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Second Fig

Page history last edited by William Patrick Wend 10 years, 7 months ago

Second Fig Group Discussion Questions


Biography

  • Born in 1892
  • Graduated from Vassar College and lived in New York afterwards
  • Feminist, Suffragist, and Bisexual

 

Second Fig originally published in A Few Figs From Thistles (1920) 


Religious Symbolism

  • Fig trees are a prominent aspect of Genesis. Adam & Eve fashioned their clothes out of a fig tree after eating the forbidden fruit
  • Figs are also prominent in Matthew and Jeremiah
  • Life is built on a solid rock (Jesus) and not on sand (secular world) 
  • Rocks and sand represent risks
  • Living versus security
  • "Safe upon the solid rock the ugly houses stand"-->Luke 13:6--9 A vine keeper holds out hope that a barren fig tree will bear fruit next year.
  • "Come and see my shining palace built upon the sand!"-->Matthew 24:32--36, Mark 13:28--32, Luke 21:29--33 
  • Mocking people who take pride in possessions 
  • Poem also references Matthew 7:24-27 and the story of the two builders... 

Sexual Symbolism

  • Figs are also associated with sexuality...nourishment, abundance, and procreation
  • Beauty is sand...it doesn't last
  • Morals are the ugly house on the rock. They are the ugly truth which stands the test of time 

References Elsewhere

  • Virtue---A Fig! (Othello)

Questions?

  • Is it better to have loved briefly than lived a normal, passionless, pain free life? 
  • Happy less time than a general contentness
  • Could this be a metaphor for class systems?
    • Solid, ugly house=Upper class
      • They don't make their own house, so no pride in it 
  • Is this story a metaphor for federal government spending (FEMA) 

 

 

Jefferson pg23

 

 

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