By reading a certain print texts, readers are manipulated into accepting or rejecting additional texts. The short story “The Altar of the Family” written by Michael Welding shares many comparisons with the feature article “Boys to Men” written by Stephen Scourfield, and by reading one the reader can make clear understanding of the other. Symbolism, genre and certain values and attitudes are present in both the texts and will be further examined in the following essay to show that a readers understanding of particular print texts is shaped by the reading of previous texts.
By reading “The Altar of the Family” the reader understands that to become a man a boy has to pass certain “tests or ordeals” in order to gain “rights of passage” to manhood. This process is clearly shown in the print text “The Altar of the Family”. David, the boy in “The Altar of the Family” is under constant pressure from his father to become “more manly”. His father constantly demoralises him and on one occasion brands him a “lily-livered poofter”. The symbolism of using such words is evident in this text as lilies are something that David admires yet are extremely “girlish” in the eyes of his father, a man. In an effort to please his father David took it upon himself to kill a possum that had become a menace to his father, this would make him a man, this would grant him his “rite of passage”. The possum eventually appeared and was described as David would describe his much-loved lilies, “soft, beautiful, white in the moonlight”. The symbolism of using the same words to describe the possum like the much loved lilies shows the reader that it is against David’s morals to kill the animal of such beauty but if such a task has to be completed to gain manhood then so be it. Much to his dismay he shot the possum and in his own mind was a murderer but in the eyes of his father he would be a man. When looking for the dead possum the next morning his father greets him by saying, “What’ve you lost old man?” and this shows the reader that David has now become a man in his fathers eyes.
By reading “The Altar of the Family” the reader is led to believe that certain tasks have to be completed in order to gain manhood.
Such appeal can be presented by either figurative language or pathos. Furthermore, Mike Rose presented various appeals in his article by including personal narratives of his hard working relatives. He begins his argument by introducing his mother and proceeds by describing his childhood (272). This valuable information intrigues the audience and conveys some form of connection to the author and the article. In addition, Rose speaks on behalf of his uncle by providing details about his uncle’s experience while working in a paint factory. Mike Rose recalls a tour of the factory “The floor was loud---in some cases deafening---and when I turned a corner or opened a door, the smell of chemicals knocked my head back” This vivid imagery not only describes a setting, it also persuades readers to feel sorrow but most of all respect towards hard workers such as those who work in
Within every story or poem, there is always an interpretation made by the reader, whether right or wrong. In doing so, one must thoughtfully analyze all aspects of the story in order to make the most accurate assessment based on the literary elements the author has used. Compared and contrasted within the two short stories, “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, and John Updike’s “A&P,” the literary elements character and theme are made evident. These two elements are prominent in each of the differing stories yet similarities are found through each by studying the elements. The girls’ innocence and naivety as characters act as passages to show something superior, oppression in society shown towards women that is not equally shown towards men.
...and how we perceive ideas about what writers are trying to get across. This story is a clear representation of family values and true inheritance.
Kirszner, Laurie, and Stephen Mandell, eds. Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Compact Fourth Edition. New York: Harcourt College Publishers, 2000.
The depiction of characters by Nora also adds to the “masculinity” of this text, in that the male characters are the dominantly talked-about characters. The females are treated as the ‘other’ and are not heard much of, in any dialogue or conversation.
Each chapter will vary in focus, but will be centered on Giovanni’s Room and Invisible Man. The current chapter, chapter one, is an introduction into the essential theme of skewed racial and sexual identity as a result of significations that will be explored and discussed throughout this thesis. A literature review for each narrative serves as the conceptual framework utilized to assist readers with comprehending the proposed topic. The literature review dissects the critical literary discourse that has been published for both James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room and Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. Deconstructing what has and is being theorized by literary theorists and incorporating it with the aforementioned theme, permits readers to be familiar with the content that will be mentioned later on. The methodology is a supporting sector of the literature review. The methodology applies the theory of Jacques Lacan’s “Mirror Stage”, which acts as additional support of the previously mentioned theme of flawed racial and sexual identity due to signifying signs. In essence, the methodology applies Lacan’s “Mirror Stage” theory, to the central theme, in a means to illustrate how each protagonist of Giovanni’s Room and Invisible Man encounters adversity, both sexually and racially, as a product of the underlying signs found within each narrative. The introduction, review of literature, and methodology cohesively work as the foundation
Roberts, Edgar V. and Jacobs, Henry E. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Upper Saddlr River: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1998.
