Kelman shows how tough and relentless growing up in south London is through X-fires’ behaviour. Harrison looks up to his power and authority with jealousy, making him eager to please X-fire; however as the reader we sympathise with X-fires position of supremacy. Kelman revels to us the amount of pressure and stress X-fire is under to live up to the stereotype south London teenager through dramatic irony. When Harrison makes the bizarre observation his that his “breath smells like cigarettes and chocolate milk” it makes the reader aware how confused the youth are in their society. They are overexposed to the horrors in the street and consider this to be the normal therefore feeling huge pressure to mimic this behaviour. “Chocolate milk” is a
typical drink that children drink given by their parents, it has strong connections to delight, happiness and sweetness. In contrast “cigarettes” often are associated with death, depression and as a means of escaping life. X-fire smoking at such a young age may be the result of insecurity, and as a means of coping he fakes the feeling of independence by acting older and smoking. On the other hand it could be the result of a tough family life and feeling the pressure of living up to a family reputation of looking “cool. The majority of the readers have never experience this life style and by Kelman exposing us to it we cannot help but feel pity to X-fires up-bringing into such a judgmental society. Or maybe the reader is from a similar background and can empathise with X-fires situation therefore making the story more personal. It is easy to forget just how young the children are in Pigeon English but the constant reminder through Harrison’s outlook brings the reader back to reality. Understanding the reason behind X-fires actions makes the reader change their original first impression of him.
Setting expatiates the theme of loss of innocence. For example, the four major characters in this story are sixteen and seventeen years old, which is the age when teenagers prepare to end their childhood and become adults. Also, the Devon school, where the story takes place, is a place where boys make the transition to full adulthood, and so this setting shows more clearly the boys' own growth. Finally, World War II, which in 1942 is raging in Europe, forces these teenage boys to grow up fast; during their seventeenth year they must evaluate everything that the war means to them and decide whether to take an active ...
Jasper Jones is a coming of age novel that the author Craig Silvey has set in 1965, in the small town of Corrigan; thick with secrecy and mistrust. Charlie Bucktin, an innocent boy at the young age of thirteen, has been forced to mature and grow up over a life changing, challenging summer. With a little help from Jasper Jones, Charlie discovers new knowledge about the society and the seemingly perfect town that he is living in, as well as the people that are closest to him. The most important ideas and issues that Craig Silvey portrays in Jasper Jones are: coming of age and identity, injustice and racism. These themes have a great impact on the reader. While discovering and facing these new issues, Charlie and his best friend Jeffrey Lu gain a greater awareness of human nature and how to deal with the challenges that life can throw at you.
The prominent theme that was exhibited throughout the novel was inhumanity. The quote "Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky." This quotation shows how a powerful authority had all the control to carry out disturbing actions and no common ma...
...ne that when reading from an objective point of view the audience is able to place themselves in a similar position as the man. A story about man without a name and a face to visualize leaves only his personality for the readers to connect with. In “To Build a Fire” the man’s determination is the character of the story, through all the events that transpire he is still willing to meet his friends, “the boys”, by six o’clock. Although it took another writer’s opinion to help me comprehend the true intentions of London’s “To Build a Fire”, my appreciation for the piece has grown along with my understanding of what sets naturalism apart from other writing styles.
Suffering from the death of a close friend, the boy tries to ignore his feelings and jokes on his sister. His friend was a mental patient who threw himself off a building. Being really young and unable to cope with this tragedy, the boy jokes to his sister about the bridge collapsing. "The mention of the suicide and of the bridge collapsing set a depressing tone for the rest of the story" (Baker 170). Arguments about Raisinettes force the father to settle it by saying, "you will both spoil your lunch." As their day continues, their arguments become more serious and present concern for the father who is trying to understand his children better. In complete agreement with Justin Oeltzes’ paper, "A Sad Story," I also feel that this dark foreshadowing of time to come is an indication of the author’s direct intention to write a sad story.
Montag throughout the novel faces situations and meets people who opens his eyes about society Montag is a fireman in the society; however, the job fireman takes on an entirely different meaning. Instead of stopping fires, Montag starts them. In the society literature is outlawed and it’s his job to burn the book along with the houses that held them.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” utilize character responsibilities to create a sinister plot. For Hawthorne, protagonist Young Goodman Brown must leave his wife at home while he partakes in a night journey. For Poe, ancillary Fortunato covets a pretentious manner towards his wine tasting skills, and after being ‘challenged’ decides to prove his expertise by sampling Amontillado. Hawthorne and Poe showcase a theme of darkness but differ in their approach to the setting, characters, and fate of entrapment.
