Black Hawk War

The Symbolic Irony of The Cranes

The short story The Cranes has a lot of synopsis that lead up to the final ending of two people’s lives. I would like to interpret how I believe the two people took their last breathes together; before, we get into that part of the story let us take some time to get to know them.

The two people are the everyday people next door. They seemed to have kept to themselves and raised their children. They are an older couple who are ready to call it quits. They are your high school sweethearts that have grown up in lived in the same town forever. There health is not in the best of shape due to age and other unforeseen turns in life. I want you to take a walk with me as I show how the events lead up to the tragic end. I want you to see that there are symbols in the story as to what they believed and how this interacts to The Cranes.

The loving couple had a belief in god; but, questioned a lot of his decisions that he has made for their future. In the story they make not only on mention of the non belief, but show us three times. One of the times that they wanted to show his disgust was when the husband had nine martinis’s to drink. The priest had said something to him that he did not agree with. His remark to the priest was “to step outside and see whose side God was one”? That might just be the booze talking. There is another time that they showed their distaste for the word of god. The couple was sitting in the still of the isolation watching the birds in the water. They could have heard a pin drop. That is when the husband asked the wife if she wanted to listen to the radio. The comment that was made about the radio was if she wanted to listen to gospel station. They would be able to make fun of the preacher as he spoke to them over the radio. He asked his wife if she wanted to puke listening to the word of God. In the story they also make a comment about them having sex and maybe the kids knowing about it. They wanted to make...