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“War is what happens when language fails,” this sentiment from Margaret Atwood sums up one of her basic beliefs. Margaret Atwood, a Canadian author is full of truth. She envisions a better world for all humankind, including a strong, healthy ecosystem for the planet and freedom with responsibility for all responsible adults. Margaret Atwood presents almost-realistic views of the world in her plot and character development, which the reader often finds too familiar for comfort.
Early Influences
All great writers are influenced by the events of their early years. Ottawa, Canada was the starting point for Margaret Atwood. It might be surprising to learn that Atwood did not attend school full time until she was twelve years old (Carmean). Although most young girls tend to like to keep diaries, or journals, when Atwood was in her middle teens that is when her fascination with writing began in earnest (Carmean). As a sixteen year old, she developed her ideas and convictions about the world as most teens do. Atwood moved around several times when she was young, and then finally attended Victoria College (“Biography”). As a full grown adult Atwood was ready to begin her life.
Major Life Events
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Atwood believes that all women should be treated equal to men. Her dream is for feminism to become a stronger movement in society with men and women on board (Wagner). Margaret Atwood is devoted to her religion of Humanism, a religion no one really ponders on (Wagner). Atwood returned to Canada in 1967 to work for a University where Margaret Atwood and James Polk then got married in 1968 (Carmean). Margaret Atwood and James Polk were married for five years, and divorced in 1973 (Carmean). Atwood’s dreams, ideas, and opinions on life have established her with great
“Every war is everyone’s war”... war will bring out the worst in even the strongest and kindest people. The book tells about how ones greed for something can destroy everything for both people and animals leaving them broken beyond repair, leaving them only with questions… Will they ever see their family again? Will they ever experience what it’s like to
War always seems to have no end. A war between countries can cross the world, whether it is considered a world war or not. No one can be saved from the reaches of a violent war, not even those locked in a safe haven. War looms over all who recognize it. For some, knowing the war will be their future provides a reason for living, but for others the war represents the snatching of their lives without their consent. Every reaction to war in A Separate Peace is different, as in life. In the novel, about boys coming of age during World War II, John Knowles uses character development, negative diction, and setting to argue that war forever changes the way we see the world and forces us to mature rapidly.
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...
during the war. This novel is able to portray the overwhelming effects and power war has
“Take Charge” is a scientific short story by Margaret Atwood. This story underlies a dark and problematic past and future of our times. In each part of the story readers encounter a problem with a given situation. During the first part of the story which seemed to be set around mid-1800, the problem encountered could be fixed, but the helpers would not cooperate. They made up excuses like “I can’t swim” or “My leg’s been shot off” but the captain kept on encouraging them to try and do their best. The audience can clearly understand that Margret Atwood was exploring the possible consequences as technology improved and progressed. She expressed her attitude though the choices she made with the setting of the story. As the time went on the story
Atwood uses many emotional words and phrases to persuade her audience, and achieve her purpose. Atwood uses words and phrases that create emotions such as anger, but more importantly she creates a sense of reminiscing and missing the “good-ole-days” which is the emotion she uses to motivate her audience to take a stand and make a change for America. Atwood starts off her letter saying, “I’m no longer sure who you are… I thought I knew you” (Atwood). These statements make the readers sad as they come to the realization that America is changing since their childhood, which is what they consider, the good ole days. Atwood continues by listing some of her favorite memories from her childhood such as “the music [she] sang and danced to: the Andrew Sisters, Ella Fitzgerald, the Platters, Elvis” (Atwood). This makes America seem like it is “a ton of fun” (Atwood). The list of Atwood’s favorite music and other memories serves as pathos, because it makes people miss the way America used to be, and it also makes them mad about how America is now. The list causes the readers to realize how corrupt and different todays music, movies, books, and television shows are, which makes the reader sad about how much times are changing and this causes them to want to act so that today 's generation can know an America that is similar to the America that they have previously known. When describing America today Atwood describes her “embarrassment” (Atwood) for the country, she describes how the government is “gutting the Constitution” (Atwood) and “torching the American economy”(Atwood), she describes how the American people are “easily frightened”(Atwood) because of all of the new policies and changes in current day America. Americans are very prideful of their country so when Atwood describes feeling of embarrassment for America,
YORK, LORRAINE. "Wars, The (1977)." Oxford Companion To Canadian Literature (1997): 1168. Literary Reference Center. Web. 9 Apr. 2014.
Joyce Carol Oates was born on June 16th, 1938, in Lockport, New York. Raised on her parent’s farm in a rural area that had been hit by the Great Depression, she attended the same one-room school house as her mother. As a young child, Oates developed a love of literature and writing well beyond her years. She was very encouraged by her parents and grandparents to pursue her love of writing and as a teenager she was given her first typewriter. This was when her passion finally came to life. In 1953 at the age of only 15, she wrote her first novel about the rehabilitation of a drug dealer, which was later turned down by the publisher because the topic was not suitable for a young audience. Although her novels do focus on the horrors of society, her childhood growing up was no reflection of that. Oates has admitted that her childhood was “dull, ordinary and nothing people would be interested in. Oates continued writing throughout high school and earned a scholarship to attend Syracuse University. There she graduated at the top of her class in 1960, and in...
