epiphany ideas for essay

Epiphany Meaning and Examples

How are epiphanies used in literature?

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An  Epiphany is a term in literary criticism for a sudden realization, a flash of recognition, in which someone or something is seen in a new light.

In Stephen Hero (1904), Irish author James Joyce used the term epiphany to describe the moment when the "soul of the commonest object . . . seems to us radiant. The object achieves it epiphany." Novelist Joseph Conrad described epiphany as "one of those rare moments of awakening" in which "everything [occurs] in a flash." Epiphanies may be evoked in works of nonfiction as well as in short stories and novels.

The word epiphany comes from the Greek for a "manifestation" or "showing forth." In Christian churches, the feast following the twelve days of Christmas (January 6) is called Epiphany because it celebrates the appearance of divinity (the Christ child) to the Wise Men.

Examples of Literary Epiphanies

Epiphanies are a common storytelling device because part of what makes a good story is a character who grows and changes. A sudden realization can signify a turning point for a character when they finally understand something that the story has been trying to teach them all along. It is often used well at the end of mystery novels when the saluteth finally receives the last clue that makes all the pieces of the puzzle make sense. A good novelist can often lead the readers to such epiphanies along with their characters. 

Epiphany in the Short Story "Miss Brill" by Katherine Mansfield

"In the story of the same name Miss ​B rill discovers such annihilation when her own identity as onlooker and imagined choreographer to the rest of her small world crumbles in the reality of loneliness. The imagined conversations she has with other people become, when overheard in reality, the onset of her destruction. A young couple on her park bench—'the hero and the heroine' of Miss Brill's own fictive drama, 'just arrived from his father's yacht' . . . —are transformed by reality into two young people who cannot accept the aging woman who sits near them. The boy refers to her as 'that stupid old thing at the end' of the bench and openly expresses the very question that Miss Brill has been trying so desperately to avoid through her Sunday charades in the park: 'Why does she come here at all--who wants her?' Miss Brill's epiphany forces her to forgo the usual slice of honeycake at the baker's on her way home, and home, like life, has changed. It is now 'a little dark room . . . like a cupboard.' Both life and home have become suffocating. Miss Brill's loneliness is forced upon her in one transformative moment of acknowledgment of reality."

(Karla Alwes, "Katherine Mansfield." Modern British Women Writers: An A-to-Z Guide , ed. by Vicki K. Janik and Del Ivan Janik. Greenwood, 2002)

Harry (Rabbit) Angstrom's Epiphany in Rabbit, Run

"They reach the tee, a platform of turf beside a hunchbacked fruit tree offering fists of taut ivory-colored buds. 'Let me go first,' Rabbit says. ''Til you calm down.' His heart is hushed, held in mid-beat, by anger. He doesn't care about anything except getting out of this tangle. He wants it to rain. In avoiding looking at Eccles he looks at the ball, which sits high on the tee and already seems free of the ground. Very simply he brings the clubhead around his shoulder into it. The sound has a hollowness, a singleness he hasn't heard before. His arms force his head up and his ball is hung way out, lunarly pale against the beautiful black blue of storm clouds, his grandfather's color stretched dense across the north. It recedes along a line straight as a ruler-edge. Stricken; sphere, star, speck. It hesitates, and Rabbit thinks it will die, but he's fooled, for the ball makes its hesitation the ground of a final leap: with a kind of visible sob takes a last bite of space before vanishing in falling. 'That's it!' he cries and, turning to Eccles with a grin of aggrandizement, repeats, 'That's it.'"

(John Updike, Rabbit, Run . Alfred A. Knopf, 1960)

"The passage quoted from the first of John Updike 's Rabbit novels describes an action in a contest, but it is the intensity of the moment, not its consequences, that [is] important (we never discover whether the hero won that particular hole). . . . "In epiphanies, prose fiction comes closest to the verbal intensity of lyric poetry (most modern lyrics are in fact nothing but epiphanies); so epiphanic description is likely to be rich in figures of speech and sound. Updike is a writer prodigally gifted with the power of metaphoric speech. . . . When Rabbit turns to Eccles and cries triumphantly, 'That's it!' he is answering the minister's question about what is lacking in his marriage. . . . Perhaps in Rabbit's cry of 'That's it!' we also hear an echo of the writer's justifiable satisfaction at having revealed, through language, the radiant soul of a well-struck tee shot."

(David Lodge, The Art of Fiction . Viking, 1993)

Critical Observations on Epiphany

It is a literary critics job to analyze and discuss the ways authors use epiphanies in novels. 

"The critic's function is to find ways of recognizing and judging the epiphanies of literature which, like those of life itself (Joyce borrowed his use of the term 'epiphany' directly from theology), are partial disclosures or revelations, or 'spiritual matches struck unexpectedly in the dark.'"

(Colin Falck, Myth, Truth, and Literature: Towards a True Post-Modernism , 2nd ed. Cambridge Univ. Press, 1994)

"The definition Joyce gave of epiphany in Stephen Hero depends on a familiar world of objects of use—a clock one passes every day. The epiphany restores the clock to itself in one act of seeing, of experiencing it for the first time."

(Monroe Engel, Uses of Literature . Harvard University Press, 1973)

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How to Render Epiphanies in Nonfiction Without Getting Didactic

Randon billings noble considers moments of clarity between the lines.

In 1939, at the urging of her sister and as a break from writing a biography of art critic Roger Fry, Virginia Woolf started drafting her memoir, which she later titled “A Sketch of the Past.” It begins with a simple moment:

It is of lying half asleep, half awake, in bed in the nursery at St. Ives. It is of hearing the waves breaking, one, two, one, two, and sending a splash of water over the beach; and then breaking, one, two, one, two, behind a yellow blind. It is of hearing the blind draw its little acorn across the floor as the wind blew the blind out. It is of lying and hearing this splash and seeing this light, and feeling, it is almost impossible that I should be here; of feeling the purest ecstasy I can conceive.

Simple, but also profound: a moment of being —of awareness, of feeling, of knowledge, of clarity. Such moments, Woolf acknowledges, are rare: “Every day includes much more non-being than being.” But every so often there is a shock that lifts us out of what she calls the “nondescript cotton wool” of daily life.

In fiction, especially in short stories, we’re used to these moments of clarity rendered as epiphanies. James Joyce is famous for them: when Gabriel at the end of “The Dead” feels a shift in his relationship with his wife; when the narrator of “Araby” recognizes his lack of self-knowledge: “I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger.”

The word epiphany , from the Greek for “manifestation,” originally described the revelation of the Christ child to the Magi—in the Christian tradition, the turning point of all things, a light shining in the darkness, a moment of the utmost being.

That kind of revelation is a lot for a short story to contain, and even more for a whole tradition of short stories to contain. As Charles Baxter argues, “To adapt this solemn moment for literary purposes . . . was a Promethean gesture: It was an attempt to steal the fires of religion and place them, still burning, in literature.” This is a powerful move for a writer to make, and Baxter is suspicious of it.

The title of the 1997 essay in which Baxter makes this argument is, perhaps unsurprisingly, “Against Epiphanies.” He worries about their prevalence, that there are too many of them. “Some of the most beautiful stories ever written, at least in the last 150 years, follow this pattern” of epiphanies, he observes, but “the mass production of insight, in fiction or elsewhere, is a dubious phenomenon.”

As in fiction, so too in nonfiction. When I teach essay writing—whether creative or academic—I veer away from the term thesis because it all too often forces the writer to conclude with an epiphany: “Therefore I have learned . . .”; “From this experience I realized . . .” (Can you imagine Gabriel Conroy thinking a sentence like this at the end of “The Dead”?) Yes, of course, in an essay you can (try to) prove a thesis; you can argue a point; you can make claims and back them up with evidence. But an essay can also muse, warn, wonder, wander, teach, play, lilt, explore, or, in the words of Jane Alison, meander, spiral, explode.

In fact, when Woolf writes of her epiphanies in “A Sketch of the Past,” they aren’t conclusions, but rather invitations to more thought. The first, she writes, happened when she and her brother were fighting.

“Just as I raised my fist to hit him, I felt: why hurt another person? . . . I remember the feeling. . . . It was as if I became aware of something terrible; and of my own powerlessness.” Another is more positive: “I was looking at the flower bed by the front door; ‘That is the whole,’ I said. . . . It seemed suddenly plain that the flower itself was a part of the earth; that a ring enclosed what was the flower; and that was the real flower; part earth; part flower. It was a thought I put away as being likely to be very useful to me later.”

Mary Ruefle has a similar moment of clarity in her essay “I Remember, I Remember”:

I remember—I must have been eight or nine—wandering out to the ungrassed backyard . . . and seeing that the earth was dry and cracked in irregular squares and other shapes and I felt I was looking at a map and I was completely overcome by this description, my first experience of making a metaphor, and I felt weird and shaky and went inside and wrote it down: the cracked earth is a map. Although it only takes a little time to tell it, and it is hardly interesting, it filled a big moment at the time, it was an enormous ever-expanding room of a moment, a chunk of time that has expanded ever since and that my whole life keeps fitting into.