Walker, Alice. "Everyday Use." Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the Essay. 4th ed. Robert DiYanni, Ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 1998. 408-413.
“Things are not always what they seem”, this popular euphemism is used in towards all aspects of life and to the misfortune of many english students is especially used in reference to literature. An author’s intricate use of allegory and symbolism, transforms simple characters and objects into major themes and motifs that extend pass the page and ultimately comments on human nature. A prime example of this literary technique is Hawthorne’’s story “Young Goodman Brown”. Hawthorne’s character of Faith is not only the main character’s wife but symbol of his personal faith but serves as a comment on female purity in the puritan community as well.
“Make them laugh, make them cry, make them wait.” These are three demands for the writing of fiction. By following these demands, an author sparks interest in his/her work. “Make them wait” is a signifigant in creating the interest in the novels The Catcher in the Rye and Lord of the Flies. This essay will explain how making the reader wait creates interest in the two novels stated earlier.
Engkent, Garry, and Lucia Pietrusiak Engkent. Fiction/non-fiction: a reader and rhetoric. Toronto: Harcourt Canada, 2001. Print.
Additionally, the textual support is a skillfully applied in order for the audience to comprehend the deeper, symbolic connotations underneath major concepts in Porter’s short story. However, because there is not a clear or stated thesis statement, the paper has no guideline to refer back to throughout the analysis. While it is clear Walters deeply knows the text, his arguments are somewhat weakened due to the fact there is no central idea to hold the opinions together, just that he simply has a good understanding. Furthermore, the complexity of the vocabulary hinders the reader from fully interpreting the points made by Walter, until read multiple times. This may turn off someone searching for a quick relation of the text, thus he/she may choose another author to read instead. Overall, the analysis is powerful and helpful, once the persons understand what Walter is attempting to convey. The essay will prove helpful in writing a critical analysis of “Flowering Judas” because it contains strong support connecting the ideas in Porter’s text to real
Today, the image of a woman is portrayed to follow the footsteps of men. Men are seen as the genearch ones, the dominant ones, the ones who created the language and the universal. Due to these standards, I noticed that women readers become an agent of their immasculation, bifurcation for women’s readers to hero, and have an androcentric canon. In our society, we as women tend to continue to follow the footsteps of men in order to fit the male universal. Unfortunately, some women decide to try to fit in the place of the male universal, which requires women to rejects themselves and their uniqueness, living in an androcentric society that requires one to erase women’s achievements and expressions, also living in a society where
Francis’s essay is about the quality of reading practice in American high schools. By her essay, Francis Prose is trying to convince the audience that high school students aren’t reading or analyzing the adequate text to their level and by doing that, she is pushing the educational system to give those students a chance to read the appropriate literature to their age and level. in order to be believed and impact a higher number of her audience of her point, Francis Prose appeals to ethos by giving evidence of what is really read inside these classes, ‘’In the hope of finding out that [her] children and [her] friends’ children were exceptionally unfortunate, [she] recently collected eighty or so reading lists from high schools throughout the
The first three chapters of How to read Literature like a Professor demonstrate multiple examples of how common situations that are interpreted as simple and denotative actually are symbols. Foster demonstrates how the misconception that the purpose of a journey is the its destination is false, the real reason being "self knowledge" acquired through the journey itself. Furthermore, he states that a meal shared with someone is most likely a communion, showing the trust the individuals participating have in each other. He further elaborates by explaining that sharing something as personal as eating is only reserved to people closest to him because hardly is anyone going to dine with a stranger. Moreover, the author addresses that vampires and the like are in reality symbols of a human's darker traits. He illustrates that Victorian writer could not write about certain subject explicitly, so disguised many beneath figurative language. To conclude, the section highlights the deceiving appearances of writing, and that even though literature has many occult statements, certain patterns of deception can be recognized.