What can I say about "Empire of the Sun" other than it is a brilliant book, "Empire of the Sun" is not about the end; it's all about the journey. Knowing that's going to happen is irrelevant, it's how things happen that's important and how people react to the events. The novel tells the story, in a fictional account, of the author's experiences as a young boy in Shanghai at the outbreak of the Second World War. Jim, the third person narrator of the novel, is separated from his parents when the Japanese invade Shanghai at the end of 1941. The first part of the novel tells of his adventures on the streets of Shanghai, trying first of all to find his parents, then to give himself up to the Japanese. When even that fails, Jim's life becomes a simple battle for survival, first of all in Shanghai and then at the hands of the Japanese in a staging camp, where he is effectively sent to die. The second part of the novel moves on three years to the internment camp where Jim has spent the war. It is the middle of 1945, and the novel tells of the last days of the camp as the rations run out and the Japanese realise that they are about to lose the war. The fascination here is to watch how the people behave as the war reaches its inevitable conclusion: seeing who keeps going and who gives up. The second part ends with a "death march" as the Japanese move the exhausted and starving prisoners out the camp and march them towards Shanghai. The final part of the novel tells of the anarchy of the days immediately after the end of the war and ends with Jim being reunited with his parents. Again, the fascination is with the people and how they react to their new found freedom. What is so brilliant about this novel is the absolutely compelling way that it portrays the world through the eyes of a young boy. Jim was 11 when the Japanese seized Shanghai and 15 when the war ended. Throughout the novel, everything is seen as Jim sees it. It is his interpretation of the confusing events that is given, along with his strange thoughts about the war. The "real" knowledge of adults is not allowed to intrude and there is no attempt to preach a particular morality or make any specific point.
In a country where war constantly looms over the people, one of the very few boys that can read and write in the city is dragged into the boundaries of conflict. At the age of fifteen, the timid Chiko is dragged away from the comfort of his home and tricked into joining a cause he does not believe in. Overall, I really enjoyed the first few chapters. Throughout the book, I felt like the author did an amazing job with both character and plot development, wasting no time at all with “lagging” events. Unlike most historical fiction novels, Bamboo People took an opportunity to progress the plot quickly, whereas many other books of this genre take too much time describing background information. However, while the book’s plot developed well, I noticed
The book takes you day by day through John Wilkes Booth escape after killing Abraham Lincoln. Throughout the book Booth seems to get away with a lot. Many people help him throughout his journey of escaping without knowing what he has done.
The book begins with an in-depth explanation of what happened in the latter stages of the Civil War. Major battles like Sayler’s Creek, High Bridge and Richmond are described through detailed language. For instance, at High Bridge, “Each man wages his own individual battle with a ferocity only a life-and-death situation can bring. Bullets pierce eyes. Screams and curses fill the air. The grassy plain runs blood red.” (page 61). All of these iconic Civil War battles led up to the Confederate surrender at the Appomattox Courthouse and the inescapable rebuilding of a new nation Abraham Lincoln had to deal with. Next, John Wilkes Booth is introduced and his pro-Confederate motives are made clear. His conspiracy to kill the president is described and his co-conspirators like Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt who also attempted to kill Secretary of State Seward a...
After reading this very dramatic book I expected a dramatic ending with, maybe, the death of one his close friends that only had a couple days left in Vietnam just like him. I was a little disappointed, but I guess it got its job done. It wrapped up the book very nice; it just wasn't as exciting as the rest of the book. If you are interested in war books that can sometimes get a little graphic I would definitely recommend this book to you. It is a really easy book to get lost in the reading; he describes everything in great detail and makes it really easy to picture what is going on in your head. If you read his book you too will find out about Tim O'Brien's struggles in boot camp and also as a foot soldier in Vietnam.
a. Miles Roby: Dynamic, main character in the story and operator of the Empire Grill. While Miles spends the duration of the book trying to flee Empire Falls- his dream is nearly achieved as a teenager when he attends a small Catholic college in New York. But his dreams are cut short when his mother becomes ill and he needs to return to the town to work to provide for his mother's medical expenses. Everything seems to be holding Miles in Empire Falls until Mrs. Whiting (a very influential and controlling figure in Mile’s life) dies in a struggle for control.
For Conclusion, director Spielberg and writer Zusak both achieve goals of appealing to the readers pathos and logos. Director Spielberg focusing on guilt that occurs during war, and writer Zusak focusing on how courage and cawardice can be a disadvsntage or advantage based on the situatuion. Both movie and book taken place during World War II .