In such moments, as Baxter writes, “the truth of things is so overpowering that one simply has nothing to do and nowhere to move.” They’re like the dolly-zoom effect in film, where, at a climactic moment, we are drawn into a character’s (usually stunned) face as the background seems to recede away.

But later, in writing, these moments can be revisited and examined. “As one gets older,” Woolf writes, “one has a greater power through reason to provide an explanation; and . . . this explanation blunts the sledge-hammer force of the blow. . . . [I] suppose that the shock-receiving capacity is what makes me a writer.”

To write these experiences takes a deft touch. One way to stay light handed is to reveal the experience—the sound of waves, the needless fight, the wholeness of a flower, the cracked earth map—but to allow the epiphany, as Sarah Einstein has put it, to happen “off the page and in the reader’s mind.” Dinty W. Moore shows us why this is such a powerful move in his essay “Rivering.” Searching for a way to express and teach “the intuitive vapor of emotion, metaphor, image, and idea that makes a piece of creative nonfiction—an essay, a memoir—more than just a collection of scenes or observations, something greater than the sum of its many parts,” he explains, he chose the term “invisible magnetic river.” Why invisible?

Because thesis sentences are dull, flat, and awkward. Because once you say a thing out loud it will often become less potent. Because a truth you discover for yourself will always be more powerful than a truth someone else tries to impose upon you. Because in an essay . . . the truth is sometimes not in the words, but between them, in the permeable tissue that runs from moment to moment.

This permeable tissue—all those linked moments of being—shows us who we are, what we think, and how we feel. Woolf believed that “behind the cotton wool [of everyday life] is hidden a pattern; that we—I mean all human beings—are connected with this; that the whole world is a work of art. . . . We are the music; we are the thing itself.” We can’t feel that enormity all the time. We can’t always be lit by Promethean fire.

But every so often, a shock reveals that hidden pattern. In life, it’s out of our control; it comes when it wills. But in writing, with skill and attention, we can sometimes evoke a singular moment of clarity—a manifestation, a shining forth of pure being, a transcendence of life’s nondescript cotton wool—for our readers.

Here are some moments of clarity that . . .

Are strong but unspoken:

From “Chop Suey” by Ira Sukrungruang

My mother grabbed my hand and took one step toward the man. In that instant, I saw in her face the same resolve she had when she spanked, the same resolve when she scolded. In that instant, I thought my mother was going to hit the man. And for a moment, I thought the man saw the same thing in her eyes, and his smile disappeared from his face. Quickly, she smiled—too bright, too large—and said, “You’re welcome.”

From “First” by Ryan Van Meter

To be back here in the dark, private tail of the car suddenly feels wrong, so Ben and I each scoot off to our separate sides. . . . No one speaks for the rest of the ride. We all just sit and wait and watch our own views of the road—the parents see what is ahead of us while the only thing I can look at is what we have just left behind.

Are complicated:

From “The Love of My Life” by Cheryl Strayed

If this were fiction, what would happen next is that the woman would stand up and get into her truck and drive away. It wouldn’t matter that the woman had lost her mother’s wedding ring, even though it was gone to her forever, because the loss would mean something else entirely: that what was gone now was actually her sorrow and the shackles of grief that had held her down. . . . She would realize this and get on with her life. . . . The story would end, and you would know that she was the better for it. That she was wiser, stronger, more interesting, and, most of all, finally starting down her path to glory. . . . I would have given you what you wanted then: to be a witness to a healing.

But this isn’t fiction. Sometimes a story is not about anything except what it is about.

That happen off the page entirely:

From “A Young Man Tells Me” by Sarah Einstein

. . . that he’s fallen in love with the honey-haired girl in our class, and that if it’s okay with me, he’d like not to have to talk today because now he’s afraid he might say something dumb.

. . . that he feels helpless in the face of so much injustice in the world, and that he wonders what he can do to try to make things better. I invite him into my office and make him a cup of tea.

. . . that when he was a child, his father used to punch him in the arm when he cried, saying “Don’t be such a pussy,” and that he thinks the problem is that the rest of us are snowflakes who could use a good punch now and then to toughen us up.

. . . that he cries every time that damn animal rescue commercial comes on TV.

That you can watch: 

The video essay “ The Spielberg Face ” by Kevin B. Lee, which literally shows “the perpetual wonder of seeing things new.”

______________________________

From the Winter 2021 issue of Creative Nonfiction .

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Practical Guide: 10 Tips to Teach Epiphany in Literature

Define epiphany in literature, highlight examples of epiphany from known works, teach how to identify an epiphany, discuss the purpose of epiphanies in storytelling, illustrate the impact of epiphanies on characters, compare epiphanies across different genres, explore the role of epiphanies in plot development, practice creating epiphanies in class writing exercises, analyze the effect of epiphanies on readers, summarize the value of teaching epiphany in literature.

Ever tried to teach epiphany in literature and found it a bit challenging? You're not alone. Many find it a tricky concept to convey, especially because it's so personal and subjective. But don't worry; with the right approach, you can make this literary device as clear as a sunny day. In this practical guide, we'll walk through 10 tips that will help you teach epiphany in literature effectively.

First things first—you can't teach what you can't define. So, what exactly is an epiphany in literature? It's a moment in a story when a character has a significant realization or understanding. This "aha" moment can be big or small, but it always leads to some personal development for the character or a shift in the plot. Let's break it down further:

• Character's Realization: An epiphany is a moment of sudden understanding or insight for a character. It's like a light bulb switching on in their mind. For example, in "The Wizard of Oz," Dorothy has an epiphany when she realizes she had the power to return home all along.
• Significance: Not every realization a character has can be called an epiphany. It must be significant, often leading to a change in their perspective or behavior. Think of Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol"—his epiphany leads to a complete turnaround in his character.
• Plot Shift: Often, a character's epiphany can trigger a shift in the story's direction. In "To Kill a Mockingbird," Scout's epiphany about Boo Radley changes the entire tone of the story and leads to its resolution.

Understanding these aspects can help you teach epiphany in literature more effectively. But remember, an epiphany is not just about the "what"—it's about the "why" and the "how" too. So, as you define it, also think about why epiphanies are important in literature and how they impact characters and stories.

Now that we've defined what an epiphany is, let's look at a few examples from popular works. By doing so, you'll be able to illustrate what you mean when you teach epiphany in literature.

• Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice": When Elizabeth Bennett reads Mr. Darcy's letter explaining his actions, she has an epiphany about her own prejudice. This realization changes her feelings towards him and dramatically shifts the plot.
• F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby": Gatsby's epiphany comes when he realizes that his dream of being with Daisy is unattainable. This moment of understanding marks a significant change in his character and the novel's trajectory.
• J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix": Harry has an epiphany when he realizes that his connection with Voldemort can be a strength instead of a weakness. This perception shift plays a vital role in his fight against the dark forces.

Remember, when you teach epiphany in literature, it's essential to bring in examples from a wide range of works. This will not only help your students understand the concept better but also appreciate the diverse ways in which epiphanies can be used in storytelling.

Once your students have understood the concept of epiphany, the next step is to teach them how to identify an epiphany in literature. Here are a few steps to guide them:

• Look for a Change: Epiphanies usually mark a turning point in the story or a character's journey. Encourage your students to look for abrupt changes in a character's behavior or actions, as they often indicate an epiphany.
• Understand the Context: Epiphanies don't happen in a vacuum. They are usually the result of a buildup of events or experiences. So, students should pay close attention to the events leading up to the potential epiphany.
• Observe the Aftermath: The impact of an epiphany is often seen in the events that follow. If a character's action leads to a significant shift in the story, it's likely that an epiphany has occurred.

Remember, the goal is not just to teach students to identify epiphanies, but also to understand their relevance in literature. By learning how to spot an epiphany, they'll be able to appreciate the depth and complexity of the stories they read.

So, what's the big deal about epiphanies? Why do authors use them in their stories? Well, let's dive into that.

First off, epiphanies add a layer of realism to the narrative. Just as we have sudden realizations in our lives, so do characters in literature. These moments of insight reflect the human condition, making characters more relatable to readers.

Secondly, epiphanies serve as a powerful tool for character development . They provide a natural and believable way for characters to evolve, change their beliefs, or shift their perspectives. The transformation that follows an epiphany can reveal new aspects of a character's personality, making them more complex and intriguing.

Lastly, epiphanies can drive the plot forward . They can serve as a catalyst for action, pushing characters to make decisions that set the course for the rest of the story. In this way, an epiphany is more than just a moment of insight—it's a pivotal point that can change the direction of the narrative.

In short, when you teach epiphany in literature, you're not just teaching a literary device. You're teaching a tool that writers use to bring their stories to life.

Let's get a bit more specific and see how epiphanies actually affect characters in literature. To do this, let's take a look at some examples.

