Analysis Of Imagery In 'To Kill An Olive'

Essay
Q. Imagery offers the opportunity to explore the relationship between humankind and the natural world. Discuss this with close relation to Butchers Budgies, To Kill An Olive and one Other Related Text.
As the idiom “art imitating life” so too does imagery. It is through the communication of images in their spoken, written and visual form that our perceptions of and relationship with others and our world are revealed.
This relationship between mankind and the natural world can be foreseen as hostile, fragile, destructive, harmonious, undesirable and to some extent dependent on one another. These images are illustrated in To Kill An Olive, Butchers Budgies and the WWF advertisement. Through the imagery within each, they all have the power to evoke our understanding of the complexity of the relationship between mankind and the natural world and further explore these relationships as well as the attitudes established in the communication of images and the textual forms and features of the median and mode of communication.
Images shape meaning and certain aspects to the world are represented through images. The fragility of the natural world is represented through images contained in To Kill An Olive as well as the WWF advertisement. Throughout to TKAO the images of mankind’s relationship with natural world appear regularly. One of the most common images seen is the one of a fragile relationship. This notion is seen in the opening stanza through the metaphor “invading armies will fell them” The allusion to war provides the image of mankind in a battle with the natural world. This image helps to provide the perception of a fragile relationship in that both have the tendencies to be able to affect one another vulnerabilities in catastrophic ways.
Similarly the WWF ad also displays similar images of the fragile relationship between mankind and the natural world in a visual form. A sequence of shots shows images of mankind helping preserve the beauty and abundance of nature. For example one shot shows mankind helping preserve the environment that surrounds the kangaroos of Australia. This sequence of shots conveys the image of mankind’s actions leading to a change in the natural world, therefore expressing the fragility of the natural world.
Imagery communicates how life can be reflected through various images. Within TKAO and BB, images of a hostile relationship are displayed. TKAO first displays this image in the opening stanza through the colloquial language in “Hack one down, grub out a ton of mainroot for fuel…” The violence denoted by images of man ‘hack[ing]’ and ‘grub[bing]’ allude to the hostility and frustration created by futile attempts to kill an olive tree.
Furthermore the image of a hostile relationship is further enhanced in BB. Throughout the poem the image of an undesirable relationship is seen which also denotes the hostility in this relationship. In the opening line of the opening stanza this hostility is illuminated. The metaphor of “these unwanted lovers” highlights this hostility. This image denotes the vulgarness of the flies and man’s undesirability to be associated and have any relation to the flies.
Imagery is a window of which certain ideas that have been portrayed by it can be viewed. Contained in BB and the WWF

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