Ignazio Silone’s Bread and Wine became one of the most controversial as well as influential novels in Italy during the early twentieth century. Bread and Wine is set in rural impoverish Italia countryside under the Catholic and fascist control. It begins with Don Benedetto, an elderly priest and his aged sister are waiting for visitors to come celebrate his birthday. These visitor’s are some of his favorite students who have grown up and moved away. In their reminiscing, Don Benedetto begins to ask how other student lives have turned out after all these years. Including his favorite pupil, Pietro Spina. The former students explain that Pietro Spina had become a communist revolutionary and was exiled from Italy, and is on the run from police who are hunting him. Don Benedetto asks the student to aide Pietro in his return to Italy. At this point the novel begins to focus on Pietro Spina and his return to Italy. Pietro aided by his childhood friend Nunzio dons the disguise of a Catholic priest called Don Paolo Spada. However, Pietro Spina has abandoned the religious beliefs and ideas of becoming a saint that he once had as a child and now in his adult life is considered to be a fervent atheist making; this disguise quite ironic. While in disguise, Spina becomes exasperated with the strong catholic beliefs and superstitious ideas which are the basis of thought of the peasants he is trying to influence. This brings about the continuous theme of socialism and Christianity as well as the question surrounding all the characters within the novel, “How can a decent person act in a terrible time?”1 Silone uses this questions to explore how the political views of fascism within the Catholic church effects uneducated peasants withi...
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...ays radical action that creates change but sometimes the acceptance that somethings must be changed through small actions and build their way up. In giving himself to the community and helping those around him by being an example, Spina makes the ultimate sacrifice. Nearing the end of the novel, Cristina, Spina’s love interest states, “In all times and in all societies the supreme act is to give oneself, to lose oneself in order to find oneself. One has only what one gives”6 This single quote sums up the actions of Spina in adopting the roles of Don Paolo Spada. With the harsh times Spina faces in the poor rural country one is finally able to answer the question “How can a decent person act in a terrible time?”7. The answer is that a man must find a way to live, even when he cannot act, and perhaps with the hope that living well may finally be a mode of action.8
Book three of the novel “Bread Givers,” written by Anzia Yezierska is set in New York. The story revolves around Sara Smolinsky, her family and the struggles they face in their daily lives. The main conflict in book three is Sara’s guilt for leaving her family and pursuing her career without seeing them for six years. For example, when she comes back to see her family, she realizes she is too late. Her mother is dying. Sara feels horrible that she didn’t come to see her mother and spend more time with her. She knows that she should’ve come to see her mother instead of investing so much time with school. Then, her mother dies a couple days later. She decides to stay and visit her father, Reb Smolinsky, often but doesn’t visit him after he gets married again only thirty days after her mother died. A couple months later, she sees Reb again but he’s working. She feels guilty for not supporting him and giving him money in his time of need. To see him working to get money for his greedy wife made her feel terrible. In the end, Reb can’t stand being in the same house as his wife and decides he wants to leave. He doesn’t know where to so Sara decides to take him in and let
In the traditional political history of Italy the people outside of the ruling class of the society were rarely studied. Only with the use of social history did the issues of class and gender begin to be debated by scholars. Numerous recent articles have done a great job of analysing particularly men of high status. In this paper I will look at the lower classes of Renaissance Florence. More specifically, I will center my focus on the lives of women during this era, how they were treated and viewed by people of other classes and how women were viewed and treated by men.
His execution of imagery, diction, and dialogue throughout the text were very prominent regarding these three factors. The authors use of pathos, sickly diction, and humanistic dialogue were very important agents to bring this piece altogether and alive. Especially with the subject of poverty and how it effects not only Flavio’s family, but as the text says “Pockets of poverty in New York's Harlem, on Chicago's south side, in Puerto Rico's infamous El Fungito seemed pale by comparison. None of them had prepared me for this one in the favela o[ Catacumba.” Poverty effects a lot of people, and awareness needs to be brought up through messages like
The entire book was leading up to the murder of the notorious Mirabal sisters which also put into perspective how oppressed these people were. Not only did this book give the reader an insight on the life of a citizen of the Dominican Republic between the years of 1930 and 1960 but, it showed how an oppressive government could affect the people in both negative and positive ways, using the sisters as examples. Obviously, negative aspects included citizens being jailed and killed by their own government. In a situation such as this, fear was in every person, whether they were brave enough to join the resistance or not. Families were torn apart, as shown in the book. Minerva, Maria Teresa, and their husbands, along with Patria’s husband, were taken from their children, home, church and family to be jailed for going against the government. Alvarez vividly describes the hurt that came to the families when they were broken apart. In jail, the sisters and husbands were also physically ill. They were being starved and being diagnosed with pneumonia which was not unheard
What the reader understands of the infidelity of Milan Kundera’s characters in The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a mere distraction from the real substance of the story and of the character’s real purpose. Kundera offers the reader a red herring and only through close examination can one dissect and abstract the true essence of each character’s thread that links them to one another in this story. For it is not clearly seen: in fact, it can not be seen at all. It is the fierce absence of the word commitment that is so blatantly seen in each individual, yet the word itself is buried so deeply inside of Tomas and Tereza that it takes an animal’s steadfast and unconditional love to make the meaning and understanding of commitment penetrate the surface.
