WORK CITED INFORMATION:
King, Stephen. The Gunslinger. New York: Penguin, 1988.King,
PLOT SUMMARY AND THEME OF THE NOVEL:
The Gunslinger, by Stephen King, is about protagonist Roland Deschain’s quest to find the Man in Black and make him reveal the location of a mystical tower. Over the course of his journey he meets a diverse assortment of characters and suffers great hardships until he ultimately apprehends the Man in Black. But the answers he receives are not the answers for which he searched, as he learns the Man in Black is merely a pawn for a greater enemy. The theme of the novel is the consequences of obsession.
CHARACTERS AND POINT OF VIEW:
In the novel, an ever-changing cast of characters keeps the story interesting. The
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three most important characters in this tale are Roland Deschain, the Man in Black, and Jake Chambers. It is told in third person limited through Roland Deschain, the protagonist.
The story focuses on his quest for the Man in Black. Roland is a Gunslinger, the lawman and mediator of his now extinct nation. He came to the title at the unheard of age of fourteen. Roland could be considered something of an anti-hero; he is not exactly evil, but he is not afraid to dispose of anything that could affect the outcome of his quest. He is a round, dynamic character, for the reader learns of his backstory and his motivations and sees him change some of his ideas. For example, he is initially distrustful of Jake but later befriends him after having spent some time with him. Readers will likely find themselves intrigued by this character but at the same time perturbed at his willingness to kill whatever stands between him and finding the Man in Black. The Man in Black is the main antagonist of the story, though he is later shown to be merely a pawn of Roland’s true, unknown enemy. The Man in Black is a flat, static character. Because the Gunslinger does not have a chance to speak to him till the end of the story, he is never developed. Though flat, the Man in Black is an interesting character and fans of the book will likely be curious and wish to find out more …show more content…
about him.
One of the more tragic crimes that the Man in Black committed was the murder of Jake Chambers, a boy who finds himself in the Gunslinger’s world with no explanation about how he arrived there and with his memories of his previous life fading quickly. Jake lives alone until the Gunslinger arrives. The Gunslinger hypnotizes Jake to help him recall his memories of his previous life, but Jake chooses to forget. While he is hypnotized, the reader learns that Jake’s parents were busy people who did not spend time with Jake but put much pressure on him to do well. The reader also learns of Jake’s close relationship with his family’s housekeeper, Greta Shaw. One day, on his way to school, Jake is shoved into traffic by the Man in Black and killed. Later in the book, Jake is about to fall off a crumbling bridge and begs Roland for help. The Man in Black has offered Roland the choice to save Jake or have his questions answered, and Roland lets Jake fall to a second death. Jake is a round, static character. Though the reader knows much of his life and of his feelings when he is living, he dies before experiencing any real change of heart. Readers will likely feel sorry for Jake and wish he had not been killed, due to the fact that Jake was a likable character who brought out
the more human side of the Gunslinger. The main conflict of the story is person versus person, as the majority of the characters in the tale experience this type of conflict. For example, Roland is confronted early in the book and discovers that an entire town was actually a trap set by the Man in Black and annihilates everyone. The secondary conflict is person versus environment. Because the story is set in a dreary post-apocalyptic desert, the Gunslinger and other characters are shown at odds with their environment, often becoming dehydrated. Clearly, this book is filled with excellent characters that contribute to the story and over all theme of the novel. LITERARY DEVICES: In The Gunslinger, a variety of literary devices are used to enhance the readers’ experience and to convey ideas more thoroughly. One such device is flashback, which is what occurs when the current action is interrupted to show a scene from the past. Flashback is used in the book to provide exposition on Roland’s past life. One major flashback in the story is transitioned into like this: “He’d bought the mule in Pricetown, and when he reached Tull, it was still fresh,” (17). This quote is taken from a passage in which Roland was telling another character, whom he met on his journey, about his experience in a town called Tull. A second literary device used is allusion, a reference to something outside the text, such as history or pop culture. Early in the story, the song “Hey Jude”, by the Beatles, is referenced: “…the uncannily clear notes of a honky-tonk piano playing “Hey Jude,”” (17). The song “Hey Jude” was used to show that despite the fact the Gunslinger’s world is fantastical and strange, there are still some familiar elements that show how similar it is to the real world. The song also sets the mood, showing festive spirit. Lastly, a third literary device is foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is when something that happens later in the story is referenced. To be valid, it must come true. On page 152, the Man in Black says to Roland, “Just the two of us,” when referring to a future conversation they will have. The Man in Black is implying that something will occur to displace Jack. This later proves true as Jack is killed. These are just a few examples of many literary devices used throughout the novel. HOW READERS MAY RESPOND TO THIS WORK: The Gunslinger teaches the consequences of obsession. It is an excellent book that teenagers and adults alike can learn from. The theme of the consequences of obsession is something that many people may relate to or recognize in their lives, whether it is something small or something life changing. The ominous mood will create a feeling of constant suspense and the realistic yet surreal characters, situations and setting will absorb the reader and teach them the hard lesson that life is not fair.
