Symbolism in Janus

4 Jonathan Whidden English 1900B Ian McAdam September 29th,2012 Symbolism in Janus The gyre was just a public treasury. (Beattie 455) In the sm all vernals report Janus writer Anne Beattie uses a simple manger to be the central focus of symbolism in the story. The scene of action bottomland be construe to mean or play umteen different things. The orbit belongs to the protagonist of the story Andrea, a victorious in truth soil element who is marry to her economise of some(prenominal) geezerhood. It has been argued that the pipe roster symbolizes e verything from the brio that Andrea lives or the universe that Andrea lives in.Though there are fond arguments for these arguments among umpteen a nonher(prenominal) others, I believe the strongest distinguish of what the bun symbolizes is a personality or traits of a character that repeats itself passim the story. This character is not so coincidentally the title of the short story Janus. In the following tu rn up I w autistic argue that the scroll symbolizes an ancient god by the have of Janus and all of his traits powers or attributes. Beattie uses the bowl to symbolize all of the traits of the ancient god thru the disembodied spirit of our protagonist Andrea.To begin we must judge who this god was believed to be so we quarter relate it to the story. Janus is the Roman god of furnish and doors, low gears and endings, and hence represented with a fraudulent head, from each one looking in pivotal directions. He was worshipped at the beginning of the harvest time, planting, marriage, birth, and other types of beginnings, especially the beginnings of substantial events in a persons disembodied spirit. Janus as well as represents the revolution mingled with primitive liveliness and civilization, between the countryside and the city, peace and war, and the growing-up of young people. (Janus) 4As mentioned above, it is no coincidence that Beattie chose this title. The dicke ns faces Janus the god has is a symbolism in itself, it symbolizes deceit as I interpret cardinal-facedness as being baseless or as Beattie writes tricked. We will canvas that Andrea herself, proves to be deceitful and misguided, she is tricked herself. Andrea excessively is also stuck between two different lifes as we come to learn. She is stuck in the middle of new beginnings and endings in her relationships. Andrea seems unsure or lacks he courage to decide which path she would bid to take. Andreas life had some doorways she could ave open up, unfortunately for Andrea, she stay on the doorstep. There are two important factors of Andreas life that the bowl plays a major part in, her social life and her professional life. Lets begin with Andreas social life. Andrea is married to her husband of several years. Though Andrea and her husband have been together for a few years, they have no children together. Andrea and her husband two have their own successful public lifes a s Andrea is a real estate agent and her husband a stock broker. For all the financial success they enjoy, their marriage was uttermost from perfect.Both Andrea and her husband are a crapper a wish well until now distant from each other. They were both quiet people- reflective, slow to kick in value judgments. (Beattie 455) Their relationship is where the symbolism of bowl comes into play, the bowl was a gift from a causation l over of Andreas. The bowl was in reality a gift from a former fan. She had first seen the bowl several years earlier, at a crafts fair she had visited half in secret, with her lover. (Beattie 456) Andrea hid the origins of the bowl from her husband which is evidence of her two-facedness, There were times where she cute to guggle to her usband about the bowl. (Beattie 455)The fact that Andrea has kept the origins of bowl rom her husband is an example of her deception. It also shows an unwillingness to allow go of the past. If Andrea wanted to rel inquish herself of the memories of this former relationship, would she not rid herself of all gifts or memories from the relationship? sooner she grows an unhealthy attachment to the bowl over time, valuing it over her relationship with her husband. Communications issues are just the issue of the 4 job with Andrea. Andrea is not without guilt, she does show an urge to chew out to her husband about he bowl, save her fear and the consequences that could come from it were stronger. Doors would be opened and abuttingd, perhaps she would have to let go of the bowl, something she seems unwilling to do. Her relationship ended with her lover because of her indecision, her unwillingness to start something new and close the door on her marriage. Her lover say that she was always as well as slow too know what she really loved.Why continue with her life the way it was? Why be two-faced, he asked her. He had found the first ladder toward her. When she would not decide in his favour, w ould not hange her life and come to him, he asked her what made her think she could have it both ways. (Bettie 456) Beattie gives us strong evidence of the symbolism of the bowl. Andreas career is the other important aspect of her life where the bowl greatly influences her decisions and contains more strong evidence of its symbolism. As mentioned, Andrea is a successful real estate agent. (She had a very profitable year selling real estate.Word spread, and she had more clients than she felt comfortable with. (Beattie 455) Andrea utilize the bowl as well as other tricks to help her in her career, or so she thought. When she thought that some future buyers might be dog lovers, she would discount off her dog at the uniform time she would place the bowl in the house that was up for barter. It can be argued that there is nothing morally scathe with these tricks that Andrea used to sell houses, I would agree. up to now the real deception comes from the bowl itself. Andrea has al lowed the bowl to take credit for work she has done, allowing the bowl to deceive her.She was sure that the bowl brought her wad. (Beattie 455 Bids were often put in on houses where she had displayed the bowl. There is no evidence at all to suggest that the bowl influences the sale of the house. There is no question that customers like the look of the bowl, some even inquire on where the bowl came from. Once Andrea got a call from a char who had not put in an offer on a house she had shown her. That bowl, she said- would it be workable to find out where the owners had bought that 4 scenic bowl. Andrea pretended that she did not know what the woman was referring to. (Beattie 454)This is more evidence of Andreas two-facedness or deceit, ill will intended or not, Andrea is not ompletely honest with her clients. Unfortunately for Andrea, she allows the bowl to deceive her, convincing her that it is the causality she closes so many houses. How could a bowl do this, The bowl was ju st a bowl. (Beattie 455) I do believe Beattie shifts the meaning of the bowl throughout the story. At times the bowl represents Andreas life, how significant things are the only things she values, it shows a habituation on material things because of her passionless marriage. another(prenominal) times the bowl represents her inability to make a decision or to let go of her past relationship.It symbolizes her fear of choosing a path, choosing a door, closing relationships and starting new. Andrea kind of allows the bowl to dictate her decisions. As mentioned above, arguments can and have be made for many different meanings . the bowl always returns to its roots. It came from a hidden relationship, it is used to trick business firm buyers. The bowl is a representation of a past relationship, one she had an opportunity to start a new life with, yet she didnt. She is stuck in the middle of two doors, two paths. There is no beginning or end for Andrea because she evidently lacks the courage or .The bowl represents the two-faced nature of Andrea, her foxiness her two relationships. It deceives Andrea in convincing her that it is the reason for her success. The bowl was just a bowl. (Beattie 455) All these examples directly symbolize the traits or attributes of the ancient god Janus Works Cited 1. Beattie, Ann. Janus. The Norton unveiling to Literature. Ed. Allison Booth, Kelly J. Mays. New York Norton, 2010. 453-456. 2. Janus. Encyclopedia Mythica. 2012. Encyclopedia Mythica Online. 01 Oct. 2012 www. pantheon. org/articles/j/janus. html.