Literary Devices Used to Communicate Themes in Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee Introduction As one among the most prominent South African authors, J. M. Coetzee’s work gives a post-modern engagement. The underlying theme is the effect of the expansionist European process and its ultimate dissolution. His writing style appears allegorical. His work shows his preference for open-mindedness as well as sudden truncations and interventions by the author. He uses many literary devices in his book Disgrace (Behr 15). Symbolism In Disgrace, man’s best friend plays a pivotal role, mostly when David relocates to the country. Superficially, they are characters in the book. There are some dogs cared for by Lucy in her house, such as Katy, who is a bulldog. These dogs have names as well as character traits. When the reader looks carefully at the animals, they are more than just average dogs. Coetzee repeats the image of dogs to stress his book’s …show more content…
Coetzee’s writing is simple and concise. However, beneath that simplicity, there are very complicated emotions and ideas. Other than his actual writing style, Coetzee has two core characteristics. First, Disgrace takes place in the present tense. As such, it pulls the reader to the events happening at the present moment. Whether David thinks deeply or experiences the surrounding world with a lot of panics, the reader is with David from the beginning to the end. Another quality in Coetzee’s book is that it contains a scholarly inclination. As a well-educated man, Coetzee’s work shows minuscule reference in that regard. The content of Disgrace displays the bewildering level of content that he has not only read, but also researched. He absorbs the material that he collected during his career as a scholar and as a writer. The fact that the book contains pithiness, bookishness and immediacy ensure that it is unique, compulsive and thought-provoking for the
In The Scarlet Letter, author Nathaniel Hawthorne efficiently conveys his purpose to the audience through the use of numerous rhetorical devices in his novel. Two such rhetorical strategies Hawthorne establishes to convey his purpose of informing the audience of valuable life lessons in The Scarlet Letter are characterization and the theme of duality.
Six million Jews died during World War II by the Nazi army under Hitler who wanted to exterminate all Jews. In Night, Elie Wiesel, the author, recalls his horrifying journey through Auschwitz in the concentration camp. This memoir is based off of Elie’s first-hand experience in the camp as a fifteen year old boy from Sighet survives and lives to tell his story. The theme of this memoir is man's inhumanity to man. The cruel events that occurred to Elie and others during the Holocaust turned families and others against each other as they struggled to survive Hitler's and the Nazi Army’s inhumane treatment.
The injustices and positively atrocious treatment of Elie and the other Jews became a clear corollary to Elie’s understanding of justice. His knowledge, as the author and protagonist, shapes the entire basis of his memoir Night. As Elie worked to survive Birkenau, Auschwitz, and Burma his view of justice changed the perspective he had on life. This understanding and viewpoint influences a reader’s comprehension and analyzation of Night. As Elie matures, his concept of justice and his understanding of the lack of equity shown by Hitler and the Nazi leaders towards the Jews matures greatly, causing him successfully to find the injustice in the concentration camps.
In Elie Wiesel’s Night, he recounts his horrifying experiences as a Jewish boy under Nazi control. His words are strong and his message clear. Wiesel uses themes such as hunger and death to vividly display his days during World War II. Wiesel’s main purpose is to describe to the reader the horrifying scenes and feelings he suffered through as a repressed Jew. His tone and diction are powerful for this subject and envelope the reader. Young readers today find the actions of Nazis almost unimaginable. This book more than sufficiently portrays the era in the words of a victim himself.
In “The Pardoner’s Tale,” Geoffrey Chaucer masterfully frames an informal homily. Through the use of verbal and situational irony, Chaucer is able to accentuate the moral characteristics of the Pardoner. The essence of the story is exemplified by the blatant discrepancy between the character of the storyteller and the message of his story. By analyzing this contrast, the reader can place himself in the mind of the Pardoner in order to account for his psychology.
“As a writer of fiction Böll was interpreting history, creating patterns of meaning, ordering his material to enable his reader to make sense of it.” The experiences of Böll and his values that arose from these events have been influential on the content and themes of Böll’s novel, The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum. Böll experienced both the first and second world wars and the effects that these wars had on German society. Events such as the economic collapse in Germany post WWII, the construction of the Berlin Wall, the rise of student based urban terrorism in West Germany in the 1970’s and the increasing state controls to contain such alleged threats can be seen to influence the issues explored in The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum. The novel is a comment on the press and the law, the labyrinth of social truth, the collision of fact and fiction and the power of language. Böll himself experienced the press first hand and this along with the experiences of Professor Bruckner, form the basis of his criticism directed at the powerful and hegemonic structures in society, in particular in relation to the police and the press and their corrupt relationship in the novella. Many of Heinrich Böll s views and attitudes, resulting form his context, are clearly visible in the novella through the portrayal of certain characters in positive or negative lights. The historical, social, economic and political context of Böll and West Germany at this time (1900’s) had a considerable effect on the issues Böll delves into in The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum and greatly affected my understanding of the novel.
Many times in life things are not as they seem. What may look simple on the surface may be more complicated deeper within. Countless authors of short stories go on a journey to intricately craft the ultimate revelation as well as the subtle clues meant for the readers as they attempt to figure out the complete “truth” of the story. The various authors of these stories often use different literary techniques to help uncover the revelation their main characters undergo. Through the process of carefully developing their unique characters and through point of view, both Edith Wharton and Ernest Hemingway ultimately convey the significant revelation in the short stories, “Roman Fever” and “Hills Like White Elephants” respectively. The use of these two literary techniques is essential because they provide the readers with the necessary clues to realize the ultimate revelations.
