The role of honour and religion in the novella, The Chronicles of Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Title: Role of honor and religion in the novella,” the chronicles of death foretold “ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novel “Chronicle of a Death Foretold” is exemplary in showing the forgoing of the spirit of religion and justice in the name of man-made codes such as honor. The writer portrays an unnamed town where the most vicious of crimes can be committed in the name of honor. The Vicario brothers who brutally butchered Santiago Nasar are given a reprieve after three years of imprisonment. Is it not ironical that they had to stay in the prison only because there was no one to bail them out? Marquez repeatedly denounces the town folks of holding honor above religion. Throughout the novella, Marquez unmasks the absence of true religious values in the town and reveals the double standards of the townsfolk. Marquez attacks the flimsy standards that prevail in the society, and also how people discard their religion. The three things forbidden by the Catholic church such as whores, alcohol and gambling freely flourish in the town. Even the church is corrupted when we see that “ nun had 80% hangover” (Marquez 71). The bishop’s behavior is objectionable when he expresses his intention of eating cock-comb soup, which is very costly and has a sexual implication. People carry on with their sinful lives without caring for redemption and
Commentary on "My Father's Garden" by David Wagoner.
My Father’s Garden By David Wagoner My Father’s Garden is a poem by David Wagoner which essentially centralizes the thematic element of beauty by portraying it in two fairly contrasting manners. The speaker is presumably a young man who expresses his skepticism and negativity towards his father’s perception of beauty. This essay will aim to examine the extended metaphor of the garden, whilst treating the poem to a thorough analysis of the literary devices utilized by the poet, to exemplify their vitality in delivering the central concepts of the poem. The title of the poem itself implicates the notion of beauty and pleasure, especially through the use of the word, “garden.” The visual imagery formulated through the use of the term may be associated with a sanctuary devoid of any negative emotions. It is a place where an individual becomes one with nature and consequently develops an appreciation for such simplistic forms of beauty. However, the commonplace perception of beauty is challenged in this poem through the portrayal of the speaker’s father’s interpretation. He is evidently enamoured by his “scrapyard,” despite the fact that the speaker harshly characterises it as being a somewhat “satanic” place. The speaker’s distaste and fear towards his father’s workplace is palpable through his hellish descriptions of the “scrapyard.” Wagoner
In David Maloufs Fly Away Peter (1982) Jims life as an ordinary working class Australian youth is quickly suspended for the emerging disturbance that is WWI
SACE Stage 2 English Studies Study of a Single Text – Fly Away Peter Q: Explain how techniques used by the author were effective in shaping your understanding of the central ideas in one of the core texts. In David Malouf’s Fly Away Peter (1982) Jim’s life as an ordinary working class Australian youth is quickly suspended for the emerging disturbance that is WWI. The audience’s understanding of the central ideas of the effects of war on men, binary opposites in life, and the continuity of life are effectively developed through the use of contrast between settings, minor characters, and recurring motifs. Through the use of contrast between settings Malouf explores the idea that life is full of binary opposites. The reader is initially introduced to Jim’s life on the Queensland coast, in a peaceful setting with its “intensely blue mountains” and swamps bordered with tea-trees “staining the shallows there tobacco brown” (Malouf, Fly Away Peter, p.1), outlining the natural beauty of the land’s swamps and marshes. In the sanctuary of Jim’s work he gives tours in a “flat-bottomed boat”, drifting over “brackish water” with its depths the “colour of brewed tea” and its surface a “burnished gold” (p.29). The very water and air that is the sustenance of life is juxtaposed by the horrific environment on the Western Front, where water and air
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby is considered to be one of the greatest novels in American literature. Through the eyes of Nick Carraway F. Scott Fitzgerald takes the reader on a journey of discovery during the roaring 20s into the lives of the rich powerful of the upper class society. F. Scott Fitzgerald effectively uses imagery and writing style to capture the true nature of love and the American Dream. The uncomforting nature of the Great Gatsby reaches out to the reader and makes them question their own beliefs about love and success in modern society. This realisation leads us to believe that the values of life that give us hope may just be a fallacy. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses a range of techniques throughout the novel to portray that The American Dream is an illusion. F. Scott Fitzgerald clearly demonstrates that our dreams cannot be achieved. On page 188 it says, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us.” This quote explains that Gatsby believed that he can achieve his dreams. He believes in the green light; the symbolic picture of new growth and new life. The dream however recedes before us. The dream is getting further and further away from being achieved as each year passes by. F. Scott Fitzgerald is portraying an image that Gatsby is straining to grip his dream which is moving further and further away.
Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes Langston Hughes, an inspirational, black poet, was first recognized as an important literary figure during the "Harlem Renaissance" in the 1920's. In fact, in many of his poems, he adds in "Harlem" to give meaning and experience to his writing. He was the first black writer in America that earned enough from his writing to support himself. Hughes's "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain" 1926, demonstrates his belief in the character and how they must overcome obstacles and "climb the mountain" to free themselves from inequality. Langston Hughes wrote poetry from the heart and chose as his themes unsolved conflicts from his real life experiences. First and foremost he was a Negro who could expound upon the sufferings of the people of his black culture yet do so with pride. He embraced the Negro culture and had distaste for those who tried to emulate the life of whites. His strong roots within the Harlem renaissance were reflected in his poetry. Hughes felt sorry for blacks who felt they had to try to write as white poets. Many of his poems reflected the struggle for African American freedom. He also showed empathy for the struggle of all races, and dismay regarding the failure of the American dream. He illustrated how similar all cultures are with the feeling that we are all bonded together as Americans. Music was an important part of his
The Crucible Essay
Julie Gu 09-15-08 Second Period Reflection on The Crucible In the highly poignant novel The Crucible written by Arthur Miller, the legendary event of the Salem Witch Trials was portrayed in four scenes. The story was set in a small village of Massachusetts in the year of 1962. A group of young girls, namely Abigail Williams, had begun a series of accusations charging numerous villagers of practicing witchcraft. Thus a period of pure hysteria had been initiated as the accused ones started to name other innocent Puritans out of fear. Within merely a month, almost half of the entire Salem was indicted for being witches, and many were hanged after being forced to confess the non-existing crime of exercising witchcraft such as in the case of Giles Corey. Miller was able to demonstrate the strictness of the Puritan society and the weakness of human beings. The historical account of the Salem Witch Trials was closely correlated with the Red Scare occurred during the McCarthy era. In The Crucible, paranoia of being hanged displaced the normal logic of the people and eventually led the villagers into hallucinating and believing that the convicts had been involved in activities that never existed. For instance, Mary Warren, the servant of John Proctor, was so certain that she had seen the Proctors practicing witchcraft that she was actually seeing the unreal images in her mind. The
King Lear
King Lear Essay "Debate to what degree chaos is the result of a character's struggle to re-order his or her world in King Lear." In life comes across many difficult and tangled situations. In every one of these, external and/or internal forces affect the outcome of the situation, as well as the state of mind of the characters involved. External factors are influences that cannot be controlled by a character. On the other hand, internal factors are those that come from within a character. In the playwright King Lear, Shakespeare designs the character King Lear to demonstrate how madness results from his ignorance, his lack of judgment and faulty decisions, and the corruption that occurs around him as well as within himself, and how difficult it is for him to pull himself together. In the playwright, King Lear struggles with relinquishing control of his kingdom to his heirs as well as resisting giving up his role as a parent who commands and dictates the lives of his children. At the beginning of the play we see Lear hastily dividing his kingdom between his three daughters instead of patiently waiting for the laws of inheritance to take place. This division is dependent on the expression of love from his daughters, "Sir, I love you more than words can wield the matter; Dearer than eye-sight, space, and liberty; Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare;...", and "Sir, I am
Ispahan Carpet
Ispahan carpet. Ispahan carpet is a four stanza poem written by Elizabeth Burge. From the title, you can see the poem is set in an eastern country and this becomes obvious as the poem evolves. The poem is set in a rug making factory, this is suggested by the way the narrator describes how she is with a ‘guide’. The poem is quite a dark as Burge uses death-like references throughout to describe the working conditions the workers are in. Burge describes how the eight year old girls work on ‘rough timber gallows’, this suggests that these little girls are literally working too death, their life over before it’s begun. This is again shown with the ‘rope-rising’ in the second stanza. It shows how the girls are almost going through a torturous death, with the references to the gallows and the rope rising. Again this suggestion of the girls working themselves too death can be seen in the second stanza where Burge describes how the girls tie ‘exquisitely minute knots’ this could imply that they are tying their own nooses. The poem uses little colour throughout, using it only through the imagery of the ‘flickering fire’ and how it ‘lights the sensuous jewelled arabesques’ of the rug. I find this very powerful, as it highlights the light/dark imagery throughout the poem. The only light in the room is paired with the beautiful rug and not the workers behind
Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen Name - Virena Behere Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen was her second published novel, in 1813. It is this book that was most successful of all, and from which, Austen made her way through the world of literature. The reason I picked this novel out was because it has a fair composition of feminism and Marxism. Although one may notice that most of her novels are based on feminism and Marxism, I personally picked out Pride and Prejudice was because the plot, as well as the title each give strong morals to the critics. The story starts with two young sisters, Elizabeth and Jane Bennet and Austen has show a remarkable amount of feminism in her views of marriage. She criticizes the way young women were forced to marry, often against their will. Mrs.Bennet is portrayed 'desperate' in order to get her daughter Elizabeth married, if not to Darcy then her cousin, Collins, a rather foolish character, and as Austen describes ''not a sensible man, and the deficiency of nature had been but little assisted by education or society". However, the fact that he was stupid didn't matter, and I have a strong disregard for such naive customs of women being forced down in society; I share these views with the young heroine, Elizabeth, who (in the novel itself) is a feminist and strongly feels for the way women are regarded as to being socially inferior.