Friends become enemies. Enemies become friends. Families crumble under conscription and revolutionaries flourish under oppression. Brothers betray brothers, sons betray fathers, friends betray friends, and most of all, betrotheds betray one another. “Anyone can betray anyone” (Aveyard 245). Most prominently though, Reds become Silvers, and Silvers... Silvers become atrocious. In her extravagantly penned novel, Red Queen, bestselling author Victoria Aveyard fabricates such tragedies and victories in a fictitious country, Norta. Mare Barrow’s world is divided, but this divide is unlike any seen before, it is a divide sustained by the color of blood. In Mare’s world there are Silvers, elite god-like individuals with supernatural abilities and …show more content…
silver blood, then, there are Reds, the red-blooded individuals whom, like you and I, have no extraordinary powers. Mare, along with her family, is a Red. Her destiny is identical to any and every other Red: to serve the Silver. To battle the demons of poverty as her fellow Reds do and succor her family’s survival, Mare steals anything she is able to grasp. For Mare, each day is like the last, but she can always count on her best friend, Kilorn, to keep her afloat through the hardships; that is until Kilorn discovers his ill fate of conscription.
In her endeavors to seek Kilorn's freedom from conscription, fate drives Mare to the royal palace, the breeding place of oppression for all Reds alike. Through twists …show more content…
and turns, as the King and all his nobles stand witness, Mare discovers an ability of her own, a power that is impossible for her to possess... she is a Red afterall. To conceal the unimaginable truth, the King himself bethrods Mare to one of his sons and constraints her into playing the role of a lost Silver raised by Reds. Mare takes advantage of her misfortune (she is forced to live amongst those who have enslaved her kind) and utilizes her position as the new princess to aid the leaders of a Red rebellion, the Scarlet Guard. Overall, the novel’s plot is extraordinarily breathtaking. The storyline is infused with shocking developments and unimaginable thrills. To elaborate, Aveyard pens her novel in such a complex manner that her readers have a uneasy feeling throughout the entirety of the plot, but she never satisfies this feeling of unease until absolutely necessary. Time and again Aveyard repeats this process, and the readers fall for her tricks every single time until they are smacked in the face with reality. Through this technique, Aveyard creates a sensation of suspense amongst her readers. Stephen King, a proponent of situation rather than a plotted storyline, would definitely be proud of Aveyard’s approach. Although Red Queen contains a King approved situational plot, the writing style for the majority of the novel definitely is not suffice for King’s standards.
For example, according to King, good description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should be finished in the reader’s, and it should only contain a few well chosen details that enhance the story. Aveyard, in her novel constantly crosses the line of over description. At times she pens pages upon pages of just plain description, in this case over description. Although this 383 page novel comprises of useless repetitive descriptions of a character's hair or another character's eyes, a bond between the reader and writer is molded nonetheless. But, due to her descriptive writing style, Aveyard causes more harm than good for most readers as the story’s plot remains at a stand still throughout this uninterrupted cycle of presenting minor details. The acknowledgment of every minute detail definitely slows the pace of the novel as a whole to the point where most readers hopelessly await a faster
pace. Personally, contrary to Stephen King’s beliefs and the majority of other readers’ opinions, I enjoyed Victoria Aveyard’s writing style and her intricately crafted novel - over description and all. As a reader, I tend to flourish through every painstaking detail of every little thing in a novel. Additionally, although others might claim that Aveyard’s description was overkill and her pace painfully sluggish, I would undoubtedly disagree. To elaborate, this novel takes place in a fictitious country the author has crafted; a country I have never visited or heard of previously. Through the copious description Aveyard provides, I, as a reader, am able to conveniently assimilate into Mare’s world. I am able to become a part of the story, and experience the storyline unfold as if it is truly happening. I am able to learn the ways of a new world, and the learning, like all learning, occurs at a slow pace, hence my admiration for the slow pace of this literary work. All in all, Victoria Aveyard in Red Queen does an excellent job formulating an original storyline. She displays her talents to the fullest extent, therefore, rendering a well-deserved praise from her readers.
The author uses a lot of description when setting the scene, or writing how someone looks. He also uses a lot of color imagery within the chapters and writes in 3rd person narrative.
Mare Barrow is the main character in the novel Red Queen. As an eighteen-year-old she holds the pressure of supporting her family. She is red which means that she was born with red common blood. She is inferior to the silver elite which are born with silver blood. These silvers all have supernatural abilities because of their silver blood. She is an expert pickpocket. Mare has three brothers in the army. In the beginning of the novel she lives in the Stilts with both of her parents and her sister Gisa. The Stilts is a small village. Her family and friends were always her greatest
The writer has used a combination of narrative and descriptive styles of writing. He has used the descriptive style to give a step by step illustration on what a man should do, how he should behave and lastly what he should say from the beginning to the end of the story (Meyer 45). The narrative style comes into play as he adds in his characters, the conflicts they will face or words they will use and the settings and or challenges they will encounter throughout the short story. This
Green drags the reader right into the text from the very beginning, and very skilfully keeps the reader engaged to the end of the introduction. With varied techniques to convey his message, Green is able to summarize the novel and grab attention in the few opening pages.
