The Many Symbols of My Most Excellent Year

When I was brain storming for my part of the presentation on My Most Excellent Year, I was quite surprised by the number of symbols that could be found in this seemingly simple text. So, I have decided to create this blog entry solely about the symbols that I did find within the text.

*Mary Poppins: She symbolized hope and innocence. When Hucky first started watching Mary Poppins he saw her as his hope for love and family, a hope for someone that would care for him, and his hope for there to be more to life than all the disappointment he had received. She also represented innocence because each character that was touched by Mary Poppins began believing that with enough hard work, even the impossible could become possible. The best example of this is when Ale switches the person she addresses her diary entries to from Jacqueline Kennedy to Mary Poppins. This switch happens after she meets Hucky and when she switches to her former cynical, rigid self to believing in her own dreams and her ability to make a difference (which is something she once thought impossible.) This demonstrates innocence because as innocence is lost people tend to doubt their ability to make the impossible a possibility.

* Baseball: (I haven’t quite figured out what this symbolizes yet but it is so well incorporated into the novel that it has to symbolize something. Perhaps it is dedication, but I’m not sure)

*Deafness: In the novel this represents social unawareness. I say this because in the beginning of the novel Ale, Augie and T.C. were the center of their own little worlds. And when each of the characters first met Hucky, none of them were able to communicate with him, because they did not know sign language and he was deaf. But as the novel progressed each character began caring more about the lives of others and the language barrier between Hucky and everyone else began to break down. Until T.C., Augie and Ale had a big enough sing language vocabulary that the reader almost forgets Hucky is even deaf.



WARNING: spoiler written below

*Orphan: This is the last symbol that I noticed and it represents feeling lost. At the beginning of the novel each significant character, including many of the supporting ones, were feeling a bit lost. And in the case of the four main characters (Ale, Augie, T.C. and Hucky), each one was sort of searching for their place in life. But as the novel progressed each character began discovering their talents and following their dreams and Hucky began feeling like he had a family. By the end of the novel each character discovered their place in the world, becoming more sure of themselves and Hucky was adopted by Pop (T.C.’s dad.)