Critical Analysis of Huckleberry Fin
American Literature Critical Analysis of Huckleberry Finn Marina Pindar In outlawing reading for motive, moral, and plot, the notice proleptically--if unsuccessfully--attempts to ward off what in fact has become an unquestioned assumption behind most interpretations of Huckleberry Finn, namely, the premise that the text affords a critique of its extraliterary context by inveighing against the inequities of racism. In Mark Twain: The Fate of Humor James M. Cox analyzes why such readings of the novel are problematic. His contention, anomalous with respect to Mark Twain criticism in general, is that the novel mounts an attack against conscience, specifically the conscience of the moral reader. He locates this attack in the last ten chapters of the novel--the famous Phelps farm episode--and maintains that the discomfort and disapproval readers feel about Tom's cruelty toward Jim stems from their own identification with Tom: If the reader sees in Tom's performance a rather shabby and safe bit of play, he is seeing no more than the exposure of the approval with which he watched Huck operate. For if Tom is rather contemptibly setting a free slave free, what after all is the reader doing, who begins the book after the fact of the Civil War? . . . when Tom proclaims to the assembled throng who have witnessed his performance that Jim
of mice and men
Chapter 1 The novel begins near the Salinas River, south of Soledad in the California valley. The Gabilan Mountains rise up on one side and drop to valleys on the other. The river and its banks are alive with animals and plants. A path leads to the banks of the river, and the two main characters, George Milton and Lennie Small, follow this path to the river. While George is small with sharp features, Lennie is a big man with rounded features. He drags his feet when he walks, following George step for step. They are on their way to a job at a nearby ranch, and their ride has left them several miles away. It is hot and they are tired from the walk. Topic Tracking: Landscape 1 Topic Tracking: Animal (Lennie as an animal) 1 When the two men reach the water, Lennie falls to his knees and takes a long drink. George gets angry with him for drinking so fast from water that might not be good. Lennie's action and this exchange show his mental retardation. When George sits down, Lennie imitates him exactly. And when George starts to complain about how their ride left them so far from their destination, Lennie has to ask George where they are going because he can't remember. George, annoyed, reminds Lennie about where they got their jobs and their work cards, and Lennie looks in his pocket for his. Certain Lennie would lose it, George did not let him keep his card. But Lennie does
Consider atmosphere and setting in the 19th century stories you have read, and discuss how the authors have created fear and atmosphere.
English Coursework Consider atmosphere and setting in the 19th century stories you have read, and discuss how the authors have created fear and atmosphere. I am going to discuss how three Gothic stories written by authors in the19th century create fear and atmosphere. The three stories which I will be considering are The Monkeys Paw, by WW Jacobs, The Body Snatchers, by Robert Louis Stevenson and also The Signal Man, by Charles Dickens. The gothic genre was very popular in the late 18th and 19th centuries and was a very fashionable aspect of lives in that era. Almost all gothic stories included similar aspects which made the atmosphere spooky and scary. Most gothic stories included elements such as grave yards and dead bodies creating a sense of death and killing of people. The weather in gothic stories is often the kind that scares you for example thunderstorms, fog and almost all gothic stories are set in the dark of the night. Some gothic stories may include a supernatural aspect, curses, spells, wishes, ghosts , this was very popular in this era because the Victorians were very in touch with the supernatural side of their lives and believed strongly in the presence of ghosts and life after death. Gothic stories would usually include elements of surprise and realism to make the story more believable. A gothic story will always be full of suspense and tension to make the
Of Mice and men - Overall Plot.
Overall Plot George and Lennie are two migrant American labourers, who share a dream; that one day they may buy a farm, and Lennie will be able to take care of the rabbits. Although Lennie is physically very strong and has the body of a man, he has the mind of a child. The two men arrive on a ranch near the town of Soledad, where they are about to start work as barley buckers. On arriving there, they meet Candy, an old one-handed man who mops the floor, and Curley. Curley is the Boss' son, and immediately hates Lennie because of his impressive size. George realises that Curley will undoubtedly cause trouble for them. After the two men are hired by the Boss, they meet Slim, a jerkline skinner. He has a lot of authority and has earned much respect from the men. They also meet Carlson. Later that night, after dinner, Slim gives Lennie one of his puppies. Lennie is delighted by the gift, for he loves to pet things like rabbits, puppies and even mice, although he sometimes accidentally kills the creatures, not knowing his own strength. George confides in Slim, telling him about how Lennie has caused many problems before, like in Weed. A girl thought Lennie was trying to rape her, and they had to flee. Later that night, Candy overhears George and Lennie talking about their dream, and he asks if he could join them. He has quite a bit of money saved up, and they realise that
Oscar Wilde
REALISM Great economic and political changes started in the beginning of the 19th century. Trading class began to struggle for radical political changes. As the political power was placed in the hands of the property - owning class, labor became cheep and living conditions grew worse. Disappointed and haggard working class decided to fight for their rights. People held uprisings, strikes, mass meetings and demanded more democratic reforms to improve their own conditions. All this stimulated the growth of realism and in the presentation of reality Romanticism became too abstract and symbolic. The realistic novels became the most important and most popular genre (7). Realism in literature is an approach that attempts to describe life without idealization or romantic subjectivity. Although realism is not limited to any one century or group of writers, it is most often associated with the literary movement in 19th-century France, specifically with the French novelists Flaubert and Balzac. George Eliot introduced realism into England, and William Dean Howells introduced it into the United States. Realism has been chiefly concerned with the commonplaces of everyday life among the middle and lower classes, where character is a product of social factors and environment is the integral element in the dramatic complications (13). In the drama, realism is most closely associated
What are the main themes of Pleasantville and how does the director convey them to the audience using cinematic techniques?
