The Jungle Analysis
Upton Sinclair's The Jungle is a piece of literature that will not soon be forgotten. Its powerful descriptions and ideas are still felt today. Though originally intended for other purposes, its motivating words helped to facilitate legislations that give us fresh food today. With its insight into the "Packingtown" of Chicago, it is able to bring corruption and poverty to the surface and bring it to the attention of all America. Though hailed as a "failed Socialist propaganda" its impact on society was greater than even Sinclair could have fathomed. To first understand Sinclair's motives for writing such a powerful book, we must first understand Upton Sinclair himself. Sinclair was born in Baltimore, Maryland to a Upton Beall Sinclair Sr. and Priscilla Harden. His father was an alcoholic, which probably foreshadows the way alcohol is perceived in The Jungle. His family then moved to New York City and lived in the Bronx. Although his immediate family was poor, he had wealthy grandparents, having seeing these two extremes is what he said made him become a socialist. He wrote many books, none though that came close to the fame and impact that The Jungle had. By having lived in poverty and growing up during the time period that these atrocities were taking place, gave Upton the motivation and the drive to want these conditions to improve. The issues and conditions shown in The
Discuss Kate O(TM)Brien(TM)s The Land of Spices (1941) and Edna O(TM)Brien(TM)s The Country Girls Trilogy (1960-4) as female bildungsroman. How is this genre of writing used to symbolically link and question personal an
Discuss Kate O'Brien's The Land of Spices (1941) and Edna O'Brien's The Country Girls Trilogy (1960-4) as female bildungsroman. How is this genre of writing used to symbolically link and question personal and national development? Kate O'Brien was born into the well-to-do and well respected family of Thomas and Catherine O'Brien in Limerick in 1897. Kate O'Brien had nine brothers and sisters and tragically, she lost her mother at the age of five when Catherine O'Brien died of cancer and subsequently she became a boarder at Laurel Hill, a convent school in Limerick. "She spent in all fourteen years at this school later fictionalised in The Land of Spices and it was from this French-run institution that O'Brien first encountered a European-centred system of education and of thought."1 The constitution of Ireland came about in 1937. Kate O'Brien's novel, The Land of Spices was published in 1947 and recounts matters of female sexuality, by means of exploring gay and/or lesbian themes throughout the novel. The Land of Spices was so overly controversial at the time of publishing that as a consequence the novel was banned in Ireland. The Land of Spices is divided into three books which are further divided into chapters described as 'Chapter 1', 'Chapter 2' and so on. Kate O'Brien deals with the story of the novel in a very individual way, which could be described as her own
Mother/Daughter Relationships and Their Effects on the Daughter(TM)s Understanding of Herself in Breath, Eyes, Memory and The Woman Warrior
Olga Mir Dr. Sika Dagbovie LIT 4383: Women in Literature 25 April 2007 Mother/Daughter Relationships and Their Effects on the Daughter's Understanding of Herself in Breath, Eyes, Memory and The Woman Warrior Mother/daughter relationships are hardly ever simple, and the relationships in Breath, Eyes, Memory and The Woman Warrior are no exception. Breath, Eyes, Memory's Martine and Sophie begin with a rocky start. Sophie is thrown into the Bronx head first after spending the first part of her childhood with her aunt in her homeland of Haiti. She must develop and deepen her relationship with her mother, Martine. In contrast, The Woman Warrior's Maxine and Brave Orchid have always lived in the same household, but rather than growing closer together from the sharing of Chinese culture, their cultural differences, such as Maxine being more "Americanized," drive them apart and alienate the two in separate corners of the cultural spectrum. In both novels the daughter is raised to conform to her native country's, and thus her mother's, idea of what role a respectable woman should play in the community. Usually this role involves submitting to a male-dominated society. The end result of this type of rearing is the inevitable desertion of, in Sophie's case, Haitian or, in Maxine's case, Chinese values and traditions. Sophie and Maxine are left confused in trying to define
Comparing Works of Thomas Mann and George Eliot.
