A Kestrel for a Knave tells the story of a day in the life of Billy Casper. The story is written in the third person, but there is little doubt that we are encouraged to look through Billy’s eyes. The setting is South Yorkshire in the 1960s – probably Barnsley – though Hines never names places. In the novel of Kestrel for a knave, it shows the lack of opportunities, lifestyle and just how much the education system fails him. Throughout the essay I will describe and explain each character as they appear and how they affect Billy. The novel is about a boy named Billy Casper and it shows how he lives, his passions and how the schools fails him and his class academically. The novel also highlights and condemns bullying and recognises social issues that affect the character of Billy Casper. However, there is one glimmer of hope in the form of Mr Farthing, he gives skills for life and supports the children. Nearly the whole novel looks upon the education system in a critical way.
Mr Farthing
Mr Farthing is the only character that shows any natural sympathy for Billy. He sees Billy as...
Huck Finn’s childhood is plagued by violence and cruelty. He is kidnapped from Widow Douglas’s home by Pap who hides him in his cabin, isolating the young child. Initially, Huck is delighted to live in the uncivilized area, but soon realizes that his father has “got too handy with his hick’ry” inviting verbal and physical abuse (Twain 25). Huck accepts the...
In Crow Lake, Mary Lawson portrays a family who experience a great tragedy when Mr. and Mrs. Morrison are killed in a car accident. This tragedy changes the lifestyles of the seven years old protagonist Kate Morrison and her siblings Matt, Luke and Bo. The settings are very important in this novel. Though there are limited numbers of settings, the settings used are highly effective. Without effective use of themes in this novel, the reader would not have been able to connect with the characters and be sympathetic. Lawson uses an exceptionally high degree of literary devices to develop each character in this novel.
Huckleberry Finn provides the narrative voice of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and his honest voice combined with his personal vulnerabilities reveal the different levels of the Grangerfords’ world.
Billy proves throughout the book that he is not mentally stable, yet somehow, he is persuasive in his interpretation of the truth.
The other main character of this book is a man by the name of Kilgore Trout. Kilgore is an interesting character. “Trout,” as he is referred to in the book, is a lonely person who thinks everyone in the world is against him. Trout lives by himself and sells screening and siding for houses. Trout’s best and only friend is his bird named Billy. Trout is a struggling writer whose work is mainly published in pornog...
...kleberry Finn who say Jim is presented in a negative manner and as a stereotypical black slave. There is no arguing against the fact that he was presented in the book as a black slave, but these critics are missing Twain’s intent. Twain depicted Jim as a character, that, despite the fact he was considered subhuman, still expressed compassion and displayed the ethics that southerners of the time lacked, as “the moral center of the book, a man of courage and nobility, who risks his freedom -- risks his life -- for the sake of his friend Huck” (5). This “courage and nobility” is what students need when faced with adversity in their lives, even if they are stereotyped as heavily as Jim was. When students grasp this message from Twain, they will then understand the process from oppression to expression, from excluding a novel to appreciating its cultural and moral value.
What makes a character real? Schooled is a novel written by Gordon Korman. The novel’s protagonist and is Capricorn Anderson, a 13 year old hippie who lives on a farm commune with his grandmother. Capricorn, however, has to live with another family and attend a public school when his grandmother breaks her hip and has to stay at the hospital for weeks. This paper discusses true-to-self Capricorn Anderson, his path and purpose in the text, his interactions and effect on others, and his change over time.
The novel “The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn”, by Mark Twain is an exciting book that describes the story of a young boy and his friend Jim. Huckleberry Finn, who is the protagonist in this tale, is a young boy who enjoys his immature life to the fullest. Playing pranks, going on adventures and running away from society are part of his daily thrill. At first sight it might seem that Huckleberry Finn might be an uneducated boy who has no interest or probability of growing mature. However, throughout the story the immature boy has plenty of encounters which strengthen his character and lead him from boy- to manhood.
Jones, Rhett S. "Nigger and Knowledge. White Double-Consciousness in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Satire or Evasion? Black Perspectives on Huckleberry Finn. Ed. James Leonard, et al. Durham: Duke UP, 1992. 173-194.
What makes a character real? Schooled is a novel written by Gordon Korman. The novel’s protagonist and is Capricorn Anderson, a 13-year-old hippie who lives on a farm commune with his grandmother. Capricorn, however, has to live with another family and attend a public school when his grandmother breaks her hip and has to stay at the hospital for weeks. This paper discusses true-to-self Capricorn Anderson, his path, and purpose in the text, his interactions and effect on others, and his change over time.
This book is full of extraordinary courage, determination and will. Kien was subjected to many injustices, most of which were inflicted by the males in his life and community. Kien’s mother’s boyfriend, Lam, was a cruel man who took advantage of people around him. He raped the family maid, Loan, and he raped Kien as he slept alone at night. Lam was a sociopath and very manipulative, he took advantage of Kien’s family. Kien’s cousins were also cruel to him and his brother. They were poor, and took great joy in tormenting Kien and Jimmy. His cousins were glad to have others around who were considered “lower” then they were. Tormenting Kien’s family made the cousins feel better about themselves. When the boys were given a dog, the cousins kicked it to death while laughing. It was mostly males, but there were also female figures who took part in the violence surrounding him. His aunt was a person who had the power to stop the violence, but she only encouraged it. She got a sense of power by having Kien’s family being so destitute and dependant on her.
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.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn follows a rebellious orphan named Huck Finn through adventures that find him fighting against the society that wants to civilize him and the moral obligations imposed by society. Specifically, Huck runs away from society and in doing so embarks on an adventure that leads him to Jim, a slave. Society mandates that Huck turn Jim in but as a friendship is formed Huck struggles with society’s demands and protecting his friend. This novel realistically explores many different emotions that were prevalent in this era and the struggles that citizens were faced with.
Within his criticism of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Gregory Fowler uses examples from both the book and Mark Twain’s own life to discuss the different ways in which racism has morphed. Instead of analyzing The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn critically and solely, Gregory Fowler critically analyzes parts of the book and its effect to prove the different ways in which slaver morphs through the uses of allusions, exemplifications, and anecdotes.
Social groups are sometime represented with different stereotype. This may include their appearance, language, style, or manners that define certain social group. In this case, Fugard represents South Africans creating a stereotype, creating characters like Willie that represents the cultural context of the play. In the play we see difference in language like “hiding” mentioned by Willie and the constant “Boet Sam”. While Hally has had the opportunity to achieve good education we manage to see the difference in education there is between to closely related people, but separate by a racism. We acquire the idea of poor people when we talk about working class, while we think about the rich people on the high class. This thriving thought differed from the dream people had in the apartheid. In addition, this were very difficult time for the South Africans and this could be supported by the book when Sam and Willie have the desire to learn. The contrast to it, is that Hally has already been educated and has the ability to apply his ...