Readers read for a variety of reasons, whether it be for education, pleasure, or self-prescribed therapy. The approaches to reading are endless, just as every reading experience is different for each reader. This is seen in the play, Anna in the Tropics, by Nilo Cruz. Each character listening to Anna Karenina being read is absorbing and interpreting the novel in various ways based on their life experiences. As seen in the play, reading as an escape is a very common form of reading. This reading practice is commonly used as a form of self-therapy in reality as well, though must be done in moderation so as to not become unhealthy. Escapism alleviates frustration, sadness, and stresses of everyday life, among other things. By reading as a form of escape, a reader is often making a connection to the text one is reading, be it a character, place, or situation. Both escapism and reading for connection are interrelated. Readers often search for books that they feel they will make an emotional connection with. Both Conchita and Marela in Anna in the Tropics are using the novel as an emotional escape mechanism and are also making a connection to their own lives through the text. This form of escapism is not limited to characters in fiction; readers often search for this connection when reading any written work as seen through reviews by users on the website Goodreads.com.
Sisters Conchita and Marela are listening to the novel Anna Karenina as an escape from their tedious work in the cigar factory. They each connect to the novel in their own way. Conchita relates more so to Anna Karenina’s husband, as they both have an unfaithful spouse. She says to her own husband, “Oh, I could see the husband so clear in the novel. How the thoughts would ...
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... fix for unpleasantness in an individual’s life, not a permanent solution and should be done in moderation.
As seen in Anna in the Tropics, two women listen to the same story being read and take two very different values from the novel, Anna Karenina; one woman connects to the story through personal experience and the other connects and escapes into the story itself. Though they each consider and relate to the novel in different ways, they are both using the story as a means of escape and connection. This approach to reading is very common in reality as well, as seen through bloggers’ book reviews online. There are various ways to escape into a novel and just as many ways to find a connection to characters and places within the work. Through reading, we escape into various worlds in which we often find solace. As C.S Lewis says, “We read to know we are not alone.”
Escape literature is the complete opposite of interpretive literature. Escape literature is written purely for entertainment. Escape literature takes it's reader out of the real world and into a fantasy world where everything works and happens just like we want it to. This is a world where the ending always has closure. Escapist authors hardly ever end on a bad note. They want the reader to leave the pages of their story satisfied, and having a sense of contentment. Perrine's example of escape literature is Cinderella. Cinderella's life goes from rags to riches in one night. She marries a prince and lives happily ever after. According to Perrine the most common expectations of escape literature readers are the sympathetic heroes or heroines, the suspenseful plot which one exciting event proceeds another, the resolved happy outcome, and the theme. Escape literature themes confirm the reader's previous opinions of the world. Readers of escape literature read for pleasure not to gather knowledge on how to survive in the real world.
John expresses a strong importance for reading in Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World”. In John’s perspective, reading is so important as it is the only gift his mother ever offered him, and it is the only moment they shared together. His mother was never able to show any form of affection towards him nor invest any time to spend with him. The only shared moments they had were when Linda recalled the past and told him anecdotes or taught him how to read. She also gave him the only book she had as a gift; this being the closest form of affection he has ever received from his mother.
This story focuses on the extra-marital affair a housewife named Calixta has while her husband and son are away due to a storm. Although we learn that Calixta has an affair we also know that she doesn’t completely defy the Cult of Domesticity. From the story we get the idea that she remained pure until she married her husband and as Chopin tells us in page 689 “She had not seen him very often since her marriage, and never alone,” this line suggest that even if she saw her past lover around she would not speak to him because neither of them were ever alone and they both didn’t want to disrespect their marriages. In addition Calixta seems to be a very good housewife and mother. She appears to be always tending her home. In page 689 we learn that “[sitting} at a side window sewing furiously on a sewing machine. [Calixta] was greatly occupied and did not notice the approaching storm.” She is so focused on her chores that she didn’t even notice a storm. For Calixta sewing and doing chores around the house is what is normal. She has assumed a role as a married woman and mother and she is fulfilling it. Before the affair you can say that by societies expectations she was a true woman, she kept her virginity until marriage, she makes sure her house chores are done, and she takes care of her family. Even after the affair she acts as if nothing has
