Themes of The Village by the Sea by Anita Desai
The novel, 'the village by the sea' by Anita Desai is about how Hari
and Lila struggle for the survival of their family in the absence of
their drunken father and ill mother. As portrayed in the beginning of
the novel, the opening scene is described to be an unstable
environment. This is reflected by the setting of the waves and how
they are portrayed to be 'unstable' as the author uses phrases such as
'high tide' and 'low tide' to show the instabilities of life and its
changes. In relation to this essential opening scene, this novel is
briefly paraphrased to be a book describing the transformations and
the hardships in life. As connected to these major morals described by
the author, there are several minor themes in relation to the morals
as mentioned earlier. These themes are responsibility, self-control
and love.
The main themes of this novel are change and survival. ?Change? in
this book is the way each character is able to understand things in
life have to be changed in order to progress. The theme of change is
portrayed when the governors decide to turn Thul into an industrial
area. Other situations are when Biju starts to introduce motor boats
to Thul for fishing instead of manual one and this shows that the
change of boats is for the development of fishing. Desai is able to
communicate to us this theme when Hari?s father is able to turn from a
useless drunken man to a responsible and caring person and also how
Hari?s mother is able to get better from her ill state. With this, we
can see that each situation in the book is linked together by the way
Hari?s father changes when his mother falls ill and is taken to the
hospital. This theme is stro...
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... Coconut day. One main one
is the way Hari?s father out of love for the family and his wife
changes from drunkard to a responsible man.
Another theme shown is self-control and this shown by the way Lila is
able to keep the money she earns from the De Silvas to buy food for
the family and not spent on useless things.Other examples are the way
Hari makes a lot of money in Bombay, but although there so many nice
things in there, he does not spend it but saves it. One character that
is able to show this is Hari?s father by the way he is able to control
himself from drinking toddy.
From what we can see in the novel, the themes are related to each
other like change and survival leads to responsibility, responsibility
leads to love and self-control and also responsibility relates to
love. This is created by the way the user creates the setting of the
novel.
Joy Williams, the author of “The Farm” was born and raised in Portland, Maine. She attended and graduated from Marietta College and from there went on to earn a Master’s degree in Fine Arts from the University of Iowa. In recognition of her writing, she was the recipient of the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story in 2016. Growing up, she was the daughter of a minister and as such, she often incorporated a religious theme in her novels, essays, and short stories. Similar to Jesus, Williams’ style was to present her stories in the form of parables in the hope of getting an important message across to her readers.
The author of The House on Mango Street and the producer of The Color Purple are able to integrate numerous important thematic ideas. Many of these ideas still apply to our current world, teaching various important lessons to many adolescents and adults. The House on Mango Street is a collection of vignettes written by Sandra Cisneros, a Mexican-American writer. The novel depicts many aspects of Sandra Cisneros’ life including racism, and sexism that she and the main character face. The novel revolves around Esperanza Cordero, a young Latina girl, who is growing up in Chicago as she faces the various struggles of living in America. The various vignettes reveal many experiences Esperanza has with reality and her navie responses to such harsh
Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate is the story of an African boy, Kek, who loses his father and a brother and flees, leaving his mother to secure his safety. Kek, now in Minnesota, is faced with difficulties of adapting to a new life and of finding his lost mother. He believes that his mother still lives and would soon join him in the new found family. Kek is taken from the airport by a caregiver who takes him to live with his aunt. It is here that Kek meets all that amazed him compared to his home in Sudan, Africa. Home of the brave shows conflicts that Kek faces. He is caught between two worlds, Africa and America. He feels guilty leaving behind his people to live in a distant land especially his mother, who he left in the midst of an attack.
Woman Hollering Creek is a book of short stories published in 1991. The author, Sandra Cisneros, separated her book into three sections. The section that will be analyzed is the first section where the narrators are female children. Out of the many stories in section one, the three that will be focused on are, "Mericans," "My Friend Lucy Who Smells Like Corn," and "Barbie-Q." The children in these three stories are all lower class, Mexican-American females. These stories have been described by Thompson as Cisneros remembering her childhood, filled with no male figures, lack of close female friendships, and poverty (415-417). Each story shares both similar themes and different themes.
Sandra Cisneros born on December 20, 1954 grew up in Chicago settling with a neighborhood known with Hispanic immigrants. Until then her migrating with her six brothers, from different communities in Chicago, and visiting her grandmother in Mexico, she has never really make ones home in. Being the only girl with no sisters, Cisneros only way that would deprive her from loneliness, is by reading books where she found her talents in writing. Fast forwarding to college Sandra Cisneros worked on her master’s degree at University of Iowa Writers Workshop where found her interest as Mexican-American woman with a self-reliant passion and how being a Hispanic were different in the American culture.
