In chapter 11 of the Russell text, it describes what is needed in order to create an appropriate historical fiction story. A few of those elements that I thought were the most relevant to Karen Cushman’s novel Catherine, Called Birdy were dialogue, setting, and conflict. To explain, the novel should have accurate dialogue according to the time the historical fiction is taking place. Dialogue that is difficult to understand may detract from the readers’ enjoyment of historical fiction. Occasional uses of vocabulary and grammatical structures of the past further help the reader to understand that the story is taking place during a different time period. Furthermore, there are many examples of accurate historical dialogue from Catherine, Called Birdy. For instance, when Catherine is writing in her journal she says “It is not snowing today, so I took my mare Blanchefleur for a ride through the frozen fields. I felt great need of solitude and quiet. The manor is so crowded that the privy is the only place I can be alone, and it is too cold to stay there for long” (Cushman 61). Cushman perfectly includes snippets of words that show the novel does not take place in current times. Words such as solitude, manor, and privy are simple words that show …show more content…
The text in a well written historical fiction novel should transport readers into the past as if they are in the middle of the setting. When Catherin first begins to write in her journal, she pens “what follows will be my book…of the village of Stonebridge in the shire of Lincoln, in the country of England, in the hands of God. Begun this 19th day of September in the year of Our Lord 1290…”(Cushman 2). Cushman does a wonderful job of describing the setting as her description is included in the very first pages of the novel, and it tells the exact location of the main character’s village, town, country, and the year it all takes
In the narrative poem “Cautionary Tale of Girls and Birds of Prey” the author, Sandy Longhorn, tells the story of a young girl who is afraid of a hawk, and her inconsiderate father who doesn’t take her concerns seriously. The story shows how her father is determined to get rid of her fear of the hawk, because he thinks it is both foolish and childish. The daughter very well knows the capability of the hawk, however her father doesn’t acknowledge it until it is too late. In the poem, Longhorn uses alliteration and rhyme to help explore the theme of how being inconsiderate towards others can in the end hurt you as much as it hurts them. The poem takes place on a little farm where the girl and her father live with all of their livestock.
Ethel Waters overcame a very tough childhood to become one of the most well known African American entertainers of her time. Her story, The Eye on the Sparrow, goes into great detail about her life and how she evolved from taking care of addicts to becoming the star of her own show. Ethel was born by her mother being raped at a young age. Her father, John Waters, was a pianist who played no role in Ethel’s life. She was raised in poverty and it was rare for her to live in the same place for over a year. Ethel never fit in with the rest of the crowd; she was a big girl, about five nine when she was a teenager, and was exposed to mature things early in her life. This is what helped shape Ethel to be the strong, independent woman she is.
After her grandfather’s death in 1687, 16 year-old Kit feels that she must leave and sail to the only relatives she knows of, her uncle and aunt in Wethersfield, Connecticut. She desperately travels there on a ship called the Dolphin, where she meets a gentleman named Nat. She and Nat have a very playful relationship, Nat always has a mocking grin on his face and Kit occasionally flirts with him on the boat. When she arrives in Wethersfield, Connecticut, she is taken by surprise at the dull landscape and endless fields. Kit meets her uncle, a strict and sometimes grumpy man named Matthew Wood, her aunt, a sweet and caring woman named Rachel, her cousin Judith, a picky and vain young lady who’s otherwise kind, and her other cousin Mercy, a tender and loving girl who lost one of her legs when she was young due to a fever. Judith likes a rich boy named William, but one day at church, William sees Kit in her fancy clothes and starts liking Kit. Judith then decides to go for John, a very caring young man who secretly likes Mercy. Mercy also secretly likes John. Soon, Kit is comfortable wi...
