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What is the symbolism in the story of 'The Far and the Near'?
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The symbolism in "The Far and the Near" highlights the contrast between perception and reality. The train symbolizes the engineer's forward momentum and detachment from true reality. His idealized vision of the town and its inhabitants, formed from a distance, crumbles when he confronts the real, harsh world. This mirrors the disillusionment of America during the Great Depression, shifting from hope to despair.
The symbolism is evident in the title of the story that presents diametrically opposite concepts. The author points out the difference between perception and reality. The Far and the Near is a story of a railroad engineer, who passes a cottage every day and waves to the women standing on the porch. The simple images of the town, the cottage, the woman, and her daughter, help him break the monotony of his job. The idyllic vision becomes a coping strategy and helps him through tough times. The sentimental engineer decides to meet the women after he retires, but things do not go as he plans. The quaint and peaceful town looks strange and unfamiliar. The women seem different and act hostile. The engineer is shocked and disillusioned. The unpleasant experience precludes his hopes of friendship and ruins a beautiful memory.
The engineer's unfounded optimism is symbolic of the time in...
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which the story was written. In the 1930s, America went through the Great Depression that created a shift from prosperity and hope to poverty and despair.
Perhaps the most prominent symbol in "The Far and the Near" is the train. By their nature, trains move in a single direction: forward. Even when the journey is repeated day after day, as it is for the engineer, his momentum is forward, predictable, and in a sense, removed from the reality of what lays beyond the tracks. He comes to understand the world of his route only from a distance, and he invents, in his mind, a reality surrounding the house as one of " tidiness, thrift, and modest comfort."
When the engineer leaves the back and forth momentum of his train's daily journey and makes a lateral move, it is disorienting and ultimately disappointing for him. The illusions created by the train's limited directions have left him unprepared for the realities of what the mother and daughter are like when he leaves the familiarity of the rails and ventures into the world that the tracks bisect.