This is a story about a man named Harold Crick. And his wristwatch. In the aforementioned quote from the comedy-drama- fantasy film Stranger Than Fiction, the character Harold Crick has an idée fixe with his wristwatch that his life revolves around an inanimate object. Unbeknownst to Harold, the writer Karen Eiffel narrates his life and gets him out of his comfort zone thereafter his wristwatch stopped. What Stranger Than Fiction suggests about literature is that it challenges issues correlated with time and emotions. First, the idée fixe with time as the salient issue in Stranger Than Fiction. Furthermore, Harold Crick's run-of-the-mill life revolved around time and numbers. For example, Karen Eiffel described "Harold would brush each of his 32 …show more content…
Conspicuously, the problem is that Harold might be non compos mentis with the time and numbers. Albeit brushing each of his 32 teeth 76 times is an indication that Harold cares about hygiene, it's also unhealthy and might be a sign of OCD. Another problem would be Harold's coffee break and lunch break. Evidently, sundry people would take their time having a coffee break or a lunch break. However, Harold lets time and numbers decide how he'll have a lunch break or a coffee break. Principally, Harold incessantly listens to his wristwatch without inquiring if the commonplace routine apropos time and numbers is impeding him from living a better life. There is a solution apropos the central theme with time and numbers. Thereafter his wristwatch stopped and heard Karen Eiffel narrating about his imminent death, he stopped obsessing about time and numbers. Harold realized that obsessing about numbers before dying is a waste of time, considering how death can happen at any moment. Also, there's not much time for Harold to do more since death
There are 23 short stories that all together make up the compilation of Ida Finks book “A Scrap of Time and Other Stories”. All very different and unique in their own way, all tell or reveal different hidden secrets to the reader, but the first story is the most important. For in the first chapter of Finks book A Scrap of Time she reveals to the reader a hidden secret that they should carry with them in the back of their minds as they continue to journey through the pages of her book; the significance of time. For in this first story we see the importance of time to Fink. Not only does she spend the whole first page just primarily talking about time, but she also makes a distinction between two types of time. The first type is a time that
“The Hitchhiker,” by Lucille Fletcher, narrates the unusual happenings Ronald Adams, the protagonist, experiences, while driving along the deserted and densely populated roads of the United States. Adams continually observes a hitchhiker, whom he first saw, having almost hit him, on the Brooklyn Bridge, and apprehends traveling on the highways, for fear this phantasmal man shall reappear. Struggling to grasp reality once receiving news of his mother’s breakdown after the death of her son, Ronald Adams, he reverts his attention to the hitchhiker, the realization of never having been who he thought he was, and being alone without protection from the traveler, both wrench his mind in two. Lucille Fletcher uses suspense to build the plot of, “The
Do we control the judgments and decisions that we make every day? In the book,
S. E. Hinton’s argument is given from the perspective of a 14 year old Greaser named Pony boy Curtis who is being raised by his older brothers Darrel and Soda pop. The theme of the Outsiders is no matter what side you may grow up on whether you are a Greaser or a Socs, that you all can still have the same problems, see the same solutions, and dream the same dreams. You are also able to see how his character grows up and matures during the various interactions throughout this book. The two gangs in the book are the Greasers and the Socs (socials) and honestly, even after reading the book the only reason they didn’t like each other is they both had assumptions about each other that really weren’t correct.
This passage is set before Meursault’s execution with the chaplain entering the scene, and telling Meursault that his “heart is blind”, leading to Meursault to yell and delve into his rant, and moment of consciousness. The passage has a calm in the beginning as if Meursault catches his breath from yelling previously, and he starts to reassure himself that he is not wrong for expressing his views as it went against the public’s religious beliefs, and states that this moment was so important to him that it was if his life was merely leading up to it. Why this particular scene is important to Meursault is that this is an instance where he successfully detaches himself from the world, and begins to deconstruct the world’s ideals as his rant shifts on to focusing on how nothing in life mattered. Meursault describes his gripes with the chaplain’s words as he explains his reasoning as to why the concept of a god is flawed as Meursault saw that everyone was inherently the same, with equal privileges just how often people could express them separated them. The passage continues with Meursault arguing that everyone would be faced with judgment or punishment one day, and explains why his own situation was not significant as it was no different. After that explanation the passage ends with Meursault posing the concept of everything in the world being equal both in wrongdoing and life in general, evident in his example of saying “Sala¬mano's dog was worth just as much as his wife.” Although the passage shows Meursault challenging the ethics and morals that the world around him follows, it does have instances like the end in which we see that the rant is still expression of Meursault's complex emotions, as it is unclear whether it is fear or a...