Cesaire’s Discourse of Colonialism is about his perspective of colonialism and everything tied to it, but for the purpose of this paper I will focus on how he characterizes the Nazi’s. One quote that describes his main point is
After exploring the backgrounds of Joseph Conrad and Alan Paton, we realize the differences in their upbringings and how that may have had an effect on their outlooks of Africa. These authors grew up in completely different settings in completely different time periods; Joseph Conrad in a predominantly white area amongst those who would be the colonists of Africa in the future, and Alan Paton in the Africa itself amongst those who the colonization affected most greatly. These factors contribute to the different viewpoints that are apparent in their respective works. From analyzing the content of their writings, it is apparent that, although, both authors have the same overall opinion of colonialism, these opinions are due to two very different reasons.
Literary; associated with literary works or other formal writing; having a marked style intended to create a particular emotional effect. Term; a word or phrase used to describe a thing or to express a concept, especially in a particular kind of language or branch of study. Device; a thing made or adapted for a particular purpose. Literary terms/devices is defined as the typical structures used by writers in their works to convey his or her messages in a simple manner to the readers. When employed properly, the different literary devices help readers to appreciate, interpret and analyze a literary work. Hello, I am Miya Cole and today I will explain to you my four literary terms/devices.
The tragedies of the holocaust forever altered history. One of the most detailed accounts of the horrific events from the Nazi regime comes from Elie Wiesel’s Night. He describes his traumatic experiences in German concentration camps, mainly Buchenwald, and engages his readers from a victim’s point of view. He bravely shares the grotesque visions that are permanently ingrained in his mind. His autobiography gives readers vivid, unforgettable, and shocking images of the past. It is beneficial that Wiesel published this, if he had not the world might not have known the extent of the Nazis reign. He exposes the cruelty of man, and the misuse of power. Through a lifetime of tragedy, Elie Wiesel struggled internally to resurrect his religious beliefs as well as his hatred for the human race. He shares these emotions to the world through Night.
To begin, Steinbeck’s foreshadowing throughout the plot to reveal the element of cruelty. On example of foreshadowing is when Crooks, Lennie and Candy are in Crooks’ room and Curley’s wife walks in asking if they have seen Curley. In response, Candy replies, “You gotta husban’. You got no call foolin’ aroun’ with other guys, causin’ trouble” (77). In this instance, Steinbeck foreshadows Curley’s wife eventually causing trouble. This shows the cruelty in human nature because Curley’s wife is not innocently talking to the men, she is purposefully causing a row on the ranch. The next example of foreshadowing in the novel is when Candy’s dog is killed. Carlson says to Candy, “Look Candy. This ol’ dog jus’ suffers hisself all the time. If you was to take him out and shoot him right in the back of the head-“ (45). Throughout the plot, the reader can see the parallels in the relationships between Candy and his dog and Lennie and George. The dog and Lennie are both nuisances due to their handicaps. The cruelty lies in the fate that awaits characters like Lennie and Candy’s dog; they are killed because they are no...
Human nature is a conglomerate perception which is the dominant liable expressed in the short story of “A Tell-Tale Heart”. Directly related, Edgar Allan Poe displays the ramifications of guilt and how it can consume oneself, as well as disclosing the nature of human defense mechanisms, all the while continuing on with displaying the labyrinth of passion and fears of humans which make a blind appearance throughout the story. A guilty conscience of one’s self is a pertinent facet of human nature that Edgar Allan Poe continually stresses throughout the story. The emotion that causes a person to choose right from wrong, good over bad is guilt, which consequently is one of the most ethically moral and methodically powerful emotion known to human nature. Throughout the story, Edgar Allan Poe displays the narrator to be rather complacent and pompous, however, the narrator establishes what one could define as apprehension and remorse after committing murder of an innocent man. It is to believe that the narrator will never confess but as his heightened senses blur the lines between real and ...
Guilt and shame haunt all three of the main characters in The Scarlet Letter, but how they each handle their sin will change their lives forever. Hester Prynne’s guilt is publicly exploited. She has to live with her shame for the rest of her life by wearing a scarlet letter on the breast of her gown. Arthur Dimmesdale, on the other hand, is just as guilty of adultery as Hester, but he allows his guilt to remain a secret. Instead of telling the people of his vile sin, the Reverend allows it to eat away at his rotting soul. The shame of what he has done slowly kills him. The last sinner in this guilty trio is Rodger Chillingworth. This evil man not only hides his true identity as Hester’s husband, but also mentally torments Arthur Dimmesdale. The vile physician offers his ‘help’ to the sickly Reverend, but he gives the exact opposite. Chillingworth inflicts daily, mental tortures upon Arthur Dimmesdale for seven long years, and he enjoys it. Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth are all connected by their sins and shame, but what they do in regards to those sins is what sets them apart from each other.
...eels for having a sexual relationship with a much older man whose manners disgust her to come to an end. Disgrace does not come from himself because of his sexual desires but rather in the eyes of others who humiliate his actions, such as Melanie cleans herself of him and tries to escape the real situation while having encountered. According to Melanie’ s situation, David remains the still and though he knows that it is unethical for his social potion, does not apologize for the desires and the relationship which has brought him great pleasure and desire.