Throughout history, many different tensions and conflicts have arisen. Large conflicts that have remained in modern times are race and religious prejudice. A specific prejudice that exists is against the Jews. This prejudice against them existed in the Middle Ages due to their “refusal to acknowledge the pantheon of Greek and Roman gods and from their refusal to submit to Roman rule” (Cummings n.p.). Authors can use novels to combat this continued prejudice by sparking social change. Walter Scott is one of those authors who brilliantly makes use of empathy and characterization within Rebecca and Isaac to create social change in the tradition of Anti-Semitic views in his novel, Ivanhoe. The first aspect that Scott created using Rebecca and Isaac is the familial relationship that they possess. These two characters clearly love each other, and to play with the reader’s emotions, Scott created a scene where Isaac says he would rather die than …show more content…
see terrible things happen to his daughter. By doing so, Scott creates an emotional impact for the reader through the use of empathy. The reader puts him or herself in Isaac’s position which humanizes him in the reader’s perspective and influences the reader’s viewpoint on the Jewish people. Another instance of similar humanization is when Isaac leaves Ravenswood after Ivanhoe informs him Brian De Bois plans on torturing him. This plays with the reader’s emotions towards Isaac’s situation and causes the reader’s traditional attitudes to change. The use of empathy by Scott for Isaac’s situation creates an emotional impact on the reader causing previous ways of thinking to be changed. The reader may be quick to notice that Scott also placed negative qualities in Isaac. However, Ibn Warraq, of the New English Review, states that “Obstinate and avaricious, suspicious and timid, the Jews do display such unattractive qualities [in the novel] but these vices could easily be seen as virtues, the virtues of patience, vigilance, diligence, and prudence of which they had need after years of mob hysteria, and the rapaciousness of the King and nobility” (Warraq n.p.). Warraq continues to state that “When he is thrown into a foul dungeon, Isaac reveals further qualities, of resolution, of hope, and dignity” (Warraq n.p.). Therefore, the negative found in Isaac are simply surface level features. When further analysed it is apparent that these qualities are symbolic of deeper, more meaningful virtues. This also further shows Scott’s attempt to show how the Jewish people are also as complex and flawed as other human beings. This is Scott’s technique of realism of the Jew which in turns influence the reader’s Anti-Semitic views. The other Jewish character that elicits change is Rebecca.
Rebecca is humanized by Scott in this novel by Scott creating her to be smart and kind especially in the instances of: defending herself when in the face of danger with Brian de Bois, “a predicament from which she … rescued herself by her own courage and quick wits” (Mitchell n.p.); nursing Ivanhoe back to health, showing how she is amiable; and giving Gurth money out of generosity. Characterization is a technique used by authors to create a certain type of personality within characters in a novel to allow readers to fully understand them ("Characterization - Examples and Definition"). Scott uses this technique to create social change with Rebecca, a Jew, to be intelligent and kind. These personality traits in Rebecca cause the reader - just like with Isaac - to rethink previous negative attitudes and opinions on the Jewish people. By characterizing Rebecca the way he did and making her a crucial character to the novel, Scott correctly advocates changes in social
views. Walter Scott uses characters like Rebecca and Isaac to advocate social reform through literary techniques like empathy and characterization. When reading Ivanhoe, the reader is faced with many emotional moments which change his or her previous opinion towards Jewish people. Creating a humanized Jewish character allows for the reader to see how the Jews truly are, which in turn changes how the reader sees his or her typical opinion. The literary techniques of empathy and characterization are brilliantly used, and Scott does a successful job in transforming opinions towards the Jewish people.
Philip Roth is the most prominent American novelist in American literature. His book, “Portney’s compliant” is one of the most important literatures for the ethnic group in the world especially for the Jews in America. According to Prof. Sasha Senderovich “Philip Roth’s book is the bible for the Jewish people.” (Lecture). Through the practice with cultural tradition and try to assimilate with the gentile world, Roth reveals his gloom with complain to his psychiatric, Dr. Spielvogel to free from orthodox Jewish tradition in the American society. Inversely, through goy’s behavior, lifestyle, food, and their anti-Semitic psycho, dragged up him back to his tradition. Therein, the juxtaposition between two cultures fabricates him with an enormous confusion and he felt rootless about his identity and end up with his complaint to the doctor. However, the experience of Alex life, established a statement that, “being minority in a society, for the first or second generation,
In the book West Side Story by Arthur Laurents there were many prejudices. Prejudice is a favoring or dislike of something without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge. There were prejudices in West Side Story that had to do with the types of people, their races and sex. Sometimes prejudice can be in small doses and can be meaningless, other times prejudice can be very serious and cause death.
During the course of this work, many ideas and themes are portrayed and readers are able to view subjects that surround the main topic of racial injustice and intolerance. With the three main narrators, Minny Jackson, Aibileen Clark, and Skeeter Phelan, the audience quickly gains an insight on how racial inequalities affected everyone. These thoughts help to form a plot that can easily keep readers entertained throughout the novel. During the course of the novel, there are many points in the plot that decide the actions and events other cha...
