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power imbalance in conflict
symbolism as a literary tool essay
power imbalance in conflict
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Denise, how she irritated me; she was the one who always had to be in control, and was always right. She seemed to always get her way. Denise was the most popular kid in my fifth grade class and everyone seemed to follow what she said. She controlled the other kids, and even the teachers. No matter what school, or age group, there is always one person that has to be in control of everything. The world revolves around them, and anything or anyone that does not agree, is not a part of their world. However, no one expects someone that is only thirteen years old to possess that kind of power over adults. I was shocked while watching Atonement to discover the amount of influence that young Briony Tallis’ actions have over the lives of the people …show more content…
In the very first scene of the movie, the audience see's a neatly ordered parade of animals lined up past a model of the Tallis estate. The animals are arranged in a neat, ordered line, leading to Briony as she sits at her desk typing the end of her play. This scene takes place in Briony's room, and the animals undoubtedly have been arranged by her. The animals are representations of the characters in Briony’s fictitious world, but they are also representative of real people who are in Briony’s life. Everything in Briony's life is orderly, just as the line of animals. The animals are facing her since she is the controller of their fate; this mirrors the adoration that every other character shows Briony at the beginning of the film as she is going to unveil her play. Later, when Briony finds the letter from the twins, there are toy animals scattered across the bed. Briony’s perfect world is beginning to fall apart. The animals, as representations of characters, are scattered and disorganized, a sign that Briony’s peaceful world is coming apart. These toy animals are symbolic representations of Lola and the twins, since their refusal to bend to Briony's wishes is the root of the chaos that has befallen her world. At this point in the film, she has witnessed the scene between Cecilia and Robbie at the fountain, and comes to the …show more content…
Briony witnesses Robbie and Cecilia at the fountain from an upper level window of the Tallis mansion. Wright specifically positions her above and watching the other characters to demonstrate Briony’s authority in the Tallis household. She towers above the other characters in the scene, which makes her appear superior to them. Figures of authority and ultimate power are the very tip of the hierarchical structure; everyone else is below them and takes orders from them. This particular positioning is used frequently throughout the film. In a later scene, Briony watches as Robbie is arrested, and she is once again looking out from a higher window. Wright uses Briony’s higher positioning in this scene to confirm that Briony possesses control over the fate of the other characters, but most notably Robbie. In each of these scenes, Robbie is the focus of Briony’s attention. He is the person in the direct center of the shots from Briony’s point of view at the windows. Earlier in the film, when Briony is going over her play with Lola and the twins, she states that: “If you're going to be Arabella, then I'll be the director, thank you very much” (Atonement). This line of dialogue reveals to the audience that Briony considers herself the director over the other characters. She directs life like it is a play, and the lives of the other characters don’t
Guilt is a powerful force in humans. It can be the factor that alters someone's life. On the other hand, forgiveness can be just as powerful. In The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, her characters-the Price family-travel to Africa on a religious mission. Throughout the novel, the concept of guilt and forgiveness is reflected on multiple occasions. Each character has a different experience with guilt and how it affects them in the end. By structuring The Poisonwood Bible to include five different narrators, Kingsolver highlights the unique guilt and forgiveness to each individual experiences as well expresses the similarities that all humans face with these complex emotions.
The Crucible Film The audience are first brought into the film by the white credits on
“The Patriot” is an excellent movie. It may very well be one of the most exciting
Briony's novel displays the story form different perspectives, and when she acts as an omniscient narrator from any other perspective than her own she is unreliable. Briony is simply telling the story from an alternative point of view with no evidence of the specific characters' own personal interpretations, but merely her own observations of their personality, the other characters only exist through her creations. "When I am dead, and the Marshalls are dead, and the novel is finally published, we will only exist through my inventions." (McEwan, p. 350) This is in the very end of the novel as Briony writes in 1999, on her 77th birthday. This is a clear portrayal that she believes it doesn't matter how reliable a narrator she is because all the characters will be nothing more than novelties, inventions, at the time of publication. Even when Briony is narrating from her own point of view, she states in the beginning of the novel, "She would be well aware of the extent of her self-mythologizing, and she gave her account a self-mocking, or mock-heroic tone." (McEwan, p. 38) Briony is talking in third person about the atonement she was to complete 6 decades after the crime had taken place. She states that she is clearly aware of the extent to which she will deceive the reader. The phrase self-mythologizing' refers to how she transforms her character into a myth, by filling it with dishonesties. Briony's novel is entirely autobiographical, the six decades that pass between her first and final draft have altered her character.