The author connects Antonio’s anxieties about change in his life to the culture in which he lives. Ultima’s intrusion into Antonio’s life marks a crazy time of change for Antonio. Anaya reiterates Antonio’s position on the threshold of change by showing his nerves about beginning school, moving away from his mother, and facing his unusual future. The vaquero lifestyle preferred by his father renews the values of freedom, independence and mobility, all of which are rules in the vaqueros’ love of the llano. The Luna family lifestyle preferred by Antonio’s mother, but emphasizes family and productivity,
The history of white bread is more important than we think. I will be reviewing the book White Bread: A Social History of the Store-Bought Loaf written by Aaron Bobrow-Strain. This book is about how white bread historical impacted the food production during the industrial revolution. Bobrow- Strain main argument is that the industrial revolution has changed the way food is produced and consumed. The main focus of the was on the production of white bread and how it has changed over time. Also, he look at the changes in the society and how that changed the production of white bread. He starts of being explaining bread was made in the homes, then bakeries, then
Antonio Márez, the main character of Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, begins the Departure element of Joseph Campbell’s Hero Cycle when he initiates his journey to adulthood. He questions whether he belongs to his mother’s family, the Lunas, who live as farmers, or his father’s family, the Márezes, who freely wander the land. His care for his family demonstrates his maturity in attempting to always do the best he can for everyone. Although his parents each want him to follow their families’ paths, they remain absent from Antonio’s true journey of understanding his own thoughts and beliefs, leaving him “frightened to be alone” (Anaya 7); the lack of parental support through his personal conflict leads him to have trouble knowing how to address his confusion, but it also causes Antonio to develop an independence that most people do not possess.
Josies aspirations reach much farther than that of her families ambitions for her life. It is at this point in time where a classic example of culture clash begins. Josie feels the need to rebel against the stero-typical female in an Italian culture. This determination stems from her education and desire to step away from her Italian life and responsibilities, breaking away not only from her family and their narrow mindedness but also the entire Italian culture. This is a major leap for Josie who aspires to be the first Alibrandi female to take control of her life. This motivation of freedom is strong in Josie and her rebellious ways demonstrate this.
Since the beginning of its existence as a country, Italy has faced enormous challenges in establishing itself as a unified political and social entity. The geographic, economic, and linguistic differences between its various regions and the artificial manner in which they were amalgamated created a legacy of internal divisions that continues to dominate the country's political climate to this day. Italy's numerous historical fiascoes, such as its disastrous involvement in the two World Wars and the rise of fascism, further escalated the domestic problems that had haunted it since the Risorgimento. At first, the anti-fascist Resistance movement, which dominated the end of World War II, seemed to bring Italy a ray of hope, promising a new era of freedom, reform, and democratic representation. However, this hope was quickly extinguished, as widespread poverty, government corruption, and deep divisions between regions and classes persisted and no true social reform was attained. These harsh conditions were depicted by a group of Italian film directors whose neorealist works have since been celebrated as masterpieces of world cinema. One of the most prominent of these is Vittorio De Sica's The Bicycle Thief. This 1948 film discusses the prevalent themes dominating Italy's social and political history, within the context of the unsettlingly poor post-War urban proletariat.
The story unfolds with the increasing limitations on the rights of Jewish people in Italy. Mussolini 's racial laws are beginning to take force on the rights of the Jewish people. Prohibitions such as no servants, no library
In this world, some people struggle to find for a job, behind the search is a dreadful life, the person is treated horribly through society based on their look. Through Latin literature, this is shown by a perspective of an author's experience of his/her life. Isabel Allende and Clarice Lispector are both Latino Americans and was writing in the generation of Garcia Marquez. Both authors give their experience to show how a person felt through a tough life in Chile and Brazil. The experience Latin authors express to a reader is shown through metaphors, simile and analogy. The literary elements of each device can show a way how a character felt about a person's life through the times of writing, showing a dark theme.
“You live and you suffer” — a translated quote from Antonio (from the film The Bicycle Thief), is a brief statement that summarizes the feelings of those who lived in the post world war II “civilization”. This paper will preview Italian Neorealism, and the way it’s elements are incorporated into the movie “The Bicycle Thief” to reveal the ideal Italian setting, as it was after the second world war.
During the 1970’s and 1980’s, great fear had been spread throughout Italy. A group known as the Brigate Rosse, or Red Brigade, had developed and left its mark on the Italian political scene. Fear was commonplace as bomb plots, kneecappings, and assassinations became the norm. As we go through this paper, the fascinating yet horrifying story, including the history, ideology, and current activity of the Red Brigade will be told.
Making change in a time of dark beliefs and harsh criticism is a difficult task to achieve. The poet, Dante Alighieri’s world was one filled with spirituality and stigmas. Unlike many other artists of his time, he completed his most famous and influential work in Europe’s 1300’s. Dante’s piece, The Divine Comedy, demonstrates the journey one takes throughout life, to find one’s self and connect with the world and religion, all through three volumes of poetry. Of his talent, came a business of the arts. In addition, he changed the way the Italian language was perceived. He used his writing to help women be viewed as equals to men, and took a more tolerant position with regard to religion. Due to its effects on language, religion, and societal protocol, The Divine Comedy unquestionably affected Italian culture in the time of its author, and beyond.