Symbolism In Silver Water

Words: 911
Pages: 4

In Amy Bloom’s story, “Silver Water,” the narrator and her family care for her older sister Violet diagnosed with a mental illness. The narrator discusses how caring for Rose affected the family, physically weakening them, but making them all mentally stronger. In the story “SIlverWater,” Amy Bloom uses color symbolism and object symbolism to show the hardships families face when trying to help their children diagnosed with mental illness.
In the scene where Rose meets her new therapist Dr. Thorne it started off bad, but for the first time Rose connects with Dr. Thorne because of the way he looked and acted towards Rose. Dr. Thorne works with Rose in a different way than most therapists did and shows Rose that she is worth something to other
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In ending scene Violet wakes up in the middle of the night. Violet checks on Rose to only discover she isn’t in her room anymore. Violet becomes worried and searches the property to find Rose barely breathing outside in the lawn under the moon and stars with a bottle of pills in her hand. Violet realizes what Rose has done, but Rose decides not to save Rose leaving her to die when the sun comes up. Violet returns to her mother to with the news of Rose’s death. The narrator states,”Every step I took over whelmed me; I could picture my mother slapping, shooting me for letting her favorite die. Warrior queens; she said, wrapping her thin strong arms around me. I raised warrior queens.” Not only does this quote show the strength the mother has left in her after caring for Rose for so long when they go into the description of her thin but strong arms. The quote also shows that Rose has all made them mentally stronger in knowing what decisions to make for the better, for example Violet letting Rose die instead of saving her. The mother seeing this as a warrior act just like how Rose was a warrior throughout the story by persevering through her mental illness. As a warrior is a brave or experienced soldier or a fighter show throughout the story that the family as a whole are soldiers caring for