The two characters in the book “The Great Divorce” that I’ve decided to write about is the Narrator and George MacDonald. Although the Narrator is not named, we know that he is modeled from or has the same mindset as the author, C. S Lewis. The author showed great respect to George MacDonald, who was also an author in the book, as well as, in real life. MacDonald inspired a huge amount of Lewis’ childhood with his children’s books and even inspired Lewis to write a few of his own. The admiration for MacDonald is easily seen in the interaction between The Narrator and MacDonald. One of the first things noticed is how Lewis portrayed the appearance of the Narrator and MacDonald. To the Narrator, MacDonald appears as a huge, powerful spirit
The book opens up with the author talking about his journey home from a summer stay in a cabin in the north. The relevance of this is due to his subsequent stop made at his Aunts house along the way. The author notes that she had a “handsome” set of an edition of Lewis' journals. After acquiring the journals from his Aunt the author states that he read them and frequently discussed them with his Aunt, so much so that they even followed the path taken by Lewis and his group of explorers. All of this leads to explaining his love for the exploration that had taken place so many years ago, with his ending statement saying he felt “privileged” to have spent time with Lewis.
The grandmother and The Misfit of Flannery O'Connor's 'A Good Man is Hard to Find' are backward, opposite images of each other. However, the grandmother does have similarities with the character, Ruby Turpin in O'Connor's short story, 'Revelation'.
Nick Carraway is a special character in Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatbsy. The fictional story is told through the eyes of Nick Carraway who is deemed to be unbiased, impartial, and non-judgmental in his narratives. At the top layer, he appears to be genuine and great friend, who seems to be the only true friend and admirer of Great Gatsby. As the story unfolds, readers get glimpses of internal issues that Nick Carraway that show him as more of a flawed character than previous thought of. The first issue that readers see and challenge in the novel is Nick’s attempt at being an unbiased narrator. He explains that his background and upbringing allows him to be impartial and non-judgmental, but certain instances in the novel prove
Zora Neale Hurston has been married and divorced twice, which assisted her in developing Joe and Missy May’s marriage. Hurston’s rocky marriage occurred just prior to the writing of “The Gilded Six-Bits” which portrays a marriage replete with infidelity and hatred. Missy May’s infidelity tests the strength of her marriage with Joe, which ultimately succeeds the trials and tribulations. Perhaps Hurston spared Joe and Missy May’s marriage to prove to herself that marriages can stand through infidelity, because neither of her marriages continued through the hardships. Hurston saw marriage as an important commitment capable of forgiveness and recommitment. Hurston creates Joe, as the character that forgives and forgets, possibly this is what she expected or desired in her own husbands. Hurston uses her own life experiences to depict her characters a...
The ineffable love that shines through both novels does not just span the separation of social class, but it does so silently, with no trace of its beginning except the light of hope it brings to the receiver. This force is not tepid or outspoken in any way; its power simply emanates from a deeper source than most other emotions and ideas. In this way, Steinbeck lets the regrettable but undeniable love of the Okies shine forth in The Grapes of Wrath. He describes Mae, the waitress in a fictional diner, who unknowingly holds in her heart pity for her fellow man. Speaking to an Okie in the diner who was seeking to feed his children with a loaf of bread, Mae said, “’You can have this for ten cents.’ ‘That’d be robbin’ you ma’am.’ ‘Go ahead - Al says to take it.’” (Fitzgerald, 1992). Immediately afterwards, the empyreal, brotherly love she never even knew she entertained makes itself known. Such a feeling was also eminent in The Great Gatsby when Daisy stepped down from her high rung of the social ladder a...
In conclusion C.S. Lewis utilizes all the literary tools at his disposal very effectively to create an empathy between the reader and the narrator, by utilizing the pace of the words and the sentences to create a tense and suspenseful environment, also he delves very deep into the mind and thoughts of the narrator so really the reader doesn’t have any information besides the biased information the narrator gives us. As well as utilizing a lot of repetition and description of his thoughts that will emphasize in the overall ambiance of fear to darkness, being alone and being insane.