The excessive use of detail is a primary way that Salinger keeps his reader interested in his stories (Kazin 296). At all times in the story Salinger describes something. A prime example of the excessive use of detail is the following:
Though there are many generations of writing; whether it is classic or contemporary, all authors bring several similarities to the different works that they create. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rats, written by Terry Pratchett, can be compared to The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe; which is written by C.W.Lewis, due to the similarities that both authors use in their writing styles. Not only can the differences be seen through the authors writing style, but differences can be seen through the different literary elements that the authors choose to use throughout their works. Despite the fact that the two authors have written in different time periods, with different influences to their writing and different themes in their books, each author uses a variety of literary elements to keep the reader guessing, and to make the readers level of passion and understanding expand. Although The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rats, and The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe are different in many ways they are also equal due to the use of literary elements.
For Mare Barrow, living in the Stilts a poor village in the country of Norta is not everybody's dream but her life instantly changes when she realizes that she has supernatural abilities that are uncommon for her kind, the Reds. Reds are known to be the poorer citizens of the Stilts, have red blood and are the servers of Silvers. On the other hand, Silvers are the richer citizens who possess special abilities and have silver blood. Mare now must fend for herself and protect her family from the upcoming war with Reds against Silvers. In the novel Red Queen, by Victoria Aveyard, descriptive characters, a complex conflict, and universal themes all lead to this touching, unforgettable novel.
Readers will find details about almost anything that comes to play in the story, such as the wind and how ferocious it is or how it gives great detail on the sign Johnson goes to look at. “She could see that it had been there for a long time because its original pain was streaked with rust where years of rain and snow had finally eaten the paint off down to the metal and the metal had slowly rusted, making a dark red stain like blood”. This sentence has a lot of detail in it explaining how old the sign is, how long it must’ve been there and how rusty it look, without so much details Petry could have just said the sign was old a rusty but that wouldn’t appeal to many people. The selection of detail helps bring readers in and make them keep reading along with making the story more
Another way the author develops his consistent style is in the way he describes certain images. For example, there are a few different occasions where his way of describing what he sees around him are similar to eachother in a way that they all make reference to the fact that the day is going by and it will soon reach dusk. Like when he said 'the soft dew of morning which had glistened and twinkled on the blades of grass which grew in clumps by the side of road quietly disappeared.'; This indicates that the day is going on. At another point in the story the author makes reference to the shadows saying that they have grown longer, which would indicate the sun was setting. Also, the author never exactly comes right out and says the obvious. He uses his descriptive ways to give you an idea of what is going on or happening. For example, he never exactly says that the man he encounters on the road is an old man. He just gives certain physical characteristics that would associate with an old man. I feel his reasoning for this was to also indicate that this man was not just old but a man of wisdom, which very often is associated with old age.
There is a famous expression about three demands of writing fiction. It goes, “Make them laugh, make them cry, make them wait.” By following these needs, an author can spark interest in his or her work. In the novels The Catcher in the Rye and Lord of the Rings, the novelists utilize the latter requirement, “Make them wait.” This essay will show how the authors use that specific demand in their novels.
selection of detail, the author captivates the audience in an engrossing article that pulls at the readers
It’s set in the kingdom of Norta, ruled by King Tiberius and the royal family Cal, Maven, and Queen Elara. The society is divided by blood, red and silver bloods. Reds are considered to be lowest of the low, and are treated horribly. On the other hand, silvers, nobles who rule over the reds, with strength and superhuman powers called abilities. The conflict centers around Mare Barrow, a red blood, who has abilities like the silvers but stronger. These abilities plunge her into love, revolt, and betrayal.
A thrilling action-packed novel the “Red Queen” by Victoria Aveyard displays the theme coming of age. Which often involving a personal, spiritual, moral, or emotional growth and maturation of an individual often based on real world experiences, events, or mistakes. Aveyard displays this theme through Mare the main character and her new discoveries and growth help develop a solid plot. For example, after discovering that one of her three brothers was executed due to the fact he was a scarlet guard resulted in Mare joining. After joining the rebellion Mare realizes just how many connections the scarlet guard has when she receives the message “Rise, Red as the dawn.”(Aveyard 169) in the enemy's territory.
While The Death of a Salesman, The Things They Carried, and The Death of a Toad are different in format and style, the use of tone in each accomplishes the same goal – to reveal motivation, emotion, and feeling, or in other words, to reveal the human side of literature. All three of these works have very simple plots, but they still convey very complex messages about humanity. Regardless of the length or plot of a piece of writing, tone can be used to color and illuminate words and facts, to make them more than static pieces of text; it can make them into dynamic works of literature.
...do this and how to do it well by not only putting the reader’s feet in the story, but putting the reader’s heart in it.