Jake’s friend and show to Judge that Garret is a good boy and make him give to Jake Garret a second chance. And what do you thank happened? Maybe this quote will help you to guess: “I should have known before. Nobody was coming to stand behind Jake. Not one solitary soul”. Without parties, free beer and pizza nobody needed Jake. Those hundreds and hundreds teenagers who went to his parties, call themselves Garret’s friends just disappeared. Even Didi, did not showed up. This story tells us how selfish and villainy people could be.
The story begins with Jake driving on the freeway. He is so enraptured by his daydream of better possibilities that he ends up smacking the car ahead of him. Jake considers driving away but instead he stops and finds out that the owner of the Toyota he hit was a beautiful girl. From there, Jake switches into his smooth talker role with Mariana. Jake then tries to con her by saying he doesn't have any insurance and assures her that he will pay for it. As he drives away, he sees Mariana behind him writing down the license plate numbers that he stole from another car.
Hoffman, Daniel. "Black Magic--and White--in Huckleberry Finn." Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: An Authoritative Text Backgrounds and Sources Criticism. Ed. Sculley Bradley, et al. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 1977. 423-436.
Somewhere out in the Old West wind kicks up dust off a lone road through a lawless town, a road once dominated by men with gun belts attached at the hip, boots upon their feet and spurs that clanged as they traversed the dusty road. The gunslinger hero, a man with a violent past and present, a man who eventually would succumb to the progress of the frontier, he is the embodiment of the values of freedom and the land the he defends with his gun. Inseparable is the iconography of the West in the imagination of Americans, the figure of the gunslinger is part of this iconography, his law was through the gun and his boots with spurs signaled his arrival, commanding order by way of violent intentions. The Western also had other iconic figures that populated the Old West, the lawman, in contrast to the gunslinger, had a different weapon to yield, the law. In the frontier, his belief in law and order as well as knowledge and education, brought civility to the untamed frontier. The Western was and still is the “essential American film genre, the cornerstone of American identity.” (Holtz p. 111) There is a strong link between America’s past and the Western film genre, documenting and reflecting the nations changes through conflict in the construction of an expanding nation. Taking the genres classical conventions, such as the gunslinger, and interpret them into the ideology of America. Thus The Western’s classical gunslinger, the personification of America’s violent past to protect the freedoms of a nation, the Modernist takes the familiar convention and buries him to signify that societies attitude has change towards the use of diplomacy, by way of outmoding the gunslinger in favor of the lawman, taming the frontier with civility.
Black Boy tells the story of Richard Wright, a boy growing up in the south and facing innumerable struggles due to his race and personality. Richard’s goal is to complete school and earn enough money to move north for a better life. At home, he is constantly facing verbal and physical abuse from his aunt, uncle, and grandmother. Richard’s best
It also deals with the emotions that this black boy faces because he has been treated unfairly by the white people. Major Characters: Jefferson, black boy who is accused of a crime and sentenced to death; Grant Wiggons, teacher sent to help Jefferson. After he went and obtained a college degree, Grant Wiggins went back to live with his grandmother. Being that he is a very educated person, Grant was elected by his grandmother to try and get Jefferson to realize that he was a man and not an animal like the white people had led him to believe. Throughout the entire novel, Grant is battling this idea in his head because he doesn’t feel that even he knows what it is to be a man.
