Symbolism in She Used to Be My Girl, The Simpsons--Eve

Symbolism in She Used to Be My Girl, The Simpsons

Summary:

At the beginning of the text, the mayor’s scandal of personal affairs was demonstrated.  Then the main part of this episode talks about a number of anecdotes that happened between Chloe Talbot’s life and Marge’s. Chloe once lived in Springfield and left there to be a journalist, but Marge still lives in Springfield who is a mother of three children. Chloe led an exciting life as she could meet different people and visit various places while Marge still stayed in a small place with unpleasant environment.  There were some struggling thoughts from Marge in the text that the life she had might be worse than Chloe’s successful life. However, after the experience that she saved her daughter from the volcanic eruption, Marge realized that she loved her children and has chosen the right life.

5 symbols:

Purple scarf: new identity, new life, prestigious social status, high fame

Puppy: innocence

Two-headed goat: distinctive differences existing in a seemingly similar entity

Dark glasses: conceal the truth

Court-ordered ankle bracelet: governments’ control

Interpret 3 symbols:

1. Purple scarf: Purple scarf is what Chloe wears on her neck, which is a special accessory to show her taste and successful life. As the story goes, the life of Chloe became the ideal one for Marge’s family and especially for Lisa. As is shown in the text, Lisa put on a purple scarf when she went to eat dinner with Marge, which is actually a symbol suggesting the clear attitude of Lisa that she wanted her life to be like Chloe’s. Also, Lisa was actually fascinated by Marge’s life with great opportunities to experience new things and she even hid in Marge’s car intended to attend women conference.  

2. Two-headed goat: As Homer mentioned, two goats with the same body could be very different in diet. One ate tin cans, but the other ate healthy food. According to the context, Homer was responding to Bart’s statement which is “I didn’t think anyone successful came from Springfield,” so Homer used two-headed goat to indicate that people in Springfield are very likely to have rather different lives. Further speaking, the two-headed goat tends to represent distinctive lives of Marge and Chloe.

3. Dark glasses: Interestingly, one security man of the mayor put a pair of dark glasses on the baby who was said to be the mayor’s illegitimate child and pretended that the child was his own child. The text showed that as if with a single pair of dark glasses the child’s identity was reversed and concealed. The dark glasses suggested a deeper meaning than just a pair of glasses, which is to cover the truth. In the story, the action of wearing a pair of dark glasses might mean the concealing of the truth that the child was the mayor’s.