Journal 1 – The Metamorphosis
Jean Benoit Lauzon 05/11/01 English journals - Kafka Journal 1 - The Metamorphosis The opening paragraph of this short story begins with the introduction of Gregor Samsa as a newly transformed insect. The narrator's intent in regards to this brusque stating of Gregor's new physical shape, is perhaps to convey Gregor's own surprised and confused feelings into the reader's mind. The narrator seems to anticipate what the reader is thinking, as he immediately states that Gregor is transformed, and what shape he now possesses. The narrator pushes his description to unfolding the exact contours of Gregor's body. He takes the perspective of Gregor, looking down on his own body, perhaps to heighten the vividness and brutal psychological shock of the first vision of his "numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk, waved helplessly before his eyes." The reader is thus enabled, through this first-person point-of-view, to visualise that precise image, which inherently helps the reader better understand the effect of the transformation through Gregor's perspective. The paragraph detailing Gregor's metamorphosis is followed by a description of his room and of his non-bug life. The reader notices that where the first paragraph was leaning towards structure and a coherent and precise description of Gregor, this paragraph seems to consist of
Heaven, Hell and the Duality of Catherine Earnshaw
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A feminist analysis of Dracula
A feminist analysis of Dracula There has been, thankfully, a great shift since the chastened "New Women" of Bram Stoker's Dracula, as noted by critic Phyllis A. Roth "For both the Victorians and twentieth century readers, much of the novel's great appeal comes from its hostility toward female sexuality"1 That hostility has been a source for female transformation from the post feminist era of the 1960's to the present day. Stoker's familiarity with the feminist movement in Victorian England and his apparent support of equality between men and woman based on an intellectual level leaves us with the question of why does his support appear to draw the line when it comes to sexual equality. Stoker's personal life regarding his different relationships with women is what may suggest the motivations behind his ambivalence towards the "New Woman". So it can be said that Stoker's treatment of women in Dracula does not stem from his hatred of women in general but from his ambivalent reaction to the concept of the "New Woman". Stoker's Dracula is a window through which we can see the Victorian society. We see how Stoker is sympathetic towards the limitations placed upon women in the society, but he also does not see women as completely equal. The absence of total equality in "Dracula" shows a view point which is somewhere between Victorian standards of the 1890's and where we like
Daddy-Long-Legs (p.13 - 36)
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Study the short stories of both Raymond Carver and John Cheever, address the theme of masculinity which runs throughout both of the author's stories.
It is my intention within this essay to study the short stories of both Raymond Carver and John Cheever, in doing so I propose to address the theme of masculinity which runs throughout both of the author's stories. I shall do this by considering, among other things, such subjects as Post Modernism, Dirty Realism and social climate and how these are applied to the texts Boxes and Elephant, by Carver and The Season of Divorce by Cheever. The background in which both Carver and Cheever write, is very significant to the way in which both writer's male characters are emasculated within the stories. Carver was writing in the decade of the eighties, and as such Reaganite economics had much to do with the way in which the men lost their grip on the hunter gatherer stereotype which had preceded. The traditional role of the male shifted from heavy industrial work to more emasculated work, such as secretarial/office roles, and domestic captivity therefore diminishing their agency. On top of this many men became jobless due to redundancies concerned with this shift from a blue-collar society to a white-collar society, and so this domestic captivity was enhanced. It is such men who Carver writes about in his short stories. The men who have slipped out of this "traditional male breadwinning world" Cheever again, writes men relevant to the political climate in which he both lived and
Edgar Allan Poe: The Epitome of a Gothic Writer.
