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Revenge as a theme in Literature
Revenge as a theme in Literature
Revenge in literature throughout time
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The Demon Lover Rough Draft Tragedies tend to stick around our heads for a long time, in “The Demon Lover” by Elizabeth Bowen, she lets Mrs. Drover have the misery of her husband’s death haunt her subconscious mind. Also the other major theme is the effects of wartime on the human brain. Revenge in the short story is no bad deed goes unpunished. As well, the tale could be considered an allegory in which the soldier symbolizes "endless, inescapable violence," Many of the symbols, motifs, and the two characters in the short story support this theme also. Mrs. Drover was being unfaithful to her lover and he made her suffer the consequences of her action. Perhaps the driver of the taxi was the soldier, who came back as as a demon, or the devil, …show more content…
War represents troubled times and troubled minds/trauma. This symbol could also relate to Bowens life herself during the war era when she was writing short stories. The next symbols that attribute to the theme are houses and ghost. Houses play a prominent role in The Demon Lover, as a symbol of cultural and family values threatened from without. The Demon Lover also employed the motif of ghosts. The soldier-lover stayed in Mrs.Drovers head was the ghost. The other symbol was the piano which helped keep Mrs. drover sane. The piano symbolizes joy, peace, and happiness. The piano also represents warmth and some harmony. When the piano was left when they moved away from London , Kathleen’s life becomes melancholic and then her tranquility erased. Also in the story there are two important tones which support the theme. Mystery and also suspense in story are the themes. Mystery was in the letter from the dead lover requesting that Kathleen keep to the promises she had made. At first you wonder what the promise was until you later find out. Also you wonder how the letter got there too. Suspense was The meeting that is supposed to take place at the ‘hour’ agreed during their anniversary. Tone is important because it helps guide you to
In To Kill a Mockingbird, the theme plays an important role during the course of the novel. Theme is a central idea in a work of literature that contains more than one word. It is usually based on an author’s opinion on a subject. The theme of innocence should be protected is found in conflicts, characters, and symbols. In To Kill a Mockingbird, a conflict that connects to the theme that innocence should be protected is the death of Tom Robinson.
The major themes of the book are directly related to the themes which John Demos uses to tell this story. The storyline moves on though the evolution of one theme to the next. The function of these major sections is to allow the reader to relate to John Williams overall state of mind as the story unfold. By implementing these major themes into his work, John Demos make it possible for the reader to fully understand the story from beginning to end.
One example of the theme occurs when the author first introduces the story. “But the summer I was 9 years old, the town I had always loved morphed into a beautifully heartbreaking and complicated place.” (pg. 1). The author is saying that the year she turned nine, she found out something about her town that broke her heart and changed the way she saw it. This quote is important because it supports the theme. It shows that now she is older she has learned something about her town that made her wiser than when she was younger. She is now more informed because the new information changed her and caused her to begin to mature.
The three narratives “Home Soil” by Irene Zabytko, “Song of Napalm” by Bruce Weigl, and “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen all have the same feelings of war and memory, although not everyone experiences the same war. Zabytko, Weigl, and Owen used shifting beats, dramatic descriptions, and intense, painful images, to convince us that the horror of war far outweighs the devoted awareness of those who fantasize war and the memories that support it.
We can understand this theme by using character. In paragraph 3, Petry states, "The wind lifted Lutie Johnson's hair away from the back of her neck so that she felt suddenly naked and bald, for her hair had been resting softly and warmly against her skin. She shivered as the cold fingers of the wind touched the back of her neck, explored the sides of her head." This quote shows that the wind was so raw that it "ripped the people's hair off." This contributes to the theme by stating the wind is the struggle that people must get through to get to their next destination. Another way we can find the theme is through events. Petry writes in paragraph 3, "Each time she thought she had the sign in focus, the wind pushed it away from her so that she wasn't certain whether it said three rooms or two rooms. If it was three, why, she would go in and ask to see it, but if it said two - why, there wasn't any point." This quote is saying that the wind was blowing so hard that the character could not read the sign. By showing the difficulty in visualizing the sign, creating struggle, we develop a further understanding of the theme. Another way we can portray theme, is through setting. Paragraph 2 states, "Fingering its way along the curb, the wind set the bits of paper to dancing high in the air, so that a barrage of paper swirled into the faces of the people on the street. It even took time to rush into doorways and areaways and find chicken bones and pork-chop bones and pushed them along the curb. It did everything it could to discourage the people walking along the street. It found all the dirt and dust and grime on the sidewalk and lifted it up so that the dirt got into their noses, making it difficult to breathe; the dust got into their eyes and blinded them; and the grit stung their skins." This quote portrays the setting clearly by explaining what the wind did to the
The Devil in the Form of a woman by Carol Karlsen details the particular treacheries towards several women of all ages inside colonial The us. This particular thought ended up being created by the male driven culture of the Puritans.. Other than as an evident disciple to the activist institution connected with traditional imagined, the girl delicate factors the particular criticalness connected with witchcraft allegations for ladies inside New England. She contends for that relevance and criticalness connected with women's areas in the devouring madness connected with witchcraft inside seventeenth century United States. She unobtrusively states that many diversions were being used to mince away witchcraft practices along with the publication of material describing the matter. This describes that a certain type of woman gambled denunciation away from scope to help the woman group gain correct portrayal in the public forum.
