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Women in literature
Essays about feminism in literature
Women in literature
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In many ways it mimics sentimentalism. Its sappy narrative is just what one could expect to come from a woman like miss K.I.T whom we are given the impression of as a silly women from the country.6 By making the teller silly and not someone to emulate, Pushkin highlights the shame the reader should feel at agreeing with her in literary preferences. How do we know her preferences? The manner in which she writes her story is not simply telling a story, but emplotting one and this means using literary elements to do so. Therefore, “The Blizzard” is the art of the writing sentimentalism badly.
When an author romanticizes a piece of literature, he or she has the power to convey any message he or she wishes to send to the reader. Authors can make even the most horrible actions, such as Dustan murdering ten savages in their sleep and justify it; somehow, from both the type of mood/tone set in this piece of literature, along with the powerful word choice he used, Whittier had the ability to actually turn the tables on to the victim (i.e. the ten “savages” who were murdered in their sleep). “A Mother’s Revenge” by John Greenleaf Whittier, is a prime example of how authors can romanticize any situation into how they want to convey their message.
In The Way To Rainy Mountain, the author N. Scott Momaday makes a clear use of figurative language throughout the story and descriptive language to describe the nature around them, explains their myths about how their tribe came to be a part of nature, as well as the importance in nature that are a part of the Sundance festival and the tai-me.
...ile forms an image of her character. By comparing her eyes with marbles the reader can construct that Mrs. Merkle was expressionless and had cold, glazed hard eyes. For every instance that Mrs. Merkle is mentioned the phrase is repeated, in the last occurrence to excuse her from not crying for the loss of Mrs. Bylow. Wilson’s adaptation of a motif in her writing shapes the character’s conscience based on their emotional reactions to a situation.
Appealing to the reader’s emotions through stories is a commonly used technique, and Scelfo uses it beautifully. She starts the article out by introducing the reader to a young girl named Kathryn Dewitt. Whether they mean to or not, the reader develops some kind of emotional connection to this young girl. They feel as if they are a part of the story, for when something goes well, the reader feels good and vice versa.
It has been said of Anton Chekhov, the renown Russian short-story writer, that in all of his “work, there is never exactly a point. Rather we see into someone’s hear – in just a few pages, the curtain concealing these lives has been drawn back, revealing them in all their helplessness and rage and rancor.” Alice Munro, too, falls into this category. Many of her short-stories, such as “Royal Beatings” focus more on character revelation rather than plot.
Within Winter in the Blood, Welch’s unnamed narrator continuously struggles for self-knowledge, but is thwarted by a highly disconnected past, present and future. In his many destabilizing events, the narrator is unable to connect himself to a cultural or spiritual center, which inevitably denies him of a coherent identity. Throughout the novel he is denied the explanation of his true grandfather, why “First Raise stayed away so much,” and other recollections within his own mind because “memory fails” him (Winter 21, 19). However, the one event the narrator manages to recall is of “when the old lady had related this story, many years ago, her eyes were not flat and filmy; they were black like a spider’s belly and the small black hands drew triumphant pictures in the air” (Winter 36). His remembrance is based upon the premise of storytelling, which takes on the traditional aspect of Native American culture. Whi...
Another emotion portrayed through the narrators language is disappointment. The center of the work is where the story takes a deep turn downward - and the black cloud presents itself. Mr. DonLeavy's presence was insult enough, but to say he was "glad to be here to see the work going on just as it was in the other schools" (838)...
“Let It Snow” by David Sedaris is a short story that magnifies the extent in which children might go in order to grab the attention of their parents. It is simply short and it is full imagination that would help the reader what it feels to be a child. Sedaris first gives the reader a sense of imagery when he describes the snow storm that cancels school for him and his sisters. After the reader begins to reread he/she might think that the story will be about a snow day but it takes a sharp turn. The story focuses on the hurt and neglect in which the Sedaris and his siblings went through with their drunken mother with the absence of their father. After being kicked out into the cold by their mother, the children are left to think about their relationship with their parents that has been left in the cold. The writer begins to express his feelings towards his parents, especially his mother by providing various details that keep the reader emotionally interested in the story. To the reader it might seem that story is about the children but it is actually focus on the mother. Also Sedaris did an
In the book, The Children’s Blizzard, David Laskin wrote the stories of immigrant families from Europe who, after coming to the United States with high hopes, experienced a heartbreaking blizzard in January 1888. The immigrants had staked their future on the land and instead of rewarding them for their commitment, the land brought them heartbreak. The blizzard led to different outcomes for different families, but the outcome largely included loss.
