Kelly Nolan Mrs. Hantack Adv. English II, 6th hour 5 April 2024 Lost Innocence and the Fragility of Hope Human beings shape their experiences based on the world around them. Dystopian literature paints a violent picture of how societal structures can alter the fundamental understanding of humanity. In Kazuo Ishiguro’s, Never Let Me Go, and Cormac McCarthy’s, The Road, worlds are in contrast to one another; yet, each explores the ideas of a loss of innocence and the fragility of hope. While Never Let Me Go explores the unsettling reality of clones bred solely for organ harvesting, The Road depicts a post-apocalyptic wasteland where survival is a constant struggle. Both novels allow the reader to explore many profound questions surrounding the …show more content…
In response to this, the boy says “but we’re not dying” (McCarthy 75). The boy’s usage of the word we’re talking about represents that he sees him and his father as a unit rather than two individuals as they are so loyal to one another. In his eyes, his father dying is not an option as he does not know life without him nor does he want to. Despite the hardship they experience, family prevails. The themes found in Never Let Me Go, although not as deep as in The Road, are still incredibly moving. Specifically, the theme being that growing up is inevitable. In an exchange between Tommy and Kathy, he says to her that “[it] [is] not a game anymore. [They] have to think carefully” (Ishiguro 76). Tommy and Kathy grew up around one another, they were able to see one another mature. Within their circle of friends was Ruth, who dated Tommy. Kathy felt conflicted between her crush and her friend; she always remained silent. They are adults now though and the love triangle returns; however, it’s much different now as the weight of donations and upcoming fate looms over them. Tommy, by relating the situation to a game, effectively displays that the situation has much less
Cormac McCarthy's setting in Blood Meridian is a landscape of endless and diverse beauty. McCarthy highlights the surprising beauty of combinations of scrubby plants, jagged rock, and the fused auburn and crimson colors of the fiery wasteland that frame this nightmarish novel. Various descriptions, from the desolate to the scenic, feature McCarthy's highly wrought, lyrical prose. Such descriptions of the divine landscape seem to serve a dual function. While being an isolated highlight to this gruesome novel, McCarthy's beautiful setting also serves as an intricate device in defining the novel's themes and creating the reality in which it is set.
Marked by two world wars and the anxiety that accompanies humanity's knowledge of the ability to destroy itself, the Twentieth Century has produced literature that attempts to depict the plight of the modern man living in a modern waste land. If this sounds dismal and bleak, it is. And that is precisely why the dark humor of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. shines through our post-modern age. The devastating bombing of Dresden, Germany at the close of World War II is the subject of Vonnegut's most highly acclaimed work, Slaughterhouse-Five or The Children's Crusade: A Duty Dance with Death. Vonnegut's experience as an American POW in Dresden fuels the narrative that unconventionally defines his generation through the life and death of Billy Pilgrim. The survival of Billy Pilgrim at Dresden and his re-entry to the shell-shocked world reveal a modern day journey of the anti-hero. Vonnegut's unusual style and black satire provide a refreshing backdrop for a vehement anti-war theme and enhance his adept ability to depict the face of humanity complete with all of its beauty and blemishes. Likewise, Vonnegut adds his own philosophy concerning time, our place in it, and connection (or disconnection) to it and one other. Perhaps the most crucial step in understanding this intriguing work is to start with its title, which holds the key to Vonnegut's most prevailing theme.
Readers develop a compassionate emotion toward the characters, although the characters are detached and impersonal, due to the tone of The Road. The characters are unidentified, generalizing the experience and making it relatable – meaning similar instances can happen to anyone, not just the characters in the novel. McCarthy combined the brutality of the post-apocalyptic world with tender love between father and son through tone.
In her essay, “The Wreck of Time,” Annie Dillard explains the significance of an individual and how a person determines the significance of the self. Dillard analyzes the points where the human race becomes insignificant and the importance of the population becomes questionable throughout the history. She is trying to evoke the reader to question his/her vitality in the world. Tim O’Brien illustrates the element of a true war story and what makes a war story true in his work, “How to Tell a True War Story.” A soldier’s war story will not be the exact story of a war but it is a collection of how the soldier perceives each war experiences. O’Brien illustrates how remarkable experiences are chosen by the soldier. In his novel, “Into the Wild,” Jon Krakauer analyzes Chris McCandless’s journey to Alaska and the purpose of this journey. McCandless could have searched for his own self by staying in the social world where he lived, nevertheless disconnects all his links with the external world and tries to discover himself. McCandless tried to stand out from the stereotypical people and make him a bit more significant. All three authors use various language techniques to make their argument. A text’s tone, syntax and diction strengthen the language of the text. Dillard poses numerous questions to readers. These questions can stimulate emotion that is similar to the one that is portrayed in the text. O’Brien uses stories with different plots and expresses his ideas. Different plots make readers think in various angles. Krakauer analyzes his thoughts about McCandless and reevaluate the misconception he had about McCandless. Since Krakauer uses voices of multiple individuals, readers will be exposed to different views. All three authors try...
The stylistic choices an author makes when writing has a huge impact on the mood and atmosphere of the piece created. Take, for example, Cormac Mcarthy’s The Road, and Gregory Robert’s Shantaram. The two incredible novels are in many ways similar, however also very different due to a different writing styles.
Conclusively, dystopian texts are written to provide a warning about future times. Authors and directors use a variety of techniques to put their idea forward and have an impact of the audience. Rules that the chosen texts exhibit include that citizens have a fear of the outside world and all citizens adhere to a strict set of rules, but there is a main protagonist who scrutinises the governments or society’s nature. The rules that authors and directors use to put forward their messages of the moral issues human cloning and relying too much on technology and instinctively perusing traditions are evident throughout all three texts.
