2. Key Points
1. Before the mid 20th century, writers could count on people being very familiar with Biblical stories, a common touchstone a writer can tap
2. Common Biblical stories with symbolic implications
3. Garden of Eden: women tempting men and causing their fall, the apple as symbolic of an object of temptation, a serpent who tempts men
to do evil, and a fall from innocence
4. David and Goliath—overcoming overwhelming odds
5. Jonah and the Whale—refusing to face a task and being “eaten” or overwhelmed by it anyway.
6. Job: facing disasters not of the character’s making and not the character’s fault, suffers as a result, but remains steadfast
7. The Flood: rain as a form of destruction; rainbow as a promise of restoration
8. Christ figures (a later chapter): in 20th century, often used ironically
9. The Apocalypse—Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse usher in the end of the world.
10-. Biblical names often draw a connection between literary character and Biblical character.
3. Quotes for Analysis
“CONNECT THESE DOTS: garden, serpent, plagues, flood, parting of
waters, loaves, fishes, forty days, betrayal, denial, slavery and escape,
fatted calves, milk and honey. Ever read a book with all these
things in them? Guess what? So have your writers. Poets. Playwrights.
Screenwriters. “
4. Quotes for Analysis
“Then there are all those names, those Jacobs and Jonahs and Rebeccas and
Josephs and Marys and Stephens and at least one Hagar. The naming of a
character is a serious piece of business in a novel or play. A name has to sound
right for a character – Oil Can Harry, Jay Gatsby, Beetle Bailey – but it also
has to carry whatever message the writer want to convey about the character or
the story.”
5. Quotes for Analysis
“Wait a minute. Innocence maybe. But the Fall? Sure. Innocence, then its loss.
What more do you need? Something biblical. A serpent, an apple, at least a
garden. Sorry, no garden, no apple. The bazaar takes place inside. But there are
two great jars standing by the booth, Joyce says, like Eastern guards. And
those guards are as biblical as it gets: “So he drove out the man; and he placed
at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which
turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”
6. Examples
● Evan Almighty
● The Bible
● Adam and Eve
● 2012
● Noah’s Ark
● The Greatest Story Ever Told
● The Passion of the Christ
● Son of God
● Noah
● Jonah a Great Fish Story
