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Critical essays on steven pressfields book gates of fire
History
History
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I. SUBJECT
Gates of Fire is a novel about the Battle of Thermopylae that takes place in ancient Greece. The novel began by focusing on its protagonist, Xeones, who had died in the Battle of Thermopylae. The Greek god Apollo resurrected him from death so that he could tell the Persian king, Xerxes, the story of his life. Xeones story started when he was just a young boy. His town was betrayed and conquered by one of their allies. He avoided being killed by escaping to the mountains with his cousin, Diomache, and his family’s slave, Bruxieus. The three lived on the mountains for two or three years before Bruxieus became very sick and died. Because of this, Diomache and Xeones decided to go to Athens. Xeones then decided to leave Athens and go to Sparta while Diomache decided to stay.
In Sparta, Xeones became a helot and he was given to a Spartan soldier named Dienekes. Xeones was trained to fight like a Spartan and later became Dienekes’s battle squire. When Xeones was about twenty, the Spartan king, Leonidas, announced that three hundred Spartan men would be sent on a suicide mission to Thermopylae to hold off the invading Persian army. Dienekes was chosen to go. On the first and second day of battle, many Persians were killed, but only a few Greeks. At the end of the second day, Xerxes found a secret path where part of his army could go through and completely surround the Greeks on the next day. Leonidas was informed of this and sent a group of Spartans, including Xeones and Dienekes, on an unsuccessful mission to kill Xerxes. On the third day, the Persians surrounded the Spartans and they all were killed.
Xeones immediately died after he finished his story. His body was brought to Diomache in Athens. She cremated his body and...
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...ll the story of the Battle of Thermopylae. This makes it historical fiction.
The subgenre in Gates of Fire is adventure story. Adventure story is “A story in which action- often exterior, usually physical, and frequently violent- is the predominant material, stressed above characterization, motivation, or theme. Suspense is engendered by the question “What will happen next?” rather than “Why?” or “To whom?”” (6). Due to the fact this novel was mainly about war, it would be considered adventure. It left me wondering exactly what the quote stated, “What will happen next?”.
Works Cited
Harmon, William, William Flint Thrall, Addison Hibbard, and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 11th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009. Print.
Pressfield, Steven. Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae. New York: Bantam, 1998. Print
As citizens of the United States of America, we are often blind to not only the current traditions of foreign nations, but also the historical traditions of early civilizations. For instance, many have heard of the Greek city-state Sparta; however, do they truly understand the impact of Spartan civilization in history? Sparta is quite unique in its structure and development, and its history offers valuable insight to early Greek civilization. In his novel Gates of Fire, Steven Pressfield works diligently to uncover the realities of life in Sparta during the Persian Wars. Though the novel is a work of fiction, Gates of Fire is astoundingly accurate in its historical detail, and offers readers the opportunity to have a greater comprehension and
6th ed. New York: St. James Press, 1996. Literature Resource Center. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.
“Anabasis” represents the best adventure of the Greeks confronting the “barbarian” world. Through his narration in the expedition, Xenophon offers a unique insight to the ritual of the ancient Greek army. The character of the Greek generals, culture of Greek military and religion are described in “Anabasis”. However, Xenophon conceals his authorship by using third-person forms to refer to his own actions during the retreat. He presents himself as one of the most influential role in the Greek army and which a large proportion of the books are centered on him. After Book Three onwards, it was suspected that Xenophon was writing an apologia about his vital role in the expedition and to oppose his critics. He was trying to defend his criticisms over the last few books. He conveyed his royalty to the Greeks and only acted for their benefit.
Before Xeones became a squire he tells of the agoge, which is the thirteen year training program for the Spartan youth. He tells about Alexandros and how they became close friends through the years of training. When Xeones becomes Dienekes squire all of his duties change and he started to see more of the battles. He tells of the many battles he was at and what they were like. Xeones explains the bravery of the Spartans when they were in battle and what the individual soldiers were like. Eventually the Spartans learn that the Persian army was coming to take over all of Greece. Xeones then explains what the Spartans did to prepare for the invasion. The Spartan army sent a group of three hundred highly trained soldiers to Thermopylae to defend the pass until the rest of Greece could prepare their armies.
Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 2189.
American Literature. 6th Edition. Vol. A. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 2003. 783-791
...Literature. Vol.1. Ed. Rossi, Patricia. Addison Wesley Educational Publishers Inc. New York: Copyright 1999. 2655-57.
2nd ed. of the book. New York: St. James Press, 1995. Literature Resource Center -. Web.
Thebes was invaded by Oedipus’ son, Polynices, and his followers. As Oedipus predicted in the previous play, Polynices and his brother, Eteocles, killed each other during battle. Creon, the king of Thebes, ruled that Eteocles should have a proper burial with honors and Polynices, the invader, be left unburied to rot.
While the army reached Thermopylae intact, the fleet suffered at the hand of two storms, with Herodotus attributing them to God attempting to equalize the opposing forces . The disparity between the size of the Persian and the size of the Greek forces was huge – thus, the Greeks’ strategy relied on geography . Holding the narrows at Thermopylae and the concurrent straits of Artemisium meant that Xerxes’ numerical superiority was reduced. It was here, on land and sea, that Greece showcased the superiority of it...
Greenblatt, Stephen, and M. H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 9th ed. Vol. A. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print
In the Antigone, unlike the Oedipus Tyrannus, paradoxically, the hero who is left in agony at the end of the play is not the title role. Instead King Creon, the newly appointed and tyrannical ruler, is left all alone in his empty palace with his wife's corpse in his hands, having just seen the suicide of his son. However, despite this pitiable fate for the character, his actions and behavior earlier in the play leave the final scene evoking more satisfaction than pity at his torment. The way the martyr Antigone went against the King and the city of Thebes was not entirely honorable or without ulterior motives of fulfilling pious concerns but it is difficult to lose sight of the fact that this passionate and pious young woman was condemned to living imprisonment.
Creon however does not become king. The power of kingship falls into the hands of Oedipus’s two sons, Eteocles and Polynices. In a fight over power Eteocles and Polynices die at each other’...
In Antigone it starts off in the aftermath of the theban civil war, in which two brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, died while fighting on opposite sides, for the Thrown of Thebes.
Abrams, M.H. and Greenblatt, Stephen eds. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Seventh Edition. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2001.