PART 1 In this essay, I shall explore the ways in which music can influence the way a literary text is constructed. Looking at the works of Thomas Mann and George Eliot, and considering their influences, I shall discuss to what extent they have drawn on music to structure and enhance their writing, and examine how effective this has been. Throughout literary history, writers have drawn on the methods adopted by composers when structuring their works. This seems to have been much more prevalent since Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" pioneered a whole new method of composing and writing, utilising leitmotifs and carefully chosen text to emphasise key moments and develop characters in the story. ("...Wagner affected the subsequent production of both musical and literary artworks to a profound extent") Samuels, R. P.84 Stories became much more character driven, and were very much attempting to mirror true life, in fact, to represent true life, and to express the deeper emotions and motivations of the characters - Wagner believed that dramatic action should arise primarily from the portrayal of character - and music was carefully written to respect the "natural rise and fall of expressive speech" (Samuels, R. p 93). The relationship of music and words became very important, and writers began to realise that they could use the same methods in their work and both write about music
What is Literature?
What is Literature? While the definition of literature has been widely disputed throughout history, British literary theorist, Terrence Eagleton, attempts to make sense of it all during the introduction of his 1983 book, What is Literature. Eagleton walks the reader through time, discussing definitions from the Shakespearean era all the way up to the modern world's understanding. So who has really defined literature? In the opening paragraphs of the article, Eagleton explains how a 'distinction between fact and fiction' falls short of answering the age old question: What is literature? Fact versus fiction fails because, what is fact and what is fiction was once and still is 'questionable,' he explains. The word 'novel,' he continues, introduced around the end of the English late sixteenth century, was given to both factual and fictional matters and thus is not representative of the definition of literature. Eagleton then switches to a different philosophy at the beginning of page two, pointing out that perhaps the peculiar or uncommon use of a language is what defines literature. A Formalist, Russian critic Roman Jakobson, remarked that literature was an, "'organized violence committed on ordinary speech'" (Eagleton 2). This implies that literature diverges from the everyday words of the everyday man. This is what the Formalists believed. They thought literary work was
Discuss the narrative strategies used by Grace Paley in 'Conversation with my father' to represent the relationship between the narrator and his/her parent, and comment on their effectiveness.
Discuss the narrative strategies used by Grace Paley in 'Conversation with my father' to represent the relationship between the narrator and his/her parent, and comment on their effectiveness. In a 'Conversation with my father' Paley vividly presents a tragic scene of a dying father engaging with his son or daughter at his bedside and his wish to be told a story "just once more". Paley makes great use of varying narrative strategies to develop the representation of the relationship of the father and child. Through scrupulous use of discourse, dialogue, setting and narrative style and structure I think she successfully portrays the intimate yet difficult relationship shown. The first significant thing we notice is that Paley chooses to narrate her story in the genre of the short story. One of the main generic features of the genre is to juxtapose stories within a frame narrative. This is all too evident in 'Conversation with my father' where the narration of the relationships of two sets of parents and children using an embedded story is central to the text. The frame narrative is chronological and is intermitted with a second and third story. The irony in this story is that the embedded story is also a short story and this is used to great effect by paralleling both and using them to explore the similarities and differences of the two in stylistic and contextual terms. The
Abstract of Michel Foucaults "What is an Author?"
