Sinner is the Saint in The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene The conflicts surrounding moral responsibility are outlined in Graham Greene's 1948 novel, The Heart of the Matter. The story outlines the plight of a man of principle who is unable to fulfill his responsibilities to himself, his wife, and God. Scobie, an upright assistant commissioner for the police, has little promise of improvement facing life with a small income, few friends, and a malcontent wife. As he becomes further trapped in his situation, he must choose between upholding religious and moral values or following his heart. Scobie's futile attempts to please everyone lead to damnation of his soul and his inevitable suicide. Scobie?s initial character changed a great deal to become the man at the end of the story. As a police officer, Scobie demonstrated complete obedience to the laws he served under, and this attitude was carried over into other aspects of his life. He was a man dictated by rule, so he defined his life by his responsibilities. He felt he controlled the happiness of his wife, Louise, and it was his duty to love her. In religion, he followed all the Catholic values and procedures, which he adopted for Louise. At this stage of Scobie?s progression, seen in the beginning of the novel, he is only corrupted by the lack of love in his life because of the loss of his daughter. This event marked the beginning of the decomposition of his healthy marriage to a dry relationship. The absence of his pure love for his daughter caused Scobie to become more focused on his duties. Scobie?s stern structure for living is shaken up as he progresses towards his demise. His faith in his religion starts to seem as though he is sim... ... middle of paper ... ...le room and he couldn?t remember what it was that he had to be sorry for.? (p. 265) Scobie?s culpability and emotional torture is proven to be in vain at the end of the novel as both the women in his life have other men at their side, neither his immature mistress nor his pious spouse was worth his sacrifice. Greene strongly establishes the view that love leads to sin in The Heart of the Matter. This book illustrates the confusion of a Catholic man as he is torn between the obligation to his wife and the oath to a piteous young woman. The sympathy and responsibility he feels for every other person but himself leads him to commit sins and destroy himself. Scobie is a man tormented by the impossibility to live up to the dictates of his religion, wife, and heart. Works Cited: Greene, Graham. The Heart Of The Matter. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1978.
"At the very end of the novel- what is represented as being important? Find two quotes to illustrate this".
beginning despite his circumstances yet in the end he loses all hope while Anne throughout was a
The main characters’ conflict over not wanting the same things in life is the root of the women’s disillusionment. The theme is furthered by the complication of the antagonist manipulation of the Jig’s feelings for him. Similar to Cisneros’s written work, Hemingway uses the narrative point of view to illuminate the growing disillusionment the women feels about not being able to have everything if she terminates the pregnancy. Hemingway leads the audience to this conclusion when the protagonist states “no, we can’t it isn’t ours anymore… Once they take it away, you never get it back” when referring to her disappointment that the antagonist will not change his mind and they can no longer have everything they ever wanted
Typically, a novel contains four basic parts: a beginning, middle, climax, and the end. The beginning sets the tone for the book and introduces the reader to the characters and the setting. The majority of the novel comes from middle where the plot takes place. The plot is what usually captures the reader’s attention and allows the reader to become mentally involved. Next, is the climax of the story. This is the point in the book where everything comes together and the reader’s attention is at the fullest. Finally, there is the end. In the end of a book, the reader is typically left asking no questions, and satisfied with the outcome of the previous events. However, in the novel The Things They Carried the setup of the book is quite different. This book is written in a genre of literature called “metafiction.” “Metafiction” is a term given to fictional story in which the author makes the reader question what is fiction and what is reality. This is very important in the setup of the Tim’s writing because it forces the reader to draw his or her own conclusion about the story. However, this is not one story at all; instead, O’Brien writes the book as if each chapter were its own short story. Although all the chapters have relation to one another, when reading the book, the reader is compelled to keep reading. It is almost as if the reader is listening to a “soldier storyteller” over a long period of time.
...it up to each reader to draw their own conclusions and search their own feelings. At the false climax, the reader was surprised to learn that the quite, well-liked, polite, little convent girl was colored. Now the reader had to evaluate how the forces within their society might have driven such an innocent to commit suicide.
The climax is illustrated and clarified through the symbolic tearing or exposing of the bare walls. She wants to free the woman within, yet ends up trading places, or becoming, that "other" woman completely. Her husband's reaction only serves as closure to her psychotic episode, forcing him into the unfortunate realization that she has been unwell this whole time.
... and how to get threw the forest of life with out looking for trouble. This illustrates to the reader that his society was very patriarchal and it was the onus was on woman to behave properly.
Sin-noun-an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law. On occasion, sin can distort and mutilate the social norms of an entire society. In the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne sin bypassed the strictly religious puritan way of life with three characters: Reverend Dimmesdale, Pearl Prynne, and Roger Chillingworth. Dimmesdale represents hidden sin that continued to manifest as the story developed. Pearl represents the product of sin that is mutable to turn into a blessing with time and care. Chillingworth represents the depravity of hidden sin that becomes more powerful and influential on its owner. When these three forms of sin combine on one occasion both death and new life will originate and the progenitors will be the blame.
The narrator was accused of being a threat to the Brotherhood. He was given the choice of either becoming inactive in the Brotherhood completely or lecturing on the "woman question" in another neighborhood until an investigation into his loyalty was conducted. The narrator was rewarded with an important insight into his character. Many women believe that he would understand them and their needs, because of his talks about women and their place in society. The narrator is able to realize that these girls are seeing him only as they want to see him instead of how he really is. This was an important realization for the narrator to make, but the discovery of his true self was still unfound
...esents the final chapters of the novel by having Dimmesdale finally atone for his long, hidden secret, and ultimately redeeming himself.
Finally, the desertion is his is ultimate act of self-actualization and commitment to Catherine. Henry makes a "farewell to arms" and washes himself of any responsibility to a war in which he has little interest. Book Four is a brief interlude of peace and normalcy for the couple. Once they have escaped to Switzerland, Catherine and Frederick anticipate an idyllic existence. But Book Five is close at their heels, and unimaginable tragedy looms in Hemingway's foreboding words, "If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them." Of course, Hemingway has given away the ending, but only as Book Five ends, is the reader aware of the magnitude of Frederick's loss. Frederick is a transformed man, schooled by her love, forever changed by the war, and a completed person for their time together.
...and through an unfolding of events display to the reader how their childhoods and families past actions unquestionably, leads to their stance at the end of the novel.
This particular event, in the very beginning of the novel, demonstrates how two people of t...
The final few pages of the book also have a very important turn of events that portray that people aren’t alone at all in the world. Lady Bracknell tells Jack about who his parents are: “You are the son of my poor sister, Mrs. Moncrieff, and consequently Algernon’s older brother.”(Act 3)
Stephen's relationship with the opposite sex begins to develop early in his life. Within the first few pages of the novel lie hints of the different roles women will...