Comparing Thackeray with his predecessors and contemporaries, Rollyson, C. states in “Notable British Novelists”: “Both in his miscellaneous writings and in his first great novel, Vanity Fair, Thackeray sought to counter the kind of melodramatic and pretentious entertainment provided by such authors as Edward Bulwer-Lytton, William Harrison Ainsworth, and even the early Charles Dickens. He attempted, instead, to make his readers see through the social and literary hypocrisy that, as he believed, characterized the age.” (Rollyson, 2001) “Thackeray’s work is thus truly homiletic, both in a literary and in an extraliterary sense. Unlike many of his predecessors, he examined in detail the difficulties occasioned not only by marriage but also by other personal relationships; rather than assuming that a novel should end with marriage, he makes it his subject.” (Rollyson, 2001) In addition, Rollyson expresses his opinion on Thackeray’s educative characteristic in his compositions: “Another one of the many senses in which Thackeray’s novels are educative is the way in which he redefines the word “gentleman” to apply not to a member of a particular social class, but rather to one who possesses a set of personal characteristics ,such as clear-sightedness, delicacy, generosity, and humanitarianism” (Rollyson, 2001) In the book “Companion to Victorian Novel”, Baker, W. and Womack, K. give the readers the knowledge of successful authors and
THE FAMILY IN CHARLES DICKENS HARD TIMES AND D. H LAWRENCE SONS AND LOVERS Arguably, for a writer to be accepted in society, especially for a novelist writing for didactic purposes, he must identify with sociological, philosophical and historical state of his environment. Since the inception of the novel, some critics have assumed the novelist as a chronicler of events because he draws most of his materials from a life situation. In consonance with this statement Austen, Warren and Rene Welleck state that: He registers events; put them down in the form of art for didactic purposes, as well as for entertainment. With inspiration drawn from society, he uses his creative ingenuity to write stories that will serve society. Therefore, the writer and society are like two sides of a coin, mutual and inseparable; he cannot exist in a vacuum.
Each author is notorious for basing the characters in their novels off of themselves. Kafka, having written his late piece The Trial, wrote the book in order to depict his thoughts that he pondered only in his head. In search of an answer that was no-where to be found, one can find a trace in his workings of his fiction novels. There are similarities even within the style of Kafka’s writing and personal life that parallel the protagonist of his story, K. In contrast, Aira’s novel Varamo has a fluidity and movement that is not only reflected in the style of his writing, but also his character’s advancement throughout the story. Above all, the overarching theme of progress is demonstrated in both novels.
The effect of exaggeration style in Charles Dickens’s “David at Salem House” Exaggeration is a representation of something in an excessive manner and has been a familiar style of famous writers such as Flannery O’Connor, Mark Twain, Paul Bunyan…to show writer’s attitudes toward characters. In “David at Salem House”, , which allows readers clearly see how lonely David Copperfield is in Salem house and his strong endurance with the mistreat of school system. The first aspect Dickens uses to describe his characters is the use of formal vocabulary or use of big words for small things. Dickens chooses words carefully to attract reader’s attention and build characters he intends to show. The evidences appear in each paragraph :The Master and David Copperfield were “surveyed” by a stout man, Copperfield “supposed” the boy were out, the placard was “neatly constructed”, the cruel man “aggravated” his sufferings.
Through the bewitching stories we see that Barth is exploring an entirely new style of writing, sometimes confusing, sometimes fragmented, but always captivating. The Literature of Exhaustion is said to be a contradicting document due to the fact that it comes from a novelist, however John Barth has made it his responsibility to change the face of literary art, and the movement known as postmodernism. In his essays he discusses the importance of a flexible literature a genre that can be continually reinvented with out changing grammar or words. He attempts to do this in the form of novels, such as The Sot-Weed Factor, and novellas collectively known as Chimera, and a collection of short stories, Lost in the Funhouse. The collection of short stories is a great example of his idea of Postmodernity.
The scholars look at questions such as how and why and develop a plethora of deciphering that can be greatly utilized by future readers of the novel. In Dick-and-Jane and the Shirley Temple Sensibility in the Bluest Eye, Klotman draws on theme, imagery, and character relationships to evaluate The Bluest Eye. First Klotman examines the overall theme of the novel. This critic essentially thinks that the self-hatred which Pecola feels is reinforced, if not taught, in the both society and school. Not only does the novel take place in both the community and school, but Klotman points out that the variations in the quote of “Dick and Jane” reveals the underlying theme of “the ironic duality of the school/home experience” (123).
The difference in the form of writing impacted the presentation of these literary works and how they were received. Literature from the Victorian period came in all forms and styles, however, for the purpose of this essay, the forms discussed will be limited to Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella ‘Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ and Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s epic narrative poem, ‘Aurora Leigh’. Both Stevenson and Browning were able to portray a number of relevant Victorian social attitudes through their chosen literary form such as the duality of humans, the repressive behaviour of Victorian society, concerns regarding scientific advancement and the impact on the old way of life as well as the role and inequality of woman in Victorian times through use of theme, narration style and characterisation. The Victorian era is commonly reflected upon as patriarchal, repressive and pious though, whilst those elements were certainly present in society, to reduce the period to such a narrow stereotype is to overlook much of what was occurring during that time. Victorians were ‘much more diverse and lively’ (Murfin & Ray 496) than they are credited with and the period was rich with change and a challenging of long held
Finally, it will analyze the way he uses characters and settings to create a believable world that draws the reader into his greater theme. William Faulkner has several re-occurring character types that appear throughout his novels and short stories. One of the most dominant character types is the unfit father figure. In the novel As I Lay Dying, the narrator leads the audience to believe that Anse is leading the family on a journey to bury his lost wife as her dying wishes; however, Anse is the exact opposite. He uses his family throughout the story to achieve selfish benefits.
This preface foreshadows how Ondaatje will be presenting his novel, furthermore illustrating hints to his polyphonic voices and its manipulation to the story’s perspective. We are already informed that the story is disordered and confused as he “attempts to carry it all in his arm”. This excerpt also suggests that memory will be the basis of this story, exploring the nature of storytelling. Ondaatje uses meta-fiction, a literary device used to self-consciously and systematically draw attention to a work's status as an artefact, this theme is evident through-out the novel. For example, “it’s a metaphor.
This essay will begin by considering some of the themes of the novel, and the stylistic approach of Rushdie’s postmodernism, it will then move onto an examination of Saleem, the narrator and protagonist of the story; his story-telling, his physical body, and his history being the source of much of the disturbance of regular authorship found in the book. This will naturally lead on to a discussion of how Midnight’s Children destabilises the notions of ‘historiography’, authenticity, and the reliability of the author/narrator. A conclusion will then consider whether the novel can be regarded as revealing an unstable subject. Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children is set in India, in the years between 1915 to 1978; the largest portion of the novel concentrates upon the years after Independence (1947). The author recounts the story of his ancestors, which are later shown to not be his ancestors, in the thirty-two years before his birth, and the thirty-one years after.