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Virginia woolf to the lighthouse essay
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Virginia woolf to the lighthouse analysis
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“The only reason for the existence of a novel is that it does attempt to represent life.” Stated Henry James in “The Art of Fiction” page 437. I agree with Mr. James that feelings and ambitions formed in characters do represent life. The idea of characters and how real they should is represented in page 440.
Characters, in my opinion, form the novel itself. It is the characters and incidents corresponding in a novel, which make a good one. There are two kinds of characters: the round character, and the flat character. The round one has contradictions and develops with the progress of the novel. The flat character does not change; if it is good then that is the way it will stay, or if it is bad it will also stay as it is with no progress in it. There are as well minor characters, which are there to help the novel to develop, and make incidents more reasonable. Characters form actions, in my opinion, and actions form the incidents of a novel.
In page 438, Mr. James stated that “the action of men” is “the task” of writers. It is not only important to show characters’ feelings, but also to see them in action. A novel I would refer to that may get to be the opposite of that statement would be To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. The novel does not have much action, but shows a lot of inner thoughts and feelings of the characters. The time passes by slowly at the beginning of the novel, which may make you feel dull. The story still is a genius one. These form of novels are called “the stream of consciousness”, and its form goes by hearing characters’ thoughts and their inner emotions. Mr. James prefers, as I interpret, that a novel should have characters combined with the actions they go through. I agree with him, since I find much pleasure in reading such works of fiction. That is of course my own taste, and not my own opinion, since an opinion should be objective.
In conclusion, life can be seen in characters, which are in action. Also in corresponding of incidents that can be thought to be logical. If any work of fiction has logical events, and can be taken to be true, then it is a successful one. Any novel does not have to be only a copy of real life.
There are characters in every story to help build a meaning to what is being told. Just because the story is build upon a major character, that doesn’t mean that minor characters aren’t as important. Three reasons that minor characters are important is that they help develop the plot in the story, they can influence how the major character might act, and having minor characters intrigues the audience.
Characterization is an essential component in a short story. Characterization is based on two things , indirect or direct characterization. Indirect Characterization shows the audience what the personality of the character is , and Direct tells the audience what the personality of the character is. Authors make characters be presented by means of description,through their actions,speech,thoughts and interactions with other characters. Authors frequently apply characterization to their stories to develop a theme or moral to the stories. Practically every novel that was made in the history of literature has a theme.This means any kind of short story like The Whistle by Anne Estevis and Marigold by Eugenia Collier has characterization.
3. The novel represents the world and its inhabitants on a miniscule level, by conveying the differences between the characters and how they act towards one another.
A character is a person in a story that plays a particular role. Stories require characters so that it forms conflicts, tensions and resolutions. Characters also carry certain traits to make the story interesting and unique. Each character might have different attributes. Others could have similar and different qualities. Those who read many novels might notice that characters from various books are similar to each other to an extent, but are not completely the same. The old English poem, Beowulf, and Shakespeare's Macbeth contain characters with similar characteristics. Beowulf and Macbeth share similar traits, but do not have the same objective. Comparing and contrasting determine the similarities and differences of things. Comparing and contrasting is an excellent tool to determine what is right and wrong. When choosing the best car to drive, comparing and contrasting helps in the choice of the best vehicle. Macbeth and Beowulf demonstrate that a warrior's motivations matter for both soldiers and the people.
reflects upon the theme of the novel. As it highlights the fact that if people in the society
It is the mainstay of many pieces of classic American literature, especially those that fall into the category of 'pulp', to have thin, cardboard-cutout characters with obvious emotions and intentions for which their only purpose is to drive the story to a predetermined end. The seductive and dangerous femme fatale; codgerly old men; the badgering and nagging housewife, adorned with dress and apron; and etc... These characters, and the many like them, are set into a story to play a specific role—namely as a reactor—and force the protagonist in some direction. After all, what would a hero do if there was nothing heroic to be done? Sit around? Twiddle their thumbs...? These characters are, in some degree, necessary for the purpose of advancement, and the only reason I have spent this first paragraph going into them, however briefly, is that I feel the need to distinguish between a person and a character. Ostensibly, they are the same thing, at least from an outward point of view. One might say, “A story has people,” which is practically the same thing as saying, “A story has characters.” But, the obnoxious semantics aside, these are not both the same thing—it's a case of the uncanny...Characters, though appearing to be people, are not. They are posters of people, images of people—used to meet some plot obligation and/or bring out characterization in a real person. As confusing as this could sound, it's really simple: Characters are not people. They are merely ideas or archetypes1 of a human form, used to push the story along. People are real. They react to things, sometimes stupidly, sometimes intelligently, and above all, when written into a story believably, give the verisimilar appearance of truth and correctness (even when doing...
