What defines a person? Is it his actions, his intention, or his reputation? No matter what the answer is, people associate who they are with the words used to describe them. The novel Charlotte’s Web is no exception, for within it, words are used as the basis for transforming perspectives. In the novel, the individual words weaved into Charlotte’s web transform the other characters’ perspectives of Wilbur. After realizing the impact and influence of words by witnessing the change in perspective of the other characters, Wilbur begins to change his perception of himself. Charlotte, on the other hand, uses words as a way to form a moral for Wilbur. This awareness of words reveals Wilbur’s and Charlotte’s relationship with words as a mechanism for transformation and consequently reflects the child-parent relationship Wilbur and Charlotte possess. In this relationship, Wilbur fulfills the role of a child and Charlotte fulfills the role of the parent and demonstrates why and when words are appropriate to use.
Other characters’ opinions of Wilbur are influenced by the words written on Charlotte’s web. At first, Wilbur was only considered pork – something to be eaten for winter (49). However, as soon as the words appeared on Charlotte’s web, Mr. Zuckerman stopped thinking of Wilbur as food. When the word ‘terrific’ appears on the web, Mr. Zuckerman states that “there isn’t a pig in the whole state that is terrific as our pig” (96). When the word ‘radiant’ appears on Charlotte’s web, Mr. Zuckerman says, “that pig is radiant” (115). In other words, Mr. Zuckerman’s opinion of Wilbur changes as soon as he reads the words in Charlotte’s web. Mr. Zuckerman’s change of perspective is obviously displayed in his usage of description words from ...
... middle of paper ...
...ore aware of the fact that a child, like Wilbur, will associate words with themselves by believing he has to become what is said about him. At the same time, children learn to be humble when receiving compliments. Furthermore, readers recognize that, just as the other characters in the story display, most people’s perception of words are a way to reflect the personality and qualities someone possesses. To be good parents, they should use words as Charlotte does; they should choose words for their meaning and with a purpose in mind. In the case of this novel, Charlotte uses words to save Wilbur from death and to teach him not to let compliments consume his ego. Parents are reminded that they should act as narrators in their children’s life like Charlotte who is the background voice that allows Wilbur to take the stage as she weaves the words that entrap the readers.
Mistakes can seriously impact the people who make them; however, the effects are not always negative. In the book, Whirligig, by Paul Fleischman, a teenage boy named Brent is the new kid in town and he faces some major problems with his peers. After being pushed around, treated like a pawn, and utterly rejected, Brent tries to commit suicide by taking his hands off the wheel of his moving car. Although Brent’s attempt is not successful, his actions still have a tragic ending- Lea, a young, kind, beautiful girl, is unlucky enough to be in the car that Brent crashes into. The car accident results in Lea’s death, but also the start of Brent’s magical journey of redemption. Brent’s task is to travel to the four corners of the country, build and display whirligigs, and keep Lea’s spirit alive. Though Brent may not realize it, the trip does influence him in many different ways, one major change being Brent’s newfound ability to create strong relationships with a variety of people that he meets during the course of his adventure. Throughout Brent’s journey, Paul Fleischman uses the people that Brent interacts with to portray the idea that friendships can be formed regardless of personality type, race, and age.
Words have a way of changing the way we view the world. They can completely alter our perception of what is true and what is false. Take the tale of Skidmore and Manchester, as dictated in the story ‘The Curse of the Poisoned Pretzel.’ The way the author portrays the character of Skidmore shows just how easily words can change how we see someone by making you believe that Skidmore is guilty of his brother‘s murder, without ever formally saying so.
