Black Leopard (Mehraz Rahman)
Professor Bump
Symbols for Fowler 3
Meditation beads to attain enlightenment and liberation from
the net of language
The meditation
beads, made from the wood of a Bodhi tree in India, are symbolic of Buddha and
his famous quest to attain enlightenment. In We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, the Cookes
have struggled with what it means to be a Òfamily.Ó According to Lowell, Fern
was, for all intents and purposes, their sister, regardless of her species. To
Rosemary, she was a beloved sister, though a stressful and burdensome one to
whom she was constantly being compared. To their parents, though they loved
Fern dearly, the danger and stress she posed to their other children was not
worth keeping her in their family. Like the Cookes,
people all over the world struggle with what it means to be a Òfunctional
family.Ó If they do not look or act like the picture-perfect nuclear family
with a mom, a dad, and children who get along and love each other, people often
struggle to accept their families the way they are.
Hammer of unity
The way that
Rosemary presented her story, by starting in the middle, was an interesting way
of hammering her thoughts into unity. Though it was by no means chronological,
the way her story was told was extremely impactful. She successfully hammered
all of her atypical but extraordinary life experiences into unity.
Shell of pilgrimage
The shell of
pilgrimage represents RosemaryÕs journey through her life, both mental and
physical. To escape her strange family dynamic, she moved away to UC Davis to
attend college. However, she ended up living with her mother, coming full
circle and completing a pilgrimage that helped her find her calling and
eventually lead a happy life. Lowell also does the same thing when he moves
away without warning after FernÕs exile but eventually finally comes to visit
Rosemary.