Miss Emma, Jefferson's godmother, does not want him to die as a hog but as a man; she enlists the help of Grant, who goes along with much reluctance, to achieve this. Grant and Jefferson are not related at all, but are connected in many ways through their experiences as black males living in a racist society. Both are imprisoned, whether it be aphysical or mental prison, and receive constant reminders of their inferior state. For example, when Miss Emma requests that she and the others who come to visit Jefferson see him the day room, she is told that Jefferson will have to choose whether he will be unshackled in his cell or shackled in the day room. Jefferson is not to forget he was in prison.
For Okonkwo, however, any kind of softness and tenderness was a sign of weakness. Throughout the novel we are shown men with a more mature understanding of masculinity, but Okonkwo's ignorance often disallows him to think thoroughly of his actions. At other times; however, Okonkwo's strength was all he had and was the primary factor that controlled his behavior. He could not accept the fact that in a colonized society he would be an average person, rather than a distinguished and powerful male. Okonkwo was one of the strongest and most respected men in his society.
He shows the unreasonable and irrational side that everyone in his tribe and family can see, but “in his heart, Okonkwo [is] not a cruel man”. Okonkwo possesses sensitive feelings, “but [they] lay deep within” him. The “wall” between the feelings he holds within, and the actions he expresses is very clear in the beginning of the book. Dominance is every weak man’s key to seeming stronger to his peers. As long as Okonkwo can appear ruthless and powerful, he will, in turn, appear to be manly, unlike his father.
Now, even though Nick is the storyteller, this arrogant self-description shows that he is not reliable due the fact that he thinks of himself as superior to the masses. He lives in the West Egg district of Long Island, next door to Jay Gatsby, the protagonist who inspired him to write this book. Shortly after he describes himself he begins to describe Gatsby. He is fascinated with his neighbor for the simply astounding fact that Gatsby meets, and even exceeds, his expectations. The two men are on completely different ends of some form superiority complex.
Changez, too, is guilty of nostalgia but he seeks to solve the problem and resolves to ‘pretend all is well and work hard to restore things to what they were.’ A preoccupation with reliving the past leads Changez to ‘lack a stable core’. His efforts to recreate the past are inevitably at odds with his desire to become an American and this is made evident most strongly through his relationship with Erica. It is as though America; Princeton, ‘a dream come true’ and Erica, ‘stunningly regal’, romance Changez. His retrospective commentary as he speaks to the American in the present suggest that he ignored the ‘cracks’ in favour of adopting a new identity and thus made himself vulnerable to disappointment and rejection that followed. The dangers of living in the past are also evident through the
While the protagonist is a good guy in most of the stories, he can be a bad guy (or an anti-hero) as well. If he is a hero, the audience is expected to share empathy with him and this has to be kept in mind when writing his character. If he is an anti-hero the audience will not have any sympathy for him and therefore the character has to be gripping enough to keep the audience interested. While an antagonist need not necessarily be a person, the protagonist has to be a person (or a group of people) with a cause. The examples of protagonist in fiction is quite lengthy, and includes some of the most famous fictional characters including Harry Potter, Superman, Batman, etc.
– (Wulick, 2016)3 In the book, Jay Gatsby, the character, is so unfathomable, so much a conjecture of the novel's narrator, and yet Leonardo DiCaprio makes him understandable and genuine. The actor's choices highlight the idea that Gatsby is playing the man he wishes he were, and that others want him to be. The audience sees the questions and intentions in his mind, but also believes that he could hide them from the other characters or cast members. Leonardo DiCaprio's acting highlights the novel’s depiction of his character’s personality as "an unbroken series of successful gestures". – (Fitzgerald, Pg.
The story portrays how other members of society view him in terms of racial stereotypes—as a mugger, bumpkin, or a savage. Constantly worn down by these stereotypes, he decides to do nothing and lives outside of everyday society and reinforcing his own invisibility. The narrator craves recognition of himself for his individuality rather than recognition based on these stereotypes. The “blindness” of others comes from an inability to see the narrator without imposing their own stereotypes on him. The narrator knows this and mocks himself, stating it does not matter how he thinks of himself, because anyone—even the anonymous blond man on the street—can force him to conform to these stereotypes, simply by uttering a racial insult.
His narratee almost becomes a projection of himself and his own values and the real reader very quickly sees through the fact that Stevens cannot see outside his own prejudices and social sphere. Stevens devotes many pages of his narrative (1990:31-35; 113-116) expounding the criteria of The Hayes Society and its regulation of standards among butlers, for this is the standard by which he himself adheres to and by which, he assumes, his readers will discern. As his prejudices are well to the forefront of the novel, the sceptical
Peter is more focused on completing the tasks more than satisfying his employees. Peter’s leadership style can also be described as coercive, do what I tell you, style. He demands his employees to do what he tells them to do. According to Handy’s ‘trust-control dilemma’, those who use autocratic style are assumed to have little trust in their employees and as a result, control them more (Organisations and Behaviour, 2010, p.178). Peter might also be under the influence of Theory X where he assumes that every employee does not like work and will avoid doing anything unless they are pushed, controlled and coerced.