Noura : The Nightingale renounces to life to create a red rose, so the Student could dance with the girl he loves. This gesture makes me think that the Nightingale represents the sacrifice people make for love, the part of themselves they have to sacrifice in a relationship. In fact, in lines 37-39, the Nightingale says: "Yet Love is better than Life, and what is the heart of a bird compared to the heart of a man?" I think the sentence clearly shows the importance of love for the Nightingale, and how much she is ready to sacrifice for it.
I think the Rose symbolizes the birth of love, and the hope people should have in love. In fact, the girl with who the Student is in love promised him to dance with him if he brought her a red rose. If he'd bring her a red rose, the Student could "hold her in [his] arms, and she will lean her head upon [his] shoulder, and her hand will be clasped in [his]". This shows that for the Student, the red rose brings a promise of love.
NOTE: THE OTHER TEAM MEMBERS' RESPONSES ARE STATED AS COMMENTS.
Xavier: I personally think that, in the story, the main symbol is the rose. In fact, during the whole story, the nightingale has a simple goal in mind, and it's to find a red rose for a boy. If the boy gets his red rose, he's going to be able to dance with the girl he loves. This rose symbolizes hope people can have in love. In fact, by having a red rose, the boy hopes he will dance with his girl, he hopes she will love him. However, at the end of the story, when she rejects him, he throws the rose away, like if he threw his hope in love away.
ReplyDeleteI also think that the nightingale represent, as Noura said earlier, the sacrifice people have to do when they’re in love with someone. In this case, the little bird decided to give her life for love, she decided to die, to sacrifice herself to make sure the boy lives his love. She thinks love is the most important think in live and she wants to do everything she can to help the boy.
Jérémy : There is no doubt about what the Nightingale symbolizes in the story. Like Xavier and Noura said before, the Nightingale is the symbol of the sacrifice everybody does when they are in a relationship. In the story, the nightingale prefers to give her life for the rose, to help the student. This action will bring the student his only hope to dance with the girl he is in love with. Unfortunately, this sacrifice will be worthless, because the girl will prefer the jewels that another boy gave her...
ReplyDeleteNow, for the rose, I think it symbolizes the hope you have just before a relationship. You know, when you love a girl, but you don’t know if she loves you. It is the same situation for the student. The only thing he knows is that the rose is his only key to dance with the girl. The rose is the symbol of hope for the young man, but at the end of the story, the rose doesn’t symbolize hope anymore, but the sadness that love sometimes brings you.
Elisabeth:
ReplyDeleteIn the short story The Nightingale and the Rose, the nightingale symbolizes sacrifice. When people are in a relationship, they often have to sacrifice many things in order to make that relationship work. The Nightingale did the biggest of all sacrifices, she sacrificed her life!
Then, I think the rose is the symbol of all the expectations and the hope that the student has to be with the girl that he loves. That hope will die at the end, just like the rose will be thrown away