far? The selection you are about to read is about a woman whose jealousy and greed lead her to make an unwise decision.

QUICKWRITE Have you ever experienced or witnessed a time when jealousy or greed caused conflict? How did the conflict arise? What resulted from the conflict? Write two or three paragraphs describing the conflict and its outcome.

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READING 7 Explain the function of symbolism and allegory in literary works.

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Meet the Author

Complete the activities in your Reader/Writer Notebook.

Isak Dinesen18851962

Out of Africa The story you are about to read is an allegory by Isak Dinesen that tells a traditional-sounding tale. However, Dinesen is best known for Out of Africa, an autobiographical account of her years in British East Africa, now Kenya.

Born Karen Blixen in Denmark, Dinesens spirit of adventure was often at odds with her sheltered upbringing. After her father died and the cousin she loved refused to marry her, she defiantly set sail for Africa to marry the cousins twin brother, Bror Blixen-Finecke. In 1914, the couple established a coffee plantation in what is now Kenya. Blixen-Finecke was a wayward, faithless husband who often left Dinesen on her own. After the couple divorced in 1921, Dinesen ran the six-thousand-acre farm by herself for ten years.

Although Dinesen is often regarded as the European author who best captured the beauty of the African landscape, she wrote equally accomplished works about northern Europe and the Danish upper class. Many of her stories celebrate the power of women. After she returned to Denmark in 1931, she published Seven Gothic Tales, stories set in Europe hundreds of years ago and featuring mysterious events and persecuted heroines. She published Out of Africa in 1937.

literary analysis: allegoryAn allegory is a story that functions on two levels: a literal level and a symbolic level. The literal story may tell a tale that seems ordinary, of people and events. However, on the symbolic level, the allegory is likely to teach a moral lesson, relying on characters and events to represent abstract ideas or concepts, such as freedom, evil, or goodness.

To be effective, the allegory must succeed on both levels. It must tell an interesting story, and it must convey an important symbolic theme or lesson.

As you read The Blue Stones, think about the literal and symbolic levels of this allegory. Consider what the characters, objects, and events might stand for besides their literal meaning. Then think about how specific symbols work together to form the allegorys moral lesson.

reading skill: paraphraseWhen you paraphrase, you restate ideas from a text in your own words. Paraphrasing helps you better understand difficult or complex texts. A paraphrase should be shorter than or about the same length as the original source, and should contain all of the sources significant information.

As you read The Blue Stones, paraphrase the allegory to help you understand the symbolic meaning of characters and events. Use a chart like the one below.

What the story describes

There was once a skipper who named his ship after his wife. He had the figurehead of it beautifully carved, just like her, and the hair of it gilt.

My paraphrase

There once was a sea captain who named his ship after his wife and had a figurehead on it carved and painted to look just like her.

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Author Online

in 1937.

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.

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There was once a skipper who named his ship after his wife. He had the figurehead of it beautifully carved, just like her, and the hair of it gilt. But his wife was jealous of the ship. You think more of the figurehead than of me, she said to him. No, he answered, I think so highly of her because she is like you, yes, because she is you yourself. Is she not gallant, full-bosomed; does she not dance in the waves, like you at our wedding? In a way she is really even kinder to me than you are. She gallops along where I tell her to go, and she lets her long hair hang down freely, while you put yours up under a cap. But she turns her back to me, so that when I want a kiss I come home to Elsinore. aNow once, when this skipper was trading at Trankebar, he chanced to help an old native king flee traitors in his own country. As they parted, the king gave him two big blue, precious stones, and these he had set into the face of his figurehead, like a pair of eyes to it. When he came home he told his wife of his adventure, and said: Now she has your blue eyes too. You had better give me the stones for a pair of earrings, said she. No, he said again. I cannot do that, and you would not ask me if you understood. b

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The

isak dinesen

How does the photograph of this figurehead help evoke the mood of this allegory?

b

PARAPHRASEParaphrase what has happened in this allegory so far.

a

SYMBOLISMWhat do you think the figurehead symbolizes? What clues in the story help you understand its symbolic meaning?

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Still the wife could not stop fretting about the blue stones, and one day, when her husband was with the skippers corporation, she had a glazier of the town take them out, and put two bits of blue glass into the figurehead instead, and the skipper did not find out, but sailed off to Portugal. But after some time the skippers wife found that her eyesight was growing bad, and she could not see to thread a needle. She went to a wise-woman, who gave her ointments and waters, but they did not help her and in the end the old woman shook her head, and told her that this was a rare and incurable disease, and that she was going blind. Oh, God, the wife then cried, that the ship was back in the harbor of Elsinore. Then I should have the glass taken out, and the jewels put back. For did he not say that they were my eyes? But the ship did not come back. Instead the skippers wife had a letter from the Consul of Portugal, who informed her that she had been wrecked, and gone to the bottom with all hands. And it was a very strange thing, the Consul wrote, that in broad daylight she had run straight into a tall rock, rising out of the sea. c

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Language CoachPrefixes The prefix in- or im- often means not. When this prefix appears at the beginning of a word, it often negates the meaning of the rest of the word, such as inactive, meaning not active, or inaudible, meaning not audible. Reread line 24. What do you think is the meaning of incurable?

c

ALLEGORYWhat is the literal meaning of the blue stones in this story? What is their symbolic meaning?

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After Reading

Comprehension 1. Recall Whom does the ships figurehead resemble?

2. Recall What does the wife want the skipper do to with the blue stones?

3. Clarify When does the wifes eyesight begin to fail?

Critical Analysis4. Analyze Symbolism and Allegory What are the literal and symbolic meanings

of each character or object from the allegory? Use a chart like this one to record your answers.

5. Explain the Function of Allegory The function of allegories is often to teach a lesson or illustrate an important theme to the reader. How does this allegory function thematically?

6. Analyze Characterization Are the characters in this allegory round, fully-developed characters, or are they flat characters, who have one outstanding trait or role? Why do you think the author chose this form of characterization?

7. Paraphrase Paraphrase the events in this allegory. You can use your answer to question B on page 690 to help you get started.

8. Make Judgments Does this allegory effectively teach its lesson or convey its theme? Explain.

Character or Object

the ships figurehead

the blue stones

the skipper

the wife

Literal meaning Symbolic Meaning

What problems are caused by JEALOUSY and GREED?

How can we avoid these problems? Explain.

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READING 7 Explain the function of symbolism and allegory in literary works.

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