StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Jaybird as used in Devil in a Blue Dress - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
 This essay discusses using animal symbolism for character's behavior by Walter Mosley. The writer shows that we can see this in Raymond Alexander giving a mouse character, Daphne Monet being given chameleon character, and Easy Rawlins gave a jaybird character…
Download free paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER94.6% of users find it useful
Jaybird as used in Devil in a Blue Dress
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Jaybird as used in Devil in a Blue Dress"

 Jaybird as used in Devil in a Blue Dress Walter Mosley used animal symbolism for his characters behavior. We can see this in Raymond Alexander being give a mouse character, Daphne Monet being given chameleon character, and Easy Rawlins given a jaybird character. The novel relates the story of the jungle and animals seeking ways for survival. Raymond is nicknamed mouse showing his “animal instincts” (Mosley 23). Evidenced when he said, mouse would not think twice about killing anything that pose a danger to them.

Shown in the manner that joppy was got murdered; he shot him in the eye showing his inhumanity. He killed him without caring making killing look like an ordinary thing. He represents animal instinct where something must be killed.Daphne Monet, represents a chameleon where it changes colors from time to time. We can see this characteristic when her eyes turned from green to blue. She changed her personality when she changed from Ruby Green to Daphne Monet. She is seen to have divided nature, which make her act differently.

Seen in the bathroom when she said she remembered her mother’s death where she washed her wounds with a “rough rag and licked” (55) it until it dried (Mosley 55). You can see her changing the washing from gentle to rough enough to hurt, this ability to change the character makes it easier for her to survive in the jungle. She can move between races that are African- American, she can convince both races to help her, which is a good way to be an enemy and an ally (Mosley). She develops these survival tactics since she got hurt until she can no longer trust anyone.

This change could be because of her sexual abuse as a child this makes her another animal in the Jungle. Easy Rawlins is characterized by the jaybird from the book before he reads alexander’s letter. He described the scene as a bird looking at the evil dog. Jaybird represents Easy. This bird has the ability to fly from danger, but a dog on the ground distracts it. Evidenced when he has the capacity to leave the town away from violence but he chooses to stay back (Mosley). Jaybird is the only animal in the book that doesn’t kill suggesting that Easy is the only one who is not an animal instead he watched from a distance to see an animal fight.

It's evidence is proving that he can stand taller than anyone, no matter the challenges faced. Different characters in this book use the theme survival strategy. First is Daphne Monet we can see her changing from one personality to the other. She wants to fit in both African and American race asking both of them to help her therefore being an ally as well as an enemy. She does all this in order to be able to survive. Easy apply his survival tactics by moving from Huston to Los Angeles and struggled with life in order to get his life together.

Alexander uses animalistic survival tactic; he eliminated anybody who comes between them. The main theme used in this book is a survival strategy. Works CitedMosley, W. Devil in a blue dress. New York, Apprentice-hall publication. 1990 Print

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Jaybird as used in Devil in a Blue Dress Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/literature/1684895-devil-in-a-blue-dress-essay
(Jaybird As Used in Devil in a Blue Dress Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words)
https://studentshare.org/literature/1684895-devil-in-a-blue-dress-essay.
“Jaybird As Used in Devil in a Blue Dress Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/literature/1684895-devil-in-a-blue-dress-essay.
  • Cited: 1 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Jaybird as used in Devil in a Blue Dress

Blue Is Regarded as the Symbol of Strength, Happiness and Freedom

n a way we are all existing on a blue planet.... This is the reason why it is used in most events and concerts to attract the attention of audience.... Topic : Blue Blue is a theme which has a fascinating appeal that people all over the planet use it more prevalently for most of their dress code and decor purpose.... Blue also holds a prominent place in the military and defense arena as their dress code some way contain its usage....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

Post-war American Society in the Devil in a Blue Dress

The writer of this essay seeks to describe the details of the post-war social history of USA as depicted in the novel titled "devil in a blue dress".... I ate with them and slept with them, and I killed enough blue-eyed young men to know they were just afraid to die as I was.... was used to white people by 1948....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

What Defines Effective Care Planning for a Patient with Dual Diagnosis

Some of the tools to be used in the screening process will include the AUDIT and CAGE, which should provide a surprisingly significant amount of information that will be very useful in Sebastian'... Dual Diagnosis recovery has come out as the most thriving treatment aspects of psychiatric and drug abuse treatment where they are treated as part as a continuum instead of treating them one by one or separately by different clinicians....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Blue Shield 65 Plus

The targeting used in the strategy has also allowed Blue Shield 65 Plus to lessen its advertising expenses.... This paper, blue Shield 65 Plus, highlights that there are different types of advertising strategies that may be employed in certain areas in the business industry.... nbsp;… As the paper outlines, blue Shield 65 Plus, as a Medicare company, has started to involve in its communication to its target market who are Americans and Hispanics, with ages 65 and above....
2 Pages (500 words) Assignment

Marxism and Feminism - Bluer than Blue

Bluer than blue.... Goodrum and Wolpe, in the article, argues that the feminism approach presents that women still undergo emotional torture even in the contemporary world (Goodrum & Wolpe, 2000).... However, this paper opposes this idea and presents that this per se to some extent has radically… The era refers to the period when stronger feminists' personalities like Margret Thatcher endlessly advocated stronger upholding of women rights....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

Market Strategy of Blue Cross Blue Shield

This paper “Market Strategy of blue Cross blue Shield” will discuss the idea of virtualization and adapted to company's current IT infrastructure.... However, the key benefit that the blue Cross achieved was the fact that it allowed its customers to the accessibility of information without much delay.... nbsp; blue Cross had a huge dilemma of expanding their IT infrastructure boundaries by maintaining old records and creating space for new customers....
4 Pages (1000 words) Assignment

The Comparison of Narration Styles of Devil in a Blue Dress and The Maltese Falcon

This paper "The Comparison of Narration Styles of devil in a blue dress and The Maltese Falcon" discusses crime fiction as one of the famous genres of literature that provides the readers with a varying and versatile variety of mystery/detective novels.... “devil in a blue dress” is a novel about the tale of Easy Rawlins who is a black American and is a self-made detective by profession.... hellip; Although they might share similar thematic concerns yet the two different narrative techniques used by the respective authors sets them apart....
7 Pages (1750 words) Essay

Developing Emergent Literacy Skills in the Early Years

"Developing Emergent Literacy Skills in the Early Years" paper is a critical evaluation of literacy activities on the strategies used to promote reading skills among children based on early learning theories.... The first strategy used by the teacher to develop the writing skills of children was introducing the activity with a picture of Father Christmas.... nother important strategy the teacher used to develop the writing skills of the children were writing down and spelling out the letters for the children to copy....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us