Dom Casmurro is considered the premier book of dark comedy, satire, and realism; and the author, Joachim Maria Machado de Assis, is considered one of the best Latin-American authors. Dom Casmurro is widely taught in Brazilian schools, and is praised all over the world. This is very ironic, considering the fact that the book has a poor protagonist, some deceptive chapters, an ending that is very unfulfilling, and no real message or lesson learned. There’s even a chapter entitled “Shake Your Head, Reader” which invites the reader to throw out the book, “if its tediousness hasn’t driven [them] this long since” (Machado de Assis 98). Indeed, it’s as if the book was intentionally written to be difficult to chew. If so, then Dom Casmurro is a satire of the very reader, in that it fails to meet their expectations.
One way Dom Casmurro fails to meet expectations is that the main character, Bento, is an unreliable protagonist. For example, Bento shows time and time again that he is a biased narrator. The entire novel is written in his perspective with little recognition if any, of Capitu’s side of the story. Bento perceives Capitu as a “capricious [creature]” with “undertow eyes” and spends much of the latter half of the book trying to undermine her credibility (244). This is because Bento is incredibly jealous of Capitu, so he perceives the most insignificant of gestures as an act of adultery. Keep in mind, Bento admits to having a terrible memory, claiming that he “can’t remember the color of [the trousers he] put on yesterday”, so the reader must question his statements often—especially when discussing Capitu (111). Another shortcoming of his is that he is neither hero nor antihero. He acts as if he has uncovered Capitu as a lying harl...
... middle of paper ...
...om Casmurro satirizes the reader. The main character, the protagonist, who readers are supposed to look up to or see as some sort of guiding light, failed in all of those endeavors. The book is ripe with random, pointless chapters, which trick readers to try and find a deeper meaning to them—only for the readers to end up lost and confused. Also, the ending is incredibly unfulfilling; not only through its speedy intensification, but through the short amount of time given to absorb said escalation. Major questions that the book raised weren’t even answered, so there was no closure for the reader. Lastly, the message—what many readers look for in a book—is entirely absent. Bento learned nothing in his life, convinced himself he was right, and refused to believe otherwise. Dom Casmurro took the readers’ expectations and shattered them—causing many to shake their head.
Criticisms (Unfavourable): Near the end of the book the dialogue becomes more rhetorical than the rest of the book. This isn’t really a problem, but can become slightly confusing at times. The best option would be to read this part slowly and carefully in order to understand what the message is.
Palmas, at this time, took the task of retelling a traditional religious tale with his own twist, and that twist allowed him to entertain as well as criticize his own material. Criticizing religious folklore with methods of “costumbrismo” was vital in teaching his Latin American audience to be able to find the humor and irony in what they absorb through literature, and that is especially important with religious text. In a time when social and political reform went hand in hand with Latin American writing, Palmas did not just want to entertain with this humorous and enthralling piece, he wanted his audience to learn to be able to challenge religion in literature, and finally and most importantly, within the government in order to form a more liberal, secular
... carnival, so that the narrator would not consult another supposed wine connoisseur about the cask of amontillado, the reader must identify with the dark parts of their character and learn from the mistakes of the characters in this story. Like Montresor, all people have faults and by illustrating this extremely flawed character, Poe allows the reader a glimpse at the flaws in their own. Even Montresor recognizes that he must hares his crime, whether to confess or brag, the story could not die with him. Montresor is a vehicle that allows the reader to identify with their own shortcomings. He was consumed by a thirst for revenge, driven by pride, aided by intelligence, and suffering from a sense of inadequacy which created jealousy. Montresor demonstrates that vengeance and pride are impure motivators that lead to sinister thoughts and actions unfit for judgement day.
As the era of literature slowly declines, the expert critiques and praise for literature are lost. Previously, novels were bursting at the seams with metaphors, symbolism, and themes. In current times, “novels” are simply short stories that have been elaborated on with basic plot elements that attempt to make the story more interesting. Instead of having expert critical analysis written about them, they will, most likely, never see that, as recent novels have nothing to analyze. Even books are beginning to collect dust, hidden away and forgotten, attributing to the rise of companies such as Spark Notes. An author deserves to have his work praised, no matter how meager and the masses should have the right to embrace it or to reject it. As much of this has already been considered, concerning Les Misérables, the purpose of this paper is to compare, contrast, and evaluate Victor Hugo’s use of themes and characterization in his novel, Les Misérables.
