Irvine Welsh's Marabou Stork Nightmares
Works Cited Missing
The text I have chosen to focus on is Irvine Welsh's, 'Marabou Stork
Nightmares,' as I have found it particularly interesting I comparison
to the other novels. Irvine Welsh introduces us to the wildly active,
albeit coma-beset mind of Roy Strang, whose hallucinatory quest to
eradicate the evil Marabou Stork keeps being interrupted by disturbing
memories of social and family dysfunction that brought him to this
state.
In the novel Welsh portrays Roy as an anti-hero, someone that believes
that violence is the answer when fighting to earn power and respect.
This is something that Roy that Roy believes he is entitled to as a
man, however, it is clear throughout the novel and it is also pointed
out in 'The Dark Continent of Masculinity' that Roy is, … 'under
enormous pressure to assert himself as a man.'
As mentioned previously, power is a major theme and at different
stages of the novel, different characters hold the power over others.
There is a definite sense of an ongoing pattern of abuse and that,
'every victimiser is shown to have started life as a victim." For
example, we are told in the novel that Gordon Strang's father was
sexually abusive and in turn indicates that it was the sexual abuse
that turned John into a 'nutter,' as Roy describes him, and Uncle
Gordon into the rapist of Roy. However, the extent of Gordon's sexual
abuse towards Roy is not revealed until the end of the novel. The
violent abuse from Roy's father an...
... middle of paper ...
...nston. Even though Winston
viciously attacked Roy's leg when he was just a young boy, his father
refused to put the dog down and made Roy lie about the incident. This
again shows the lack of care and respect that John had for Roy and
again could be an excuse for why he had no respect or care for others.
Since the incident with Winston Roy has always been determined to get
revenge, however when he finally kills the dog he is no longer an
aggressive young animal but an old weak creature. This is similar to
the situation with Roy and Kirsty, when she finally seeks her revenge
he is not violent and angry but rather anunleathal man in a coma.
I think the novel, despite the disturbing nature, is very interesting
especially when portraying masculinity, femininity and patriarchal
imperatives with an original and modern view.
“Hellhounds” in the Trouble in Mind by Leon Litwack: In this reading the author graphically describes lynching as punishment and deterrence for “high-falutin’” blacks. In page 292, distinctions were drawn between a “good” and “bad” lynching – depending on who executed the sentence and the atmosphere of the punishment.
... of that era. He saw that all can be corrupted by power and that no group for that reason should be better than another.
believe that he was a man of high moral standards, in fact higher than most of
...itional chances to better his behavior, but his actions at the time did not reflect that he understood what that second change meant.
he wishes he could be more honorable. It shows King Henry's lack of trust and
A narcissist is one who believes “he or she is ‘special’ and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special” people. They exploit others for their own advantage, lack empathy, and are “preoccupied with fantasies” or ideals that can be unrealistic. They believe they are the “primary importance in everybody’s life”. (“Narcissistic Personality”) Henry James’ theme in his short story, “The Beast in the Jungle”, is about a man, who is so egotistical and self-absorbed that he misses what life has to offer him, in particular, love, because of the narcissistic behavior he is doomed to live a life of loneliness and misery. John Marcher, the protagonist of “The Beast in the Jungle”, is about a narcissistic upper-class man who believes his life is to be defined by some unforetold event. He focuses only on himself and as a result, he neglects everything and everyone in his life. Marcher meets May Bartram, a woman who knows his secret, and instead of pursuing a romantic relationship with her, or even a genuine friendship, he uses her for his own benefit. Henry James utilizes a variety of literary devices to convey this theme in his story, such as the title, symbolism, dialogue, and the use of a limited third-person narrative. Henry James leaves us our first clue to the theme in the title, “The Beast in the Jungle”. When one thinks of a beast, they typically imagine something big and ferocious; Marcher’s ego was just that.
George Romero's reinvention of the zombie in night of the Living Dead (1968) is clearly a critique of elements of the American society, and the film as a whole is easily twisted into a warped view on the 'American Dream'. Themes throughout Romero’s film, dealing with controversial topics during the time that the film was made, are still, to this day debated by critics and film historians. Themes of racism and war are defined within the movie, hidden underneath the idea of carnal, cannibalistic zombies and over the top heroes who, eventually, succumb to the reanimated; despite their every effort. These themes are colored over and painted to hide beneath subtle references to the typical American Dream during this time, and Romero does quite the good job at it too. This dream, whilst continuously changing in the everyday lives of modern Americans, can be loosely defined as a national ethos of the United States, or a set of ideals dealing with freedom and the opportunity for success - an upward social status that can be achieved through hard work and effort.
He is insensitive and inconsiderate, as Vivian points out (he doesn 't consider the impact of his actions on others), and he is immature (he doesn 't stop to think of the pain that his actions could cause). He is not prepared for the responsibilities of leadership. He wants freedom without responsibility.
Idoru by william gibson is nothing less than an awe-insiring book for me. no other author that i have come across can inspire one to recreate visions of reality at the turn of every page. Gibsons books are all compelling; neuromancer (1984) needing perhaps a special mention; as this book single handedly created the cyberpunk genre, aswell as coining phrases such as "cyberspace". However, as one of his later works (1996), we are able to find within Idoru's more contempory exploration of our worlds transformation into a high density infomation-governed datasphere, an analysis of what might happen to certain aspects of humanity as technology, infomation, and a new reality converge within the global infrastructure.
and his series of new wives gave people a negative view on him as a
...o say, "I'm sorry." The leaders accepted his change in heart but they could never fully forgive him.
Throughout A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, Conor, the protagonist worries about many issues. He suffers through all the emotions he has to combat about his mother's battle with cancer. However, the greatest emotion Conor has conflict is with fear itself. He is so fearful of countless issues he has to struggle with such as the fact he might have to possibly live with his grandmother for the rest of his life, or if he might not stay with his father the way Conor would like to. Primarily what Conor suffers through the most is the fear of his own mother's health. Conor cannot handle the fact that his mother is not getting any better and her health is slowly failing. Conor has an incredible amount of conflict with his fear, he tries to hide it, pretend it is not there, but soon his fear will grow until his fear finally get hold of him. In similarity, it is like procrastinating on an assignment in some sort, when there is no time left the assignment must be done. When there is no time left Conor has to acknowledge and face the fear. Patrick Ness tries to say that, through the way Conor deals with all his fears, Ness says it is better to overcome his fears than hide them. Also, not acknowledging his fears will lead to painful internal conflict, and acknowledging fears is difficult, but facing them is for the better of Conor.
Paranoia has always been an enemy to me in the darkness. This irrational fear has accounted for many sleepless nights, and horror only fuels the fire. Yet, I am still captivated by something that produces such unpleasant results. The culprit just might be one thing-- the characteristics, events, and situations that humans all share that are the ingredients to what makes things such as emotions and ambitions exist; otherwise known as the human condition. Based on these two notions, it is safe to say that in the article “Why We Crave Horror,” Stephen King is correct in claiming that humans crave horror to display some sort of bravery, to reassure feelings of normality, and simply for the fun of it.
Caesar was a cruel yet upstanding ruler, and people should not have made assumptions about his future actions. Caesar was a man of
He sees that the nose is a state-councillor which is a higher rank than himself and he is able to discern this because of the clothes and accessories it has on. After he awakes and realizes it was all a dream he obsesses even more with appearances and status so he applies for a higher ranking position as “the post of vice-governor of a province or Government bailiff” (Gogol, 105).