How do you know that a dream is really a dream or if reality is real? The ‘Night Face Up’ is a short story written by Julio Cortazar depicting a nameless protagonist who flips between dream and reality. The main character is switching between a hospital setting between the 1950’s and 1980’s, and an ancient Aztec area. The man experiences a world where he was recently involved in a motorcycle accident and ends up in the hospital with a broken arm. In the Aztec area he is running for his life as he is being hunted down to be a human sacrifice. This story leaves a lasting impression on the reader and achieves unity of effect through the authors use of plot and sensory description.
The use of tactile description within the story lets the reader feel what the protagonist feels and creates a stronger connection between the protagonist and the reader. When the protagonist “[feels] thirsty as if he’d been running for miles” (268) the reader begins to imagine that feeling. The tactile description in the story is that which most people feel at one point in their lives like “the coolness of mineral water in [ones] fevered throat” (270), therefore we associate and connect with it it. Through this effect the situations that the protagonist encounters feels more real, leaving a lasting impression on the reader.
Throughout the story the protagonist remains nameless. This gives the protagonist an anonymity and allows the character to be more versatile. The reader can imagine a variety of people in this position allowing each individual reader to customize the character to their own likings. Allowing each reader to have their own interpretations on the character himself allowing for a grater personal connection to the story.
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...ccidents as a child. Also the olfactory description of the “composite fragrance, like the night”(267) makes me remember, camping, or the farm at night when I am about to bring the horses in. The description brings back memories and draws me into the story.
Through Cortazar’s use of sensory description and plot unity of effect is created and the reader is left with a lasting impression of the story. With the plot left hanging the reader is left with the constant though of what really happened what was real? With Cortazer’s use of sensory description the reader is drawn into the realm of the protagonist and is made to feel what the characters feels. Therefore enabling them to build a world out of the description. This world that the story builds is very reminiscent and resembles that of a dream. Description is also used to bring a sense of reality to the situation.
Sensory Imagery: make the reader envision objects and settings in the book with greater detail.
In every short story there is always a deeper meaning to the literature work, any author wants to communicate a multi-layered idea, to their readers, they wants their readers to connect to the short story that they are telling. The authors of these types of literature writings are able to take their readers on a journey within their writings. When a person reads these literary works, they begin to unravel and interpret the symbolic nature of the character’s journey throughout the short story. Also, the journey is
In “Bad Dreams, Evil Demons, and the Experience Machine: Philosophy and the Matrix”, Christopher Grau explains Rene Descartes argument in Meditation. What one may interpret as reality may not be more than a figment of one’s imagination. One argument that Grau points out in Descartes essay is how one knows that what one think is an everyday experience awake is not all a part of a hallucination. He uses the example of dreams to draw a conclusion about is claim based on experiences one would experience with dreaming. He asserts that there are times when one wake up from a dream that seems to be “vivid and realistic” however soon finds that it was not. The experience of reality in the dream was all a part of the mind. If dreams seem to be reality and one would not have any concept that one is dreaming how does one know that one is not dreaming now? Descartes point is that one cannot justify reality in the sense that one could be dreaming right at this moment and not know therefore one cannot trust the brain as an indicator of what is reality.
The fantastic tale “Was It a Dream?” by Guy de Maupassant is a story narrated from the first point of view, in which the main character, who remains anonymous, describes his desperation and overwhelming grief since the loss of his loved one. He also relates a supernatural event he experienced, while in the cemetery, in which he finds out the truth about his significant other’s feelings but refuses to accept it, or at least tries to ignore it. Maupassant’s readers may feel sympathy towards the narrator as they perceive throughout the story his tone of desperation, and are able to get to the conclusion that he was living a one-sided relationship. Maupassant achieves these effects in the readers through the use of figures of speech, like anonymity, symbolism and imagery, and the structured he employed in the story.