Consider Ebenezer Scrooge from Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol". His late-night epiphanies, courtesy of the three spirits, lead to a radical change in his character. This rich miser transforms into a generous soul, all thanks to the power of epiphany.

Similarly, think about Elizabeth Bennet in Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice". Her epiphany about Mr. Darcy's true character changes not only her perception of him but also directs the course of their relationship and, ultimately, the outcome of the story.

Or think about the protagonist in Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis". The epiphany that he is no longer human but a gigantic insect leads to a profound change in his behavior and outlook on life.

See the pattern here? An epiphany can flip a character's world upside down, leading to significant changes in their attitudes, actions, and life choices. So when you teach epiphany in literature, you're also teaching students how to track character development and how to understand the inner workings of a character's mind.

Now that we've seen the impact of epiphanies on characters, let's take a step back and compare how epiphanies are used across different genres. This is a fun and enlightening way to teach epiphany in literature, as it helps students appreciate the versatility of this literary device.

In mystery novels, for example, the epiphany often comes in the form of a sudden revelation that solves the central puzzle. Agatha Christie's detective Hercule Poirot is a master of the epiphany, always managing to solve the most complex of mysteries with a sudden flash of insight.

In contrast, in science fiction and fantasy, the epiphany might relate to the nature of the universe or the true potential of the protagonist. Think of Luke Skywalker in "Star Wars" realizing the truth about his father, or Frodo Baggins in "The Lord of the Rings" understanding the weight of his mission.

And let's not forget about romance novels. Here, the epiphany often involves a sudden realization of love or the unveiling of a character's true feelings. Nicholas Sparks's novels are filled with such moments, making readers' hearts flutter.

So, as you can see, while the form of epiphany might change from genre to genre, the core idea remains the same. It's all about a sudden, profound realization that changes the course of the plot or the character's understanding of themselves or others. This can be an exciting concept to explore when you teach epiphany in literature.

Moving from genre to genre has been quite the ride! Now, let's focus on the role of epiphanies in plot development. This is a key point when we teach epiphany in literature, as it helps students understand how stories evolve and progress.

Epiphanies are like the secret sauce in a well-cooked story. They add a twist, turn the tables, and often, lead to the climax of the narrative. Sometimes, they are the turning point that pushes the plot in a new direction. At other times, they help to resolve conflicts and bring the story to a satisfying conclusion.

Consider J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" series. Throughout the story, Harry has multiple epiphanies that not only shape his character but also drive the plot forward. From discovering his magical abilities to realizing the importance of his friends and uncovering the truth about his parents, these epiphanies are integral to the plot development.

Similarly, in "To Kill a Mockingbird," Scout's epiphany about Boo Radley plays a significant role in the resolution of the story. It's her sudden understanding of Boo's character that brings about a change in her perspective and adds depth to the narrative.

In short, epiphanies are not just about character development—they are pivotal to the narrative structure. They allow the plot to evolve in a manner that's intriguing and engaging. So, when we teach epiphany in literature, it's vital to emphasize its role in shaping and advancing the storyline.

Alright, now that we've seen the magic of epiphanies in action, it's time to get your hands dirty, metaphorically speaking, of course. To teach epiphany in literature, it's essential to guide students in creating their own. And what better way to do this than through class writing exercises?

First up, let's try our hand at short stories. Task your students with crafting a narrative that includes a clear epiphany. The prompt could be as simple as a day in the life of a character, or as complex as a mystery to be solved. The key is to ensure that the character experiences a sudden realization or insight that changes their perspective or propels the plot forward.

For instance, a day at the zoo could lead to a character's epiphany about the importance of animal conservation. A mystery story could reveal a character's sudden understanding of a clue that unravels the entire plot. The possibilities are endless!

Next, let's move onto poetry. Yes, you heard that right—epiphanies aren't limited to prose. Think of a haiku or sonnet that ends with a profound realization. This exercise will challenge students to condense an epiphany into a few powerful lines, honing their ability to express complex ideas succinctly.

Creating opportunities for students to practice writing about epiphanies helps cement their understanding of this literary device. Plus, it sharpens their narrative skills, fostering their growth as budding writers. Remember, when we teach epiphany in literature, we're not just teaching a concept—we're nurturing creativity and expression too.

When we teach epiphany in literature, we should not overlook its impact on us, the readers. Ever read a book that made you go "Aha!" or "Oh, I see it now!"? That, my friend, is the power of a well-crafted epiphany.

Epiphanies can serve as turning points not just for the characters, but also for the readers. They invite us to reflect, to question, and to empathize. They can make us re-evaluate our own beliefs and perspectives. In essence, a good epiphany can make us see the world in a new light.

Let's take the classic example of "To Kill a Mockingbird". When Scout Finch finally meets Boo Radley, she experiences an epiphany that transforms her understanding of her mysterious neighbor. This moment isn't just a revelation for Scout—it's also a powerful moment for us, the readers, prompting us to reconsider our own judgments and preconceptions.

So, in your quest to teach epiphany in literature, encourage your students to think about how these moments affect them as readers. Do they feel shocked, relieved, enlightened? What insights do they gain from the character's revelation? And most importantly, how does this change their reading experience?

Understanding the reader's response to epiphanies can deepen their appreciation of literature. After all, the beauty of reading lies in its ability to move us, to challenge us, and to make us see things differently. And that's exactly what a good epiphany does!

So, we've journeyed through the fascinating world of epiphanies in literature. We've explored how to identify them and why they're so important in storytelling. We've seen their impact on characters and readers alike. But the question remains—why should we teach epiphany in literature? What's the real value in it?

Teaching epiphany in literature is like handing your students a key. A key that opens the door to deeper understanding of the story, the characters, and ultimately, themselves. It's more than just a literary device—it's a tool for empathy, self-realization, and critical thinking.

When students learn to identify and appreciate epiphanies, they're learning to engage with the text on a profound level. They're not just reading—they're connecting, reflecting, and growing. They're learning to see the world from different perspectives, to question their beliefs, and to embrace new ideas.

Plus, understanding epiphanies can make reading a lot more fun! It's like a treasure hunt, where each revelation is a precious find. And who doesn't love a good treasure hunt?

In conclusion, teaching epiphany in literature is a valuable exercise that can enrich your students' reading experience and personal growth. It's not just about dissecting a text—it's about understanding the human condition. And that, my friends, is a lesson worth teaching.

If you enjoyed this practical guide on teaching epiphany in literature and are looking for more ways to enhance your storytelling skills, check out Mirelle Ortega's workshop, ' Storytelling In Illustration .' This workshop will help you learn how to incorporate visual elements into your storytelling, making it even more engaging and memorable for your audience.

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What is an Epiphany?

Epiphany definition.

An epiphany is a sudden realization or discovery that illuminates a new perception or awareness. Epiphany is often used to describe a rapid feeling of clarity or insight in terms of finding an essential meaning or solution–what many describe as an “aha!” moment. Epiphanies often take place at the climax of the story arc.

Use of Epiphany in Literature

Writers may use epiphany to demonstrate a character ’s sudden understanding of a problem or situation that manifests a turning point in the story. Epiphany is often used as a literary device in the following genres :

• Science Fiction

As the character experiences an epiphany, it is likely that the reader will undergo a similar experience of sudden realization or discovery as well.

A Common Example of Epiphany

Let us consider an epiphany of a smoker:

I used to smoke a lot. Everyone let me know that it was bad for my health however, I didn’t pay any notice. One day I saw my two-year-old baby trying to grab a stubbed-out cigarette from the ashtray. Seeing this, it suddenly dawned on me how terrible smoking was, and I stopped smoking.

So, this sudden feeling of knowledge that brings to light what was so far hidden, and changes one’s life, is called epiphany.

Examples of Epiphany in Literature

Let us analyze some epiphany examples from different genres of literature.

Example #1: Animal Farm (By George Orwell)

Animal Farm , written by George Orwell , is an epiphany that uses animals on a farm to describe the overthrow of the last Russian Tsar, Nicholas II, and the Communist Revolution of Russia before WWI. The actions of the animals on the farm are used to expose the greed and corruption of the revolution. It also describes how powerful people can change the ideology of a society. One of the cardinal rules on the farm is this:

All Animals are Equal but a few are more equal than others.

The animals on the farm represent different sections of Russian society after the revolution.

For instance, the pigs represent those who came to power following the revolution; “Mr. Jones,” the owner of the farm, represents the overthrown Tsar Nicholas II; while “Boxer” the horse, represents the laborer class. The use of Epiphany in the novel allows Orwell to make his position clear about the Russian Revolution and expose its evils.

Example #2: Hamlet (By William Shakespeare)

William Shakespeare also makes use of an epiphany in his play Hamlet . It is when Hamlet , the hero , is on a ship sailing to England. Till then, he was over-burdened with thinking and planning a flawless revenge on his father’s murderer, Claudius. Suddenly there is a flash of realization and he says:

[T]here is a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will.