It is safe to say that the box next to the “boring, monotone, never-ending lecture” has been checked off more than once. Without the use of rhetorical strategies, the world would be left with nothing but boring, uniform literature. This would leave readers feeling the same way one does after a bad lecture. Rhetorical devices not only open one’s imagination but also allows a reader to dig deep into a piece and come out with a better understanding of the author’s intentions. Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Wife’s Story” is about a family that is going through a tough spot. However, though diction, imagery, pathos, and foreshadowing Guin reveals a deep truth about this family that the reader does not see coming.
Severin argues that Smith, who breaks away from the traditional mold, is still a modernist writer and that her books are more important because in them she attempts to break free of social norms. The article focuses mostly on The Holiday by Smith, however the breaking of social norms is a familiar themes that runs throughout Novel on Yellow Paper. Severin explains, “Each of Smith’s novels marks an assault on the romance plot, although the techniques she employs are remarkably varied. Novel interrupts the romance first of Karl and heroine Pompey, then of Freddy and Pompey, with disruptive interludes – lists of quotations, fantasies, retold versions of the classics” (462). In The Holiday, Smith is taking an even more radical approach than her previous works, and in doing so she is shaking up the “social agenda” by breaking from narrative conventions and enabling her characters to not fall into romance, and instead come to terms with their own form of society: “According to Smith, a new world can only come about through the relinquishment of all forms of possessiveness, the psychological as well as the materials” (464). In Novel, Pompey is able to begin to break free from the societal norms because of her determination to be intelligent and her desire to avoid a marriage in which she would be merely a housewife. Smith allows her characters to
...way that the story is being interpreted and how the storm influences the story as a whole. Sometimes people need a wakeup call or a 'storm' to make them aware of how good they have things. In this short story Alcee and Calixta both come to realization of how good they have things with their spouses and how that they already found the ones that they love, which weren't each other. This made me aware of how we as people can take things for granted or believing we know what’s best for us. In reality we don't always know what’s best until something occurs and shows us that what we already have is the best.
After a first read of J.D. Salinger’s Just Before the War with the Eskimos the famous short story seemed insipid, shallow, and even superficial. The characters appeared to be without motive, and the setting, both time and place, gave the impression of being arbitrarily dictated. However, it was after a closer and more thorough investigation that it seemed evident that this was quite the opposite. Salinger’s distinct characters, meticulously chosen setting, and careful choice of vocabulary resulted in a complicated but multidimensional piece which explores a multitude of themes.
In Aleksandr Pushkin’s The Queen of Spades, Pushkin portrays Herman as a rational European devil who is incapable of thriving in Russian culture. When he hears about the three winning cards, he unintentionally forgoes rationality, while still attempting to maintain it. In his obsession, he falls prey to greed and descends into evil. When he loses in his final round, the queen mocks him, just as Russian mysticism mocks western rationality. Pushkin shows European rationality as having no place in Russian culture, and he depicts how it decomposes under the influence of Russian mysticism. Herman’s descent from rationality to obsession depicts the incompatibility of Russian superstition
In the past two centuries, western mainstream cultures have subscribed to the belief that crying is commonly associated with femininity, regardless of one’s gender (Warhol 182). A considerable amount of literature, including Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, has been considered by critics as effectively using “narrative techniques” to make readers cry (Warhol 183). Emphasizing on these matters, Robyn R. Warhol, the author of “Narration Produces Gender: Femininity as Affect and Effect in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple”, analyzes the usefulness of the novel’s narration approaches, focusing on the meaning of Nettie’s letters to Celie and especially the fairy-tale unity in Celie’s last letter. Using The Color Purple as illustrated example, refusing to consider the accounts of gender and sexuality, the author suggests that the applications of culture’s “feminine mythologies” in the novel give readers chances to experience the physical (openly weeping) and emotional (identify self with the character) effects of femininity (Warhol 186). Although Warhol’s interpretations have successfully carried out the novel’s sentimentality within the context of culture and other novels, there is still a general lack of comprehensive examples that illustrated after each of her arguments. In order to corroborate and extend on Warhol’s central argument, the surprising factors of the novel’s ending combines with the elements of foreshadowing in Celie’s first confrontation with Albert about Nettie’s letters, Celie’s relationship with Shug, and the ugly truths about racism and sexism showing through Nettie’s and Celie’s letters should be considered as significant in creating the novel’s sentimentality.