"How does Dickens' create mystery and suspense in his writing?"

"How does Dickens' create mystery and suspense in his writing?" Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth in 1812. Most of his books were written in the mid-eighteen hundreds and some of them include Great Expectations, Hard Times, and Little Dorrit. The three I will be referring to are Oliver Twist, The Signalman and A Christmas Carol. Back in Dickens' time there was a lack of education, a huge wealth divide between the rich and the poor, and the environment was unpleasant compared to todays. Dickens' creates mystery and suspense in his books through techniques of writing language, the background, the characters, and the weather. Dickens often has moralistic themes to his books, in A Christmas Carol, Scrooge changed from being a horrible man who hated Christmas, into a nice, pleasant gentleman, who came to like Christmas. One of Dickens' main techniques is his use of language. He used elaborate descriptions, alliteration, repetition, listing and onomatopoeia. An example of his elaborate descriptive writing is shown in 'A Christmas Carol' - "A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner." Another example of Dickens use of language is also in 'A Christmas Carol' -"The phantom slowly, gravely, silently approached." This is an example of tripling, and the word 'gravely' again refers to death. This piece of writing certainly does create mystery and

  • Word count: 1147
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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"How is the theme of 'universal indifference' portrayed in The Outsider and Candide"?

Kirby Kruger "How is the theme of 'universal indifference' portrayed in The Outsider and Candide"? Albert Camus's thought-provoking story of The Outsider and Voltaire's whimsical satire Candide both question faith and mankind's tendency to explain away events through the mystical nature of spirituality. Both authors seem to consider the idea of evil as part of a Divine Plan, or as an ultimate cause of good, as weak, and on the whole, unsatisfactory. They respond differently to this, though; Camus rejects religion completely, while Voltaire approaches the notion more cautiously by mocking mankind's fickle justifications for evil and blind faith. The first section of The Outsider almost seems irrelevant to the philosophical climax that dramatically completes Meursault's simple character. Through the striking contrast of the initial structure and fallaciously predictable content of the earlier sections, Camus delivers the message unexpectedly and dramatically. As a first-person narrative, the reader expects to finish the book with Meursault sincerely narrating his unremarkable life as he grows accustomed to jail; yet the change of setting does not really bring upon any renewed interest. Instead, the subtle introduction of the Patrician, whose irrational and blatantly irritable beliefs eventually annoy Meursault to the point of an philosophical outburst, whereby he declares

  • Word count: 1759
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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"In Batiste's determination to continue the struggle lies the essence of Blasco Ibaez's optimism. La barraca is a novel of protest, not of hopelessness" (G. Cheyne). To what extent do you agree with this statement?

"In Batiste's determination to continue the struggle lies the essence of Blasco Ibañez's optimism. La barraca is a novel of protest, not of hopelessness" (G. Cheyne). To what extent do you agree with this statement? I do not fully agree with the above opinion given by Cheyne. I do think that what he says is partly true but to say that the novel is lacking the theme of hopelessness would be wrong. It is more apt to say that the novel displays both a sense of protest from its characters and also a sense of hopelessness. In this essay I intend to explore the themes of hopelessness and of protest, discussing how they interact and thereby provide a sense of fate in the novel. Furthermore I will talk about what devices Blasco uses to emphasise these themes to the reader. From the beginning of Batiste's arrival in the huerta, the fields in which he works and lives have a sense of doom attached to them. Pimentó assures the huertanos that Bastiste's farming of the fields will not be successful and his efforts to do so would be stopped: Él, lo único que podia asegurar es que el tal sujeto no cogería el trigo, ni las habas, ni todo lo que había plantado en los campos de Barret. Aquello sería para el demonio.1 I would say that the way in which the whole of the village side against Batiste is a negative value of society that Blasco wishes to display through the device of the

  • Word count: 2896
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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"Inconceivable" by Ben Elton - book review.