He realizes that there is no wisdom for him in trying to inflict the perfect revenge on Claudius – he must take hold of the moment and go with the current.

Example #3: Miss Brill (By Katherine Manfield)

We find another example of epiphany in the short story Miss Brill , written by Katherine Manfield. Miss Brill, being delighted to be part of the season in the Jardins Publique, particularly on Sundays, prepares herself for the occasion on a chilly day. She wears her fur coat, and walks towards a band playing music in the park. She sees life everywhere around her. It pleases her to imagine that she is part of all that takes place. In a flash of epiphany, she recognizes that she and everyone else in the park are mere actors, acting out their roles. There was nothing important about that gathering of actors and she was alone despite being with a crowd.

Function of Epiphany

The purpose of epiphany in a novel or a short story is to point out a turning point for a character, or in the plot , in the near future. It may also be used to change the opinion of one character about other characters, events, and places after a sudden awareness of the situation. It may also be a sign of a conclusion in the story.

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• Literary Terms
• Definition & Examples
• When & How to Write an Epiphany

I. What is Epiphany?

Epiphany is an  “Aha!” moment. As a literary device, epiphany (pronounced ih- pif – uh -nee) is the moment when a character is suddenly struck with a life-changing realization which changes the rest of the story.

Often, an epiphany begins with a small, everyday occurrence or experience. For example:

In the middle of a typical argument with his wife, a man realizes he has been the one causing every single argument, and that in order to keep his marriage, he must stop being such an aggressive person.

In this example, the man’s epiphany is prompted by an everyday argument. The revelation, though, rises above everyday thought: he realizes he must change his attitude in order to fix his marriage.

II. Examples of Epiphany

Epiphanic moments are not restricted to literature. The same instances of revelation occur in everyday life. Here are a few examples:

It’s a normal day in class when Mary trips on her shoelace and falls down. As she embarrassedly stands up blushing and finds her desk, Ryan realizes he is in love with her.

This epiphany is almost comedic in its randomness, but it shows how epiphanies can occur at any moment, and how they tend to occur when they are least expected. Ryan falls in love with Mary not when she looks the most beautiful or speaks the most gracefully, but when she trips on her shoelace and blushes.

Amy has been smoking for fifteen years. She knows she would be healthier if she quit, and people have urged her to quit, but she just can’t. It isn’t until she gives birth to her daughter that she has a moment of revelation: she has to quit. She has to be a role model for her daughter, and she has to live as long as possible to see her grow up.

This third epiphany occurs when a woman gives birth to her daughter. This is a more predictable epiphany, as the moment of birth is a very emotional time for a mother. In this moment, Amy realizes she must change her life to be the best mother she can be.

III. The importance of using Epiphany

Epiphanies provide narratives with some of the most exciting and compelling events, pulled out of ordinary moments. Epiphanies are rare occurrences marked by great philosophical, spiritual, or personal insight. Because epiphanies often occur in real life at such typical and everyday moments, they provide plays, poems, prose, and film with realistic yet inspiring instances of revelation. Epiphanies also provide readers and audiences with hope, as the ability to see things in a new way and to change our lives is inspiring and redeeming, especially for people who have struggled to succeed or to find higher meaning in life. As a plot device, epiphany often marks a turning point in the character’s psyche which leads to the eventual conclusion of the story.

IV. Examples of  Epiphany in Literature

Epiphany provides literary plots with sudden turns which remarkably change the character’s point of view and life path.

For a classic example of epiphany, read these excerpts from Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “Renascence”:

All I could see from where I stood Was three long mountains and a wood; I turned and looked the other way, And saw three islands in a bay.

The poem begins simply: the speaker is looking at a nature scene. Quickly, though, upon looking at the sky, an epiphany occurs:

The gossiping of friendly spheres, The creaking of the tented sky, The ticking of Eternity. I saw and heard and knew at last The How and Why of all things, past, And present, and forevermore.

Once simply looking upon nature’s beauty, the speaker is overwhelmed with ideas like infinity, immensity, and eternity. Suddenly, she is aware of “The How and Why of all things.” The epiphany rises from nothing and strikes the speaker with sudden revelation.

Considered one of the most powerful users of epiphany in prose, James Joyce describes epiphany as a moment when “The soul of the commonest object, the structure of which is so adjusted, seems to us radiant.”

For an example of Joyce’s use of epiphany, read this excerpt from the novel A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man :

A girl stood before him in midstream, alone and still, gazing out to the sea. She seemed like one whom magic had changed into the likeness of a strange and beautiful sea bird. Her long slender bare legs were as delicate as a crane’s and pure save where an emerald trail of seaweed had fashioned itself as a sign upon the flesh. … But her long fair hair was girlish: and girlish, and touched with the wonder of mortal beauty, her face.

In this scene, the protagonist Stephen Dedalus is struck still by the pure beauty of a woman standing in the surf at the beach. It is this ordinary but exalted image that compels him to turn to the pursuit of expressing beauty. Dedalus decides to become a writer.

V. Examples of Epiphany in Pop Culture

Epiphanies provide films, songs, and even advertisements with dramatic moments of recognition and discovery. Characters have revelations which change the course of the plot and remarkably transform their psyches.

For an example of epiphany in a movie, read this excerpt from Clueless :

Cher: Josh needed someone with imagination, someone to take care of him, someone to laugh at his jokes… in case he ever makes any. Then suddenly (pause) Oh my god! I love Josh! I’m majorly, totally, butt crazy in love with Josh! But now I don’t know how to act around him. I mean normally I’d strut around in my cutest little outfits, and send myself flowers and candy but I couldn’t do that stuff with Josh.

Cher has been shopping and is walking down the street when she has an epiphany about Josh (her stepbrother). Even in her mind, she does not sound prepared for it: she is complaining about Josh’s poor style, bad music taste, and unconventional looks when she abruptly realizes she is truly in love with him.

For a second example of epiphany in film, watch this excerpt from Big Fish :

EDWARD: My muscles couldn’t keep up with my bones, and my bones couldn’t keep up with my body’s ambition. So I spent the better part of three years confined to my bed, with the World Book Encyclopedia being my only means of exploration. I had made it all the way to the “G’s,” hoping to find an answer to my gigantificationism, when I uncovered an article about the common goldfish. YOUNG EDWARD: “Kept in a small bowl, the goldfish will remain small. With more space, the fish can grow double, triple, or quadruple its size.” EDWARD: It occurred to me then, that perhaps the reason for my growth was that I was intended for larger things. After all, a giant man can’t have an ordinary-sized life .

In this scene, the narrator is lying in bed reading about goldfish when he suddenly has his epiphany: he is meant to do great things with his life.

VI. Related Terms

Anagnorisis, like epiphany, is a moment of revelation. But, anaganorisis is a dark and dramatic element of a tragic story, whereas epiphany can be comedic or uplifting. Also, unlike epiphany, anagnorisis occurs as an accumulation of information that has been slowly revealed throughout the story’s plot. Epiphany, on the other hand, occurs without necessary connection to the rest of the plot, and suddenly, as if divinely inspired.

Here is an example of anagnorisis versus epiphany:

An old man has lived his entire life as someone greedy and driven by money.

Anagnorisis:

The old man has his fiftieth birthday party, attended by no one. The next week, his own daughter accuses him of being too greedy and selfish. That same day, he is informed that his wife wants a divorce and does not care about the money. At this moment, the man realizes his tragic mistake: he has lived a life focused on money rather than love and companionship.

The man is walking down the street when he sees a dirty coin. He picks it up, thinking he’ll save a penny, and realizes it is only a game token from an arcade. At that moment, he realizes his money is no different—it is a game and a distraction to him. He realizes then that he should focus on more important things in life, such as love and companionship.

As is shown in the above example, both anagnorisis and epiphany result in a moment of revelation. Anagnorisis is due to a series of events related to the character’s revelation, whereas epiphany is due to a random occurrence.

VII. In Closing

Characters are rooted in everyday life, but epiphanies allow them to rise above ordinary consciousness in order to have great revelations and realizations which drastically change their perspectives. The epiphany strengthens literary and creative pieces with moments of sudden clarity which can drastically change characters and their plots.

List of Terms

• Alliteration
• Amplification
• Anachronism
• Anthropomorphism
• Antonomasia
• APA Citation
• Aposiopesis
• Autobiography
• Bildungsroman
• Characterization
• Circumlocution
• Cliffhanger
• Comic Relief
• Connotation
• Deus ex machina
• Deuteragonist
• Doppelganger
• Double Entendre
• Dramatic irony
• Equivocation
• Extended Metaphor
• Figures of Speech
• Flash-forward
• Foreshadowing
• Intertextuality
• Juxtaposition
• Literary Device
• Malapropism
• Onomatopoeia
• Parallelism
• Pathetic Fallacy
• Personification
• Point of View
• Polysyndeton
• Protagonist
• Red Herring
• Rhetorical Device
• Rhetorical Question
• Science Fiction
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
• Synesthesia
• Turning Point
• Understatement
• Urban Legend
• Verisimilitude
• Essay Guide
• Cite This Website

Literary Devices

Literary devices, terms, and elements, definition of epiphany.