Authors present their characters either directly or indirectly. In all good fiction all characters are dramatized. There are flat characters, they can be summarized pretty quickly. There are special types of flat characters one of which is called a stock character; characters we recognize right away (a sheriff or detective) On the other hand are round characters, which have qualities of real people and are many-sided. The static character is the same person from beginning to end, and finally there is the developing character which undergoes some kind of change, this character usually undergoes an epiphany. “Ultimately it is the quality of the characterization by which a literary story stands or falls”. [page 173]
From the beginning the article presents a cold psychological approach to the characters that James' has made live for me in the short novel. The article covers the character's name, gender, a short description of him or her, the role that character plays in the piece and then goes on to list the basic characteristics of him or her. Motivation, methodology, evaluation and purpose are the four characteristics that are used to describe a character.
Milan Kundera contends, “A novel that does not discover a hitherto unknown segment of existence is immoral” (3). In this it is seen that the primary utility of the novel lies in its ability to explore an array of possible existences. For these possible existences to tell us something of our actual existence, they need to be populated by living beings that are both as whole, and as flawed, as those in the real world. To achieve this the author must become the object he writes of. J.M. Coetzee states, “there is no limit to the extent to which we can think ourselves into the being of another. There are no bounds to the sympathetic imagination” (35). Through this sympathetic faculty, a writer is able to give flesh, authenticity and a genuine perspective to the imagined. It is only in this manner that the goal of creating living beings may be realized. Anything short of this becomes an exercise in image and in Kundera’s words, produces an immoral novel (3).
In conclusion, a theme in which plays an important part in the novel, The Awakening, is that choices have inevitable consequences. This is connected with Realism because a big belief in Realism is; ethical choices are often the subject, character is more important than action and plot. As the reader can see, there are many examples of how realism can be connected with the main idea of this novel. The novel shows the choices the main protagonist makes and the effects they play in the novel. Also, the choices are bigger and are the basis of the novel rather than a plot.
Authors use character development to show how a person can change. Through a descriptive portrayal of a charter and their development they become real to the reader. A well-developed character stirs up emotions in the reader making for a powerful story. A person can change for better or worse and Nathaniel Hawthorne shows this thru the character development of Hester, Chillingworth, and Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter.
While an artist uses a variety of colors and brushes to create a portrait, Charlotte Bronte used contrasting characters and their vivid personalities to create a masterpiece of her own. In her novel Jane Eyre, Bronte uses narration and her characters to portray the struggle between a society’s Victorian realism and the people’s repressed urges of Romanticism.
What is the definition of a good novel? Opinions on this question may differ, but there are many things that good novels have in common. Most importantly, the reader must enjoy the novel. When I use the word enjoy, I don’t necessarily mean that it should make the reader ‘happy’ or ‘joyful’. The novel should give the reader a valuable or worthwhile experience. Many good novels often address topics that relate to our own reality. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, one of the main focuses is on power and corruption.
I read this book out of interest for another Henry James piece, liking Daisy Miller so much. I found that this book, as in Daisy Miller, has a female point of interest throughout. Isabel Archer is a young American girl brought to Europe after her father has died in America. Isabel is an independent girl, easily noticed by many others in her circle. I felt that Isabel was a woman in her time, in that she took notice of things that she wouldn’t have without certain without the opportunities she was given. In America she would have see and done other things, but in Europe she saw so much opportunity. I like the carefree attitude she had, but with the regard for her elders and common courtesy. The example in the book about being a proper young lady when it was not looked at very well that she stay up ‘alone’ with her cousin and another young man. She had asked her aunt to help her and tell her when she is doing, or about to do something saw as improper. I admired that. I think nowadays young women would revolt against proper if it meant something they did not wish to do.
There are certain components that a novel should contain. George Phelps has come up with a six-part basis for identifying novels: the writing must be fictitious, or in other words "not pretend to tell the truth," have a certain length, attain a unity of "plot, theme, tone, atmosphere, or vision," create an illusion of reality, be concerned with character, and be prose (Phelps 7-8). Kettle, in his An Introduction to the English Novel, argues a novel must have two elements -- a quality of life and a significant pattern (13).