Contents Introduction.................................................2 About the Author.........................................3 Author's Works...........................................4 "Inconceivable"............................................5 * Synopsis.................................................................6 * Review................................................................6-7 * Extracts............................................................8-10 Introduction I have chosen to read the book "Inconceivable" by Ben Elton. As I do not read books a lot I did not have any real idea what or who I wanted to do this project on when it was first set. I decided that I would prefer to read a humorous book instead of a normal fiction story book which I may easily get bored of after a while. I did not have any authors in mind when I decided I wanted to read a comedic book, so I decided to go to a bookshop and look at a few books to see what I might like to read. I found books by Ben Elton and decided to look at a few of them because I had known that Ben Elton is a good stand-up comedian, so his books would probably be quite an interesting read. I read a bit of several of the books and thought that "Inconceivable" would be a good one to read purely because of the name of the book, the illustration on the front cover and the quotes from people and

  • Word count: 2893
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Snowdrops (short story) analysis

What happens in Snowdrops? This story is important as much for what we do not learn directly as for the surface narrative. The story appears to be about a boy and his day at school. He goes to a primary school in Wales - in a town that seems like the author's hometown of Merthyr. Apart from a few very specific details that tell us this, the town could be almost anywhere. His teacher has promised the class that they can go outside to look at the snowdrops that are now coming up. While the children are looking at the snowdrops, they can see a funeral procession passing the school. The boys' parents have spoken earlier about a young man, killed in a motorbike accident, and it is his funeral. Evidently the teacher knows this, for she stands watching and crying. The story that Leslie Norris does not tell directly, but tells indirectly by hints and clues, is about the love between the young man who has died and the teacher, Miss Webster. The themes of this story The title of the story suggests one of its themes - of course it is about snowdrops literally. But for the reader and for the children in the narrative, snowdrops symbolize the renewal of life that comes in the spring, or perhaps eternal life beyond the grave for those who have died. We also see, in the contrast of the adult conversation and the viewpoint of the child the idea of childhood and growing up. There may be

  • Word count: 3763
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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"The Bloody Chamber" by Angela Carter - With close reference to one of the tales, discuss how Carter draws upon and subverts conventions of the fairy tale

"The Bloody Chamber" by Angela Carter "With close reference to one of the tales, discuss how Carter draws upon and subverts conventions of the fairy tale" Usually fairy tales are told to children to teach them a moral lesson in life or as is mostly the case, help them tell the difference between good and bad. Angela Carter is someone known to take elements from fairy tales and turn them into well written, exciting, compelling complex dramas of a Gothic nature filled with sexual innuendo, a combination of different narrations (mainly first and third), strong heroic female characters and the evil villain - the male. "The Bloody Chamber" is a modern interpretation of the "Blue Beard" (character below) fairy tale which uses this very formula to create an exciting and dramatic story. In a nutshell both stories are about young women (in their late teens, on the verge of turning into womanhood) who marry a wealthy man and leave a life of modesty behind them. The young women are given a set of keys which allows them to explore every room in the house - except one (the 'bloody' chamber) , if that room is entered, dire consequences shall follow (death). Naturally the young women ignore the advice of their intimidating, menacing and much older husbands to enter the room and fall into the trap set up for them and like every disobedient child, they MUST be punished. With reading the

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  • Word count: 1382
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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"The Catcher In The Rye" is a novel that has always attracted controversy.

"The Catcher In The Rye" is a novel that has always attracted controversy. When J.D. Salinger's novel, "The Catcher In The Rye" was first published in 1951, it caused a storm in both the literary world, due to its unusual content and style, and the American social scene. In a list of the most controversial books ever written, it is claimed that, "this immediate best seller almost simultaneously became a popular target of censorship" (1) and that it was banned due to its "profanity, reference to suicide, vulgarity, disrespect, and anti-Christian sentiments" (1) . The main aspects of this novel which make it controversial are; the language and style Salinger chooses to use, the comment he makes on 1950's capitalist America, Holden's state of mental health, Holden's opinions on sexuality and treatment of women, his relationships with children and his portrayal as a Christ-like figure. Many of these issues are still controversial today and more recent events, such as the assassination of John Lennon in 1980 by a man carrying a copy of the novel and wearing the red hunting hat that Holden talks about in the book, have only served to attract further controversy to "The Catcher In The Rye". It is still a controversial novel containing issues and language that still offend. The language Salinger uses in the novel is immediately recognised as controversial, even in today's society

  • Word count: 2152
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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What does Jane Austens The Three Sisters show us of the lives of women in the nineteenth century through the letters of Mary and Georgiana?

