A Narrative Structure The Eyes to Someone Elses Life
There are many literary means, available to an author, which offer insight into a realm, which is unknown to the target audience. For an author, deciding the vehicle of expression and description is perhaps the most significant factor in the success of a literary work. Narrating allows a writer to provide personal account and persuade the reader without the use of outside facts or incidence. In “Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian,” Sui Sin Far utilizes the technique of first person narrative, in the form of flashbacks, in order to establish credibility and to invoke an emotional response from her readers. Truly, this decision offers support to the themes Far wishes to convey. By incorporating stories from her own personal experiences, Far appeals to the desire for individuality and personal identity, which we all harbor.
The first words written by Far display an imagery of looking back into her past at the moments that seem to dominate her memories. She begins the narrative with a vision of herself at the age of four. At this young age, Far remembers “the day on which [she] first learned that [she] was something different and apart from other children” (Sui Sin Far, 833). Even at this young age the word ‘“Chinese”’ (Far, 833) appears to have negative connotations, regardless of the true meaning. For the first time, but not for the last, Far has been made to see herself as less of a person than those who do not have Chinese in their blood lines. Young children are easily influenced and tend to be filled with an immense amount of curiosity. For Far, the idea of being Chinese meant nothing until her surroundings began to develop around her nationality alone.
Far manages to amplify emotions by illustrating them in a heightened sense. The use of childhood flashbacks allows the audience to experience the detrimental effects of racism and ignorance through the innocent and uniformed eyes of a young child. Adults have grown up in a cynical world and have been cultured in a society of inequality and injustice. If Far had chosen to speak of experiences of racial injustice suffered in her adult life, then the work would have far less emotional appeal on the audience.
Even with the familiarity of the two Chinese families with each other, the narrator is always “struck speechless” and feels “diminished and insignificant” in the presence of Sam Sing. When the brothers came
In every short story there is always a deeper meaning to the literature work, any author wants to communicate a multi-layered idea, to their readers, they wants their readers to connect to the short story that they are telling. The authors of these types of literature writings are able to take their readers on a journey within their writings. When a person reads these literary works, they begin to unravel and interpret the symbolic nature of the character’s journey throughout the short story. Also, the journey is
The past dictates who we are in a current moment, and affects who we might become in the future. Every decision people make in lives has an influence on future, regardless of how minimal or large it is. Some decisions people decide to make can have dire consequences that will follow them for the rest of the life. Moreover, even though if someone would want to leave any memories from past behind, however it will always be by his side. Specific memories will urge emotional responses that bring mind back to the past and person have no choose but to relieve those emotions and memories again. Nonetheless, certain events change people and make them who they are, but at the same time, some wrong choices made past haunts us. This essay will discuss the role of the past in novel Maestro, that was written by Australian author Peter Goldsworthy in 1989 and also in Tan Shaun's story Stick Figures which was included in book called "Tales from outer suburbia" and published in 2008.
Imagine feeling and looking different from all those around you. Imagine if you weren’t understood the same way as the majority. In the book “American Born Chinese”, two characters, Jin and Monkey King who went through the same situations, but in different societies. The Monkey King insight into the impact of society on Jin as they both face social exclusion through experiencing internalized racism. Further as Monkey King transforms into another character, Chin-Kee, which Jin sees as an embarrassing Chinese culture.
Searing the mind with stunning images while seducing with radiant prose, this brilliant first novel is a story of damaged lives and the indestructibility of the human spirit. It speaks about loss, about the urgency, pain and ultimate healing power of memory, andabout the redemptive power of love. Its characters come to understand the
Narratives are an important part of an essay as they create a sense of tone needed to describe a story or situation with ease. If the narrative is not correct, it can leave a false impact on the readers or viewers because it lacks the main tone of the story. Having a perfect narrative can not only enhance a story, but it can also prove evidence. In her essay, “An Army of One: Me”, Jean Twenge provides some of the best examples of how narratives enhance a story and she also emphasizes on how the tone of storytelling matters on the impact that the story would have on its readers or listeners. Apart from Twenge, Tim O’Brien also focuses on how the narrative of the story can help in understanding the truth and falsity of the story in his essay, “How to Tell a True War Story.” In addition to O’Brien, Ethan Watters also emphasizes on the narrative of cultural progress in his essay, “The Mega-Marketing of Depression in Japan”, when he talks about the anti-depressants to be sold in Japan. All three authors agree to the fact that narrative, the art of telling a story or explaining a situation, has a major impact on the story and on how it is taken by the audience.