When used as a literary device, an epiphany is a moment in which there is a sudden realization that leads to a new perspective that clarifies a problem or situation. A character may have an epiphany, or it may also occur in the narration such that the reader has the epiphany.

The word epiphany comes from the Greek word epiphainein , meaning “reveal” or “striking appearance.” Historically, the concept of epiphany evolved as a religious term and generally referred to insights that come from a divine source. There is a definition of epiphany that also relates directly to the Christian church; the Feast of the Epiphany celebrates the revelation of Christ as the Son of God. There are similar moments of epiphany in other religions, such as the Buddha attaining enlightenment or the realization in Hinduism that Krishna is the representation of the Universe. Other terms are used to represent these epiphanies; in Hinduism there is the word bodhodaya , which means “rising wisdom,” while in Zen Buddhism there is the word kensho to describe the feeling of understanding the meaning of an enigmatic question or statement.

Common Examples of Epiphany

Epiphany is often associated with scientific discoveries and innovation. There are many famous examples of epiphany in the history of science, such as the following anecdotes:

• The ancient Greek mathematician and physicist Archimedes was tasked with calculating the density of a gold crown to ascertain whether it was pure gold; he was not allowed to melt down the crown for his calculations. When he got in the bathtub to take a break from his work, he realized that his volume displaced the same amount of water in the tub. He could use this fact to determine the volume of the crown, and thereby the density. When he realized this, he famously cried out the Greek word Eureka , meaning, “I have found it!”
• Isaac Newton was sitting below an apple tree when an apple fell on his head, which caused him to develop his Universal Law of Gravitation.
• Albert Einstein developed his Special Theory of Relativity after arriving home one night feeling defeated. He imagined having arrived home at the speed of light, and how the light from the town’s clock tower would not have reached him in his car, even though the clock inside the car would be ticking normally. This would make the time outside the car and inside the car just different enough to be striking.

You may have also had epiphanies in your daily life that have caused you to change your outlook on yourself, other people in your life, or the world at large.

Significance of Epiphany in Literature

While epiphanies are relatively rare in real life, they are somewhat common in literature. Most literature shows a change in a character’s nature from the beginning to the end of the work, and many of these changes are attended by an important epiphany on that character’s part. Epiphany is also a very important element in certain genre works, such as mystery novels. There is often an epiphany when all the clues are put together and the mystery is solved near the end of the book. For this reason, epiphany is also often related to the climax of a book, in which something occurs after which nothing is the same. An epiphany can have this effect by changing a character’s point-of-view or motivations.

Epiphany also has some significance for the author him- or herself, in that it can be such an important part of the creative process that the author does not quite know how a book will end until it is revealed in an epiphany. Some authors do like to attribute these epiphanies to “muses,” while others insist that the hard work of laboring over a story eventually leads the brain to make certain connections that originally did not seem clear.

Examples of Epiphany in Literature

EMILIA: O thou dull Moor! That handkerchief thou speak’st of I found by fortune and did give my husband. For often, with a solemn earnestness— More than indeed belonged to such a trifle— He begged of me to steal it.

( Othello by William Shakespeare)

The above speech is an important epiphany example from William Shakespeare’s Othello . In it, Emilia reveals in a moment of dramatic irony what the audience has known all along—Desdemona’s handkerchief was given to Cassio by Emilia, thus clearing Desdemona of guilt. Unfortunately, this epiphany comes too late for Othello. He has already murdered his wife, and the realization that she was innocent is enough to make Othello take his own life.

“Look’ee here, Pip. I’m your second father. You’re my son—more to me nor any son. I’ve put away money, only for you to spend. When I was a hired-out shepherd in a solitary hut, not seeing no faces but faces of sheep till I half-forgot wot men’s and women’s faces wos like, I see yourn. . . . I see you there a many times plain as ever I see you on them misty marshes. ‘Lord strike me dead!’ I says each time—and I goes out in the open air to say it under the open heavens—‘but wot, if I gets liberty and money, I’ll make that boy a gentleman!’ And I done it. Why, look at you, dear boy! Look at these here lodgings of yourn, fit for a lord! A lord? Ah! You shall show money with lords for wagers, and beat ’em!”

( Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)

The revelation that the convict Magwitch is Pip’s benefactor is a huge example of epiphany for Pip. Pip has assumed for most of his life that Miss Havisham was his benefactor, and this epiphany changes everything for him. Pip must reassess his understanding of his own standing as a gentleman and reconsider his relationship with Magwitch, who is dramatically changed in his eyes to be a noble and loyal man, regardless of his criminal past.

His soul had approached that region where dwell the vast hosts of the dead. He was conscious of, but could not apprehend, their wayward and flickering existence. His own identity was fading out into a grey impalpable world: the solid world itself, which these dead had one time reared and lived in, was dissolving and dwindling.

(“The Dead” by James Joyce)

There are many examples of epiphany in the works of James Joyce. In fact, epiphany had such importance to him that he created his own definition of epiphany in his work, Stephen Hero . Joyce writes that epiphany is, “a sudden spiritual manifestation, whether in the vulgarity of speech or of gesture or in a memorable phase of the mind itself.” Epiphany is even more significant in his story “The Dead” from his collection Dubliners , as the setting is on the Feast of the Epiphany. The main character in “The Dead” Gabriel Conroy attends a birthday party on this day that symbolizes the dullness of Conroy’s life. After he returns home he has an epiphany about the inevitability of death that ultimately changes his outlook on life.

Test Your Knowledge of Epiphany

1. Choose the correct epiphany definition from the following statements: A. A strictly religious concept, relating only to the revelation of faith or divinity. B. A concept used only in science to describe the way that people make discoveries. C. The experience of a striking realization which offers a new perspective.

2. Consider the following conversation between Pip and Magwitch in Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations (Pip is the only one who speaks):

“Dear Magwitch, I must tell you, now at last. You understand what I say?” A gentle pressure on my hand. “You had a child once, whom you loved and lost.” A stronger pressure on my hand. “She lived and found powerful friends. She is living now. She is a lady and very beautiful. And I love her!”

Who has the epiphany and the subsequent change in worldview due to this conversation? A. Pip B. Magwitch C. No one

3. Which of the following scenes in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet contains an epiphany example? A. Romeo and Juliet meet at the Capulet ball B. Romeo and Juliet decide to marry, against the wishes of their families C. Juliet realizes that Romeo has killed himself, and decides to take her own life

What is Epiphany? Definition, Examples of Literary Epiphany

Home » The Writer’s Dictionary » What is Epiphany? Definition, Examples of Literary Epiphany

Definition of epiphany: An epiphany in literary criticism refers to a character’s sudden realization.

What is an Epiphany?

An epiphany is when a character gains insight to the deeper meaning of something. That something could be an object, a situation, a moment, or other things that at the surface level mean one thing but when examined closer hold a more symbolic meaning.

Epiphany Examples

A woman has unhealthy eating habits and is fairly overweight. Fast food has become the routine meal for her family including the small children. At her son’s yearly check-up, the doctors notes that he is at an unhealthy weight and at risk for childhood diabetes. It is this moment that that woman realizes she must make a change in order to preserve her children’s health.

In this everyday situation, the woman has an epiphany. The insight she gains is that her lifestyle is affecting her child in a way that could be dangerous to his health.

Modern Examples of Epiphany

Here are some epiphany examples in real life:

A man who has been working long hours at a corporate job has missed another one of his daughter’s volleyball games. When he gets home late at night, his daughter tells him that this was the game where she was recognized for earning a scholarship. The father has an epiphany that work shouldn’t come before family and makes every game for the rest of the year.

At an AA meeting, a mother shares her experience with alcoholism and how she lost her children to the foster care system due to her addiction. Another woman in the support group has an epiphany during this speech and realizes that she doesn’t want to lose her family to this disease and is dedicated to her recovery.

The Function of Epiphany

The purpose of epiphanies in literature is to show a character’s growth. When an author includes the epiphany a character experiences, it shows that the character has learned something through his/her experience during the book. Often these epiphanies lead to the character becoming a better person because of this insight.

Examples of Epiphany in Literature

Here are some examples of epiphanies used in literature:

In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol , the main character, Scrooge, experiences an epiphany. Scrooge begins the novel as a pessimistic, harsh man who has no sympathy for other people. On Christmas Eve, he is led through the past, present, and future by three ghosts who show him the effects his attitude has on people he loves. As a result of this journey, Scrooge has an epiphany that he no longer wants to live life in this manner and changes his outlook.

In this example, the sudden realization the character had was simply to treat others with kindness and gratitude.