Edgar Allan Poe: The Epitome of a Gothic Writer Gothic literature makes extensive use of primitive, medieval, wild mysterious, or natural elements. No Writer uses these elements to create such dramatic and strong effects as Edgar Allan Poe. He masters the Gothic story and is able to draw the reader deeply into his tales. The reader empathizes with the characters. Poe uses intense imagery and psychoanalytical subtleties underlying each work to produce a depth of sensations and sensitivity to all that creates fear, doubt, and tension in a human mind. His Gothic style prose emanates from his unusual and aberrant life style combined with a careful and deliberate effort to simultaneously attack the reader's heart and head. Poe's writing is a derivative of his life. Only a person so deranged and freakish could produce such wildly creative and horrific work. Poe dysfunctional life began early as both of his parents died before he was four. Mr. and Mrs. John Allan brought Poe into their home and provided for him but never filled the emotional void in his life. Through the Allan's, Poe was able to obtain a great education. He went to school in England for five years and Richmond for five years. Then, he entered the University of Virginia in 1826. Soon after beginning school at UVA, Poe acquired heavy gambling debts and became a hard drinker. John Allan moved him from the University
Emily Bronte - Wuthering Heights - Cathy's Narcissism and Fragmentation
Emily Bronte - Wuthering Heights - Cathy's Narcissism and Fragmentation Evidence for Cathy's confinement in narcissism can be found in language describing her infantilism. She is referred to as a "wailing child". (162) However, the most important evidence can be found in Cathy's own speech when she says:- "But I begin to fancy you don't like me. How strange! I thought, though everybody hated and despised each other, they could not avoid loving me - and they have al turned to enemies in a few hours." (159) Cathy's narcissistic self love is a response to being denied a life and a story of her own. The mirror is a psychoanalytic symbol for narcissism and in Wuthering Heights Cathy is continuously "straining her gaze towards the glass." (161) For Cathy, it is not a "mirror", it is a "black press." (161) Black has resonances of an empty space, whereas a "press" could be a printing press for printing Cathy's story. Cathy's misrecognition reinforces the notion, however, that she has no story to print, since her life is empty like a black hole. Ellen says: "There is no press in the room and never was". (161) In other words, Cathy has never had a story to tell. Nonetheless, Cathy still attempts to find her own story when she runs to the window and opens it. Cathy is greeted by the "frosty air" of an unfeeling patriarchy, which "cut about her shoulders," symbolically
Discuss the image of the doubled female in Charlotte Bront's Shirley, Villette and Jane Eyre.
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Discuss the use of ONE of the following in any of the texts you have studied on this course: - i. Symbolism and/or allegory.
Discuss the use of ONE of the following in any of the texts you have studied on this course: - i. Symbolism and/or allegory "Symbolism; the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities"1, is the definition given in the dictionary. I have chosen to look at how this idea of symbolism is represented within Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter. This is a novel that is brimming with the use of symbols to represent Hawthorne's ideas and concepts on sin, knowledge and the human condition. The basic story is one of adultery, guilt and redemption. Being set in Puritan New England the severity of the characters emotions are heightened. Even though set in such a specific period, Hawthorne enables the novel to appeal throughout generations by his use of time within the story. This is evident from the introduction of the novel, 'the Custom House', in which we learn that Hester Prynne's story will be narrated to us twice removed. This theme is reinforced by the split time sequences throughout the novel. It is perhaps this splicing of time that enhances the need for symbols and allegories to bring the form of the novel together and connect the separate time periods. The first and most relevant symbol throughout the novel is that of the scarlet letter that Hester is condemned to wear for her sins. We are first confronted with the embroidered letter in the introduction, when our
'Examine the ways in which the epistolary structure of Les Liaisons Dangereuses creates drama, intrigue and suspense.'
Colleen Stopforth. Week 1. 'Examine the ways in which the epistolary structure of Les Liaisons Dangereuses creates drama, intrigue and suspense.' The epistolary structure achieves a sense of individual characterisation through writing style and tone that a conventional unilateral narrative form cannot. It allows the authors to reveal or conceal knowledge from other characters, while only the reader is privy to all sides and perspectives of events. Laclos reveals the characters through their literary voice, as an epistolary structure does not allow long character description. The voices of La Marquise de Merteuil and le Vicomte de Valmont are characterised by wit, irony and stylistic adaptability. In Valmont's first letter to Merteuil, already we are shown the irony and humour that pervades much of their correspondence, 'Vos ordres sont charmants; votre façon de les donner est plus aimable encore; vous feriez chérir le despotisme.' The sharp correspondence between Merteuil and Valmont is the driving force of the novel and by positioning Cécile's letters between theirs her naivety and linguistic ineptitude are highlighted. Her letters create a pause in real plot development thereby creating suspense; they are almost inconsequential to the reader, becoming a distraction from the substance of the surrounding letters, just as the seduction of Cécile is a