Besides Johnson’s obvious personification of the animals, his use of metaphors and imagery strengthened the plots theme. When Tilford returned to the shoppe, no animal dared make a sound. Even Berkeley stood in his tracks and waited upon Tilford’s next move, but he never expected Tilford to praise him for the chaos that ensued while he was absent. “Reaching down, he stroked Berkeley’s head. And at last he said, like God whispering to Samuel: Well done” (Johnson 349). The image of Tilford being analogous to God is fitting, given the governing power he represents throughout the story. Johnson’s use of not only this metaphor, but also this image of God reigning down his wrath upon his people only to praise them for an unlikely outcome allows the reader to make real-world connections. Likewise, it creates a comforting image of Tilford rather than a cold and political portrait. The point of view of this story remains third person omniscient; the story is told from an outside voice, but it also feels as if the narrator could be God himself. Each animal’s thoughts are projected perfectly into the story, showing the many differing perspectives revealed when authority is absent. “Menagerie” also uses Tortoise to foreshadow the complete anarchy to come. As Berkeley and his foil, Monkey, worked to free all the animals, each animal darted out of their cages except for Tortoise, who remained solitary within his cage. “Tortoise had escaped the year before, remaining at large for a week, and then he returned mysteriously on his own, his eyes strangely unfocused, as if he’d seen the end of the world” (Johnson 346). Tortoise’s escape reveals the reason behind his desire to remain submissive throughout the whole conundrum; He saw a world without a master and decided he wanted to be without chaos. In Tortoise’s leave of absence, he recognized the people outside the Pet
The images related to birds are the major symbolic images in the narrative from the very beginning of the novel:
From each of the works studied, the characters ' experience the fall of man in which the world 's "centre cannot hold", consequently leaving them in a world where the essences and God are lost. A world without God is a world of anarchy, violence and death also know as a fallen (postlapsarian) world, and characters experience this world after the fall of man occurs. The works being discussed include: James Joyce 's "Araby", Joseph Conrad 's Heart of Darkness, Sophocles ' Oedipus Rex, Wordsworth 's "Tintern Abbey", and Mathew Arnold 's "Dover Beach". After exploring the works, it is clear that when characters recognize that they are living in a fallen world, they decide how to resolve the problem. Discussing the characters experiences of
...he theme of guilt that builds within Briony character and writing. The structure of limitations provided by McEwan’s highlights the emotions of Briony herself. As the critic Finney addresses the narrative form, McEwan presents the corruption of the negative appearance displayed in the writing of the narrator her self. Briony uses the novel to atone for her sins, in a way to make up for the foolish acts she as committed, giving the readers sympathy to forgiver for her actions. The inability to achieve atonement is demonstrated within the novel continuously highlights the element of guilt. The attempt at atonement helped Briony, which alludes the over all theme that the ability to achieve atonement is in the hands of the beholder. Untimely, the consequences amplified the writing style that conveyed the understanding of the selfish actions that tore apart two lovers.
"Atonement" by Ian McEwan Atonement comes from an "at onement", the idea being that penance and suffering allows us to be "at one" with God or ourselves. The central theme of atonement is that of seeking forgiveness. This is manifested through the characters and their actions. In the book "Atonement" by Ian McEwan, the act carried out by Briony sets of a chain of events, for which either atonement is sought or society seeks atonement from. Briony's character is described as being compulsively orderly, "She was one of those children possessed by a desire to have the world just so."
