Cote and Emerson’s Story in Farmer’s Children

The following example is an essay about the story of Cote and Emerson, as told by Elizabeth Bishop in The Farmer’s Children. Read the introduction, body and conclusion of the essay, scroll down.

In modern, civilized society we believe that children should be nurtured and cared for by not only their parents but by the adults responsible. The story of Coat and Emerson told in ‘The Farmer’s Children” by Elizabeth Bishop shows that in some cases, vulnerable children are held responsible to take care of themselves.

The young boys are sent by their parents out into the cold to do the job that was originally meant for the hired man, Judd, and end up freezing to their deaths. Bishop enlists in the aid Of many literary techniques to help her get a message across to the reader.

Such as, allusion, characterization, symbolism, and foreshadowing. Bishop conveys that because of the carelessness of adults, the innocence of children is being lost with the use of allusion, characterization, and symbolism.

Bishop uses allusion to show connections to other stories that portray the same or a similar message to her own. She describes, “And he would see the crumbs leading straight back the way they had come, white and steadfast in the early light'(292), which is an allusion to the folk story, “Hansel and Greeter. In the story, Hansel and Greeter are .NET out into the forest by their parents who have decided that they cannot afford to feed them any longer and have to get rid of them.

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Hansel, however, is clever and leaves a trail leading back to the house so that when their parents leave them, they may find a way back home. This is similar to what Coat was doing in “The Farmers Children,” he crumbled up bread to make sure that they could find their way back home in the morning.

The two stories are very similar but in this specific situation, the correlation between the two is that the adults in the stories were not concerned about the well Ewing of the children in the forest. In the case of “The Farmer’s Children” , it did not cross the stepmothers mind at all that the boys could have been lost, she simply yearned to get rid of them. When intros icing the boys stepmother, the author describes her as “Romantic and overgenerous, to her own children at This is an allusion to the fairy tale “Cinderella”. Cinderella stepmother did not care about the young girl and preferred her own children.

The stepmother in “The Farmers Children” treated her own children with love and affection yet she willingly sent out Coat and Emerson into he freezing cold. Adults should care about all children, who are innocent and vulnerable, notes favor their own. Elizabeth Bishop uses characterization to convey a message of how the different characters in the story play a role in the overall message. “Emerson made no distinction between honest and dishonest methods of getting the is one example of how characterization is used within the story.

Emerson, who is only eight years old, dreams of having a bicycle and thinks of many obscure, fantasies in which he finally receives the bike. This is an example of his innocence and vulnerability. Usually, at he age of eight, a child is still learning the distinction between right and wrong, yet it seems as though there is no one to explain this to Emerson since his father is out drinking and his stepmother does not care. “The farmer grieved wildly for a year; for some reason, one expression he gave to his feelings was to fire Judd”(294) is the very last line of the story yet it portrays the character Of the farmer and his parenting style.

He “grieved wildly’ yet he was not there when his sons died, he was out drinking with the same man he hired to work for him so that the boys would not have to. If he had been there, the boys would not have been forced to go out into the barn. He is like a missing parent who is not in their children’s lives. Also, firing Judd shows that he is a man who cannot easily deal with guilt. Judd was probably a reminder of his carelessness and ignorance. Symbolism is used to foreshadow the death of the children which is caused by the ignorance of the adults. The stepmother ushered the children out of the house, “Go on, go along and shut that door.

You’re letting the cold in”(289). This symbolizes that the blankets will most likely not be in the ran because, the stepmother did not even care that the boys had to go out into the cold but was more concerned about her own comfort at home. “She went to find a n extra quilt to put over Lea Leila, Rosins, and Gracie Bell… What was the name of that pattern?… A snowflake” (291) this is a clear example of symbolism in the story. The fact that the stepmother bothered to find an extra quilt for the girls symbolizes her love for them and not her stepsons whom she sent out without even gloves.

Also, the pattern on the blanket is similar to a snowflake, symbolizing the cold the boys just face, both from the weather and their stepmothers heart. In were Farmer’s Children,” the author Elizabeth Bishop blames the carelessness Of adults for the loss innocence Of children by utilizing the literary techniques allusion, characterization, and symbolism. She was trying to create awareness in adults that they should start to pay more attention to today’s youth before it is too late to help those who need it. Adults tend to complain about the issues that teenagers and children have but not many take action to attempt to fix these problems.