Before Reading

The Blue Stones

Allegory by Isak Dineson

What problems are caused

by JEALOUSY
and GREED?
Jealousy and a desire for wealth are part of the human experience.
But what happens when these feelings go too far? The selection you
are about to read is about a woman whose jealousy and greed lead
READING 7 Explain the function
her to make an unwise decision.
of symbolism and allegory in
literary works.
QUICKWRITE Have you ever experienced or witnessed a time when
jealousy or greed caused conflict? How did the conflict arise? What
resulted from the conflict? Write two or three paragraphs describing
the conflict and its outcome.

688
 Meet the Author
literary analysis: allegory
An allegory is a story that functions on two levels: a literal level Isak Dinesen
and a symbolic level. The literal story may tell a tale that seems 1885–1962
ordinary, of people and events. However, on the symbolic Out of Africa
level, the allegory is likely to teach a moral lesson, relying on The story you are about to read is an
characters and events to represent abstract ideas or concepts, allegory by Isak Dinesen that tells a
traditional-sounding tale. However,
such as freedom, evil, or goodness.
Dinesen is best known for Out of Africa,
To be effective, the allegory must succeed on both levels. It an autobiographical account of her years
must tell an interesting story, and it must convey an important in British East Africa, now Kenya.
symbolic theme or lesson. Born Karen Blixen in Denmark, Dinesen’s
spirit of adventure was often at odds
As you read “The Blue Stones,” think about the literal and with her sheltered upbringing. After her
symbolic levels of this allegory. Consider what the characters, father died and the cousin she loved
objects, and events might stand for besides their literal refused to marry her, she defiantly set
meaning. Then think about how specific symbols work sail for Africa to marry the cousin’s twin
together to form the allegory’s moral lesson. brother, Bror Blixen-Finecke. In 1914, the
couple established a coffee plantation
in what is now Kenya. Blixen-Finecke
reading skill: paraphrase
was a wayward, faithless husband who
When you paraphrase, you restate ideas from a text in your often left Dinesen on her own. After the
own words. Paraphrasing helps you better understand difficult couple divorced in 1921, Dinesen ran the
or complex texts. A paraphrase should be shorter than or six-thousand-acre farm by herself for
about the same length as the original source, and should ten years.
contain all of the source’s significant information. Although Dinesen is often regarded as
the European author who best captured
As you read “The Blue Stones,” paraphrase the allegory to the beauty of the African landscape, she
help you understand the symbolic meaning of characters and wrote equally accomplished works about
events. Use a chart like the one below. northern Europe and the Danish upper
class. Many of her stories celebrate the
What the story describes My paraphrase power of women. After she returned
There was once a skipper who There once was a sea captain who to Denmark in 1931, she published
named his ship after his wife. He named his ship after his wife and Seven Gothic Tales, stories set in Europe
had the figurehead of it beautifully had a figurehead on it carved and hundreds of years ago and featuring
carved, just like her, and the hair painted to look just like her. mysterious events and persecuted
of it gilt. heroines. She published Out of Africa
in 1937.

Author
Complete the activities in your Reader/Writer Notebook. Online
Go to thinkcentral.com..
KEYWORD: HML10-689

689
 The

i sa k d i n e s e n

Play Audio

There was once a skipper who named his ship after his wife. He had the
figurehead of it beautifully carved, just like her, and the hair of it gilt. But his How does the photograph
wife was jealous of the ship. “You think more of the figurehead than of me,” of this figurehead help
she said to him. “No,” he answered, “I think so highly of her because she is evoke the mood of this
like you, yes, because she is you yourself. Is she not gallant, full-bosomed; does allegory?
she not dance in the waves, like you at our wedding? In a way she is really even
kinder to me than you are. She gallops along where I tell her to go, and she lets
her long hair hang down freely, while you put yours up under a cap. But she
turns her back to me, so that when I want a kiss I come home to Elsinore.” a a SYMBOLISM
10 Now once, when this skipper was trading at Trankebar, he chanced to help an What do you think the
figurehead symbolizes?
old native king flee traitors in his own country. As they parted, the king gave
What clues in the story
him two big blue, precious stones, and these he had set into the face of his help you understand its
figurehead, like a pair of eyes to it. When he came home he told his wife of his symbolic meaning?
adventure, and said: “Now she has your blue eyes too.” “You had better give
me the stones for a pair of earrings,” said she. “No,” he said again. “I cannot
do that, and you would not ask me if you understood.” b b PARAPHRASE
Paraphrase what has
happened in this allegory
so far.

690 unit 6: argument and persuasion

 Language Coach
Prefixes The prefix in- or
im- often means “not.”
Still the wife could not stop fretting about the blue stones, and one day, When this prefix appears
when her husband was with the skippers’ corporation, she had a glazier of the at the beginning of a
word, it often negates
town take them out, and put two bits of blue glass into the figurehead instead, the meaning of the rest
20 and the skipper did not find out, but sailed off to Portugal. But after some of the word, such as
time the skipper’s wife found that her eyesight was growing bad, and she could inactive, meaning “not
not see to thread a needle. She went to a wise-woman, who gave her ointments active,” or inaudible,
meaning “not audible.”
and waters, but they did not help her and in the end the old woman shook
Reread line 24. What do
her head, and told her that this was a rare and incurable disease, and that she you think is the meaning
was going blind. “Oh, God,” the wife then cried, “that the ship was back in of incurable?
the harbor of Elsinore. Then I should have the glass taken out, and the jewels
put back. For did he not say that they were my eyes?” But the ship did not c ALLEGORY
come back. Instead the skipper’s wife had a letter from the Consul of Portugal, What is the literal
meaning of the blue
who informed her that she had been wrecked, and gone to the bottom with stones in this story?
30 all hands. And it was a very strange thing, the Consul wrote, that in broad What is their symbolic
daylight she had run straight into a tall rock, rising out of the sea.
c meaning?

692 unit 6: argument and persuasion

After Reading

Comprehension
1. Recall Whom does the ship’s figurehead resemble?
2. Recall What does the wife want the skipper do to with the blue stones? READING 7 Explain the function of
symbolism and allegory in literary
3. Clarify When does the wife’s eyesight begin to fail? works.

Critical Analysis
4. Analyze Symbolism and Allegory What are the literal and symbolic meanings
of each character or object from the allegory? Use a chart like this one to
record your answers.

Character or Object Literal meaning Symbolic Meaning

the ship’s figurehead

the blue stones

the skipper

the wife

5. Explain the Function of Allegory The function of allegories is often to teach a

lesson or illustrate an important theme to the reader. How does this allegory
function thematically?
6. Analyze Characterization Are the characters in this allegory round, fully-
developed characters, or are they flat characters, who have one outstanding
trait or role? Why do you think the author chose this form of characterization?
7. Paraphrase Paraphrase the events in this allegory. You can use your answer
to question B on page 690 to help you get started.
8. Make Judgments Does this allegory effectively teach its lesson or convey its
theme? Explain.

What problems are caused by JEALOUSY

and GREED?
How can we avoid these problems? Explain.

the blue stones 693