Manipulation is a strong tool allowing individuals with a minor role to subtlety, yet critically affect the course of a storyline. In the novel Atonement by Ian McEwan, the story is divided into three parts. In the first third of the book, a thirteen year-old girl named Briony Tallis writes a play for her older brother Leon: the Trials of Arabella. She wishes to use a fairy tale in order to persuade her brother to attain a stable relationship. The play, interpreted by her cousins, must be cancelled under unexpected circumstances due to her younger cousins’ refusal to collaborate as well as the fountain scene she witnesses. From witnessing her sister humiliate herself in front of what seems to be an imperative Robbie, Briony’s conception of the world and of Robbie takes a turn. The letter written by Robbie that lands in Briony’s hands, along with the intimate scene between her sister and Robbie she misunderstands as an assault, only reinforces her view of Robbie as an imperative sex-manic, leading her to accuse the innocent man for raping her fifteen year-old cousin, Lola Quincey. Though this latter may seem to occupy a small role in the novel, her indirect actions reflected through Briony greatly impact the plot of the novel. Lola Quincey obtains what she desires through manipulation and pity. Indeed, as she gains Briony’s trust, Lola also changes Robbie’s future as she remains silent and gives Briony the freedom to falsely accuse the man. (gain in power)
Erickson (1998) says there are a few theories on the atonement depending on how your read certain scripture, the theories are as follows: The Socinian Theory (1998:801); This theory speaks of Christ on the Cross as a perfect example of what kind of dedication followers of God must do, there is no connection to a sacrificial death whatsoever. The moral influence theory (1998:802); This theory believes the cross was an example of God’s love and not much more. The Governmental theory (1998:806); This theory sees the death of Christ on the Cross as atonement and also as a picture to the believer as to how serious sin is, and it must not be taken lightly. The Ransom Theory (1998:810); In this theory it is proposed, and quite popularly so, that as slaves to the world of Satan, humanity needed saving, Jesus’ death became our ransom, his death took our place. With this theory, the identity of Jesus was concealed from Satan, so he would accept the ransom. Finally the Satisfaction Theory (1998:813); This theory speaks about Christ’s death as satisfaction in place of all man-kinds sin, it also speaks against the fact Satan needed a payment of any kind, and it isn’t centred on man.
Napoleon. Hitler. Caesar. Briony. Like all of these historical figures, Briony takes on a God-like persona in Atonement. Throughout the novel, Briony attempts to atone for the sin she made in her youth- accusing an innocent man of raping her cousin. This specific sin, however, has grave implications on Robbie’s life. However, in the narrator’s description, one can see the God-like qualities seep into the story. At the end of the novel, McEwan reveals that Briony has been narrating the entire novel. She also reveals that she changes the ending of the story in order to keep Cecilia and Robbie alive and together. In the novel Atonement, Ian McEwan uses Briony’s character to represent a God-like figure who assumes multiple qualities of a God such as omnipresence and
In Native Son, Richard Wright introduces Bigger Thomas, a liar and a thief. Wright evokes sympathy for this man despite the fact that he commits two murders. Through the reactions of others to his actions and through his own reactions to what he has done, the author creates compassion in the reader towards Bigger to help convey the desperate state of Black Americans in the 1930’s.
Ian McEwan’s novel Atonement depicts a story told from the perspectives of three of the main characters: Briony Tallis, Robbie Turner, and Cecelia Tallis. Briony is the ultimate focus of the novel because her mission is atonement. She almost single handedly convicted Robbie for the rape of her cousin, Lola Quincey. She is seeking atonement for this horrible crime she committed against Robbie. However, Briony is never able to achieve atonement. Regardless of the efforts Briony makes, she cannot truly achieve atonement. Through Briony’s inability to achieve atonement, McEwan illustrates that atonement can only be sought after, never achieved.
Five hundred years ago, an obscure German monk published 95 theses for debate and unwittingly set off a revolution that continues to shape the church and the world to this very day (Christian History: Luther and the Reformation). In 2003, there was a movie released about a German monk, named Martin Luther, which depicted his life and journey during the time of the protestant reformation. The movie Luther was not made to be a history lesson, but was to portray the life of Luther, and the events leading up to the protestant reformation. Ever since the movie Luther, critics continue to debate whether or not the movie accurately communicates Martin Luther’s life and the issues revolving the Protestant Reformation?