One might not think so. Interestingly enough, satire and humor can actually convert the devilish face of hopeless situations (such as being homeless) into more of an amiable one. For example, Alexie, in the short story “What You Pawn I Will Redeem,” marvelously integrates the aspects of satire and humor into the compelling adventure of a homeless American Indian. 1 http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/04/21/030421fi_fiction “What You Pawn, I Will Redeem” by Sherman Alexie is a sentimental, first person point of view story of hopelessness written in a comedic tone. This story creates a captivating character out of an old, alcoholic Indian and is used by Alexie to illustrate many overlooked issues in Native American culture, such as homelessness and redemption.
As delightful as it is catching the many allusions and direct nods scattered throughout Ready Player One, the novel's characters and story often feel trapped within the clutches of their author's love for one particular set of cultural artifacts. Cline's characters resemble, for the most part, a collection of perfectly enjoyable representations pulled from a pantheon of ancient, geek archetypes. Wade Watts, aka Parzival in the OASIS, being the impoverished and outcast nerd with a shitty life. Art3mis being the love interest with some hidden shame, or weakness, who might just be more of a nerd than our hero and seems destined to help bring him out of his shell and into the real world. There is also the hero's best friend, Aech, who spends most of his time in a simulated basement, and a Japanese duo, Shoto and Daito, who name themselves after swords and are always good for a discussion of honor when the occasion
Another reason this novel is well written is because it’s comedic. It’s funny and entertaining. Not everything in this novel is a joke, but the way the main character, Violet, explains her thoughts and thinks about everyday happenings is very entertaining and could probably make lots of people chuckle. Books with a hint of comedy are slightly hard to come by. It’s easy to find a cheesy book that is so cheesy it isn’t even funny and books that are so serious that you could read the entire novel cover to cover without a single facial expression.
Coincidences in Huck Finn The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is a very enjoyable piece of American literature, which is famous for the unique realism it uses. Although the novel is intended to be realistic, there are some very unlikely coincidences within the story that become major parts of the plot. A first coincidence in this novel would be early on in the book when Huckleberry Finn first meets up with Miss Watson’s Jim while hiding on a deserted island. Both men came from the same small town where there is hardly any excitement, yet the reader is expected to believe that they both ran away at the exact same time and chose the exact same hideout. This seems very unlikely.
The dramatic choices of words such as, “drooped, mildewed, pulpy, and molded,” embellish the description of the setting. The poem is written so dreadfully that the readers may even feel reluctant to imagine. For instance, the line five in the poem, “hung down long yellow evil necks, like tropical snakes,” insinuates that living in a hell may be a better place to live than in a root cellar. Although there are ones who have failed to grow out from the horrid condition and face the reality of death, the two lines in the end of the poem concludes, “Nothing would give up life: even the dirt kept breathing a small breathe,” eliminating the existence of the word abdication. Therefore, the targeted or intended audience of this poem may be pessimistic individuals who have willingness to abandon their goal, future, and dream from the temporary dark that they
The Great Gatsby “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay." Mr. Jay Gatsby is a peculiar fellow, throughout the story you begin to understand all that he has been through. Heartbreak, crime, riches, confusion and all sorts of things that love has put him through. So really the question is, is Gatsby doing the things he’s doing because he loves Daisy? Or has he been corrupted, turning him into a corrupt “weasel-dealer”?
While there is clear mediation and criticism of the heady days of the ‘jazz age’, the novel goes beyond its immediate historical context; bemoaning not only the indifference of the lost generation, but exploring the danger of desire, lamenting the result of “living too long with a single dream”, and deconstructing the contradictory nature of the American Dream. And combined with vividly drawn foible characters and an irresistible lyrical style, surely this is a book which cannot help but resonate with modern
The concern here is with the corruption of values and the decline of spiritual life - a condition which is ultimately related to the American Dream. For the novel recalls the early idealism of the first settlers. Fitzgerald himself relates Gatsby's dream to that of the early Americans for, at the end of the novel, Nick recalls the former Dutch sailors and compares their sense of wonder with Gatsby's hope. The book also seems to investigate how Americans lost their spiritual purpose as material success wiped out spiritual goals. The lives of the Buchanans, therefore, filled with material comforts and luxuries, and empty of purpose, represents this condition.
Steven Cahn. Indianapolis, IN: Hacket Pub., 2006. Descartes Argument against the insanity premise that if I believe the same thing as an insane person, I would be insane. Premise 1: In the past, I have dreamt and not thought I was dreaming at the time. Descartes says, “…lunatics whose brain is so troubled and befogged by the black vapors of the bile that they continually affirm that they are kings while they are paupers, that they are clothed in gold and purple while they are naked...” This means: That many times when we are dreaming, our senses have the ability of tricking us into thinking that we are in fact not experiencing a dream rather than our reality.
Digging Deep “The Big Two-Hearted River” by Earnest Hemingway is one of the greatest short stories in American Modernism. Hemingway creates a hidden division between the textual and idea level. The story textually does not share a thrilling plot. The use of a simple plot line creates the illusion that the story has a dull aspect. However, the further you dig into the story the more thrilling it becomes.