Throughout his career, Kurt Vonnegut has used writing as a tool to convey penetrating messages and ominous warnings about our society. He skillfully combines vivid imagery with a distinctly satirical and anecdotal style to explore complex issues such as religion and war. Two of his most well known, and most gripping, novels that embody this subtle talent are Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse-Five. Both books represent Vonnegut’s genius for manipulating fiction to reveal glaring, disturbing and occasionally redemptive truths about human nature. On the surface, Cat’s Cradle and Slaughterhouse-Five are dramatically different novels, each with its own characters, symbols, and plot. However, a close examination reveals that both contain common themes and ideas. Examining and comparing the two novels and their presentation of different themes provides a unique insight into both the novels and the author – allowing the reader to gain a fuller understanding of Vonnegut’s true meaning.
While reading the novel “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy the overall aspect is pessimistic. It is about violence, hardship, death, fear, and the loss of hope. Throughout the book, the two main characters, the man, and boy face up against some of the toughest survival and life lessons. Together they face the woman’s suicide, starvation, the idea of rape, sickness, survival of the apocalypse, and in a sense being hunted like prey by cannibals who also managed to survive the terrifying possibilities that cause Earth to go to chaos. Within the novel, there are hundreds of examples to provide evidence of the pessimistic nature of the novel. Cormac McCarthy who is the author continuously writes in his novel about some of the deepest and darkest situations
Losing a phone compared to being raped, starved, killed, and eaten in pieces makes everyday life seem not so excruciating. Cormac McCarthy was born July 20, 1933 and is one of the most influencing writers of this era. McCarthy was once so poor he could not even afford toothpaste. Of course this was before he became famous. His lifestyle was hotel to hotel. One time he got thrown out of a $40 dollar a month hotel and even became homeless. This is a man who from experience knows what should be appreciated. McCarthy published a novel that would give readers just that message called The Road. Placed in a world of poverty the story is about a man and his son. They travel to a warmer place in hopes of finding something more than the scattered decomposing bodies and ashes. The father and son face hunger, death, and distrust on their long journey. 15 year old Lawrence King was shot for being gay. Known as a common hate crime, the murderer obviously thought he was more superior to keep his life and to take someone’s life. Believing ideas in a possible accepting world with no conditions is dangerous thought to that person’s immunity to the facts of reality.
In analyzing and comparing symbolism, form, and style of the literary work “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost and the short story of “A Worn Path” by Eudora, Welty I ask so what is the symbolic discovery that gives the reader new ideas, connecting experiences, considering deeper insights, and coming to conclusions with harmonious delight? Although we all have ‘roads’ or ‘paths’ to take on our journey in life it is in how we handle the experience; and what we gain from those life journeys that will either enrich our life or be our demise. I intend to show that detail in the short story gives us a more precise imagery giving a lead to our imagination than that of the poem. The Symbolism in both brings to light a positive message each in its own rhythm and to each individual reader a metaphor and food for life.
Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go illustrates an alternate world where clones are created for the sole purpose of becoming organ donors. The story follows clones Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy as they are born into a society in which they slowly understand and accept, as they grow older. Kathy, the narrator, reflects on her experiences in Hailsham, the Cottages, and her life as a carer. Conformity and the acceptance of fate are two themes that are present throughout the novel. Kathy exhibits obedience to social norms and never thinks to challenge them. It is only until Kathy looks back at her past where she notices her acts of omission and questions why she never intervenes with reality.
Decisions are made every day, and greater the number of choices, the harder it becomes to evaluate the opportunity cost of a particular option, especially when the outcomes are unknown. Everyone experience a dilemma at some point in life, maybe, critical enough to alter their fates; some regret while others rejoice. Such is the case for the narrator, of “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost, who is required to choose his fate. There is deep regret because he “could not travel both” only to settle for the “one less traveled by” (19). Blanche Farley, however, tries to cheat out of regret through her lead character of “The Lover Not Taken;” a companion poem of “The Road Not Taken,” only with a parodistic spin. Although the poems share common features of structure, style and a common theme, there is a distinct difference in the imagery and perspectives in the respective poems.
“Memory, like learning, is a hypothetical construct denoting three distinguishable but interrelated processes: registration, storage and retrieval” (Gross. 2001: 244). Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go represents memory as a backdrop to the storyline and narrative structure, a moral and ethical tale preluding to science fact to the modern and experimental advancements in technology through cloning.
At first the relationship between a father and his son can be perceived as a simple companionship. However, this bond can potentially evolve into more of a dynamic fitting relationship. In The Road The Man and his son have to depend on one another because they each hold a piece of each other. The Man holds his sons sense of adulthood while the son posses his father’s innocence. This reliance between the father and son create a relationship where they need each other in order to stay alive. “The boy was all that stood between him and death.” (McCarthy 29) It is evident that without a reason to live, in this case his son, The Man has no motivation to continue living his life. It essentially proves how the boy needs his father to love and protect him, while the father needs the boy to fuel ...
Through the use of recurring ideas of death, hope and reality, McCarthy conveys that there is no escape; either from the universal destruction caused by the apocalypse or the emotionally destructive effects of dreams. In The Road, dreams reveal the human nature of the characters. McCarthy illustrates the gradual dehumanization of people when life completely changes; he argues that all the terrible things that people could do have already been done, underlining the frailty of our existence. McCarthy ultimately shows us how reliant we are on the past and that we must let go of the past to make way for the future.