Only Stephen King could write such a spellbinding tale of a bunch of boys doing nothing but walking.
Throughout The Catcher in the Rye Holden puts himself in situations that are very stressful. His personality type puts him in these situations. Holden has trouble-making friends because he thinks almost everyone is a phony. The pressure created from not having friends and being able to be comfortable at a school forced him out of an education, “One of the biggest reasons I left Elkton Hills was because I was surrounded by phonies. That's all...For instance, they had this headmaster, Mr. Haas, that was the phoniest bastard I ever met in my life” (Salinger 13) not only did this force him out of the school but also onto the streets. The song “Under Pressure” by Queen perfectly fits the theme that the pressure Holden created on himself forced him to the edge of sanity. In the song, one of the reoccurring lines is “puts people on the streets” (Queen) referring to pressure. This song perfectly relates to this theme.
The book “The Outsiders” talks about two gangs and how they interact. “The Outsiders” is a book about Socs and Greasers. The story was written by S.E. Hinton, a person who hid her name because of gender. Further more, Hinton wrote the story about her person experience being between two gangs like the Greasers and Socs. Lastly, “The Outsiders” is told by Ponyboy Curtis, a Greaser, the main character of the story. There are two main themes in the story, “The Outsiders” which focus on the Greasers and the Socs and their differences in appearance and how they use violence to settle disagreements.
Chapin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.” The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter et al. Concise ed. Boston: Houghton, 2004 1524. Print
“....And in that moment, I swear we were infinite.” (Chbosky) The thoughts of a teenager are odd things, and even more odd are the thoughts of fifteen year old Charlie, the best friend of a boy who committed suicide. Charlie has been through a lot in his life, and during the book he goes through even more.
All that could be heard was the distant wail of an ambulance siren, which rent the bitter evening air like a butcher’s knife through a carcass. It would’ve been hard to believe that only minutes ago the place had been alive with crowds and commotion and excitement; for now it stood empty. It seemed that time itself had stopped: that every clock, timepiece, wristwatch in the world had ceased to tick.
For my Literature Circle assignment I read the novel entitled The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger.Taking place in the 1950's, The Catcher in the Rye is one of the most popular American books of all time, though, its hero is not really a hero at all. Main character Holden Caufield, is a 17 year old, disproved and misunderstood, classic "screw-up", who does poorly in school, loses his team's equipment, and takes an impulsive trip to New York. Distraught by the death of his 11 year old brother Allie, Holden wanders around his birthplace of New York, reconnecting with old friends and making new enemies. The main conflict of this novel is Holden transitioning into an adult and trying to cope with his brother’s death. One main theme displayed all throughout this novel would be depression. For the duration of this novel, Holden spends his time alone, and even if he is in the company of other people, you hear his thoughts of being depressed. Most of this depression is derived from his brother’s death, but there are many other things accountable for his mental issues. Although much of this novel was just Holden’s opinions and thoughts, I found this novel to be very interesting and thought provoking.
“Story of an Hour”, written by Kate Chopin presents a woman of the nineteenth century who is held back by societal constraints. The character, Louise Mallard, is left to believe that her husband has passed away. She quickly falls into a whirlwind of emotions as she sinks into her chair. Soon a sense of freedom overwhelms her body as she looks through the window of opportunity and times to come. She watches the world around her home run free as nature runs its course. Louise watches the blue sky as a rush of “monstrous joy” shoots through her veins (Chopin). She experiences a new sense of freedom. Although she sometimes loved her husband, his “death” breaks the chain that keeps her from experiencing a truly free life. Thoughts over times to
The Outsiders is about the life of a 14-year-old boy. The book tells the story of Ponyboy “Curtis” and his struggles with right and wrong in a society in which he believes that he is an outsider. Ponyboy and his two brothers, Darrel (Darry), who is 20, and Sodapop, who is 16, have recently lost their parents in an automobile accident. Pony and Soda are allowed to stay under Darry's guardianship as long as they all behave themselves. The boys are greasers, a class term that refers to the young men on the East Side, the poor side of town. The greasers' rivals are the Socs, short for Socials, who are the "West-side rich kids."
Craig, Alex. “’Story of an Hour’: Literary Critique.” Yahoo!Voices. Yahoo, Inc. ,22 Apr 2012. Web. 17 Mar 2014.