In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet , the Capulets and Montagues have held onto an ancient grudge. This feud between the families has led to countless deaths of family members as well as other citizens of Verona. However, it is not until the suicides of the families’ only children, Romeo and Juliet, that the feud is resolved.

After the deaths of their children who felt their parents wouldn’t support their marriage, the families had an epiphany that this feud was not worth losing more lives.

Define epiphany: An epiphany is the sudden awareness or realization that a character gains through an experience. Many times, the character’s epiphany leads to a positive growth in the character’s life.

Final example of epiphany:

• In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 , the protagonist, Guy Montag, has lived his life going through the motions. As a firefighter in this post-apocalyptic society, he has mindlessly burned books without questioning. This continues until he has an epiphany that books are not the enemy. This sudden realization leads him to a dangerous quest for knowledge in a society that destroys it and those who seek it.

What is Epiphany?

Derived  from the Greek epiphaneia, meaning “manifestation” or “appearance,” an Epiphany is a moment of sudden and great realization. It is a moment when something that was unclear or confusing suddenly becomes clear. Epiphanies may be spiritual, intellectual, emotional, or physical. They can be life-changing or simply a moment of clarity.

How to pronounce Epiphany ?

When do writers use epiphany .

Writers use Epiphany when they want to convey an important  moment of sudden realization or insight that changes a character’s perspective, the, “Aw-haw!” moment. Epiphany is often used to depict a character’s growth or development. In some cases, it may be used as the climax of a story, pushing the character into action and bringing the story to a satisfying conclusion.

How to use Epiphany?

• Begin by describing  a moment in a character’s life. For example, the person finds themselves in a life-threatening situation where s/he/they suddenly find themselves confronted with their own mortality.
• Describe the scenario and the character as s/he/they come to terms with their current situation.
•  Describe the moments your character realizes that s/he/they may die in their situation. When suddenly, almost out of the blue, that character realizes s/he/ they have walked away from the love of their life because at that time in their lives, s/he/they had been too paralyzed by the fear of commitment to move forward. This great moment of realization is the character’s moment of epiphany. 

Types of Epiphany

• Spiritual Epiphany: Also known as a Joycean Epiphany, is a moment of sudden spiritual manifestation which offers insight into the divine or spiritual realm. A spiritual epiphany is a moment of great understanding and connection with something greater than that of a character’s self.
• Intellectual Epiphany: These occur in moments of religious or scientific breakthrough, the moment a difficult concept is suddenly understood, or the moment of clarity that occurs when the solution to a problem is found. One of the most famous examples of an intellectual epiphany was Isaac Newton’s discovery that the force that made an apple fall and kept the moon in place were the same. This realization resulted in Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation.
• Emotional Epiphany:  An emotional epiphany is a moment of self-realization which usually occurs after an intense emotional experience which leads to totally new attitudes and perceptions. These moments offer clarity to turbulent emotions and offer insight and understanding into a character’s feelings and emotions.The resulting change is often abrupt and unexpected.

Examples of Epiphany in Literature 📚

• Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger: After a series of misadventures, Holden has an epiphany which leads to the sudden realizations that he needs to grow up and take responsibility for his life.
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: The moment of epiphany comes when Tom Robinson stands and displays his left arm. At this point in the novel, the reader realizes that Bob Ewell is the one who strangled and killed Mayella.
• The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne: After being publicly shamed, Hester Prynne realizes that her sins are not entirely her own – they are, in part, the result of others’ sins.

Examples of Epiphany in Children Books 🧸

•  In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis: At the story reaches its climax, the children discover that Aslan, the lion, is the true king of Narnia and that he has come to save them from the White Witch. This is a powerful moment of realization for the children, as they now know they have been part of a much larger story than previously imagined.
•  In Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White: Wilbur has his moment of epiphany when he realizes that Charlotte has been protecting him from the farmer’s ax. The realization leads him to develop a newfound appreciation and respect for Charlotte’s friendship  and her selfless act of love.
• The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: For the Little Prince , his epiphanic moment occurs when he realizes the most important things in life are not material possessions, but rather the relationships we have with others.

Examples of Epiphany in Songs 🎧

• “Lose Yourself” by Eminem: The song expresses Eminem’s realization that he has been given an opportunity to better himself, is ready to forge his path forward, and that he can be successful if he throws himself into his music.
• “The Scientist” by Coldplay: Inspired by Chris Martin’s failed relationships, this song is a reflection of his realization that he has been neglectful and that his relationship failures are largely his fault.
• “Don’t Stop Believin” by Journey: Inspired by a conversation between Jon Cain and his father at a point in Cain’s life when he thought about quitting music. This song resulted from the realization that people believed in him and if he continued to believe in himself, he could be successful in his music career. 

Examples of Epiphany in Poetry ✍🏽

• William Wordsworth’s “Daffodils”: In this poem, the epiphany is the poem itself when at the end, the reader realizes that minds are nourished and repaired by taking part in what appear to be trivial things.
• Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”: In this poem, Frost reflects on the choices he has made in life and comes to the realization that while he may not have chosen the easiest path,  he did choose the right path for him and has no regrets.
• Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself”: Much like other poems, the poem is a reflection of the author’s own amazing realization. In “Song of Myself,” Whitman is explaining his epiphany to the reader . He has come to realize that he is but a small speck in a larger existence but he is grateful for what he has. He has come to understand that you can never go back; you can only move forward. and be greeted by death by the blessing of death at the end.

Examples of Epiphany in Movies 🎥

In film, a moment of epiphany is when a character has an intense, often emotional, moment of realization where everything suddenly becomes clear and easily understood. Suddenly, all of the pieces fall into place. Soul (2020)

Other examples of epiphany in film include:

• The Shawshank Redemption (1994): The moment Andy Dufresne realizes he can escape prison by crawling through a sewage pipe.
•   The Sixth Sense (1999): The moment Malcolm Crowe’s sleeping wife drops his wedding band on the floor and he realizes that he has actually been dead the entire time he’s been working with Cole..

Epiphany in TV and Pop Culture 🎥

Angel (2001)

Angel : Well, I guess I kinda worked it out. If there’s no great glorious end to all this, if nothing we do matters… , then all that matters is what we do. ‘Cause that’s all there is. What we do. Now. Today. I fought for so long, for redemption, for a reward, and finally just to beat the other guy, but I never got it. Kate Lockley : And now you do? Angel : Not all of it. All I wanna do is help. I wanna help because I don’t think people should suffer as they do. Because, if there’s no bigger meaning, then the smallest act of kindness is the greatest thing in the world. Kate Lockley : Yikes. It sounds like you’ve had an epiphany. Angel : I keep saying that, but nobody’s listening.

Examples of Epiphany in Advertising 📺

• Apple’s “Think Different” Campaign: Apple’s iconic “Think Different” campaign was a powerful Epiphany moment for the company. The campaign was designed to inspire people to think differently and challenge the status quo. It was a powerful message that resonated with people and helped to propel Apple to the top of the tech industry.
•  Nike’s “Just Do It” Campaign: Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign was a powerful Epiphany moment for the company. The campaign was designed to inspire people to take action and push themselves to their limits. It was a powerful message that resonated with people and helped to propel Nike to the top of the sports industry.
• McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ It” Campaign: McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ It” campaign was a powerful Epiphany moment for the company. The campaign was designed to inspire people to enjoy life and have fun. It was a powerful message that resonated with people and helped to propel McDonald’s to the top of the fast food industry.

Common FAQs

What is Epiphany ? A sudden, often life-altering realization about the character’s self, those around her/him/them that leads to a sudden and uncharacteristic change in thought or actions. A sudden, often life-altering realization about the character’s self, those around her/him/them that leads to a sudden and uncharacteristic change in thought or actions.  What are the features of Epiphany? The key features of an epiphany in literature are: a sudden, usually life-changing, realization, and a desire to or an uncharacteristic and noticeable change in belief, perception, or actions

Other related literary devices

•   Flashback : A flashback is a literary device used to show a character’s past experiences or memories that are relevant to the present situation. It is often used to provide insight into a character’s motivations or to explain why they are making certain decisions.
• Foreshadowing : Foreshadowing is a literary device used to hint at future events or plot points. It is often used to create suspense or to give the reader a sense of what is to come.
•   Symbolism : Symbolism is a literary device used to represent abstract ideas or concepts through the use of symbols. It is often used to convey a deeper meaning or to provide insight into a character’s thoughts and feelings.

What is an epiphany in literature?

An epiphany is a moment in which a character experiences a sudden insight or realization that changes their understanding of themselves, others, or the world around them. This moment of clarity often leads to a pivotal point in the story, affecting the character’s actions and decisions moving forward.

How does an epiphany contribute to a narrative?

An epiphany contributes to a narrative by providing a turning point in the story or in a character’s development. It deepens the reader’s understanding of the character’s journey, highlighting moments of personal growth, revelation, or transformation that are crucial to the plot’s progression and thematic depth.

Can an epiphany be experienced by the reader as well as the character?