Like the film noir detectives that came before him, Jake exhibits some of the common traits of the typical private dick. He is a crass joker, he sis willing to get violent with both men and women who cause him trouble, and never lets physical threats scare him off a case. The standard film noir private eye is a passive, cool, cynical, masochistic character who maintains a subjective view of the case and can sift through peoples’ stories to solve the mystery. The thing that is different about Jake Giddes is that he doesn’t always seem to make the obvious, or even correct choice. Un...
The death of Willie Starks and the circumstances force Jack to rethink the way he thinks. He rethinks a belief that no one can ever be responsible for the evil actions of another individual over time. In a way Jack feels responsible for Willie’s death. Jack eventually marries Anne Stanton and he feels orthodox about his decision to marry her. Jack restarts his long lost hobby of working on a book about Cass Mastern.
The Song of Roland is typical of the epic poems coming out of the early middle ages. Roland shows very clearly the warrior-based society of the period. It is through, not only the battle scenes that are quite vivid, but also the way the accouterments of battle receive high mention within the poem that this is accomplished. At the start of a battle the author gives the number of forces on each side, while during the individual fights amongst the peers, he gives detailed blow-for-blow descriptions of what occurred. Also, throughout the body of the work the warriors, no matter which side they are on, have significant names for their weapons and war-horses. This holds to the ancient custom that honored weapons with special names as having magical powers that could help its bearer. The battles and heroism of the main characters, as well as the names and details given about their war-horses and weapons, were important to a society that was constantly in a state-of-battle readiness, such as Roland's was.
The protagonist and narrator of the novel, Jake was left impotent from an injury incurred while serving with the Italian Front in World War 1. His inability to consummate his love for the insatiable Brett Ashley, and the sterile social backdrop of Paris provide a striking similarity to the Arthurian Fisher King motif of a man generatively impaired, and his kingdom thusly sterile. Bill Gorton, an amicable ally of Jake, and one of the few morally sound characters in the novel, serves as Galahad, gently kidding Jake about his injury, promoting self-acceptance and healing.
Unique to the United States, the Old West wields a powerful influence on the American imagination that can still be seen in numerous aspects of the nation’s culture, such as clothing lines and movies. Unfortunately, as is the case with most other periods, historic acknowledgement of African Americans’ contributions to the West is still not complete. Only recently, within the last few decades, have American scholars and the film industry earnestly begun to correct this period in regards to African Americans. In 2005, the Idaho Black History Museum (IBHM) in Boise assembled a display that incorporated the black cowboy into it.
1. The protagonist of Heart of Darkness is a person named Charlie Marlow. Oddly, his name only appears once in the novel. Marlow is philosophical, independent-minded, and generally skeptical of those around him. He is also a master storyteller, eloquent and able to draw his listeners into his tale. Although Marlow shares many of his fellow Europeans’ prejudices, he has seen enough of the world and enough debased white men to make him skeptical of imperialism. An example of Marlow being independent-minded and philosophical is when he takes a trip up a river, as a break from working on ships. Marlow describes the trip as a journey back in time, to a “prehistoric earth.” This remark on how he regards colonized people as primitive, which is his philosophical viewpoint.
Hemingway's novel by harnessing the listener and reader to understand that a man can be
...g with two of her lovers which were Pedro and Robert. He takes on a role of a female character when he is there for Brett after each affair of hers fails. Even when Robert attacks Jake over Brett he is unable to fight back and stand up for himself which questions his masculinity. Jake still ends up talking to Cohn and compromising his pride when Robert asks for his forgiveness. Although Jake simply replies with “sure”, it is clear that he seems to have lost all sense of self and his masculinity depreciates. Jake feels connected to bull fighting and sees it as the best means to live life. “I can’t stand it to think my life is going so fast and I’m not really living it. Nobody ever lives their life all the way except bull fighters” (Hemmingway 18). The underlying meaning Hemingway is trying to reveal to his readers is that Jake feels envious of the macho lifestyle the
Heart of Darkness is a tale of one man’s frightening journey to the Congo named Marlow. He recalls his time as an agent for the Belgian Company. He speaks about the brutality, hatred, and evil of those trying to colonize and the native Africans that are fighting for their territory. During this journey he saves a fellow agent that goes mad due to him succumbing to mental and environmental issues and unfortunately tragically dies. Through the Narrator who tells the story and Point of View from which the story is told, we get a better understanding of the overall theme, which is the hypocrisy of imperialism, the madness it causes, the absurdity of evilness, and how anyone is capable of evil.