America is the proud author of many timeless novels. Fitzegerald’s The Great Gatsby, Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, and Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men all reveal a glimpse into previously unseen worlds to their audiences. But few of them has so profound an impact as Nelle “Harper” Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. This captivating novel enthralled the country and made it reexamine its preexisting perceptions about childhood, bravery, and morality. In spite of the importance of these concepts, the most far-reaching theme is how prejudice and education coincide, or, more accurately, how prejudice and a lack of education coincide (Theme 1). In To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee explores how a normally rational person’s ability to reason can be tainted by prejudice, even subconsciously. Rarely do the characters in Lee’s novel make an effort to be cruel, but in the 1930s South, prejudice was less about an active effort to hurt others, but instead was an affliction brought about by an unconscious combination of upbringing, culture, and social or economic status.
Characterization: Most of the characterization is indirect. We learn about these characters mostly by their action and their dialogue. However, there is some direct characterization when the narrator tells us of what has shaped the mother into what she is today.
While Rebecca was with her mom she was portrayed as an African American young women, living in a lower class home, and attending an underprivileged school. Rebecca’s mom is preoccupied with work so much so, that she fails to notice how alone and miserable Rebecca really is. She then turns to her friends for the love and affection that she is not receiving at home. In an article Rebecca states “As a little girl, I wasn 't even allowed to
The novel To Kill A Mockingbird, written by renowned author Harper Lee, was published on July 11, 1960. Her novel received the prestigious Pulitzer Prize and has become a modern-day American classic novel. The book’s setting is in Alabama and occurs when widespread racism and discrimination are high in the South. The name of the book arises from the common belief and saying that, ’It is a sin to kill a mockingbird’. To Kill A Mockingbird is narrated by Scout Finch, about her father, Atticus Finch, a well-known lawyer who fights to prove the innocence of a black man (Tom Robinson), who is unjustly accused of rape, and about Boo Radley, her mysterious neighbor who saves both her and her brother Jem from being killed.
Throughout the 1800s, racism evolved to be less violent. As seen in Huckleberry Finn and Dances with Wolves, it became more acceptable for blacks and Native Americans to coincide without blatant and harsh interactions. Both Huckleberry Finn and Dances with Wolves illustrate the positive growth between both minorities and whites over the past hundred years. While racism is not totally eradicated, these sources foreshadow the future and a country without segregation.
“To Kill a Mocking Bird” is a novel which was written by Harper Lee. In my essay I will discuss how Harper Lee explores the theme of prejudice by looking at the writing techniques and how they affect people.
Why do people these days tend to make fun of other people based on that person’s clothing and their skin color? Why don’t people realize that these assumptions can lead to violence? It could also end up killing innocent citizens who don’t have anything to do with this. In another way you can put it is that, prejudice ruins and sometimes even destroys humans. It also causes people to lose the way they look at their fellow human. . In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows how prejudice causes people to believe in rumors, judge others by their skin color, and the beliefs of others.
Characterization is the mere act of giving a character a personality or exposition on their insight or reaction. Some people say “Less is more” well that is a stupid phrase used by a toilet paper commercial and it shows, the real quote that people should use is “Quality over quantity”. I am saying is that when you have to do a report on an eight lined poem with four stanzas there is a lot of characterization in that poem, with the line “We real cool, We Left school (Lines 1-2)” says a lot about the characters of the story, the “we” means that there is more than one and they are all delinquents because they “left school” to be cool. The fact that they speak so highly of their actions mean that they have lots of pride, arrogance, and so self-absorbed that it makes the reader either relate or can make the understand their point.
People these days tend to make assumptions about others based on the criteria such as a person’s clothing or skin. However, people rarely realize that these assumptions can lead to violence and it could end up killing innocent citizens. In another way you can put it is that, prejudice ruins and sometimes even destroys society. It also causes people to lose all understanding for their fellow human. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch says, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (39). People often fail to examine a situation from someone else view because their opinions are biased. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows readers how prejudice causes people to believe in rumors, judge others by their race, and deem the beliefs of others unacceptable.
To Kill a Mockingbird takes places in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s. Most of the white population were discriminating towards blacks. People were very prejudice back then. There are many different types of Prejudice. The following types are examples of prejudice: Racial, Social, and Religious. People are not as cruel as they use to be, but there are still some people who are. People made racism out to be like a way of life. They treated colored people like dogs. They did not understand that they have feelings also; With that being said, In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee develops a novel to show how prejudice our everyday life use to be.
Characterization has been established as an important part of literature as it allows authors to fully develop characters’ personalities, allowing readers to understand the characters and their actions. In the poem Judith, the author uses adjective phrases to describe Judith and Holofernes’ personalities. The diverse contrast in their nature highlights the heroic qualities in Judith, which teach the reader to have faith in God, as that is where her courage and strength stems from. Therefore, characterization can further be used as a technique to establish major themes in a work of
Rebecca West and Virginia Woolf give great significance to the families of their respective main characters in The Return of the Soldier and Jacob’s Room because it gives the reader a greater insight to the formation of and reasoning for both Chris and Jacob’s nature. Each of these characters have multiple families to deal with: Chris has Kitty and Jenny on the one hand, and Margaret on the other, while Jacob deals with his mother and brother as well as his connections to society and academia. The distinctions between each character’s multiple families cause them to behave differently in various situations, and provide reasons for their actions. It is said that we are shaped by our surroundings and molded by our families, and Woolf and West’s male protagonists prove to be no exception to this rule.