The purpose of this essay is to analyse and compare the narrative situations proposed by Franz Stanzel in the dystopian novels Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. For this aim, I am going to focus on the aspects focalization (reflection), relationship reader-narrator, narrative distance, knowledge, and reliability and demonstrate that they affect the interpretation of the novel by readers in a significant way. In the end, I will draw conclusions on how these techniques serve to alienate the narratives from their science fiction setting to set even more disconcerting issues about human’s existence.
Moreover, Tayo's struggle to return to indigenous cultural traditions parallels Silko's own struggle as a writer who wants to integrate Native American traditions into the structure of her novel. Instead of simply following the literary conventions used by other American and European writers, Silko develops new li...
... of language and education is the most important in this story and society. The make use of two different languages in a narrative, provides a reader a perplexing yet fascinating image of characterization and customs. Multilingual story telling pushes the reader to decelerate and acquire supplemental focus on the expressions which are in the small fragments, however as soon as the reader has figured out the foreign words, he or she acquires a priceless picture of the theme of this story. The panorama of native words and phrases, cultural perceptions, and class dispute taken from the incorporation of two different languages are helpful for the reader to obtain significance that he or she couldn't gain if exclusively one language was employed in the story. Just as the power of language is applied to unveil a society, a better comprehension is provided to the reader.
Cheng writes that racial grief is then translated into social ideals by the racialized. The feelings of melancholy and being ostracized become naturalized and racial ideals that were imposed become the ideals to live up to. For example, Asians feel the need to be mathematically inclined, and tend to be apologetic if not. The single story of the smart Asian, the Asian that studies all day, thus becomes the Asian’s identity that is internalized and pursued. There is a gradual acceptance of the impossibility of attaining ‘whiteness’ – the paragon of race.
Claudia Rankine analyzes racism to its core, bringing to surface that miniscule events are just as problematic as televised ones. Her words are beautifully brutal, striking up emotions for anyone that reads it. As readers, we are taken through a journey from past to present events of racial incidents experienced by different genders and ages. Above all, Rankine provides a strong indication that racism is far from over.
Yang, Gene Luen, and Lark Pien. American Born Chinese. New York: First Second, 2006. Print.
In the story, the narrator is forced to tell her story through a secret correspondence with the reader since her husband forbids her to write and would “meet [her] with heavy opposition” should he find her doing so (390). The woman’s secret correspondence with the reader is yet another example of the limited viewpoint, for no one else is ever around to comment or give their thoughts on what is occurring. The limited perspective the reader sees through her narration plays an essential role in helping the reader understand the theme by showing the woman’s place in the world. At ...
In the story “Two Kinds”, the author, Amy Tan, intends to make reader think of the meaning behind the story. She doesn’t speak out as an analyzer to illustrate what is the real problem between her and her mother. Instead, she uses her own point of view as a narrator to state what she has experienced and what she feels in her mind all along the story. She has not judged what is right or wrong based on her opinion. Instead of giving instruction of how to solve a family issue, the author chooses to write a narrative diary containing her true feeling toward events during her childhood, which offers reader not only a clear account, but insight on how the narrator feels frustrated due to failing her mother’s expectations which leads to a large conflict between the narrator and her mother.
Eva Hoffman’s memoir, Lost in Translation, is a timeline of events from her life in Cracow, Poland – Paradise – to her immigration to Vancouver, Canada – Exile – and into her college and literary life – The New World. Eva breaks up her journey into these three sections and gives her personal observations of her assimilation into a new world. The story is based on memory – Eva Hoffman gives us her first-hand perspective through flashbacks with introspective analysis of her life “lost in translation”. It is her memory that permeates through her writing and furthermore through her experiences. As the reader we are presented many examples of Eva’s memory as they appear through her interactions. All of these interactions evoke memory, ultimately through the quest of finding reality equal to that of her life in Poland. The comparison of Eva’s exile can never live up to her Paradise and therefore her memories of her past can never be replaced but instead only can be supplemented.