Why do authors or directors decide to give no names or self-refuting names for characters in their films or books? Nobody refers to be called “Nobody” however he is certainly not nobody. As a matter of fact, he is a savior and a guide to a helplessly injured white man. In the film “A Fistful of Dollars,” Clint Eastwood’s character is introduced as “The Man with No Name” and is often being called “Stranger” throughout the film. Perhaps, the viewers do not question his name because Stranger appears as a complete stranger, the townspeople are surprised and unpleasant of his arrival to their little Mexican border town. On the other hand, Cormac McCarthy also establishes two nameless characters—the judge and the kid. The kid’s name is not revealed attributing a sense of lowliness, insignificance and abandonment of his family. However, Judge Holden’s character is often called “the judge” not just “a judge,” therefore his name suggests that he has power and control over all he encounters.
The short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce, exemplifies the idea of dream versus reality. A dream is believe that comes from the deepest stage of your mind. Is based on ideas, emotions and sensations that sometimes are related to our real life or just a fantasy. Reality is a succession of events that exist.
conveys feelings of suspense and thrill. There are many different literary criticisms that can be
How do we know whether or not we are dreaming or just being affected by a particular experience? Or if we are dreaming all our experiences in this world… When we dream, we fantasize imagines and occurrences happening, often, with the same sense of reality as we have when we are awake. Rene Descartes; a French Philosopher discovered the theory of the dream argument, affirming that there are no reliable signs distinguishing the liability of being asleep and wide awake. Quoting from Descartes, he states: For all we know right now, we might be dreaming at this very moment. (Rockney 102)
Lucid dreams, or out of body experiences, are claimed to be real by some, even though scientists and doctors say that they are not real. Susan Blackmore explains in “Lucid Dreaming: Awake in Your Sleep?” that lucid dreams are considered different than normal dreams. Blackmore also goes on to say that a lucid dream requires concentration when someone falls asleep. In some cases people claim that they are able to control their dreams, or leave their body whole they dream. In Julio Cortazer’s story, “The Night Face Up,” the main character can arguably be said to have an out of body experience starting after he is involved in a horrible motorcycle accident. He dreams of traveling back into the past to a time where the Aztecs are attacking the Moteca tribe. There are two different scenarios when it comes to deciding what real life is for the man. Scenario one can be argued that the main character is living in present day, and dreaming of the past. Scenario two involves the main character is living in the past, and dreaming of modern day life. In using Blackmore’s article to explain the story, it makes the most sense when the main character is living in modern day, and dreaming of the past.
By the use of figurative words, bold details, characterization, and setting is able to captivate and depict these themes fully. Single effect enables the audience(readers) to be able to understand the story while still being able to question it. This story has the ability to surpass from being two dimensional, simple words, to three dimensional gravitating the audience
Effectively using these elements in a piece of literature enhances the reader’s curiosity. One prime example of such usage of these elements is seen in Kate Chopin's writing. Her use of foreshadowing and use of emotional conflicts put into few words in the short piece "The Storm" adds an element that is alluring, holding the reader's interest. In this short piece of literature, a father and son, Bobinot and Bibi, are forced to remain in a store where they were shopping before the storm, waiting for the storm to pass over them. In the meantime, the wife and mother, Calixta, whom is still at home, receives an unexpected visit from a former lover named Alicee. The two have an affair and the story starts to come together. The story shows us how we tend to want what we beli...
Firstly, the narrator gives little detail throughout the whole story. The greatest amount of detail is given in the first paragraph where the narrator describes the weather. This description sets the tone and mood of the events that follow. Giving the impression that a cold, wet, miserable evening was in
During prescientific days, dreams were interpreted as ‘manifestations’ of a ‘higher power’. Since the introduction of psychology, dreams have had 4 distinct interpretations. The first interprets dreams as a “liberation of the spirit from the pressure of external nature”. The second interprets dreams as “accidental disturbances from ‘internal organs’. The third interprets dreams as a foretelling of the future. The last interpretation is Freud’s. He interprets dream as an expression of subconscious desires.
The Ancient Greeks had surprise dream encounters with their gods. Native Americans turned to their dreams for guidance in life. Shamans dreamed in order to gather information from the spirits. Sleep and dreams define eras, cultures, and individuals. Sigmund Freud’s interpretation of dreams revolutionized twentieth-century thought.
In the movie, the characters are planned out very well. The characters all fit together like pieces of a puzzle. The characters all go together because they all need each other in some way. Our “no name” character relates to us in some way, either because we...