Yes, an epiphany can be experienced by both the character and the reader . While characters have epiphanies that affect their path within the story, readers may also experience their own moments of insight, where they suddenly understand a deeper truth about the story, a character, or even a reflection on their own lives.

Why do authors use epiphanies in their writing?

Authors use epiphanies to create emotional resonance and to mark significant points of character development or plot twists. These moments are used to reveal hidden truths, resolve conflicts, or propel the story towards its climax, enriching the narrative with deeper meaning and complexity.

How can I identify an epiphany in a literary work?

To identify an epiphany in a literary work, look for a scene where a character suddenly changes their perspective or understanding in a way that profoundly affects their course of action. This moment is often highlighted by the character’s internal monologue or a significant change in their behavior, marking a clear before-and-after point in their development.

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The 14 Best Narrative Essay Topics On Epiphany For College Students

Narrative essays are a perfect opportunity to unleash the dormant storyteller in you. If you have always wanted to write a novel but not yet found the time to do it, then these are the next best thing. For those that are more technically minded they can also represent a real challenge as it can take quite a lot of practice getting into the right frame of mind to be able to pull off the style. It is also one of those subjects that you might have to use some creative license in order to pull off. Let’s face it, we haven’t all had an epiphany moment have we? Don’t worry if you haven’t, like all good story-tellers you don’t actually have to have lived through something in order to write about it. You simply need to be able to step into the clothing and make it seem real.

Epiphany is perfectly suited to the narrative style; the key is finding a slightly different take on it. There is no need to sit there chewing at your fingernails as expert US essay writers have come up with a list of the 14 best narrative essay topics to help you out:

• The moment when you discovered your true identity and realized that it was cool to be who you are.
• The moment when you realized that your best friend wasn’t your best friend that they had been lying to you all along.
• The moment you realized Santa Claus wasn’t real
• The moment you realized that picking dandelions wouldn’t make you pee the bed
• The moment you discovered your “aunt” was actually a man in drag
• The moment you realized that if you crossed your heart and hoped to die…you wouldn’t die
• The moment you realized how much you loved your brother/sister/parents/dog
• The moment you realized that your life wouldn’t come to an end if you didn’t have the latest smartphone/tablet/gadget
• The moment you realized that you can disagree with someone and still be friends
• The moment you discovered your political voice
• The moment you realized that the moon is not made of cheese
• The moment you realized you could stuff your face full of chocolate all day…and NOT be sick
• The moment you discovered internet porn
• The moment you were first lied to.

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Epiphany Celebration Ideas for Families and Churches

Epiphany celebrates the revelation of Christ as Savior of the whole world. This good news was made known through the coming of the wise men to see the baby Jesus. God had revealed to them by the star that the baby Jesus was God come to live among people. It is traditionally observed on January 6 in the liturgical calendar .

Epiphany was first observed in second-century Egypt, as both the day of Jesus’s birth and baptism. December 25 wasn’t established as a separate celebration of the nativity until around A.D. 336 and has never been universally celebrated on that day.

Today, January 6 and its eve are days of high festivity in some cultures, but in most North American churches we have ignored this traditional feast day. The Wise Men have gotten mixed up with the shepherds, the angels, the stable, and the manger of Christmas. It is time we reclaimed Epiphany as a separate celebration with a meaning and significance all its own. Epiphany contains a wealth of educational opportunities for church educators.

The biblical significance of Epiphany

The word Epiphany means “manifestation,” “showing,” or, less literally, “a moment of recognition.” Epiphany celebrates God’s manifestation of Jesus in three ways.

First, Epiphany celebrates the fact that Jesus came to all people. The story most often associated with Epiphany is that of Wise Men from the East following the star as it led them to Jesus (Matt. 2:1-12). Foreigners bowing before the new king show that God offers the Messiah to the whole world, not to just one race or nation.

The second manifestation showed Jesus’ divinity. After his baptism by John in the Jordan River, the heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended like a dove and rested on Jesus. Then a voice came from heaven proclaiming him as God’s Son (Matt. 3:16-17).

Finally, Jesus’s power was manifested at the wedding feast in Cana. It was here that he performed his first public miracle, changing water into wine.

These three events—the Magi’s visit, Jesus’s baptism, and the miracle at Cana—are traditionally associated with January 6. Although all three moments of recognition are observed on Epiphany, the majority of customs associated with the holiday in the Western world relate to the “Three Kings.”

The biblical account does not offer many details about the foreigners or their visit. Much of what we think we know is based in tradition, not Scripture. Legend has fleshed out the visitors by giving them names, homelands, and even experiences on their journey, both before and after their encounter with Jesus.

Día de los Tres Reyes Magos (Three Kings’ Day)

In many Latin American and Spanish-speaking countries, they celebrate Epiphany as Día de los Reyes Magos, or Three Kings’ Day. And unlike in the United States and Canada, it is a major part of the Christmas celebration. Día de los Tres Reyes Magos takes place on January 6 and is the culmination of the 12 days of Christmas . On this day, Christians remember how the wise men brought their gifts of gold, frankicense, and myrrh to the baby Jesus.

In many families who celebrate Tres Reyes Magos, children receive most of their gifts on January 6 instead of December 25. To honor this tradition, you could consider saving some gifts to open until January 6. This also offers an alternative to Santa Claus for families. Instead of waiting for Santa Claus to arrive, you are waiting for the magi to arrive with their gifts to celebrate Jesus’s birth. Another way to celebrate with your family or church is with a special cake. It is customary in Mexico to make a Rosca de Reyes cake for Tres Reyes Magos celebrations ( recipe here ). Baked into this cake is a small doll that represents the baby Jesus. This hidden doll symbolizes how the baby Jesus had to be hidden from King Herod.

Hosting an Epiphany party

Many Epiphany customs from Western Europe and Great Britain come together in a traditional Epiphany party. The Epiphany party is fun and educational for adults, teens, and children. It works well for a choir party, a church school program, a youth group meeting, or an intergenerational event for the entire congregation.

As guests arrive, greet them at the door and ask them to remove one shoe. Hobbling around with only one shoe remaining reminds them of the long, difficult journey the Wise Men took to Bethlehem. The shoes are lined up along a wall.

Refreshments, including a “King’s Cake,” are served first. Three dried beans are usually baked in the cake. All who find a bean in his or her piece of cake are crowned monarchs for the rest of the party. You may want to have more or less than three beans, depending on the size of your group. Changing the number from the expected three would provide an opportunity to explain that no one really knows how many Magi made the trip.

Next, the humble subjects help the kings and queens get in costume for their parts with dress-ups provided. These may include robes, colorful lengths of fabric, costume jewelry, tablecloths, curtains, and so on.

The Wise Ones are excused from the room for a few minutes. While they are gone, quietly place a small gift inside each empty shoe. Try not to be seen by the party guests. When the monarchs return, have them ask where the Christ Child is. Everyone responds with joy. “He is here indeed, among us. Come let us celebrate together!” To celebrate the presence of the Lord, the Wise Ones distribute gifts by matching up the shoes.

Next comes entertainment for the esteemed royalty. Divide the members of the party (excluding the kings and queens) into three groups. Each group has about twenty minutes to devise an appropriate entertainment or service for the monarchs. Some suggestions might be singing a song, performing a skit, reading a poem, giving a group shoulder rub, or leading a group game. (If your group is very large, divide into teams of about ten. You may need to spread the Wise Ones out around the room and have them entertained individually by several teams instead of doing this all together.)

After the formal entertainment, the party may continue with more fellowship time, carol singing, crafts, games, or refreshments. Be sure to wish everyone a happy Epiphany as they leave!

Most people complain of too much to do in too little time during Advent, and many suffer from post-Christmas letdown. A good solution to both problems would be to have a church-sponsored gathering at Epiphany rather than before Christmas, and to share together the joy of God-With-Us together on January 6.

Celebrating Epiphany in a classroom setting

If we are to reclaim Epiphany, the first step will be to get the facts straight as Matthew tells them. Reread the story with a careful eye and realize that the Gospel does not put the visit of the Wise Men at the stable but at a house. Most scholars attest that the visitors arrived in Bethlehem as much as two years after Jesus’ birth, according to the biblical account (Matt. 2:16). You may want to consult a Bible commentary at this step.

Read the story again, this time looking for images or themes that you may choose to explore with your class or group. Some possibilities are star, crown, camel, travel, gifts, light, two-year-old child, or going home a different way.

Plan activities that allow children or youth to revisit the biblical story to get the facts straight while building on your chosen theme. Some ideas are:

1. Act out the story, using a two- year-old Jesus and as many magi as necessary to ensure that each student has a part. 2. Let everybody dress up as a king or queen and make a crown. 3. Together decorate a large cardboard box to be used to collect gifts of canned goods, then deliver your gift to a food bank. 4. Make stars. 5. At the end of class session, have students leave the room or church in a way different from the route they usually take. Parents might want to take an alternate route home, as did the Wise Men. 6. Compare and contrast the visiting kings with Herod. What kind of rulers were they? What were the expectations of the visiting kings and of Herod about Jesus? Compare King Herod with Christ the King as well. 7. Learn a new Epiphany song such as “Take Time” by Avery and Marsh ( The Avery and Marsh Songbook).*

The possibilities for creative educational opportunities on the Epiphany theme are endless and not limited to the classroom. Your whole congregation may want to be involved in celebrating Epiphany with a church-wide party on or near January 6.