What are the main themes of Pleasantville and how does the director convey them to the audience using cinematic techniques? Pleasantville, directed by Gary Ross, is a year 2000 comedy with powerful underlying themes. Pleasantville is an inspiring and oddly touching story about two 90's kids who are thrust into the black and white world of Pleasantville, a cheery and seemingly perfect sitcom complete with picket fences, soda shops and warm cookies. When a somewhat unusual remote control transports them from the jaded real world to the TV arena, the two teenagers (Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon) are forced to play along as Bud and Mary-Sue, the obedient children of George and Betty Parker. Maguire, an obsessive Pleasantville devotee, understands the need for not toppling the balance of things; Witherspoon, on the other hand, starts shaking the town up, most notably when she takes American football stud, Skip, up to Lover's Lane, to do exactly what the name suggests. Soon enough, Pleasantville's teens are discovering sex along with rock and roll, free thinking and liberating Technicolour. Filled with delightful and shrewd details about sitcom life, for example, no toilets, no double beds and only two streets in the whole town. Pleasantville is a joy to watch, not only for its comedy but also for its groundbreaking visual effects and astonishing production design as
Theme in The Catcher in the Rye.
Theme in The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger in The Catcher in the Rye shows the turbulence and confusion experienced during many childhoods. This confusion is expressed through Salinger's use of long, run-on sentences that often contradict themselves. A clear example of this stylistic technique is found on page 62, when Holden states, "I think if you don't really like a girl, you shouldn't horse around with her at all, and if you do like her, then you're supposed to like her face, and if you like her face, you ought to be careful about doing crumby stuff to it, like squirting water all over it. It's really too bad that so much crumby stuff is a lot of fun sometimes." The structure of these two sentences reveals a character that is coming to terms with his impending adulthood and trying to establish his identity. By using long, run-on sentences, J.D. Salinger provides room for Holden to contradict himself and argue both sides of his arguments. Currently, Holden sees the same acts as both "crumby" and "fun", and he hasn't had an opportunity to make up his mind yet. One of his main sources of confusion is interpersonal relationships. Salinger devotes fifty-three words in a single sentence to Holden's musings about girls and where to draw the line with them. Relationships are just one of the things that don't make sense yet to Holden because his life experiences are
Study Questions for the Short Story, "Hills Like White Elephants" by Hemingway
Study Questions for the Short Story, "Hills Like White Elephants" General Directions: The questions for this story will get you to think about a theme for the story. Before you re-read and again after you re-read the story, review the study questions and try to answer them for yourself. They may be the basis of quiz questions in a course, or they may help you to write an essay about the story. The theme of a story is some implication about human nature that goes beyond the literal story. It's a statement that the author seems to be driving at--or to be driven by. It's your view of the meaning behind the story based on your image of the characters, their motivation, the setting and plotting of the story, the trustworthiness of the narrator, the author's writing style and symbolism, as well as the cultural, historical, and biographical implications for the story. After you figure out what the author's image of life is, you need to go back through the story to figure out what details support your view. You also need to be able to explain away any details that don't support your view of the story's meaning. Study Questions for "Hills Like White Elephants" . Looking back on the story, list the evidence that tells what kind of operation Jig is confronting. How risky is it physically and emotionally? (See one group's answer here.) The Evidence for Abortion LOOKING BACK ON
How does the writer of the play 'A Kind of Alaska' show the struggle in Deborah's awakening?
How does the writer of the play 'A Kind of Alaska' show the struggle in Deborah's awakening? The awakening of Deborah in the play 'A Kind of Alaska' is a very slow progressing process, causing it to be one drawn out tense moment throughout the play. The struggle that is happening throughout the play conveys how difficult it is for Deborah to come to terms with herself and things that have happened without her influence. Confusion, reality and truth are the key points in causing the struggle for her, and decide on how she comes to terms with her life. Deborah succumbed to a 'sleeping' illness when she was fifteen. She has been in that illness for twenty-nine years and is not aware of anything that has taken place since the point she fell asleep. At the opening of the play, Deborah finds herself awakening in a plain room with two chairs, a table and the doctor. This causes Deborah confusion and distress, as she is struggling to come to terms with herself, her location and who the doctor is. Because this is the first time she has awoken in twenty-nine years, a fuss is made of her by the doctor. He is patient and waits for her to make the first move before he decides to question her about her 'sleep'. Deborah struggles with her words due to her not being provoked to make the first move. First she whispers, for this is all she can do due to her voice lying dormant for
Three characters in The Great Gatsby and the theme of obsession
Three characters in The Great Gatsby and the theme of obsession. Deep within feelings of love, hope, determination and perseverance is a dark entity, a slow growing parasite that feeds off feelings of rejection, despair, failure-the feelings people keep hidden, suffocating inside. The entity is a shape shifter of sorts, transforming and rooting itself in the empty realities created by individuals. In its new form, obsession has embedded its roots into three specific characters of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby: Jay Gatsby, an overly hopeless romantic, Daisy Buchanan, a lady of incredibly high maintenance, greed and impossible standards, and George Wilson, a meager car mechanic with a broken marriage. The obsession shrouds the minds of these characters with a miasma of denial and false hope, which inevitably destroys something within them. The characters of this riveting novel are the driving force behind that one incredible, but tragic summer in the midst of the Roaring '20s. Jaded, Arrogant, Youthful. Jay Gatsby is-was, the epitome of the undying and passionate love that one human can offer another. But was what he was feeling really love? Obsession, in his case, plagued the true perception of love and dedication and transformed those feelings into a compulsive and unrealistic desire to possess Daisy Buchanan, Gatsby"s one, "true" love. Gatsby's obsession
