Classic Literature and Vampires and Zombies “Elizabeth lifted her skirt, disregarding modesty, and delivered a swift kick to the creature’s head.” Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith pg. 29 Carolyn Kellogg, a writer for the LA Times, wrote a piece on a new book coming out called Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith, which was a mix of a Jane Austen classic and horror movies scares and beheadings which told up 15% of the book. She used the word ‘mashup’ to decide the new novel unknowingly creating a new category of literature (Kellogg, Carolyn). In Merriam-Webster, mashup means ‘something created by combining elements from two or more sources’, making Pride and Prejudice and Zombies a definition perfect mashup ("Mash-up”). Other authors came out with similar books like Sense and Sensibility and …show more content…
Sea Monsters, where Colonel Brandon is a mutant sea monster ("Book List: Jane Austen Monster Mashups (for Better or Worse)"), Little Women and Werewolves, where the March girls are werewolves, Romeo and Juliet and Vampires with undead Capulets and vampire-slaying Montagues, Star Wars written in the 16th-century style of William Shakespeare, and Abraham Lincoln with a silver ax killing vampires. Mashups made of classic books or characters and modern fantasy culture like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter are becoming more and more popular, because they teach about problems of society, women’s need for equality, and history in a more contemporary package than the original works, but can also blur the problems as well. Around the world, the story of the Bennett family and their man troubles have become a classic. In the popular YA novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the Bennett girls have been trained to kill zombies in a victorian apocalypse populated by zombies. Mrs. Bennett has her daughters call the zombies ‘unmentionables’, because she finds the word zombies improper. The new standard of a girl's education is to be accomplished in singing, dancing, drawing, manners, and in more daring families, killing techniques. Even in a zombie apocalypse, the status quo of society is still held instead of girls evolving to better protect themselves. Elizabeth Bennett’s remark on the subject is that “ a woman is either highly trained or highly refined”, meaning why should a girl still be expected to dance and sing when learning how to defend themselves is a better use of time (Austen 20). Mrs. Bennett’s only occupation is still to marry off her girls. She holds on to the unnecessary rules of society during a time where living through the night is more troublesome. In the original story, Mrs. Bennett sends her daughter, Jane, to the Bingley manor during pouring rain to have lunch on foot. As she predicts, Jane is stuck ill, and has to stay in the care of Mr. Bingley, a possible sutor. In the zombified version, Mrs. Bennett does sent Jane out in the rain and is struck sick, but new zombies that have risen up during the rain are the main trouble. In a letter to Elizabeth Jane writes, “I find myself very unwell this morning, which, I suppose, is to be imputed to my being set upon by several freshly unearthed unmentionables during my ride...excepting a few bruises and a minor stab wound, there is not much the matter with me.” (Austen 16) Mrs. Bennett’s need for tradition almost killed her daughter. This books dramatics shows how far people in that time would go to follow rules of society. Jane could never tell Mr. Bingley she fancied him. Her mother’s response was to get her sick so Jane could spend time getting to know him. Jane Austen was trying to show how much she disliked the rules though her writing, and Grahame has made it more interesting to the people by filling it with zombies (Austen). Another book written by Grahame is Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, the story of a future president who kills vampires on the side with his silver ax.
This book is a mashup, because the writer took a classic character and added something to make the character more interesting. Lincoln is continuously letting a lead vampire escape because, he must be on time to a party or gala. It would social murder to not be there during his campaign for president and marriage to Mary Todd. Instead of saving more lives, he was stuck in a ocean and rules (Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter). Both books have similarities. In Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, saying the word ‘zombie’ is improper, and in Arahma Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, ‘the milky sickness’ is a euphemism for vampires. Courting and marriage rules are still first before defending one’s self against creatures. The unique situations in combination with the creatures make the need for such a formal society illogical. Sure, people enjoy the zombie beheadings and Lincoln hacking to bits a vampire, but the reader will leave with an understanding of what ridiculous things we have put behind
us. Another issue that is addressed in the backgrounds of these books is women’s equality. Lincoln’s main problem in his book, other than vampires, is his marriage to Mary Todd Lincoln. Lincoln is always afraid she will find out about his double life and be killed. Mary only finds out when she finds his journal. Lincoln expects her to go crazy, because her sense of reality has been disrupted by the existence of vampires. Instead, she continues on. Mary Lincoln goes down in real history was a one-note crazy person, but in this book, she is a complex women who can handle herself and displays a contemporary ideal of a woman. The Bennett girls need equality too. Traditionally, a women would never carry a musket for safety or even know how to use one, but add zombies and women start learning how to protect themselves. There is still the problem of conventions of society. People like Lady De Bourgh and Mrs. Bennett still believe it is unladylike to carry a musket, know how to handle a sword, or be able to kick a zombie's head off. Is such a formal society worth possibly being eaten for? No, it isn’t. This book makes it bluntly bizarre. After watching the 2012 production of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, one has to wonder why is a man who is widely thought