The+Death+of+an+Outcast

Sam Jones 1B __The Death of an Outcast__

Throughout time, people who do not conform with society have been thrust out and rejected. Most outcasts are people who have interests and concerns that do not conform to modern society’s perception. Outcasts often feel alone in the world, which many times will lead to their downfall. __The Death of an Outcast__ is a portrayal of the downfall of an individual who did not conform to society, and shows the flaw of modern society in that they do not accept differences in thought. The figure being hung is a white bishop. The rest of society is represented by other black chess pieces. The color of the individual being hung shows that he is different from society, as an outcast would be. The fact that the outcast is a bishop is a criticism of the failing and suppression of religion that is happening in modern society. Outcasts of a society in literature are often associated as being enamored with fine art and nature. The shell represents nature, while the picture of Venus on it is a reference to fine art. This is an allusion to the painting, //The Birth of Venus//, by Boticelli. In the painting, Venus is being born above an open sea shell, but the shell is flipped over in the box. This painting was done at a time of rebirth of classical culture, but __The Death of an Outcast__, is referring to a death of this culture. The shell being flipped signifies that Venus is not being born, just repressed. The guitar pick next to the shell also signifies music. The black chess pieces seem to be guarding this fine art from the white piece. They are standing in front of the art, and are all aggressive chess pieces. This signifies that society will do its best to try and suppress things from people that they do not want them to know. The black knight is holding the key of knowledge and protecting it from the white piece. This signifies that society will do its best to withhold knowledge. If the white piece was able to gain the key of knowledge, it would be able to see and unlock the power of the fine art and music that is being hidden. There is also a camera present in this work. It is pointing at the aggressive chess pieces that represent society. It is not focused in anyway on the art or music. This is a criticism of how obsessed modern society is with war. War seems to be the defining characteristic of how a society functions today, rather than fine art or religion. The camera shows how little society focuses on things that actually matter. The scene depicted in this box is an allusion to the final scene in __Brave New World__. The white piece can be compared to John the Savage and the black pieces are Brave New World Society. In the final scene, John hangs himself because he is not able to conform to society, and couldn’t take living in it. John was obsessed with fine art and literature, which was suppressed from him, which is shown in this box with the shell and guitar pick. The fact that society also has the key of knowledge that the white piece can’t obtain is an allusion to how John couldn’t unlock the lost knowledge in Brave New World Society before it was too late. In __Brave New World__, the actions of the society were monitored by cameras. The camera in the box is an allusion to this fact. When searching through junk at my house, I came across a bag of chess pieces. I knew that they had major archetypal significance and could be used in a variety of ways. I decided that __Brave New World__ would be the best work to allude to with the pieces, because they fit together in such a way that went with the novel. When I found the shell I realized that it looked just like the one from //The Birth of Venus.// I decided that this shell could allude to the fine art that is often repressed by society. Finally, the set of keys I found could represent the key to knowledge, which always seems to be kept from the protagonist of a literary work. I knew that society should be protecting this key from falling into the wrong hands, which was my inspiration for giving it to the aggressive, societal chess pieces.