Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows is a satirical reflection of the English social structure of the late nineteenth century, during a time of rapid industrialization throughout Europe. Also considered a children’s story, this novel conveys Grahame’s belief in the ability of one to live an unrestrained and leisurely life, free of the obligations of the working class, and entitled to this life through high social status and wealth. The River Bank characters, especially Toad, represent those who live this idle life of the upper class. In contrast, the stoats and weasels of the Wild Wood resemble the proletariat, and an animosity between these two classes existed. The lower classes of the time were subject to poor standards of living, as well as exploitation by the factory owners and businessmen. They developed a resentment and hostile attitude towards the upper classes. In this book, Toad most prominently exemplifies Grahame’s ideal life of leisure and freedom and subsequently has his house taken over by the rebellious working class Wild-Wooders. More importantly though, Toad exhibits many qualities, “that make him, for most readers, the most memorable figure in this book”. Yet many of these characteristics displayed by the aristocratic Toad seem to undermine the author’s attempted, “legitimizing of extreme disparities of wealth and social position” (Keefer). Toad is shown to be a very rich and prominent figure in the River Bank society. He is well known in his community, and in the community of the Wild Wood, and is a dear companion to Mole, Rat, and Badger, the other three main characters. Toad displays many admirable qualities that make his figure a very memorable one. Rat describes him to Mole as being, “always good-tempered, always glad to see you, always sorry when you go… He is indeed the best of animals. So simple, so good-natured, and so affectionate” (13). Toad is also a good friend, is a compassionate animal, and he demonstrates all of these qualities, and others, at numerous points in the story. For example, he invites Mole and Rat to come with him on his adventure (16). However, it seems that the author has made Toad’s ‘negative’ qualities more definitive and more memorable than his aforementioned ‘positive’ qualities. Toad is a very coercive and extravagant individual, he is presumptuous... ... middle of paper ... ... about, and I know exactly what to do, and I’ll tell you” (131). Toad’s deceitful nature shown here and the way he takes advantage or tries to manipulate one of his friends for his own betterment, as well as the other aspects that show Toad in a negative light, is not consistent with Grahame’s allegory. Although in this novel and the context of the River Bankers, Toad’s actions are harmless and comical, they are representative of the upper class, and a poor representative in that respect if the author is attempting to validate the ideas of wealth and status. “Why should he have so much money?” is the basic question surrounding the issue of Toad’s social legitimacy in The Wind in the Willows (Keefer, 10/25/99). Toad, no doubt, is a very memorable figure because of the things that make up his character. However, when Grahame presents these qualities to the reader, it is inconsistent with his trying to justify the extreme separation and inequality of classes. The stoats and weasels resent Toad, and what he signifies, and take Toad Hall as an act of defiance or rebellion. However, in the end, it is the upper class that regains control of the house, and subdues the unruly society.
Reverend Jeremiah Brown - Hillsboro's minister. He is a hard- hearted man who feels no qualms about convincing the town to condemn Bert Cates and his daughter as incorrigible sinners.
The novel’s use of contrast between East Egg, West Egg, and the Valley of Ashes begins to explore the differences between social classes. East Egg houses the most wealthy and aristocratic members of the nearby area. It contains many “white palaces” (Fitzgerald 10) that are quite “fashionable” (Fitzgerald 10). This description paints an image of purity and untouched standards of wealth that are translated into the book’s time period. Due to the pristineness of the village, the homes “[glitter] along the water,” (10) further supporting the idyllic qualities East Egg appears to have. West Egg, on the contrary, is home to people of near equal affluence, but of less social establishment. It is described by the narrator as “less fashionable,” (Fitzgerald
In Jonathan Swift’s satire, “A Modest Proposal”, Swift writes about the starving people of Ireland in the early 1700’s. He makes a wild and absurd proposal to help remedy the problems of overpopulation and poverty. Swift wants to make a political statement by using the “children” as satire to grasp the attention of the audience - the English people, the Irish politicians and the rich – and make them aware of the political, moral, and social problems. In “A Modest Proposal”, Swift’s arguments are presented effectively by using pathos (emotional appeal), ethos (ethics and values), and logos (logic reasoning and facts).
Stillinger, Jack, Deidre Lynch, Stephen Greenblatt, and M H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume D. New York, N.Y: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print.
The Sacred Willow (2013) describes the modern Vietnamese history from the 19th to the end of 20th century through Mai Elliott’s personal experience, as well as stories from four generations of her family. Starting with her great grandfather's struggle to become an imperial government official, the book follows the author’s family’s cycle of fleeing violence and building wealth, almost re-starting from zero everytime. It goes further than many books on the French Colonisation of Vietnam and the Vietnam war, taking a closer look at into people of Vietnam, rather than from a geopolitical or military aspect. Since the author and her father works for the French and then the government of the Republic of Vietnam, her sister was with the Viet Minh
The contemporary reviewers of Bleak House fall into two categories when discussing its structure. There are those who like it and there are those who do not. More specifically, those who dislike the novel’s construction complain of the absence of plot and lack of connection between characters and their actions. Opposing this view are the reviewers who find the characters in Bleak House remarkably intertwined in the story, especially since it was written as a series for a literary magazine.
