Adriana Moran
World Literature 2403
Professor Amy Brady
10 March 2014
Messages
The definition of a theme is not concrete, but it can have many meanings among literary scholars. In the semester, we viewed the term theme as a message the reader takes away from the text. Literary scholars can take a text and pick out numerous themes throughout the written work. Themes do vary from reader to reader because it depends on how he or she portrays the text. In the books The Divine Comedy: Inferno by Dante and 1001 Nights we are taught to do a close reading. While doing this we learned how to read literature and learned what to look for. Reading The Divine Comedy: Inferno by Dante that the farther you go down into hell the more extreme the punishments are. Also, when studying 1001 Nights I found the repetition of words to illustrate morals throughout the embedded narrative as a theme found in the work.
In Dante’s The Divine Comedy: Inferno, the theme that in order to reach to heaven, you must go through hell stood out to me. The allegory starts off with Dante walking through the woods alone. He is trying to find paradiso/heaven to be with Beatrice, who Dante is in love with. As Dante was walking the path to reach heaven, beasts are blocking his way. Virgil, sent by Beatrice and Dante’s new guide, is there to help to find a way to heaven. Virgil and Dante are now together and must get to heaven, but the only way they can get to heaven is to go through hell. Even in the first three cantos Dante the author explains that the only way that he can get to see Beatrice is if he travels through the nine circles of hell.
As the story continues, Dante and Virgil reach Limbo where Virgil resides and the second circle of hell. Limbo is here for peop...
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...get the King to notice how the Cadi, King, Vizier, Governor, and the Carpenter reacted at the end of the story. Also, how faith in women can be restored and that they are not an enemy.
In short, the definition of a theme is not concrete, but it can have many meanings among literary scholars. Literary scholars can take a text and pick out numerous themes throughout the written work. I found in The Divine Comedy: Inferno by Dante that the farther you go down into hell the more extreme the punishments are. Additionally, in 1001 Nights I found the repetition of words to illustrate morals throughout the embedded narrative as a theme found in the work. The examples I used for each literary work proves that the themes I produced exists. The themes I put together for both works is only one of many literary critic can conclude which makes literature so interesting to study.
An idea that recurs in or pervades a work of art of literature can be referred to as a “Theme”. Themes often explore timeless and universal ideas and may be implied rather than stated explicitly. Theme is an important part of fictional stories. Several themes are presented in the novel to kill a mocking bird. One of the reoccurring themes in to kill a mockingbird is courage.
In review, Dante had to travel through Hell in order to save his soul from eternal damnation. His guide, Virgil, was not an angel, but was not technically in Hell either. He was in Limbo. He was sent to guide Dante by Beatrice, an angel of heaven who loved Dante. Dante’s straying from the path of righteousness set all of these events into motion.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, the theme plays an important role during the course of the novel. Theme is a central idea in a work of literature that contains more than one word. It is usually based on an author’s opinion on a subject. The theme of innocence should be protected is found in conflicts, characters, and symbols. In To Kill a Mockingbird, a conflict that connects to the theme that innocence should be protected is the death of Tom Robinson.
Theme is the subject of talk, a topic, or morals that the author is trying to get readers to comprehend. When reading an excerpt, the theme is not directly stated in the text, so you must dig deeper into the context to understand the matter trying to be portrayed. In both Angela's Ashes and The Street, we can distinguish a like theme of struggling through life’s complications. After reading the two different stories, we could select the theme from using character, events, and the setting.
...rves the way for the plot, the theme is the central idea around which a literary piece revolves. Without the theme the plot would be meaningless and there would be nothing for the readers to derive from the literary piece. Without the plot, the theme would be meaningless as there would be nowhere to consign the message the writer intends to give the reader. It can be said that the plot and theme are the two most important literary elements of a literary piece and are inter-dependant.
Theme is the underlying power beneath a story; the “force” that makes the whole experience worthwhile. Theme is “an idea or message that the writer wishes to convey” (Holt 874). A theme can be either stated or implied. A stated theme is a theme “that the other expresses directly in his work (protic.net); an implied theme is a theme “that is not directly stated in the work” (protic.net). As mentioned before, both of these stories have an implied theme, which now is revealed to mean that the author of the story insinuated it. Themes exist in all stories (verbal or written) and can be long, short, true or false. “Earth people will beat out any other intelligent life-form in any and all competitions” is a theme, but “good always beats evil” is one too. “Once upon a time . . .” stories have themes too, except they are more one-dimensional. For example,...