Giving Epiphany its due helps all of us to better understand Jesus, his mission in the world, and our own response to the gift of God’s grace. Don’t let this opportunity for ministry pass you by.

Twelfth Night family celebration ideas

Epiphany is a festival that lends itself well by theme and tradition to fun family activity. Before beginning the evening meal on Twelfth Night (Epiphany Eve), use the following service. It may also be used again on the Sundays in Epiphany. There is one white candle lit in the center of the table. There is an unlit white candle at each place.

For dessert, have a special Epiphany cake. This is traditionally a spice cake but some families prefer a chocolate/coconut Bundt cake. The Bundt shape cake resembles a crown. Place a ring of bright gumdrops (yellow, orange, and red) around the top of the cake to form “jewels” for the crown. The cake conceals three foil-wrapped coins—one for each of the wise men’s gifts. The person to find a coin leads a procession around the house. Because the wise men brought frankincense, light frankincense in an incense burner and carry it around the house. In Austria this means, “Tonight the wise men (kings) are coming; we must make them feel welcome.” Incense is a symbol for prayer and each family member offers a statement in each room about what they as a family hope to experience there in the coming year: good sleep, good food, good fellowship, etc.

Ponder: How do we as a family want to witness to the light of the world during this season? How will the light spread? As you find creative ways to spread the light in your community and around the world, consider concrete reminders for family members. Perhaps you would like to leave the porch light on or fly a banner/flag. Your family may put electric candles in the window. You might spend more time star gazing on clear evenings. If your family enjoys crafts, consider making Chinese lanterns. How will your light touch the hearts of those around you?

Entering into the season of Epiphany

During the remainder of the season, use a different verse each week on the theme of light (“Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you,” Isaiah 60:1; “Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life,'” John 8:12; “For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light…Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord,” Ephesians 5:8-10, etc.). Children can take turns lighting candles for the evening meal and being the leader for the verse. As it is repeated throughout the week, it usually isn’t long before everyone can say it by heart.

The ideas shared here were adapted from material written by Dianne Deming and Carol Myers that is no longer available in print. 

Related: Ideas for Celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas

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Drawn deeper, epiphany – 2021.

January 06, 2021

Phil Hooper

[RCL] Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14; Ephesians 3:1-12; Matthew 2:1-12

The metaphors of light and darkness are pervasive throughout Holy Scripture and Church tradition, but such imagery reaches its apogee now, on the Feast of the Epiphany. For those of us in the northern hemisphere, this is the day, in the lean light of January, when we often speak of Christ as brightness, as radiance, as the child bathed in starlight—attempting to articulate how an Incarnate God is not simply present among us, but revealed to us, just as the day is revealed by its dawning.

“Arise, shine; for your light has come,” declares Isaiah; it is an invitation to wake from sleep, to gather in the holy places, to pay homage to the one true Gift: God’s desire to know and be known by us. “We observed his star at its rising,” the wise men say, and it is a reminder that even the light of inconceivably distant galaxies has been caught up in the narrative of Divine Love made manifest, reaching across the vastness of space to find itself reflected in the eyes of an infant Lord.

For all the beauty of this imagery, however, and despite its centrality to our faith tradition, as people of this time and place we must contend in new ways with the ideas of darkness and light. We must be mindful of how this dichotomy has been used not only to depict the landscapes of spiritual consciousness but has also been misapplied to the physicality of people themselves, as if the color of our skin were an indicator of our soul’s worth.

This is especially true for those of us who live and worship in the United States; we cannot casually equate “light” with God and “darkness” with evil or ignorance in our preaching and our prayers without realizing how these very terms have been corrupted in recent centuries by our own sinfulness and that of our forebears—by this nation’s history of equating skin color with moral and spiritual capacities. All of us, no matter our background or good intentions, are inheritors of this bitter reality, and as Christians attentive to justice and reconciliation and breaking down that which disfigures beloved community, part of our own emerging Epiphany is a frank assessment of how language can harm just as powerfully as it can heal.

This is not about erasing the use of traditional imagery, nor is it about excising portions of Scripture. It is about taking these resources even more seriously than we have before: sitting with them, wrestling with them, plumbing the depths of Christian writing and hymnody to incorporate the full scope of ways we might speak about God—the One whom John calls “the true light… coming into the world,” but also the One of whom the psalmist says, “darkness and light to you are both alike.” The God whom Isaiah promises will be our “everlasting light” and the One whom the mystical theologian Pseudo-Dionysius calls “the ray of divine darkness.”

Rich and varied use of such metaphorical language preserves us from two extremes: first, from assuming that this imagery has no intrinsic power of its own to shape our social consciousness (it does); and second, from idolizing such imagery as if it were itself God (it isn’t). It is in the tension of opposites, then, and the playful spectrum between them, that we find our language’s best attempt at expressing the inexpressible, the experience of which we celebrate today.

For many of us, these considerations might feel like uncharted terrain. As such, the wise men in Matthew’s Gospel are ideal guides for our journey—strangers from another land, led through the night by wonder and hope, following the path to Christ fixed in the stars (which, of course, can only be seen in the dark). The Magi are not bound by the political machinations of Herod; they are not beholden to the present order of domination and exploitation. Instead, they are guided by dreams and visions, by the wisdom of hidden roads, by attentiveness to the signs around them. And in their journey—one that is itself the union of brightness and shadow—they are led to the place of our collective longing: to gaze upon the hidden face of God and to know that it is indeed God gazing back, beyond metaphor, beyond language itself, as pure, Incarnate presence.

How might we, too, encounter God again, if we are courageous enough to think deeply about the language we use to approach Divine Mystery? How might we, too, be guided to travel “by another road,” a road upon which we acknowledge the limits and the lamentable uses of “light” and “dark” in our recent past and then push beyond them? What new ways might we dream of to depict and express the epiphany that God is, and always has been, reaching out from across eternity to abide with us, to heal us, to bring us back to ourselves?

For us, as Episcopalians, this is an instance where our liturgy, our theological process, and God’s mission converge to do a brave new thing. As with any worthwhile journey, this is not one that can be finished quickly, nor can it be done alone. We must listen to one another, and to the voices of others whose lives are quite different from our own. We must be willing to hold ourselves accountable for speaking eternal truth in new and varied ways, knowing that even our most beautiful language is but a foretaste of the beauty that will one day be revealed in its fullness. But until then, it is what we have to offer.

“They all gather together, they come to you,” Isaiah promises the Holy City of God, and still we are coming, traversing the ages, stumbling, lost, hopeful, guided by stars and secret longings, to the place that is neither dark nor light, but deep and dazzling nonetheless—the place of love’s Epiphany, distant, hidden, home.

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Epiphany Essay

      Enlightenment was the topic of our previous article. So, you were given a task to write an essay on epiphany but the problem is that you have no clue what that means, you could never faced with this notion before in your entire life and now you are in a deep confusion as for how to accomplish this complicated task. Have no worries please. Any problem has a solution. Moreover, any problem has more than two solutions.

     Then, there are other discoveries such as no fairy tooth and Easter bunny to exist either. Those are fiction only, made up characters and it ruins the world of a child. There are more serious examples of epiphany in this world such as the tragedy, which happened to American citizens back in the year 2001, on September 11th. It has influenced in a great way on people and left a vivid trace in American history in a bad sense of the word though. It was terrible and unexpected.

     You may write upon any epiphany in your life really, anything what had a great impact on your life and left a trace in it either in good or in a bad way. Maybe there was something what caused goose bumps on your skin. There are so many moments in life to describe. One should be attentive to be able to catch those moments and wrap them into words nicely to provide with a credible essay. In case you are not sure whether you are capable of writing, ask for help online and provide with instructions towards your order and your order will be accomplished and delivered in a proper manner. Our writers are truly and genuinely ready to help with writing if anything. 

     If a client is not sure what to write in the essay, a professional will help you. S/he will suggest epiphany essay ideas for your essay and you will definitely like what professionals are able to offer because of their huge experience and luggage of knowledge. Who knows, maybe some day you will come up to the idea of writing an epiphany essay on your own and you will describe your experience of working with a professional writer who became an inspiration, a muse of your life, of your career choice, who led you to where you will be on the moment at the time of writing the essay.

     Life is wonderful despite all the negative we see on television. There is always a moment to share with in the form of an essay and if currently you are to write an epiphany essay, do it or ask for outside assistance but leave panic, worries and fear aside. You can do it! Our service can help you!

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