Tag: Novel

In Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory, setting is essential in understanding the spiritual conquest of the main character. The story takes place in post-revolution Mexico of the nineteen-thirties, where Catholicism has been banned. The government has shut down all of the churches and established anti-Catholic laws, jealous of the rising power of the church, and nervous of the corrupt ways in which the church has been dealing with sin. The main character, a nameless “whiskey priest,” hopelessly roams the desolate plains of southern Mexico, on the run from…

The use of Biblical allusions and references is evident in Alan Paton’s Cry, the Beloved Country. Against the backdrop of South Africa’s racial and cultural problems, massive enforced segregation, similarly enforced economic inequality, Alan Paton uses these references as way to preserve his faith for the struggling country. By incorporating Biblical references into his novel, one can see that Alan Paton is a religious man and feels that faith will give hope to his beloved country. Throughout the entire novel, Alan Paton continuously uses references to the bible and while…

Ursula Hegi’s novel, Stones From The River, exposes the reader of the persecutions of religious beliefs, a gossiping dwarf, and the people of Burgdorf, a small German town in the time of the Nazi Holocaust. The novel is set in World War I and continues through World War II. The Second World War is brought on by the hunger of power it is known as the otherness war. “In the Third Reich otherness is a crime. ”(Chadwick 2) Hitler, a Nazi leader, wants to gain control of Germany and surrounding…

Billy Pilgrim is unstuck in time, and so is Slaughterhouse Five. Novel follows Billy’s “unhinged” life. If I write every hop, skip, and jump, the summary would be as complicated as the book. These are the basic facts of Pilgrim’s life; they are shown in chronological order (but are definitely not in the book): Billy Pilgrim is born in 1922 and grows up in Ilium, New York. He is a funny-looking youth, he does reasonably well in high school, enrolls in night classes at the Ilium School of Optometry, and…

This novel, originally published in 1814, is the first of Jane Austen’s novels not to be a revised version of one of her pre-1800 writings. Mansfield Park has sometimes been considered atypical of Jane Austen, as being solemn and moralistic, especially when contrasted with the immediately preceding Pride and Prejudice and the immediately following Emma. Poor Fanny Price is brought up at Mansfield Park with her rich uncle and aunt, where only her cousin Edmund helps her with the difficulties she suffers from the rest of the family, and from…

In the novel To Sir With Love various human characteristics are portrayed. Of these, the idea that humans are able to adapt and change their way of thinking seems to be demonstrated throughout the story. In the novel, both the teacher, Braithewaite, and his students end up going through many changes that ultimately result in their coming to change their way of thinking about each other. In life, as in this fictionalized account, the ability to adapt to the world around one’s self is a very important trait. In my…

Zora Neale Hurston was born on January 7, 1891, in Notasulga, Alabama. Her writing career began at Howard University where she published her first story in 1921. In 1925, Zora moved to New York where she became one of the many writers of the Harlem Renaissance. Her life experiences in Eatonville and her research into black folklore greatly impacted much of her writing skills and techniques. In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the character known as Janie is faced with some difficult relationships with three men…

According to Goethe, “We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe. ” Despite the hyperbolic nature of Goethes statement, it holds some truth. Because of this element of truth, society looks to psychoanalysis as an important tool for understanding human nature. Furthermore, psychoanalytic criticism of authors, characters, and readers has a place in literary criticism that is as important as the place of psychoanalysis in society. This is because of the mimetic nature of much of modern…

Catch 22 Joseph Heller satirizes, among other matters, red tape and bureaucracy in his first novel, Catch-22. The novel concerns itself with a World War II bombardier named Yossarian who suddenly realizes the danger of his position and tries various means to extricate himself from further missions. Yossarian is driven crazy by the Germans, who keep shooting at him when he drops bombs on them, and by his American superiors, who seem less concerned about winning the war than they are about getting promoted. Heller spent eight years writing Catch-22,…

In the novel The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Mordecai Richler punishes Duddy for his wrongs against others in several ways. Each punishment fits the crime, and there is an irony about each one. The three punishments inflicted on Duddy at the end of the novel are the loss of Simcha’s love, the loss of his friends, and the absence of any funds to build on his property. The loss of Simcha’s love is a devastating blow for Duddy. This is evident when Duddy confronts Yvette and asks her, Why did…

Throughout society’s entire existence, we have known almost innately that these couples belong together, and yet fate intervened to deal their relationship a tragic blow. Yet readers persist on viewing these couples as the most passionate of all times. What makes them so unique? What makes them so compatible? What makes everyone see them as half of a whole instead of two? These couples proved to society that they belonged together, no matter what circumstances they faced . They possessed True Love, the rare gift that makes a relationship last,…

At what point does a reader decide whether a narrator is reliable or unreliable, and what real difference does this decision make. If a narrator is deemed reliable, does the story gain any truth or significance that it had been missing before the determination was made? If the narrator is decidedly unreliable, what other sources are available to bring the reader closer to or passed the deceptions of the narrator? At what point does the narrator’s unreliability begin to reflect on the author? And if that connection is sustained, should…

Antonia, Anton Cazak reminds me of my neighbor. Anton Cazak is a considerate good-humored man. He shows this in the story when he is polite enough to substitute English for Bohemian since Jim is his guest. He also presents his gift of a paper snake gently to little Jan to lift the spirits of the child. Anton Cazak is a kind of person who also likes children and finds them amusing. He is also so charitable that he misses living in the city but stays and works very hard on…

According to Goethe, “We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe. ” Despite the hyperbolic nature of Goethe’s statement, it holds some truth. Because of this element of truth, society looks to psychoanalysis as an important tool for understanding human nature. Furthermore, psychoanalytic criticism of authors, characters, and readers has a place in literary criticism that is as important as the place of psychoanalysis in society. This is because of the mimetic nature of much of modern…

The Grapes of Wrath is an eye-opening novel which deals with the struggle for survival of a migrant family of farmers in the western United States. The book opens with a narrative chapter describing Oklahoma, and the overall setting. It sets the mood of an area which has been ravished by harsh weather. “The sun flared down on the growing corn day after day until a line of brown spread along the edge of each green bayonet. The surface of the earth crusted, a thin hard crust, and as the…

In Zora Neale Hurstons romantic novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, two settings are contrasted to reinforce the authors theme of a search for true love. The setting of Eatonville, Florida, where main character Janie experiences life as the mayors wife, is contrasted with the Florida Everglades, where Janie lives with Tea Cake in a much more relaxed atmosphere. Hurston describes Eatonville not in a negative way, but more as a place that is not beneficial to an independent woman like Janie. Janie Starks, the wife of the mayor, is…

Bigger Thomas as Americas Native Son In the novel the Native Son, the author Richard Wright explores racism and oppression in American society. Wright skillfully merges his narrative voice into Bigger Thomas so that the reader can also feel how the pressure and racism affects the feelings, thoughts, self-image, and life of a Negro person. Bigger is a tragic product of American imperialism and exploitation in a modern world. Bigger embodies one of humankinds greatest tragedies of how mass oppression permeates all aspects of the lives of the oppressed and…

Relationships have, and always will contain many different levels. These levels can produce somewhat of a state of confusion in ones life, and have many different impacts. But when a change and a transformation takes place, one can reach a point of clarity and a new found direction. In the comparison of two novels, we see several relationships portrayed along these lines, and how the two main characters transform to find what is most sacred to them. Paul Morel is the main character in D. H. Lawrence’s novel ‘Sons and…