Backpack Literature defines theme as “the general point or truth about human beings that may be drawn from” a story. Most novels do not have one single theme, but instead have many themes spread throughout. Some of the themes may be related but others can come from opposite ends of the spectrum. The Great Gatsby has several themes that are related such as greed, lust, and selfishness. One of the themes that stood out to me was that some people will never be fully satisfied. This is demonstrated by Jay Gatsby’s continuous us of illegal activities to make more money to impress Daisy, by Tom Buchanan’s affair with a mechanic’s wife even though he was already married, and by Jay Gatsby constantly throwing parties to try and win Daisy back after
In the Inferno we follow the journey of Dante as he wanders off the path of moral truth and into Hell. The Virgin Mary and Santa Lucia ask Beatrice, Dante’s deceased love, to send some help. Thus, Virgil comes to the rescue and essentially guides Dante through Hell and back to the mortal world from which he came. However, things begin to seem kind of odd. When reading the Inferno one may begin to question the way Dante describes Hell and the things that occur within, or even the things we have always believed about Hell. Despite the way it is described and well known in western civilization, Hell is not at all how we expect it to be because of Dante's use of irony throughout this poetic masterpiece.
One example of the theme occurs when the author first introduces the story. “But the summer I was 9 years old, the town I had always loved morphed into a beautifully heartbreaking and complicated place.” (pg. 1). The author is saying that the year she turned nine, she found out something about her town that broke her heart and changed the way she saw it. This quote is important because it supports the theme. It shows that now she is older she has learned something about her town that made her wiser than when she was younger. She is now more informed because the new information changed her and caused her to begin to mature.
Odyssey Essay A Theme is the underlying idea or subject of a story. Throughout the Odyssey, Homer used many different themes to cover each part of the story. In the Odyssey, each theme of the story had different symbolic meanings. In my opinion, the two themes seen most throughout the Odyssey are hospitality and vengeance. Throughout the story, there is always someone causing problems which will result in the need for revenge.
Theme plays a very important part in this short story. Theme is the idea of a literary work abstracted from its details of language, character and action. The great example of theme that is evident throughout the entire short story is the duty to perform certain acts. We can see here that the Irishman Donovan is very big on obeying his duty to carry out orders that have been authorized to him.
In class, we have been reading Dante’s Inferno which is the beginning to his poem, The Divine Comedy. While reading the Inferno, I have come up with a question to relate Dante’s Inferno to baseball. My proposed question is, How is going through a slump in baseball relative to Dante going through hell in the Inferno. Personally, I have been playing baseball since I was 4 years old so you can imagine that I have had my fair share of slumps throughout my career. Hell is relatable to a slump in baseball because mentally it feels as the slump is never-ending and you continue to fall deeper and so does your average and confidence. Baseball is a very superstitious sport in which many players have their own superstitions. For example, some people
Inferno begins with Dante lost in a dark wood. When he tries to exit, three impassible beasts blocked his path. Dante is rescued when Beatrice sends the spirit of Virgil to lead him to salvation. However, Dante must journey through hell first. Dante and Virgil then journey through the nine circles of hell, with the occasional help of a heavenly messenger sent to aid Dante in his journey. Dante meets many significant people and hears their stories in each circle. The First Circle of Hell or Limbo is resided by virtuous non-Christians and unbaptized pagans. In the Second Circle, Dante and Virgil find people who were overcome by lust. In the Third Circle, they find souls of gluttons that are seen as more than the usual excessive eating and drinking but also drug addiction. In the Fourth Circle, Dante and Virgil see the souls of people who are punished for greed.
For an abundance of authors, the driving force that aids them in creation of a novel is the theme or number of themes implemented throughout the novel. Often times the author doesn’t consciously identify the theme they’re trying to present. Usually a theme is a concept, principle or belief that is significant to an author. Not only does the theme create the backbone of the story, but it also guides the author by controlling the events that happen in a story, what emotions are dispersed, what are the actions of characters, and what emotions are presented within each environment to engage the readers in many
Dante’s Inferno presents the reader with many questions and thought provoking dialogue to interpret. These crossroads provide points of contemplation and thought. Dante’s graphic depiction of hell and its eternal punishment is filled with imagery and allegorical meanings. Examining one of these cruxes of why there is a rift in the pits of hell, can lead the reader to interpret why Dante used the language he did to relate the Idea of a Just and perfect punishment by God.