as an upright trustworthy individual being portrayed of having a double life as a vampire hunter? It’s because a book about vampires will sell better than a biography. Readers might catch a few facts about Lincoln, but overall, the author used Lincoln to sell books. The same thing happened to Pride and Prejudice. The complex problems of women and society in that era could be overshadowed by the zombies put in to make it intriguing (Beard, Pauline). On the book jacket of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, it reads “transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you’d actually want to read.” Are readers so bored with real problems and important history they need beheadings to keep them interested? In some cases, yes (Rosin, Christine). One question Steven Grahame-Smith was asked in an interview was what he thought Jane Austen would think of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. He answered that she would find it in good humor and be happy with his rendition of her tale (Kellogg, Carolyn). Other author authors do not think the same. This attitude was even portrayed in another book called Jane Bites Back by Jane Fairfax and ironically, it is also a mashup. Vampire Jane Austen is the owner of Flyleaf Books in New York during modern times, and after seeing unauthorized sequels of her books, and she wanted revenge ("Book List: Jane Austen Monster Mashups (for Better or Worse)”). Having read both books and the original text by Jane Austen, I enjoyed all three books and took them for what they are, stories. Sure, they teach about problems of society and women’s need for equality and might blur the problems that need voices, but can’t readers just appreciate the text? Zombies are fun, and vampires are scary. I believe Jane Austen would be happy that her writing lived on, and would accept the world has moved forward and changed.
White Zombie and “Dead Men Working in the Cane Fields” are both works that portray the zombie as a mindless creature, however they both have different reasons for the zombies being there. Both of these works contained social and political references to the time period that they were made in. Both works were meant to scare people, however they did it by playing on different fears.
The mystery of how John Wilkes Booth pulled off the most influential and notorious assassinations in history is revealed in Killing Lincoln. The author of this book, Bill O’Reilly, built up the plot of the story through vivid historical details and pieced them together like a thriller. He tries to explain all of what happened on one of the most interesting and sad days in American history. Many conspiracies and Civil War ideals are on full display in the book. I agree with most of O’Reilly’s ideas but there are some that I am not really sure about because of his point of view like many of the conspiracy theories. Killing Lincoln by Bill O’Reilly was a very compelling read which described the Civil War, lives of the conspirators, and the eventual assassination of the sixteenth president of the United States of America, Abraham Lincoln.
Fahrenheit 451 is a well-written book that tells a story of a dream world and one man who wakes up from that dream. Montag, the protagonist of the story, brings home a book of poetry one day and begins to read the poem Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold to his wife and her guests. Many critics think that Bradbury picked this poem because it paralleled life in his book. The poem Dover Beach can be compared to Fahrenheit 451 because both pieces of writing talk about themes of true love, fantasy and allover hopelessness.
Fahrenheit 451 and the Hunger Games are both intertwined with a futuristic version of human entertainment and a society absent of religion. Both societies are subjected to gruesome and brutal activities as a form of enjoyment. The desire for a thrill and an adrenaline rush dominates the minds of most people. In Fahrenheit 451, it’s very likely that many people succumb to their deaths from accidents but can easily replaced by members of the parlor family who they accept as their own. In the same way, The Hunger Games consists of exactly what the title suggests. They are annual games, which include starving and murder and serve as society’s primary source of entertainment. Most people don’t enjoy watching the games but, the Capitol forces the districts to watch for it believes they are a good source of entertainment. Seeing how the Hunger Games are basically murdering each other until the last child is standing, it relates closely with the kind of entertainment that the society of Fahrenheit 451 provides with the adrenaline and thrill of the same kind. The people in Fahrenheit 451 like their source of entertainment in the way they approach it but the instances of conformity remains the same. This is unlike that of the people of the districts in The Hunger Games. There is indeed a difference between the two societies yet, in the Hunger Games there is less time for many because so many people are working toward survival, while in Fahrenheit 451, entertainment is something that people do daily. The existence of adrenaline entertainment is similar in both societies. Yet they differ in whether or not the people actually like the entertainment.
In the books "Divergent" by Veronica Roth and "The Maze Runner" by James Dashner, both authors talk about a teenager that is having a hard time finding out who they really are but in very different points of views. In "Divergent" Beatrice later name Tris doesn't know
The Hunger Games and Fahrenheit 451 are both great examples of dystopian fiction. A dystopia is a fictional world that takes place in the future that is supposed to be perceived as a perfect society, but it’s actually the opposite. Other things that a dystopian society might display are citizens both living in a dehumanized state and feeling like they’re constantly watched by a higher power. Dystopias are places where society is backwards or unfair, and they are usually are controlled by the government, technology, or a particular religion. The Hunger Games and Fahrenheit 451 are both in the dystopian fiction genre because the societies within them show the traits of a dystopia. Both of them also have characters that go against the flow of the normal world.
