Symbolism In The Star Analysis

Read Summary
Summary

The Star by Alasdair Gray is a story about a young boy named Cameron who finds a star, but the symbolism behind the story goes much deeper. Cameron represents neglected and maltreated children around the world, while also embodying the energy and imagination of young kids. The setting of the story, a home and school, symbolize the corrupt educational system and negligent parents. The star that Cameron finds is a symbol of hope and imagination for him and other unfortunate children. Cameron’s character is influenced by poverty and his environment, and his wild imagination is his escape from reality. The story highlights the need for attention and care for neglected children like Cameron, and the writer’s use of Cameron fainting at the end serves as a reminder of those who live in the dark without anyone taking care of them.

Table of Content

When you read the star by Alasdair Gray for the first time, you think it’s a simple story about a young boy who finds a star, while in fact the symbolism behind this story is far far away from that. Indeed the characters, the setting & even the star itself have very deep meanings.

Cameron is not just a regular kid, he is the symbol of all the children around the world who suffer from negligence & maltreatment by their parents & teachers. He is also a symbol of children raised in poverty, children who miss a lot of crucial things in their lives. On the contrast, Cameron also represents the energy & imagination of young kids. The author, chose his setting very wisely, a home & a school, the most basic educational systems in a child’s life. The home is a symbol of negligence & lack of attention & the school & the teacher are symbols of corrupted educational system.

This essay could be plagiarized. Get your custom essay
“Dirty Pretty Things” Acts of Desperation: The State of Being Desperate
128 writers

ready to help you now

Get original paper

Without paying upfront

Cameron’s mother is just a picture of many housewives, who spend the majority of their days doing house chores, without even noticing the damage they are inflecting upon their young kids by being negligent & carless to their children’s needs & emotions. Cameron’s father is not that different from his mother, he’s a symbol of a lazy father who suffers from unemployment & expects the sky to start raining gold & silver. The star that Cameron finds is the symbol of hope, the symbol of imagination & comfort, the symbol of every beautiful thing that Cameron & other unfortunate children miss around the world.

Analysis of Cameron Character

Cameron a young boy who’s the victim of negligence & demeaning & insulting treatment from his parents & teacher finds his comfort in his wild fertile imagination. Yes indeed, Cameron is a very energetic & imaginative child, who suffers every day from lack of attention. Everything around Cameron seems to be dark, cold & emotionless.

Cameron is the central character in the story, who lives in a tenement in Scotland. The boy seems to suffer at home & at school as well. To escape his disturbed reality, he finds shelter in the company of an imaginative world of a star which is in reality just a marble.

On his way out to find the star, Cameron bangs the door, which shows his desperate need for his family’s attention. He is angry & furious. And by banging the door he thinks that he might get some attention from his family. Poverty & the environment around Cameron have a great influence on his character & language. As he finds all his dreams in his new marble, Cameron is not willing to let go of his star easily, & this shows how much this star means to him. & when he fainted at the end, I think it’s the writer’s way of telling us that there are a lot of people like Cameron who live in the dark, & nobody is taking good care of them.

Cite this page

Symbolism In The Star Analysis. (2016, Jun 14). Retrieved from

https://graduateway.com/symbolism-in-the-star/

Remember! This essay was written by a student

You can get a custom paper by one of our expert writers

Order custom paper Without paying upfront