“As Jack looked frantically over at Sergeant Ayers, who was advancing beside him, he heard an ear-shattering boom and saw a bright flash, and then Jack’s world went blank and silent. Jack fell face first into the dirt.” Lewis (Benge & Benge, 2007, p. 61). The descriptive scenes of the battle show the reader harsh and dire situations which affected the soldiers, one would understand what it would be like to experience a first hand battle. The characters portrayed in the story seem to come to life and one can share the experiences that the characters are having in the given moment. C.S. Lewis was a very relatable man and the way he is depicted in this book shows that he was a very intelligent man and he too struggled with many conflicts throughout his lifetime. When Lewis started writing The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe many of his friends thought that his story was too childish and would not capture the eye of any adult readers, “Finally a letter from Geoffrey Bles
In addition to the important roles of women within the texts, the inclusion of children within the works of fiction allows the reader to view the authors points regarding the dysfunctional relationship that is the male lead “American family.” Examples of children being used to exemplify problems in the “American family” model can be found in both A Raisin in the Sun and The Great Gatsby. Though both texts use children to emphasizes points about problems within marriage, the execution and purpose behind the inclusion of children within the stories differ substantially. The Great Gatsby uses children as a means to show the reader a disconnect the character of Tom and Daisy Buchanan have with their family in addition to demonstrating their lack
The narrator of The Great Gatsby is a man from America named Nick Caraway. He not only narrates the story but portrays himself as the book’s author. Whilst we as the reader make our way through the passage, it is effortless to forget the important fact that The Great Gatsby is first of all a book about a man writing a book; therefore we are not observering this scene first hand, although it seems on the surface as if we are; Nick Caraway is merley recreating events for us, filtering them through his own sense of connotation, and filling them with his own perception.
I thought the most profound aspect of the book was the way in which Lewis cleverly teaches his readers to fight the devil’s schemes and stay spiritually strong with respect to having a relationship with God. Sun Tzu, the author of an ancient influential book on Chinese military strategy wrote, “To know your enemy, you must become your enemy.” This book puts the reader into the mindset of a demon attempting to lure a man’s soul to hell. In a sense, by examining the mind of the demon, we become the demon; by becoming the demon, we know the demon; and by knowing the demon, we know how to fight against his perpetual temptations that pull us away from the light of God and into the darkness of
In literature, authors use their life experiences and their culture in the development of their plots and the creation of their characters’ traits. The era and area where an author emerged are key to the development of these experiences and cultural elements that are created and established in their works. Due to the predominantly Christian culture in the early 1900s, authors like F. Scott Fitzgerald, who were raised in that era, were brought up and schooled in reading and interpreting the Bible. The effect of this culture on Fitzgerald’s work is shown when he utilizes his prior knowledge of the Bible to reference it, just like many Authors before him incorporated their knowledge of myths and Shakespeare in their works. In The Great Gatsby,
The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis suggests that choices made on earth have a consequential effect towards our acceptance into heaven or our plummet into hell. In this book pride manifests itself in a hundred subtle ways as souls whine about perceived injustices or irrational motives. Thankfully, a few tourists do humble themselves, become transformed into marvelously real beings, and remain in heaven. But most don't, about which the great Scottish author George MacDonald, Lewis' heavenly guide, says, “They may not be rejecting the truth of heaven now. They may be reenacting the rejection they made while on earth”.
Ghostly characters of C.S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce (1946) come to life as the reader unfolds each scene. The entry scene is dingy, Hell on earth, full of characters on a journey to find answers to the after-life, or is there more to the afterlife. Next, while on their journey they will find a separation of Heaven and Hell. In addition, each character struggles with choices, choices that will destine their path of everlasting; everlasting Heaven, or everlasting Hell. Moreover, Lewis formed his characters to replicate everyday people on the street, at church, work and at the park, that is exactly who they are. With this in mind, do
Abrams, M.H., ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. Vol. 2. New York: Norton, 1993.
Under little scrutiny, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms seem to have common themes, but beyond the surface, the two books are radically different. The Great Gatsby is a tale about an ambitious man, Jay Gatsby, his old girlfriend Daisy Buchanan, and her husband, Tom Buchanan. Gatsby, after returning from war, becomes a bootlegger during Prohibition in an attempt to win back Daisy who is ironically unhappily married to Tom Buchanan. In contrast, A Farewell to Arms has a much less glamorous plot which focuses on Frederick Henry. Henry faces many obstacles due to his involvement in World War I. As a result of his hardship, he desserts his role in the army and attempts to escape the country with Catherine, his pregnant girlfriend. Fitzgerald’s writing style is much more descriptive and creative as compared to Hemingway’s bland and terse nature. Even with the similarities between the themes of war and the reactions of the novel’s characters to it, the two books have diverse characters, plots, settings, and styles.