Everyday people encounter challenges that stand in their way of achieving their goals, but with sheer determination most accomplish their mission. In the short story “A Worn Path” written by Eudora Welty, Phoenix Jackson, the main character, has a mission to complete while confronting many challenges. One way to convey this idea is with the literary use of theme. The theme of a literary work is defined as the central idea, concern or message about life that an author wishes to convey to his/her readers. There can be more than one theme in a literary work. One of the major themes in Eudora Welty’s short story “A Worn Path” is the sheer determination that Phoenix Jackson conveys via her actions. This short story centers on the challenges faced by an elderly African-American grandmother, as she makes her long journey from the secluded pinewoods into the nearby town of Natchez in order to get the needed medicine for her ailing grandson. This is a journey that Phoenix has taken before and now must travel it again. She begins her journey on a bright, cold morning in December and w...
The theme in a story is the message or big idea that the author is trying to reveal in his or her narrative. If there was no underlining theme in Sherman Alexie’s short story, “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona” then readers would have no interest in reading the fictional story. Understanding the message that Alexie is trying to display to his readers can vary in many ways and depends on the reader 's understanding of the story. Strong themes that are presented in the fictional tale are man versus self conflict, family, and tribal identity. Victor is a tribal member that has had a rough life and has to deal with his father passing away. Not only does he have to come to terms with his father 's death, but he also has to face his
After an event of large magnitude, it still began to take its toll on the protagonist as they often “carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die” during the war (O’Brien 1187). The travesties that occurred with the brutality of war did not subside and began to affect those involved in a deeply emotional way. The multitude of disastrous happenings influenced the narrator to develop a psychological handicap to death by being “afraid of dying” although being “even more afraid to show it” (O’Brien 1187). The burden caused by the war creates fear inside the protagonist’s mind, yet if he were to display his sense of distress it would cause a deeper fear for those around him, thus making the thought of exposing the fear even more frightening. The emotional battle taking place in the psyche of the narrator is directly repressed by the war.
Theme is defined as the subject of a talk, a piece of writing, a person’s thoughts, or an exhibition; a topic. Throughout literary history, authors have been using theme to bring a story together and make a point. In order to make a story have a resounding feeling in readers, authors use themes to leave an underlying message which are usually lessons and morals that should be widely taught, such as in children’s books or in fables. In all three stories, “A Rose for Emily”, “Hills like White Elephants”, and “Harrison Bergeron” the author’s use a mutual theme of death and further show how death brings change to each of the main character’s lives in different
events of the story add to the theme. Even then, the character’s reactions to these events are what strengthen the theme of loneliness.
...rves the way for the plot, the theme is the central idea around which a literary piece revolves. Without the theme the plot would be meaningless and there would be nothing for the readers to derive from the literary piece. Without the plot, the theme would be meaningless as there would be nowhere to consign the message the writer intends to give the reader. It can be said that the plot and theme are the two most important literary elements of a literary piece and are inter-dependant.
... horrors of war such as, his parents who still view war as glamorous and idealistic. War takes a heavy toll on soldiers who fight in it and in these dangerous moments anybody would have gone insane. It takes a very special type of soldier to be able to handle both the psychological and physical challenges that a soldier has to face in everyday battle. A soldier such as this must be capable of handling the sight of a mutilated comrade and not immediately chatter to pieces. The author conveys this message in his extreme use of words with negative connotation such as shells, typhus, dysentery, and trenches. In this portion of the novel a great deal of emphasis is placed on the word death which is repeated several times and standing on its own it holds a great deal of negative connotations. Therefore, due to the severity of the situation and the extensive use of words with negative connotations the overall tone of the novel appeared to be very depressing or serious. This selection also demonstrates just how mythical the character of war that many individuals who have not experienced the tragedy of battle believe to be true by illustrating just how appalling and grim war is in reality.
Themes are central to the plot of any story. In fact, themes are the purpose to an author writing anything. By definition, a theme is the subject or topic of a work. Some themes, like that in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” are more obvious, while others, such as, “Hills Like White Elephants” are less clear and require readers to do some deep reading and critical thinking in order to identify the purpose of it, and through strong reading techniques, audiences will find valuable lessons embedded within the themes can enlighten and even revive our thinking.
How the theme of the novel is developed and enhanced by plot, character and setting.