Barbara Gowdy’s White Bone is a novel that is written about the perspective of a herd of elephants living in Africa. The main characters are Mud, Tall-Time, Date Bed, and Torrent. All of which develop immensely over the course of the beginning to the end of the first half of the book. The story revolves around their separate and combined journeys towards finding the white bone, a mythical bone which will lead any elephant to where they want to go in life. The story also is powered by the idea that elephants do not forget anything that happens to them in their lives, they remember everything and that if an elephant is not killed prematurely, and then in old age it will go insane and senile with so many useless memories. Being written with a third-person omniscient point of view, as reader it is easy to pick-up the thoughts and ideas of all characters. Originally it is thought that in the beginning of the book that Mud will be the only …show more content…
First she begins by writing about elephant culture, and explaining their traditions within a few pages. Then she begins to describe either a flash-back going back in one of the 4 main characters lives, or she will start to portray one Mud’s highly descriptive psychic visions. The content and theme of this book is built/revolves around the use of multiple techniques to foreshadow upcoming events. It is almost as if the author wants the readers to be able to predict what occurs within the novel. Finally the chapter will revert back to the present time of the story and will tell the tale of the herd’s journeys. This predictable writing style is actually making the book easy to understand. It is like the reader is being involved in the writing of the book, which gives the reader a better feel for the underlined/hidden messages of the
I can relate this book to my life in many ways; it was easier for me to relate to this book because were both 18 year old girls who want to live life the right way. Also I don’t want to live life trying to be like everyone else, so this was really encouraging to me. A part that helped me was the part about confidence and how important that is. Its important to have confidence in your faith because say you get in a situation you can protect your faith and stand up for what you believe. Another part that I can really apply to my life was how when people were talking about her she didn’t even beg to know. Personally whenever I hear that someone was talking about me, I really want to know what they said! This helped me to learn that why fill my brain with negativity sinful gossip, because that’s not what Jesus would do.
I think that this book sends a very important message, it tells the reader about the dangers that adolescent girls face and survive every day. It also gives many different perspectives on issues that teens face because she gives us her own opinion and also those of her patients and their parents. I think that the reason this book is so eye-opening is because it gives you the honest truth, it's not candy coated. She tells stories that really happened, and the reality of the book is one of its best qualities.
This book was brilliant. There were moments that made me laugh, moments that made me tremble in my chair, moments that made me cry, moments that melted my heart, and moments that made me want to rip my hair out at the roots. This book has it all, and it delivers it through a cold but much needed message.
...int he had before elaborating on his main idea. One thing that I really liked in the book was the beginning of the chapter Zebras and Unhappy Marriages. Diamond starts the chapter with “Domesticable animals are all alike; every undomesticable animal is undomesticable in its own way.”(Diamond 157) This sentence is based of off the famous first sentence of Tolstoy’s novel Ana Karenina. I thought that this was a clever way to start the passage and catch the reader’s attention. However, the issue I had with the book was that it was repetitive. Jared Diamond would reiterate what he had already stated earlier in the book or passage. Overall the book was well organized and well written. Jared Diamond clearly stated his thesis more than once throughout the book. He elaborated on every point he made and did a good job in convincing the reader of his standing on the topic.
In Water for Elephants, the story is told through Jacob Jankowski at two different parts in his life: twenty-three year old Jacob who is out there exploring the world and, ninety-three year old Jacob who feels like he is wasting away his life in a nursing home. Water for Elephants is Gruen’s third book, it became one of the New York Times best sellers, it’s also available in forty-four different languages and it’s now a motion picture (Sara Gruen). Throughout the novel the reader is brought through both Jacob’s happy memories and ones that he wishes he could forget which shows its impact on the reader, a sense of catharsis and its social significance.
In conclusion, the short story ‘Hills like White Elephants’ contains symbolism to a high degree. The most important of all symbolism is perhaps the "white elephant". As we all know, a white elephant is a gift that nobody wants. To correlate this to the story, the white elephant is the baby who wants to abort template hesitant.
Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills like White Elephants” tells the tale of a man and a woman, who at first might seem to be having a normal and rather dull conversation at a train station, but it is only when you look closer into what is actually being said by the characters and find the small clues that Hemingway cleverly knit into the story, that you realize how heavy the conversation actually is. Unlike many authors, Hemingway leaves it to the reader to delve deeper into the story and decipher the situation for themselves, and a seemingly simple story can become something so much more. The woman in the story is contemplating whether to stick to the life she knows or begin a brand new chapter in her life that could change her relationship with the man forever. Sometimes one’s true intentions are not always clear.
Tower shows the reader, in no uncertain terms, that he himself struggles with his emotional reaction to hunting and shooting an elephant. We see him chastise himself for his emotional reactions, desperately trying to logic his way through them. In trying to compartmentalize his own emotions, he attempts to make the readers do the same. His description of dismembering the dead elephant is one of these attempts: “As the knives flash, the animal becomes less extraordinary, less like the world’s largest land mammal and more a bricolage of familiar butcher-shop hues. The trunk is stripped of its leather, and for
...e disappeared and they now know nothing but the mask they wore to keep the natives happy. In the end the elephant wouldn't die so easily, just like oppressed countries will not die so easily to their oppressors. The oppressors must give themselves up to, “avoid looking like a fool”(699).
In the essay "Elephants, Ivory, and an indelible Experience", the author experienced a humbling experience that caused him to burn his ivory collection. Ultimately, his near death experience of being chased by the bull and the other elephants changed the authors view point about the animal itself. Hrishikesh Unni's view point changed because he realized the cruelty elephants go to in obtaining the ivory from their tusks. He also changed his view point from positive to negative on the ivory collection itself. Instead of looking at the collection from the standpoint of money value, Hrisikesh views it in the amount of life
Overall I enjoyed reading this book, I read it a few years ago in high school, but I took more from it this time and was able to apply it more to my experiences and events I have witnessed. I’m glad the novel was assigned for me to read because it really made me think about the world today and how we interact in the world. It actually brought up questions and connections that I didn’t see when I read the book years ago. This novel will always be relevant and I’m sure will be read years from now.
and those who are a special needs can read it and be happy that this book emphasises
The symbolism in this book is impeccable and lessons this book teaches are truthful and make yo...
Like the elephant, the empire is dominant. The elephant, an enormous being in the animal kingdom, represents the British Empire in its magnitude. The size represents power as it is assumed that the two are insuppressible. Also, the elephant and the British empire, both share hideousness in the effect it causes in Burma. To create a comparison between the elephant and the empire, the author describes the elephant as wild and terrorizing when the “elephant was ravaging the bazaar” (324); thus, it symbolizes the British Empire is restraining the economy of the Burmese. When the elephant kills the Indian laborer, it represents the British oppressing the Burmese. On the other hand, the elephant is a symbol of colonialism. Like the natives of Burma who have been colonized and who abuse Orwell, the elephant has a destructive behavior by being provoked and oppressed “it had been chained up” (324). Despite the fact of its aggressive behavior and the Burmese’ more astute rebelliousness could be undeniably good things, they are doing their best given the oppressive conditions, both the Burmese and the elephant have to endure. Also, the elephant symbolizes the economy of the oppressor, as well as the oppressed. This animal is a “working elephant” (326) in Burma, and for the colonial power. The Burmese are also working animals because they are hard workers and involuntarily are following the rules of the British empire.
...fascination with the animal world. Children, they are permitted to love things they do not understand. But coming to these books as an adult, and loaded down with knowledge of their author’s life, with its longings and fears, one cannot avoid reading them as fables about E.B White’s own life” (Epstein 380). Reading about the tales and adventures of animals is different to a child compared to an adult. Children are fascinated with animals, but do not understand the hidden meanings, whereas the adults do. After knowing about White’s life it is easy to understand that these three books are pieces of his life that he is telling from a different point of view, the view of animals. White’s writing is an expression of himself (Sampson 530). “Hardly any literate American has not benefitted from his humor, his nonsense, his creativity, and his engaging wisdom” (Hasley 526).