Self-acceptance is clearly determined through one’s mind set and the steps that one has or is taking in order to achieve this goal. However, this journey can be slowed by various negative forces that life consists of that one was to fight through in order to achieve the final destination of self-acknowledgement. In the novel, Birdie by Tracey Lindberg, the main character, Bernice undergoes physical, spiritual, and emotional changes that are expressed through her slow development into the person Bernice strives to be. The ultimate destination for Bernice is acceptance of her three identities; Bernice, BirdieBernice and Birdie. Bernice is a defeated and depressed women, BirdieBernice being a motivated version
Eliza Wharton has sinned. She has also seduced, deceived, loved, and been had. With The Coquette Hannah Webster Foster uses Eliza as an allegory, the archetype of a woman gone wrong. To a twentieth century reader Eliza's fate seems over-dramatized, pathetic, perhaps even silly. She loved a man but circumstance dissuaded their marriage and forced them to establish a guilt-laden, whirlwind of a tryst that destroyed both of their lives. A twentieth century reader may have championed Sanford's divorce, she may have championed the affair, she may have championed Eliza's acceptance of Boyer's proposal. She may have thrown the book angrily at the floor, disgraced by the picture of ineffectual, trapped, female characters.
Why does Harriet Bird shoot Roy Hobbs? This is the core question in the book, The Natural, by Bernard Malamud. Harriet Bird, the woman who shoots Roy Hobbs, covers less than one tenth of the book. However, she is definitely a major character since she affects Roy’s entire life. Malamud depicts Harriet as a special and mystical woman. Such portrayal creates tension throughout the novel. The suspense is formed as the author describe the costume and behaviors of Harriet Bird. The suspense draws the attention of the readers while making the novel novel more intriguing and fascinating.
• In the gym, the gym teacher announced that they were going to start a new unit. The new unit was volleyball.
Relationships are often difficult and messy, especially in the world Tayari Jones presents in her 2011 novel Silver Sparrow, chronicling the lives of the two daughters of bigamist father James Witherspoon. Jones depicts the complicated the world of Dana Yarboro the secret daughter, her father’s attempts to hide her from the prying view of the world and her refusal to stay hidden. While Chaurisse Witherspoon the public daughter James proudly presents to the world for all to see, enjoys the luxury of suburban life. Throughout the novel Jones’ character, Dana tries to reconcile how she can be part of her father’s family, but not truly a part of his life. While Chaurisse moves through the world with blissful ignorance of the secret life that lay
Another important part of the plot is Catherine and Fredricks love for each other. At the beginning they are starstruck lovers, but Henry starts to regret it. “You don’t have to pretend like you love
Jack Sparrow, alone on his own ship, arrives to a town who is not welcoming to pirates. The scene begins by a victorious Jack standing high upon his ship looking over the waters at a town. He has one hand on his hip and the air is blowing steadily behind him to create a mood of victory. Sparrow, looking down at the deck of his ship, notices that it is flooding. He jumps below to a flooded deck where he attempts to shovel the water out with a bucket; however, in amaze he notices three hanging pirates on a limb.
Clements, Victoria. Introduction. A New-England Tale. By Catharine Maria Sedgwick. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Catherine is very pleased to meet Isabella after being disappointed in not seeing Mr Tilney again. The narrator informs the reader that Catherine is fortunate in finding a friend as ‘Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.’ (p.18 NA). Isabella being the elder of the two has much more knowledge of fashionable society than Catherine and is, therefore, able to teach her a great deal about the expectations of society at that time.
settings in the story, the point of view, the tone, the dialogue, most forms of irony, and
While reading To Kill a Mockingbird, there were many aspects of the story that seemed crucial to a classic novel. It looked as though there were certain criteria a novel was to posses to be considered a classic. A novel that is a classic should present a concept that can be understood and appealing universally, have a quality of timelessness, credibility, and truthfulness, and should present an essence of value and morality.
The biographies about Jane Austen describe the facts of her life in a step-by-step manner. They tend to be repetitive since she did not leave behind a rich fabric of day-to-day life. Yet Jane Austen is known not because of the factual details of her life; she is not remembered two hundred years after her death because she had six siblings and was a wonderful aunt to her nieces and nephews. Rather, Jane Austen is remembered because of what she wrote, her "ouvre." Only through reading her literature does one get a taste of the real Jane Austen, the Jane Austen who dreamed and made plans for the future that failed to materialize. Therefore, I have attempted to describe the life of Jane Austen by interpreting her novels and picking three main characters who I feel most closely serve as her alter ego. A writer writes from his or her own experiences; only by analyzing Jane Austen's characters do we get an understanding of the true author.