Richard’s own identity as well as his personal identification of others is formed through language. For example, in Richard’s encounter with the Yankee, Richard used language to fill up the “yawning, shameful gap.” He uses personification to emphasize the awkwardness of their conversation. This awkwardness was a result of the Yankee’s probing questions. Richard described it as an “unreal-natured” conversation, but, paradoxically, he also admits, “of course the conversation was real; it dealt with my welfare.” The Yankee man then tried to offer Richard a dollar, and spoke of the blatant hunger in Richard’s eyes. This made Richard feel degraded and ashamed. Wright uses syntax to appropriately place the conversation before making his point in his personal conclusions. In the analogy, “A man will seek to express his relation to the stars…that loaf of bread is as important as the stars” (loaf of bread being the metonymy for food), Wright concludes “ it is the little things of life “ that shape a Negro’s destiny. An interesting detail is how Richard refuses the Yankee’s pity; he whispers it. From then on, Richard identified him as an enemy. Thus, through that short, succinct exchange of words, two identities were molded.
Each person, whether they realize it or not, has been shaped by their relationships with others. The effects that piers or family members can have on someone are limitless and often times profound. In many instances, people do not even know that they are being influenced by others. Even if it is in the most subtle manner, all characters in novels are directly influenced by other figures. Authors use rhetorical strategies to demonstrate the different ways in which relationships affect and shape character’s identities.
Christopher during the course of the text of the novel learns to disregard other people’s judgments.
Children have often been viewed as innocent and innocent may be a nicer way to call children naive. Since children’s lives are so worry free they lack the knowledge of how to transition from being a child to becoming an adolescent. Their lack of knowledge may be a large part of their difficulties growing up, which could be a few rough years for many. In books like the boy in the striped pajamas the story is told from the point of view of a little boy, this way we get a full view of how innocent he is. In this book the writer shows the reader first hand how a child viewed the holocaust and how his innocence cost him his life. Then in books like the perks of being a wallflower Charlie is a teen whom is struggling with the transition from being a child to becoming an adolescent. In this book the writer gives a first hand look at how difficult it can be to transition into an adolescent. Charlie has many difficulties in this book; he is in search of his identity and how to fit in.
In "The Author to Her Book," the speaker personifies her book as her child in an apostrophe addressed to it, but finds herself ashamed of its flaws, though she still expresses a desire to care for it. She attempts to revise it, but continues to find problems, resulting in her conclusion that the book should not be read by critics. Bradstreet uses a controlling metaphor and diction depicting maturation, imperfections, and fixing to convey the speaker's conflicted feelings of pride and irritation toward her work, comparing her struggle to raising a child and criticizing her own ability to write.
Are adults overprotective of their children? To what point do we protect children? Where should the line be drawn? Along with those questions is how easily children can be influenced by these same adults. Two poets, Richard Wilbur and Billy Collins, express the ideas of how easily children can be manipulated and how sometimes adults think they are protecting their innocent children, when in reality they are not. Wilbur and Collins express these ideas in their poems through numerous literary devices. The literary devices used by Wilbur and Collins expose different meanings and two extremely different end results. Among the various literary devices used, Wilbur uses imagery, a simple rhyme scheme and meter, juxtaposition of the rational and irrational, and a humorous tone to represent the narrator’s attempt to “domesticate” irrational fears. Conversely Collins uses symbols, historical interpretations, imagery, diction and other literary devices to depict the history teacher’s effort to shield his students from reality. In the poems, “A Barred Owl,” by Richard Wilbur, and “The History Teacher,” by Billy Collins, both poets convey how adults protect and calm children from their biggest, darkest fears and curiosities.