What does Jane Austen's "The Three Sisters" show us of the lives of women in the nineteenth century through the letters of Mary and Georgiana? Jane Austen's The Three Sisters is a short story written in epistolary form around 1792. It deals with the situation of three young sisters, of whom the eldest, Mary, receives a proposal of marriage. As the story is written in epistolary form, the reader is given a personal insight into the mind of the character and subsequently the story becomes more real. The theme of marriage is extremely common among Jane Austen's works including Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park. She was fascinated by the question of who married whom and why. In her writing she examines all sorts of types of courtship thus showing how important marriage was in society at the time. The story begins with a letter written by Mary, the eldest of the girls. She has just received an offer of marriage from 'Mr Watts' and it is the 'first' Mary has ever had. This suggests that was not uncommon for young women to receive many offers of marriage. In Jane Austen's time there was no real way for young women of the 'genteel' classes to strike out on their own or be independent, the real purpose of life was marriage. Jane Austen was herself seventeen years old when she wrote the story, and therefore only just entering onto the marriage market. Along with the fact

  • Word count: 2104
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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A Brave New World Summary

Brave New World Précis The novel begins at the Central London Hatching and Conditioning Center, where the Director of the human production plant and his assistant, Henry Foster, are giving a group of male students a tour of the center. The boys take notes as the Director explains how the plant produces as many identical human clones as possible. The Delta, Gamma and Epsilon, three classes of people, are conditioned to love their surroundings, but are deprived of oxygen to make them less intelligent than the other two classes, Alpha and Beta. A worker at the plant, Lenina Crowne, describes how she must give antibiotics and hormones to certain children produced. The students are ushered through the training and conditioning of the infants in the nursery of the plant. Delta babies are conditioned to hate books and flowers, while Beta babies undergo sleep lessons. The Director then takes the students to a play area for young children, where they engage in "erotic play." The students are taught about history, and are shocked by the restrictions on sex in the past. Soon, Mustapa Mond, one of the World Leaders, tells them that history is unimportant and that in the past, which was full of morals and love, humans were insecure and could not function properly. Lenina upsets her friend, Fanny, by telling her she has been having a relationship with Henry Foster. She also

  • Word count: 1375
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Remind yourself of the passage in 'Neighbors' from 'In the morning he had Arlene call in for him...' to the end of the story. Discuss the significance of this to the story as a whole.

Remind yourself of the passage in 'Neighbors' from 'In the morning he had Arlene call in for him...' to the end of the story. Discuss the significance of this to the story as a whole. In the course of your answer: * Look closely at the effects of the writing; * Comment on how this passage relates to the test's methods and concerns This extract is placed after Bill's second visit to the Stone's apartment. Carver's view on women is very interesting in Short Cuts. The way that Bill gets Arlene to "call in for him" in the morning suggests that women are there to serve men or are somehow below men. This theme is carried out throughout the book in many different situations. Bill "[tries] to start a book" which shows how obsessed he has become with the Stone's apartment. At first it seems as though Bill is merely a voyeur in their vacated house, but this quote suggests that he has in fact lost interest in his own life. He goes out for a walk and "[feels] better", somehow, by getting out of his own house he has felt better. What has he felt better from? Has his own home caused him discomfort, maybe he feels that he cannot live his own life anymore without feeling that it is somehow incomplete and the Stone's vacated home is needed to fill this gap. Bill enters the Stone's apartment "He [sees] everything", when the cat appears he "[strokes] her twice and [carries] her into the

  • Word count: 1108
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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