1. What can the reader infer about Montresor’s social position and character from hints in the text? What evidence does the text provide that Montresor is an unreliable narrator? We learned from paragraph 23 to 24 that Montresor owns a Palazzo and also has lot of retainers based on that evidence, the reader can infer that Montresor is a very wealthy and successful man. About his character, the reader can imply that Montresor is a heartless, cold blooded, sneaky, manipulative, and untrustworthy man, as well as a man who hold on to grudges. Moreover, Montresor is an unreliable narrator, because he reveals in the first paragraph that he intends to have a revenge on Fortunato, but he did not indicate or clearly prove to the readers how Fortunato
"The Cask of Amontillado" is one of Edgar Allan Poe's greatest stories. In this story Poe introduces two central characters and unfolds a tale of horror and perversion. Montresor, the narrator, and Fortunato, one of Montresor's friends, are doomed to the fate of their actions and will pay the price for their pride and jealousy. One pays the price with his life and the other pays the price with living with regret for the rest of his life. Poe uses mystery, irony, and imagery to create a horrifying, deceptive, and perverse story.
In “The Cask of Amontillado,” the narrator shows the reader a lot about how he feels and his thoughts. In the
This novel really stirred my emotions, especially in the beginning. For example, Candelario works at a restaurant owned by a man named Don Gustavo. Candelario is the salad maker and what taught, by Don Gustavo himself, how to make a perfect Caesar salad for his customers. The doctor and his wife came in and both ordered salads and Candelario made the salads exactly to Don's instructions, but the customers were not pleased. Since they were not pleased Don fired Gustavo on the spot that night. This made me very angered with Don and people like Don. It sucks when you do something right but then someone is displeased so all of a sudden it was the wro...
Fans of the novel found that the way the novel is written, you never want to put it down and the action keeps things moving and is quite entertaining. The novel pulls you in and makes you love each of the main characters in it. This is a great series for anyone to read, and it is audience friendly for whoever reads them. There is quite a bit of suspense that will make the novel exceed readers 's expectations, and the twists and turns keeps you guessing and lets nothing be predictable. Some like the way this group of people bands together when they really need to and keep things together so they can all stop the
In her article, Renee utters that when the thought of vengeance build up in an individual’s brain, it coerces him insane and does not tolerate him to present it a second thought. The first sentence of the story, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge,” clearly describes the whole theme of the story as a deeply enrooted revenge in Montresor’s mind” which is an absolute portrayal of retribution that occurs due to arrogance and jealousy. Author sees himself as a superior individual and was victimized by a superiority complex which is quite visible through the phrases which he wrote in the story that Montressor expresses superiority as showed his victim as a foolish person by attributing weird physical appearance and dress appearance in which he described his dress code of “tight fitting parti striped dress and head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells.”
Juan Rulfo utilizes the experience of the reader as they progress together through Pedro Paramo as an allegory for Juan Preciado’s journey and as a mechanism to emphasize the meaningless of time. Reader response enhances the effect of structural peculiarities, setting, and time distortion in order to more completely convey the message of the novel. This interaction between reader and text brings the town of Comala to life far more effectively than a standard, chronological narrative could.
In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” Montresor sets out on a vengeful mission that will end Fortunato’s life in an untimely fate. Montresor appeals to Fortunato’s love for wine to tempt the unsuspecting fellow to his impending doom. While Montresor tricks the foolish Fortunato frightfully, it is ultimately Fortunato’s pride that leads to his demise in the crypt. Poe uses several literary devices to foreshadow this murderous exploit of Montresor. Through the use of irony, symbolism, and imagery, the story entices readers to delve into the relationships and differences between Montresor and Fortunato.
García Márquez has effectively used magical realism in Chronicle of a Death Foretold with the blending of the supernatural and reality being the key element that allows for magical realism within the novel, with the structure and unreliable narrator being less significant elements. Within these elements, the omens; the circular structure of the novel; and the state of the narrator during the consummation of Santiago’s murder are key points in García Márquez’s use of magical realism within the novel, and his proficiency in writing in the genre of magical realism certainly makes Chronicle of a Death Foretold a more captivating read by far.
Edgar Allan Poe is a famous writer in writing detective stories and horror stories. One of his horror stories, “The Cask of Amontillado” was talking about how a man took his revenge to his friend. However, to look deeply in this story, I found that this story was not just simply a horror tale about how a man gets his revenge in the safest way. Instead, it also demonstrates much irony in several areas: the title, the event, the season, the costume, the environment, the characters’ personalities, a man’s dignity and cockiness and at the end, the public order. he are
Poe starts out with a man, by the name of Montresor, wanting revenge on another man, named Fortunato. Most of the story takes place deep in the Montresor family catacombs. As Montresor lures Fortunato into the catacombs, he chains Fortunato up to a small hole in a wall, bricks it over, and leaves Fortunato to die. Even through the traits of anger, hatred, and revenge, as the story progresses on, Montresor, the main character in “The Cask of Amontillado”, starts to show signs of feeling guilty for wanting to murder Fortunato.