In this novel, the protagonist Lily Owens adores reading books, and adopts it as a hobby. Lily recognizes the importance of storytelling as a way to transcend or escape from her own circumstances, like her abusive father T.Ray, and the death of her mother, Deborah. Within the early pages of the novel, Lily states that whenever she opens a book, she can recall certain memories. One of them is her father harassing her by saying things hurtful things like “Who do you think you are, Julius Shakespeare?” (29), and she goes on to say “He also referred to me as Miss Brown-Nose-in-a-Book and occasionally as Miss Emily-Big-Head-Diction” (29). This is clear evidence that in T.Rays opinion, Lily reads way too much, and Lily shows that her love for books is beyond insults and continues to read on anyway. Lily also recalls that her teacher (Mrs. Hudson) praises her too much for being so intelligent and lends her a lot of books. In the book, Lily says “She (Mrs. Hudson) said a scholarship was my only hope for a future and lent me her private books for the summer” (29). Mrs. Hudson says this in a helpful manner, given that T.Ray didn’t have a
Alice in Wonderland, the most famous work of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, is the enduring tale of one girl’s journey into a world of whimsy and imagination. The story was written for the enjoyment of all children, as Carroll had a strong love and attachment to them, especially little girls. It was however, written more specifically for a dear, close child-friend of his by the name of Alice Liddell, who was the inspiration for the title character. Alice in Wonderland has been, throughout the years since it’s publication in 1865, endlessly deconstructed, analyzed, and studied for underlying meaning in the text (as in Martin Gardner‘s The Annotated Alice). One of the most noticeable and famous facets of the story is the many changes in size that Alice goes through. Alice changes size eleven times to fit her changing predicament in the tale. This can be easily seen in the animated Disney interpretation of the story that came out years ago. Throughout the book, Alice is given the opportunity to change size numerous times, this aiding
In any case, the reader can wonder if Cathy’s means of control are logical to the fashions of society; if sex was not viewed in depository light as it has been for most of human history, would characters such as Cathy exist as monsters and demons? Regardless, Cathy's monstrous demeanor frequently presents itself in the novel where sex remains decisive to her sovereignty of manipulation.
As we ponder over our reading experiences as children, almost every American will remember reading Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. How we read as children and how we read as adults is not at all the same. One might state children read for the pleasure of the story and adults simply read too much into the given text. However, one must realize the images being portrayed to our children. How could a story about a pig and a spider relay unwanted messages to our children? It is important to remark how social guidelines are presented in this text. The most obvious is the assignment of gender roles to the characters Not only does this affect the human characters in the story, but it also affects the farm life. The other social guideline found in this text is the barnyard society. This society can in turn represent our human society. These two guidelines of society are taught unknowingly to our children through this story. What is perhaps the most surprising is how little attitudes have changed. This book was originally published in 1952 and these stereotypes still exist in our society forty five years later.
Lewis Carroll demonstrates paradoxes within Alice and Wonderland as Alice is tossed within an entirely different world. Yet one of the greatest paradoxes is the transformation of Alice over the course of the novel as well as the transformation of the duchess. Alice begins as an ignorant child; she has difficulties in morphing to the logic and needs of Wonder...
By stating how other people behave or interact, the author offers a great chance for readers to interpret fairly for themselves what the reason for any conflict may be, or the nature of any essential contrast between the narrator and other adults in the story. In the story, there are many self-righteous opinions from people, which seem to be ironic to the readers; For example, her mother’s aggressive attitude of showing off her daughter, her piano teacher’s self-praise claiming him as “Beethoven.” All of the narrations including conversation clearly depict a different characteristic between the narrator and other people. For instance, a conversation occurs between the narrator and her mother when the mother criticizing a girl who seems similar to the author on TV which reveals dissimilar understanding for both of them to each other’s behavior. At first, the daughter speaks out for the girl by questioning her mother by saying “why picking on her […] She’s pretty good. Maybe she’s not the best, but she’s trying hard.” The daughter actually is defending for herself and reflecting that she feels uncomfortable with her mother’s disregard of her hard work. She wants to get her mother’s compliments instead of her criticisms. However, her mother response of, “just like you,” and, “not the best. Because you not trying.” Here, her mother doesn’t really answer her question, instead wants her put more effort on trying, neglecting how much she has tried before. However, in her mother’s perspective, she has never tried hard enough. By narratively stating the conversations she has encountered, readers perceive a strong implication of the reason for a future conflict between her and her mother.
Having inherited the myth of ugliness and unworthiness, the characters throughout the story, with the exception of the MacTeer family, will not only allow this to happen, but will instill this in their children to be passed on to the next generation. Beauty precedes love, the grownups seem to say, and only a few possess beauty, so they remain unloved and unworthy. Throughout the novel, the convictions of sons and daughters are the same as their fathers and mothers. Their failures and accomplishments are transferred to their children and to future generations.