Michael Nowak Johann Wolfgang Goethe - Universität Frankfurt am Main Institut für England- und Amerikastudien PS Einführung in die Literaturwissenschaften I und II Frau Dr. Petra Feld SS 2003 Abstract of Michel Foucaults "What is an Author?" In the text "What is an Author?" Michel Foucault tries to determine the relationship between an author and a text furthermore he deals with the writing itself and the definition of a work itself. Before Foucault investigates these subjects he refers to a quotation of Samuel Beckett: "What does it matter who is speaking?" Foucault sees this sentence to be one of the major principles of contemporary writing. He describes this as an interaction of signs, a give-and-take game which always exceeds new boundaries. The writing developing itself, moving away from the author's intention of expression creating an opening where writing represents only the language itself and therefore lets the author disappear. In addition Foucault sees another theme in the quote from Beckett and that would be the relation of writing and death. Foucault deals with this relationship historically. In the Greek epic where writing was used to evade death and making its hero immortal similar as in the Arabian storytelling where the narrator was supposed to lead the audience through the night into the day to keep death away. Writing in modern literature has
How does Robert Dessaix construct himself in a Mother's Disgrace?
Robert Dessaix - "A Mother's Disgrace" Topic: How does Robert Dessaix construct himself in a Mother's Disgrace? In the past, there was a clear distinction between an autobiography and fiction. An autobiography was seen as an article that spoke of 'truth', where pieces of information could be weighed up against the facts to verify their truthfulness. A fiction on the other hand, was completely made up; the information in the article was of the imagination of the author. Over time, the lines of separation between an autobiography and a fiction have been blurred. People have begun to realise that the 'I' of an autobiography is also a construction of the author; there is not a 'black and white' view of the person. The author's view of him/herself may differ from the way another person views them; therefore, the construction of themselves in an autobiography could also be regarded as a fictional character. Robert Dessaix constructs himself as someone who is independent, different, and also honest. He constructs himself as an independent person through the events in his life, particularly his time in Russia. The character of Robert Dessaix is also constructed as a person 'out of the norm', one who is different. He is different because he is gay; he tells us that he is homosexual, which is obviously different to the majority of the male population. The character of Robert
Deconstruction of "Catch Me if You Can" by Frank Abagnale.
Deconstruction:- "Catch Me if You Can" Frank Abagnale's representation of life in the autobiography "Catch Me If You Can," is extremely materialistic. Next to family, fine luxuries such as expensive clothes, money and "lady company" appear to be tremendously important to Abagnale throughout the autobiography and this is very apparent throughout the text. These obvious socio cultural beliefs appear to have initially derived from his father but as, Abagnale becomes older his needs for materialistic items increase, stimulating the need to start his criminal career. The text draws attention to the way in which class and status appeared to be extremely important in the United States during the 1960's. Abagnale has an extremely strong opinion of himself and his appearance and image appear to be very significant throughout the text. Abagnale maintains his representation by pampering himself with items such as tailor made suits and Rolls-Royces. "A mans alter ego is nothing more than his favorite image of himself." Abagnale's next leisure pursuit after maintaining his self image is women, and many stereotypes are prominent through out the text. Abagnale exploits women in the text as entertainment. He compliments his female friends, and portrays women as commodities. "She was all silk, softness; nuzzly, warm, sweet smelling and absolutely delightful, and I knew I had found a
A Secret Woman.
Serena Wales 8/09/03 English A1 HL Final Draft A Secret Woman "That there is also freedom in captivity, only a prisoner can claim.1" This is shown in the novel Kiss of the Spider Woman, by Manuel Puig. In captivity, two men are able to explore their emotions and place in life far more than they ever could in freedom, and liberate themselves from the confines of their society. It tells the story of Molina, a homosexual window dresser, and Valentin, a Marxist revolutionary, who share a prison cell, and gradually begin to share more. Their isolated abode accentuates their differences, but also leads them to a tenuous understanding. As they sit in their small cell, Molina tells Valentin "the glittering and fragile stories that he loves." At first, Valentin listens reluctantly, rejecting them as feminine and trite, and berating Molina for his lack of political interest, but he becomes enthralled by the stories, as well as drawn to Molina. They begin to form a friendship, and they become connected to one another in ways expected by neither. However, Molina has been recruited by the prison authorities in order to solicit information from Valentin concerning his movement, since he had not been co-operative during interrogation. Molina's growing connection to his cellmate causes him to have regrets about his decision. In this passage, Molina has just returned from a meeting with