Typically, a novel contains four basic parts: a beginning, middle, climax, and the end. The beginning sets the tone for the book and introduces the reader to the characters and the setting. The majority of the novel comes from middle where the plot takes place. The plot is what usually captures the reader’s attention and allows the reader to become mentally involved. Next, is the climax of the story. This is the point in the book where everything comes together and the reader’s attention is at the fullest. Finally, there is the end. In the end of a book, the reader is typically left asking no questions, and satisfied with the outcome of the previous events. However, in the novel The Things They Carried the setup of the book is quite different. This book is written in a genre of literature called “metafiction.” “Metafiction” is a term given to fictional story in which the author makes the reader question what is fiction and what is reality. This is very important in the setup of the Tim’s writing because it forces the reader to draw his or her own conclusion about the story. However, this is not one story at all; instead, O’Brien writes the book as if each chapter were its own short story. Although all the chapters have relation to one another, when reading the book, the reader is compelled to keep reading. It is almost as if the reader is listening to a “soldier storyteller” over a long period of time.
Thomas and Birdie ran off into the woods escaping Mr Knox’s farm. They were running following the North Star for freedom. As they were following the North Star, they ran right into Rebel soldiers. Thomas saw a skunk coming towards them he picked it up and sprayed the Rebels. Thomas job was to bring cannon balls and weapons in the war. Les and Honor were the ones fighting in the war, and so was Henry. My favorite was the ending because Thomas and Birdie got their freedom and got to live in Vermont, and got taught lessons how to read. If you like read I survived books, and like wars and battles this is the
The things this reader likes about this book is that it was interesting in the fact that it had real stories from real veterans in the war. Some of the stories were explained in gruesome detail in which this reader thought was very disturbing. It is disgusting to know what happened to some of the Vietnamese and veterans during that war. What this reader also liked was how they explained the war while showing the opinions of some of the veterans. The least thing this reader liked about this book was that it didn’t keep you on the edge. Even though this was a war story it didn’t captivate me as much as I would have wanted it to. It became boring at parts when they explained how the war started and how the Chinese were trying to take control of Vietnam. What the author should have done was explain the war with minimum detail and have many comments from the people who were actually involved in it.
The book starts out by talking about how they all went to school together. He introduces all of the characters and describes what they all are like. The characters in this book learn to deal with the cold nights and their growling stomachs. Some of the soldiers would sneak out and get hay to cover up with during the night. (Page 40)
Following the personal narrative from the civilians of the time, it is as informative as it is suspenseful and immersive. With that said, the book follows the stories of individuals and not necessarily strictly a timeline, making it confusing at times. There are also a few words and concepts only familiar to a Vietnamese person, which could cause the reader to misunderstood the author’s point. Any foreigners who are interested in the Vietnam War or Vietnamese modern history, in general, will find this book interesting as it shows the reasons behind why the Vietnamese people were fighting so hard. On the other hand, younger Vietnamese generations, especially those studying in North America, should also read this book as will help you understand those who fled Vietnam after the Fall of Saigon and be empathetic to why they are so hostile and bitter to modern
When Wells was writing The War Of The Worlds, there was a huge rush in
about the war and his lack of place in his old society. The war becomes
In Half of a Yellow Sun, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie attempts to use history in order to gain leverage on the present, to subvert the single story stereotypes that dominate many contemporary discourses on Africa. Written in the genre of historical fiction, Adichie’s novel transcends beyond mere historical narration and recreates the polyphonic experiences of varying groups of people in Nigeria before and after the Civil War. She employs temporal distortion in her narrative, distorting time in order to illustrate the intertwining effects of the past and present, immersing deep into the impact of western domination that not only catalyzed the war, but continues to affect contemporary Africa. In this paper, I will analyze her portrayal of the multifaceted culture produced by colonialism – one that coalesces elements from traditional African culture with notions of western modernity to varying degrees. I will argue that Adichie uses a range of characters, including Odenigbo’s mother, Ugwu, Olanna and Kainene, to each represent a point in a spectrum between tradition and modernity. Through her juxtaposition, she undermines the stereotypes that continue to characterize Africa as backwards and traditional, proving instead that colonialism has produced a cross culture where the two are intertwined.
the end of the novel as both the women in his life have other men at