Emily Bronte's erudite novel, Wuthering Heights, is set between the late eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century. This era was a time where the British bureaucracy had been a clean-cut, unprinted mandate on how an individual would live and work in his life. Those who commanded British society were the royal members, followed by the nobility. The nobles had been followed by the gentry, otherwise known as the upper-middle class. Members of the gentry were in possession of servants and rather grandiose estates, however unlike the members of the aristocracy, they held no titles; their status was most vulnerable to alteration. For instance, a man may view himself as a gentleman; he believes this supposition due to his polite behavior and articulation. However, to his humiliation, he discovers that his fellow citizens do not view him in the same degree. A man at that time had only been a gentleman according to the number of servants he had, the yards of land he owned, where his money had come from (whether through inheritance, land, or trade), and finally his eloquence. Having only one of these qualifications would do very little in aggrandizing one's status. The Linton and Earnshaw's dependence on such a volatile system served as the driving force for their actions and as the stimulus for the characters' destructive nature.
Stephen Cranes novella, ‘Maggie: A Girl of the Streets’ recounts the experience of children growing up in a violent and morally decadent society. It raises fundamental question as to the extent of man’s helplessness in certain circumstances. Moreover, it juxtaposes issues of personal choice and responsibility on one side against immense social circumstances on the other side. To the reader and critic, the thought to ponder is whether human beings can rise above a morally corrupt edifice and ride to the high pedestal of decency. In Cranes’ novella, the environment condemns characters to irredeemable and inevitable vanity. Vanity exacerbates the situation as characters are engrossed in vainglorious pursuits.
Can moral obligations be blinded by religious views? For some, the sense of religious pride reigns stronger than the moral belief. In the beginning, citizens of Hillsboro from the novel Inherit The Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, acknowledged religion as something far more valuable than the moral truth. As the novel continues the prosecuting attorney, Matthew Harrison Brady, enters the scene which reveals the prejudice of the courtroom regarding the case of Bertram Cates. When Brady takes on the challenge, the exposure of excessive pride and boasting of recent cases won can be seen as a certain Dramatic Personality Disorder from a medical standpoint. Throughout the novel, more symptoms of the disorder are revealed through Brady, who continuously proves to have a Narcissistic Personality Disorder or otherwise known as NPD.
...says, `A clerk hadde literly biset his whyle,/But if he koude a carpenter bigyle' we get the impression that the class system, in both reality and in the text, is doomed to failure should Nicholas not capture John's wife. His higher position in society dictates this: John is a lowly carpenter while Nicholas is a parish clerk and keen astrologer. Similarly this debate within the text can reflect the struggle for power in England during the late 14th Century.
In the late nineteenth century many European, and especially British, authors, play writes and poets wrote about the inadequacies of the upper class. Often times the author will not blatantly express his feelings, but rather he will hide them behind the plot or characters in his story. In Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde mocks the values of the upper class. By fully exaggerating the flaws of the upper class, Wilde succeeds in expressing his beliefs that men and women of the upper class are shallow, foolish, and have no respectable values.
The novel, Great Expectations, deals with the concepts of a ‘true gentleman’; where the Victorian idea, which is based upon birth, wealth, social status and apparel, contrasts to Dickens’ portrayal of a gentleman who is a person of kindness, humility and generosity. Dickens upbringing and early life allows him to understand the position of the poor due to their humble upbringing, which keeps them in the lower social class. His didactic message, what it is to be a true gentleman, is reinforced by the bildungsroman style of the novel.
The setting for this novel was a constantly shifting one. Taking place during what seems to be the Late Industrial Revolution and the high of the British Empire, the era is portrayed amongst influential Englishmen, the value of the pound, the presence of steamers, railroads, ferries, and a European globe.
This book includes stark criticisms of many aspects of Victorian society such as child labor and class structure. He criticizes class structure by portraying other characters’ cruelty and corruption as an impediment from Copperfield’s discovery from himself. Dickens depicts an evil character as someone who is a result of their experiences such as James Steerforth or Uriah Heep or as someone who is inherently evil such as Mr. Murdstone. Also, Dickens is able to create a contrast between the evil of these characters and the warmth and goodness characterizing the people on Copperfield’s side. By comparing their characters, Dickens further emphasizes the difference between the two sides and “provides a forum for Dickens's views of the inherent nature of evil as well as a critique of a society that enables and shapes this darker side of humanity”(Miline, 102). Dickens sheds light on the negative parts of the Victorian class sytem and how it created the people Copperfield met in his life. Dickens strengthens his position on class differences in a variety of ways. Although he displays his clear disapproval, Dickens seems “to have mixed feelings about class consciousness as he has David maintain some distance from the Peggottys, but he portrays this family with an honesty and goodness of nature that is lacking in many upper-class characters” (Miline, 94). Despite clear signs of his disapproval, Dickens refuses to entirely condemn class differences because he acknowledges that it will always exist. For example, when Copperfield becomes a gentleman, he stays slightly aloof of the Peggottys due to their class differences and Dickens’ personal experiences during his lifetime as a successful author with taste of the lifestyle of the upper
While venturing through the world of “A Tale of Two Cities” there are many practices seen throughout the book that would be unheard of in society and politics today. The book, written by the famous English author Charles Dickens, explains the story of people from both France and England and what part they took in the French Revolution. Some of these people, the aristocrats, were against the revolution because they wanted to maintain the form of government where they ruled over the people. If the revolutionaries won, the aristocrats would lose both their power and their wealth. This tension between people and clear class definition is a perfect example of how far both society and