Many times during the novel Of Mice and Men Steinbeck creates contradiction: Curley’s wife’s red wardrobe compared to the brown, mucky, ranch. Even George and tall Lennie are conflicting themes in the novel. These are only two small examples, looking deeper in the novel one finds the importance in Curley’s Wife’s death. The passage describing Curley’s wife’s death is the most emotionally wrenching for the reader in the novel. Steinbeck elicits contradictory feelings in the reader: sympathy for the recently murdered woman as well as sympathy for his murderer.
Joel Arpin Prof Karl Anderson English Com & Lit 102-05 March 3, 2013 A Feminist Theme Comparison of ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ & ‘Trifles’ This exposition should convince the reader that there are clear underlying feminist themes connecting Trifles and The Yellow Wallpaper. The foremost common themes in these stories address the patriarchal dominance of an earlier -turn of the century- society and the demoralizing effect it has on the lives and emotional wellbeing of the women in the stories. The male characters are portrayed as domineering yet clueless authority figures who maintain their position certainly by virtue of their gender. Being a product of Victorian mores, the men are almost subconsciously dismissive of the female intellect, regarding it as childish and inferior. The women are casualties of a domestic prison, a prison for the mind, created by society and their husbands, who are victims themselves in their own way, of a Gilded Age mindset.
In The Bloody Chamber Angela Carter reverses gothic traditions so that the males become the victims instead of the females. Consider at least two of the stories in the bloody chamber in the light of this view. The gender constructs of passive, young, virginal woman who are victimised by dominant, strong and wealthy males is a common trait throughout gothic tales including many of Angela Carters short stories from “The Bloody Chamber”. However, Carter received the criticism of “[extracting] latent content, conjuring up a new exotic hybrid” in which she challenges the typical stereotypes of gothic conventions, influenced by her feminist nature. These caused the post modern versions of her stories to adopt dualisms of combining sexual desires with naivety and give alternative interpretations that perhaps the male characters suffered victimisation instead.
“Is Year of Wonders primarily a study of grief and loss, or does it offer the reader an uplifting, optimistic message?” In the novel “Year of Wonders” written by Geraldine Brooks, it demonstrates heartbreak, suffering and agony, as a result of the plague in the village, Eyam. It reflects individual’s reactions in the community suffered primarily from grief and loss from characters such as Michael Mompellion, Anna Frith, John Gordon and some villagers. Brooks studies grief and loss intensely in the novel, however, it also demonstrates resourcefulness and resilience from Anna Frith and Michael Mompellion. It provides the readers an uplifting and optimistic message through the characters by their wisdom and moral beliefs despite the hardships they have endured from the plague, and is therefore not just a study of grief and loss. “Year of Wonders” is much more complex, and is a study of both grief and loss as well as providing readers a positive message throughout the novel, and this is seen from both main characters, Anna Frith and Michael Mompellion.
Intro: 17th century England village infected by plague. Reader witnesses the plague through protagonist/narrator Anna. Although some elements of the recount of the events of the plague year are retrospective and can be seen as biased Anna is generally a reliable narrator for this story. Paragraph 1- AF is a good choice of character for narration as she is objective in her viewsand has access to the whole social structure of the village due to her position as a servant. She is directly affected by the plague and therefore offers the reader an insight into the grief associated with the plague.
In Deborah Tannen’s essay, “Can’t We Talk,” she was able to persuade me men and women misunderstand each other due to the simple fact that opposite genders perceive language differently. Tannen states in her essay, “Learning the other’s way of talking is a leap across the communication gap between men and women, and a giant step towards genuine understanding.” Throughout the essay, she uses great structure and examples to inform her readers of this gap between the genders and how it interferes with communication and understanding. Deborah Tannen structures her essay in a way that makes it easy for the reader to follow, and in turn, helps make her point. When first looking at the page, it is very appealing to the eye. She has six different points proving the differences between men and women through examples.
By placing the people of Eyam into turmoil and death, Brooks demonstrates how different human beings react to crisis. The ongoing intelligence of the protagonist Anna, also serves as the beginning of enlightenment in science, while questioning the way religion is portrayed in society. Furthermore, the complex nature of Anna’s character as a house maid to the Mompellion’s allows Brooks to give the audience a greater insight of the class and values which existed in the real world. Through the various ways the villagers respond to the crisis of the Plague, Brooks is able to explore human nature in all its complexities. Some of those reactions, the audience are encouraged to admire, while others, to be critical of.
Brutality is the actions of people who have the power of being cruel to others. This is thoroughly expressed in depth across the novel of ‘Briar Rose’ however; hope is also showed in the novel where people find hope either in themselves or through power of human spirit. The second dual chapter of the novel called ‘castle’ was told by Josef. The holocaust is an example of brutality as Josef re-tells his experiences in the holocaust. Yolen helps the reader understand that ‘Briar Rose’ is both about brutality and hope through the use of her distinctive prose fiction techniques and a variety of themes and techniques.
She only knows Harriet through her physical appearance and her interest in her is solely superficial. Emma is intrigued by beautiful people and has long had a fascination in them. This shallow behavior is illustrated throughout the entirety of the passage; allowing for an intense look inside Emma's mind, while only characterizing Harriet through imagery. The author’s use of imagery really helps up sculpt a picture of what Harriet looks like and the situation that she and Emma are in. In the third paragraph, Harriet is described as being a “very pretty girl, and her beauty happened to be of a sort which Emma particularly admired.” Though this paragraph is mostly devoted to Harriet's splendor, Emma's personality shines through.
Susan Hill the author of “The Woman in Black” successfully creates a clear understanding of sympathy to the reader through the character of Author Kipps, a junior solicitor and ghost non-believer. Sympathy is explored throughout the book using a variety of devices which results in the reader empathising with the characters in the book. To investigate how Hill connects with the reader to create sympathy, language, form and structural devices will be analysed to show how hill creates the intended effect of sympathy. Mr Kipps the main character in “The Woman in Black” is viewed as young, optimistic and mature but views himself as “a sturdy, commonsensical fellow” who “did not believe in ghosts.” The reader begins to understand this when Arthur has an unsettled reaction to the ghost story telling at the beginning of the novel which creates a sense of mystery, Kipps states “i was trying to suppress my mounting unease, to hold back the rising flood of memory.” This builds the beginning of suspense for the reader as they are intrigued to find out Kippses past memory but the word unease creates the first sign of sympathy for Arthur this affects how the rest of the novel is understood as parts of the story is unknown creating a tension between the character and reader. Arthur Kipps is summoned to attend a funeral of the late Alice Drablow but discovers the tragic secrets of Eel marsh house which stands at the end of the causeway.