Like Gail Hightower, Joanna Burden is an outcast because of the past. However, Hightower idealizes the heroic southern past, while Joanna was raised to reject southern ideas of race. Hightower’s ancestors inadvertently affect his present state; Joanna’s ancestors directly influence her social position in the town. When her family first arrived they were outcast, “they hated us here. We were Yankees. Foreigners. Worse than foreigners: enemies. Carpet baggers . . . Stirring up the negros to murder and rape, they called it. Threatening white supremacy” (Faulkner 249). The hatred that the townsfolk held for them stemmed from the fact that her family did not hold the same southern values that they did. While Hightower’s family were heroic Civil
Flannery O'Conner has again provided her audience a carefully woven tale with fascinating and intricate characters. "The Displaced Person" introduces the reader to some interesting characters who experience major life changes in front of the reader's eyes. The reader ventures into the minds of two of the more complex characters in "The Displaced Person," Mrs. McIntyre and Mrs. Shortley, and discovers an unwillingness to adapt to change. Furthermore, the intricate details of their characters are revealed throughout the story. Through these details, the reader can see that both Mrs. McIntyre and Mrs. Shortley suffer from a lack of spiritual dimension that hinders them as they face some of life's harsher realities. Mrs. McIntyre struggles throughout the story, most notably during the tragic conclusion. Her lack of spiritual dimension is revealed slowly until we ultimately see how her life is devastated because of it. Mrs. Shortley, on the other hand, seems to have it all figured out spiritually -- or at least she believes that she does. It is only in the last few minutes of her life that she realizes all she has convinced herself of is wrong.
The historical fictional novel, Salt to the Sea, by Ruta Sepetys, takes four main characters, Florian, Joana, Alfred, and Emilia, on one shocking adventure to get onto the ship, the Wilhelm Gustloff, to escape the war that’s hunting them throughout Germany. They encounter death, happiness, and tragedy, which brings them closer. Their lives intervene as they learn to forget their past and get a fresh start. One theme that is learned by the characters is that honesty bonds people together and builds trust, while lies ruin that trust.
In “A Small Place” by Jamaica Kincaid, Kincaid criticizes tourists for being heartless and ignorant to the problems that the people of Antigua had and the sacrifices that had to be made to make Antigua a tremendous tourist/vacation spot. While Kincaid makes a strong argument, her argument suggests that she doesn't realize what tourism is for the tourists. In other words, tourism is an escape for those who are going on vacation and the tourists are well within their rights to be “ignorant”, especially because no one is telling them what is wrong with Antigua.
Manya got a job as a governess and sent her earnings to support Bronya in Paris.
Who does not want a home? A shelter to sleep and a roof to dine under. Of course no one wanted to stay home forever, but once in awhile and even when far away, they will long to return to that sacred place, the place where they grew up and the place they have left behind, home. The desire for a home (or house to be precise, though there was not much of a different for this case) was realistically reflected through a fiction work of Sandra Cisneros, a Mexican American write, a story called The House on Mango Street, where we shall discuss about its setting, plot and character.
A role model an influential person whom one imitates. Role models contribute key life lessons to anyone looking up to them. Role models provide basic structure both to achieve greatness and to learn from the mistakes that they have made in their lifetimes. Role models provide many benefits to those who look up to them, making life decisions easier because of the examples they have set. The book The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros reveals many role models for the young, female Latina protagonist, Esperanza. As expected, the women in the Mango Street neighborhood significantly influence Esperanza. She has a variety of female role models. Many are trapped in abusive relationships, waiting for others to change their lives. Some are actively trying to create change on their own. Through these women and Esperanza’s reactions to them, Cisneros not only shows the hardships women face, but also explores their power to
“Into The Wild” by John Krakauer is a non-fiction biographical novel which is based on the life of a young man, Christopher McCandless. Many readers view Christopher’s journey as an escape from his family and his old life. The setting of a book often has a significant impact on the story itself. The various settings in the book contribute to the main characters’ actions and to the theme as a whole. This can be proven by examining the impact the setting has on the theme of young manhood, the theme of survival and the theme of independent happiness.
“August strikes her with the bull hook. This sends her flying through the back end of the big top,” (Gruen #) The quote in the story Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen, portrays how an elephant, named Rosie, gets abused by the ringmaster of the circus, August. This story is in the point of view of one of the workers in the circus, Jacob, who sees the aggressive side of the ring master. August does not trust people easily which causes him to act out. He takes his anger out on the animals as well as his wife, Marlena. August’s behavior displayed throughout the novel is abusive, cruel and aggressive.
her life. She longed to live an independent life, but struggled to earn a living wage with the jobs she