A Time to Kill and To Kill a Mockingbird both have a number of similarities to be compared and contrasted. Both stories can be compared in their themes about justice and racial prejudice. However, this is where the similarities end. The themes and ideas in both novels are vastly different in shape and scope. In A Time to Kill justice is the main theme and most of the ideas are focused on justice and the gray in between the lines of black and white set by the law, racial prejudice is also touched upon very frequently in the comparisons between Jake Brigance and Carl Lee Hailey and how he wouldn't even have had to face trial if he was a white man. In To Kill a Mockingbird justice is a theme which is not expanded upon or explained in nearly as much detail as it is in A Time to Kill. To Kill a Mockingbird also has a much larger variety in it's themes, ranging from the themes of justice to the exploration of a child's way of perceiving right and wrong as well as the idea of coming of age. These stories are honestly and objectively far more different than they are alike.
In the book Team of Rivals, Abraham Lincoln strongly opposes slavery, he states that slavery needs to be confined to the places where it existed. Lincoln first want to stop slavery from progressing more, then he will deal with how to abolish it completely (Goodwin 9-111). In the book Lincoln Vampire Hunter the author also explains how Lincoln hates slavery, Lincoln states that slavery is a sin. However, in the vampire hunter Lincoln tries to make a connection between slavery and vampires, which is obviously inaccurate. In the vampire hunter Lincoln lets his angry get over the issue of slavery and he creates a speech that will take a national significance among the opponents of slavery (Grahame-Smith 17-132). That is how the authors showed Lincoln’s view on slavery, now the real view that Lincoln had on slavery was that he really did oppose slavery, however he still didn’t think that African American’s should have the same rights as a white person. Apparently Lincoln did not see slaves as a part of the American society, rather he saw them as an alien who were uprooted from their own society and brought overseas to America (Foner). Both of the authors used the historical facts were accurate to the real facts on slavery, however both the authors incorporated the information in two different
Within the works of Interview with the Vampire and The Picture of Dorian Gray, there are many found commonalities. These two books are well known for their risky content as well as for their beautiful word usage. To compare, both Anne Rice and Oscar Wilde present a character in their stories whom contains the trait to never grow out of his or her youthful beauty and demeanor. In The Picture of Dorian Gray, the character happens to go by the name of Dorian Gray. Likewise, in Interview with the Vampire, the character’s name is Claudia.
From a structural perspective, movies and novels appear as polar opposites. A film uses actors, scripts, and a set in order to create a visual that can grab and keep the attention of their viewers. However, an author strives to incorporate deeper meaning into their books. Despite these differences in media, 1984 and The Hunger Games present unique, yet similar ideas.
Lincoln were very interesting and I liked that more than just having just the authors
Literature is constanting changing from different styles and different subjects. However, there are repeating themes/dualities that occur. These dualities including appearance/ reality, morality/immorality, and lightness/heaviness. By recognizing these dualities, readers can learn to reevaluate and deal with their own personal lives.
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is a timeless social comedy which is both satirical and full of sentiment. The title refers to the personalities of the two main characters and cues the reader to Austen’s broader thematic purpose: to satirize nineteenth century manners and morals, especially as they relate to courtship and manners. Although both characters contain both these traits, it is mainly Mr. Darcy who exemplifies ‘pride’ while Elizabeth Bennet exemplifies ‘prejudice.’ However, one of the book’s many ironies is that the prejudiced Elizabeth thinks it is Mr. Darcy who has the overall prejudiced disposition. Likewise, proud Darcy thinks it is Elizabeth who is most often proud. Through the course of the novel, these characters grow and through each other, discover their own foibles-- Elizabeth is indeed prejudiced and Darcy is indeed proud. Armed with this growth and heightened moral insight, the couple is rewarded with happiness and fulfillment at the end of the novel. But what if their initial beliefs were correct? Let’s say that Mr. Darcy’s pride and Elizabeth’s prejudice were switched within the context of Austen’s plot and narrative structure. Could a proud Elizabeth and a prejudice Darcy grow in self-awareness through the circumstances of the novel and gain a better understanding of human condition? Before Austen allows her characters to have a ‘fairy-tale’ ending, they must undergo self-growth. Given Austen’s overall view of English class structure and her empathy towards independent and spirited young women, it would be unlikely that Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy would resolve their differences and grow as human beings.
There are several things I wish I could change about myself as far as my appearance: my hair type, my body figure, how big my feet are, etc. There is something, however, that I wish I could change about my personality: being a pushover. I have been through several things in the seventeen years I have been alive, like dealing with my biological father and boyfriends cheating on me, that have influenced this part of me. No matter how hard I try to change it or correct it, I always seem to fall back into my old habits. In the book Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Lizzy is one of the main characters. She is independent and has no problem voicing her opinions (33). For those reasons, I admire her. However, she also tends to be
children will marry him. In fact, "the business of her life was to get her