War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, written by the talented author Chris Hedges, gives us provoking thoughts that are somewhat painful to read but at the same time are quite personal confessions. Chris Hedges, a talented journalist to say the least, brings nearly 15 years of being a foreign correspondent to this book and subjectively concludes how all of his world experiences tie together. Throughout his book, he unifies themes present in all wars he experienced first hand. The most important themes I was able to draw from this book were, war skews reality, dominates culture, seduces society with its heroic attributes, distorts memory, and supports a cause, and allures us by a constant battle between death and love.
Individuals everywhere grimace at war. Images of the strike of the gun, the burst of the bombs, and the clash of the soldiers all elicit a wince and a shiver. Moviegoers close their eyes during gory battle scenes and open them again only once the whine of the bullets stops rattling in their ears. War is hell, as the common aphorism goes, and the pain of war is equally hellish. Most individuals naturally accept this conclusion despite never experiencing war themselves. Without enduring the actual pain of war injuries, individuals still argue the importance war and its miseries. Individuals rely on media and entertainment for education about the suffering and evils of war. Writers provide an acute sense of a soldier’s physical and mental burdens through vivid imagery and relatable metaphors. Books can express the seemingly inexpressible pain of war through graphic descriptions. Individuals may then assess war—its how and why, its causes and effects—with greater insight. The writer may use the audience’s acquired understanding of war’s pain to address the significance of suffering. Through the clarity and horror of war descriptions, a writer may successfully convey the pain of war and his or her perspective and purpose to a general audience. Through the use of startling imagery, both Tim O’Brien in The Things They Carried and Laura Hillenbrand in Unbroken effectively recreate the pain of war for an audience which could not otherwise fathom its magnitude. However, while O’Brien uses his descriptions to criticize the evils which cause the pain, Hillenbrand employs her equally vivid images to praise the resilience which results from the pain.
The difficult association between the occurrence of war and storytelling is told through the eyes of Tim O’Brien; he explains that a true war story has a supreme adherence to offensiveness that provides a sense of pride and courage commonly found in storytelling. “The thing about a story is that you dream it as you tell it, hoping that others might then dream along with you, and in this way memory and im...
Stephen Crane’s approach to writing about war struck oddly with the reader right from the beginning. Thoughts running through the youth’s head do not sound like those of a hero. He has no purpose in this war, yet he fights in it anyway. The lack of a mighty American lumberjack hero as a protagonist immediately sets this story on a different track than the usual romantic, vivid, traditional, honorable accounts of war. The youth has no idea what he is getting himself into.
Alice Munro was born and raised in Sowesto, a small Canadian town, which directly influenced her success in writing. In small towns such as Sowesto, a woman’s place in society was to stay home and cook, clean, and raise children. If a woman did have a job, it typically was simple such as school teaching, writing for a newspaper, or piano playing. Another challenge facing Munro--and others who wished to pursue writing--was the lack of authenticity of Canadian writing. Wishing to be successful writer on a worldly platform was something to be laughed at not only because publishers in Canada were few and far between but in general, works from Great Britain and USA were what people throughout the world recognized and loved. However, many other factors of being raised in Canada played a role in Munro’s success. Religion in a small Canadian town typically had a Protestant culture that believed forgiveness was hard to receive and punishments were harsh and often and that shame and humiliation were close by. Her ancestry also largely influenced her outlook on the world.
From past, present, to future, conflict has defined history. In a world full of battles, revolutions, and seemingly random acts of evil, it is impossible to escape the reality of it all. Many of today’s great classics have been inspired by generations of conflict. Using World War II as the background for John Knowles’ novel A Separate Peace brings up the question if it is ever possible to live in a world without fear, hate and ultimately inevitable conflict. Knowles uses contrasting characters, the innate nature of humans, and contradictory symbols in order to reflect that conflict is inevitable.
It is hardly reasonable to expect a man who will forgo employment that allows such benefits like the necessity of food to attend to the needs of a war. Yet some people criticized Henry Miller because he did not take action; he hardly discussed the war in Tropic of Cancer; and, in their opinion, it is his moral obligation as a citizen-writer to address it. However, Miller is defensible only because his “mind is on the peace treaty all the time” (Miller, 143). The silence about the war in the novel suggests a stance of “extreme pacifism,” which is defensible because of his autobiographical honesty about his radical individualism and the artistic intent to describe the beauty of keeping in touch with humanity in spite of eventual annihilation (Orwell, 1 ).