The first stanza of “Cooling” begins with Amos referring to the death of Speed Racer, a cartoon character. This image is essential in creating a childlike innocence shattered by the semi-realistic microcosm of adolescence. Amos, after moving swiftly through childhood and into the teenage chapters of this biography, uses phrases such as “fire thought she’d really rather be water instead” to establish the image of an unhappy teen girl who is willing to change on the turn of a dime to accommodate someone else’s needs. She then, in looking back at this pitiful chapter in her life, decides that this girl is not who she wants to be, and thus she decides to become who she, not anyone else, desires.
The novel begins at Sterling High where the author unravels the story of a 17-year-old school student, Peter Houghton, who is bullied, both physically and verbally, his entire childhood. The novel explores Peters’ development as a child in conjunction to the bullying, which ultimately explains why he felt the need for incessant revenge. Peter is an average boy, unnoticed by the popular kids, living in the shadows of his successful brother, and ultimately struggling to be included and notice...
In his novel he makes a critique to the shallow and materialist society that he had to face as a member of the X generation. With his detailed descriptions and his clear language he is able to capture through Patrick Bateman´s point of view the way in which human beings can become so self absorbed to the point were they are not able to notice a killer living among them. At the same time this novel illustrates the way in which a person can lose all of its humanity due to the environment they live in until they cannot distinguish between right and ...
In doing so, Le Carre moves from the action-filled and glamorous world created by blockbusters such as James Bond, and goes deeper into the ramifications of political ideologies such as the ends justifies the means. With the Cold War a political battle significantly between the US and the USSR, society was plagued with the presence of competition between their two political doctrines - democracy and communism, east and west. Le Carre explores this oppositional divide though the extended metaphor of binary opposites hot and cold. The cyclical form of the novel provides a physical example of the metaphor as the novel begins and ends at the Berlin Wall - the tangible symbol for the divide between east and west. Furthermore, protagonist Leamas is portrayed as a “prisoner” to the ideologies that encompass his work. Tough-minded and cynical, the devotion Leamas gives to his work has allowed him block out the moral and ethical questions raised by his work. As Liz questions his strong position, Leamas becomes defensive and justifies his morals are based on rationality - “I believe an eleven bus will take me to Hammersmith. I don’t believe it’s driven by Father Christmas”. This characterises Leamas as a cold character as his loyalty to his work prevents him from developing any ethical considerations or deep connections to others such as Liz. It is not until a
Accordingly the protagonist’s lack of maturity is shown in a lack of concern for the consequences of his actions combined with his belief that a bad reputation was all he needed .At the confrontation at Greasy Lake he makes decisions without thought of the consequences. He uses his mother’s station wagon to cruise, drink, party, and toss eggs ,safe in the knowledge that if caught his family would cover for him ,all the time never thinking of the risks or the cost to his family or future. His friends and he have the view their college education, at I...
Among the illustrations are the cover and a series of three pictures nestled in between a story of interracial love and betrayal and a story about a bisexual. The series of three pictures are their own story. Douglas diverges from the techniques of his more popular work using a style of uninterrupted lines; neither silhouettes nor shadows. The first two drawings depict a preacher and an artist. They appeared as mirrors to each other on adjoining pages of the journal. The body language of the minister and the artist mimic each other. Each man has their arm bent across their body breaking the vertical lines. With their similar look and mannerisms Douglas is portraying the two men as kindred spirits both as guides of the people. Douglas is portraying them as an extension of the ordinary African American. Douglas portrays them at their best “unrestricted, free of constraint and in so doing, affirms their messy, complicated, sometimes beautiful, sometimes ugly humanity.” This along with the rest of Fire! was controversial. The third picture in the series was that of a waitress. A portrayal of the new urban working class woman she is softer and less serious but linked in posture. The waitress looks to be more sensual and less controlled by the minister evoking the discussion of the Harlem Renaissance’s portrayal of the new working
First, Montag appears empathetic towards his fellow citizens, while the Captain is bent on burning literature and expects the same characteristic from his cohorts. Before the firemen could burn a woman’s collection of publications, she instead set himself - and her whole house - on fire rather than relinquish her literature. The incident sank deep into Montag’s heart and he questions the tactics of his peers. Over a game of cards, Montag confided to Beatty, “‘I’ve tried to imagine .... just how it would feel. I mean, to have firemen burn our houses and our books.’ .... ‘Was─was it always like this? The
Ford’s stories render small moments in scrupulous, obsessive detail. Their endings are usually ambiguous, relentlessly human. Along the way Ford glides back and forth between present and past, probing not just his characters’ thoughts but, more important, their thought processes.