In a world dominated by technology, reading novels has become dull. Instead of immersing into books, we choose to listen to Justin Bieber’s new songs and to scroll through Instagram posts. We have come to completely neglect the simple pleasures of flipping through pages and getting to finally finish a story. Sherman Alexie and Stephan King’s essays attempt to revive this interest in books that has long been lost. They remind us of the important role that reading plays in our daily lives. “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me,” for instance, demonstrates how being literate saved the narrator from the oppressive nature of society. The author explains that even though he was capable of reading complex books at an astonishingly young
Comparing their art gives birth to numerous differences and unique qualities hidden within their work and lives. Dressing For The Carnival, Homer 1877, and The Weeders, Breton 1868, are fine examples of their careers as artists. "Beyond the aesthetic merits of his work, Breton is significant as the painter whose vision of French rural life best embodies a set of late nineteenth- century ideals: the charm and wholesomeness of rustic ways, the nobility of living close to the soil, the beauty of preindustrial landscape, and the social harmony of the agrarian community." ( Sturges) Breton’s work was unique in content, painting for himself, impressing his personal values to the viewer. Although he did not fit the mold, by producing classical and historical works, there were other artists struggling with expression and values of a newer mind, artists like Winslow Homer. "While he was at work in Petersburg, it became known to a group of fine young fire-eaters that he was consorting with the blacks, and they resolved to drive him out of town as a ‘d-d nigger-painter.’ Word had come to him that the place was to be made too hot for him, but he paid no attention to the warning." ( Hendricks) Both Breton and Homer were leaders for impressionism, however, the two works mentioned above vary greatly. Both artists focused on similar subject matter, figures in a scene or landscape. However a closer observation of specific images, narrative, symbols, sources, and process divide the two pieces to separate sides of late eighteen hundreds paintings.
In the library she would alternate what types of books they would read. Whenever she would read to him she would read in a way that made you cling to every word the author wrote. In times like these, Rodriguez would become engaged in these books. “I sat there and sensed for the very first time some possibility of fellowship between reader and writer, a communication, never intimate like that I heard spoken words at home convey, but nonetheless personal.” (Rodriguez 228). During this part of Rodriguez’s life, his view towards books changed.
For many people, literature provides a different way of seeing the world and of thinking about our own lives as we vicariously experience the lives of other people through the reading experience. After reading these three novels, there are many things I have learned from them and I can strongly relate to many aspects of these novels using my personal life. Many things that happen throughout the life of a person can ironically be the exact same thing that is in a novel. Many times the answers to the problems of the person can be shown in the story or through the characters.
Elena Poniatowska escrita durante una epoca de cambio en Mexico. Antes de sus obras las mujeres mexicanas eran sometidos, docil, y pasivo. En la tiempo de sus obras las mujeres estaba tratando salir de los estereotipos de antes. Esta problema social tomo un afecto en Elena. Aunque ella no viene de un movimiento literatura directamente, ella escrita con el concepto de compremetido. En su narrative El Recado ella crea un mujer estereotipical que no puede controlar sus emociones. La titula es eso porque ella viene a ver su amante, pero el no esta, asi ella escribe las cosas que sentia. La perspectiva es de un personaje y ella nunca interacta con otros personajes. En facto la unica descripcion de un personaje otro de la protagonista es de su amante Martin. Habla de otros personajes, pero solamente de sus acciones. Porque ellas es la unica perspectiva que tenemos es sencillo a sentar compasion para una protagonista de quien nombre no aun sabemos. Ella da la descripcion de toda que vea, y mas importante todo que se sienta. Tambien tropos y figuras retoricas dan un tono significante al poema. Estos sentimientos de la portagonista y el tono emocional de la narrativa transporta una tema de una mujer estereotipical y debil quien quiere ser reconocido.
In the opening of both the play and the novel we are introduced to the two main female characters which we see throughout both texts. The authors’ styles of writing effectively compare and contrast with one another, which enables the reader to see a distinct difference in characters, showing the constrictions that society has placed upon them.
The stories Remembering My Childhood on the Continent of Africa and Self-Discovery and the Danish Way of Life are easily comparable. The narrators of both stories write about a time in which they are experiencing a different culture. They also write about their yearnings for self-discovery through exotic experiences. The viewpoints, however, of each writer are at opposite ends of the spectrum. In Self-Discovery and the Danish Way of Life, the narrator writes about his international experiences while studying abroad in Denmark. On the other hand, in Remembering My Childhood on the Continent of Africa, the narrator never actually visits Africa. Instead, he figuratively visits the continent through the experiences of another person. These stories may appear to be similar because of the comparable aspirations of the narrators. However, they are also different with respect the narrators’ unique viewpoints on life.
Some people think that if they could only change one aspect of their lives, it would be perfect. They do not realize that anything that is changed could come with unintended consequences. “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs and “The Third Wish” by Joan Aiken both illustrate this theme. They demonstrate this by granting the main character three wishes, but with each wish that is granted, brings undesirable consequences. The main idea of this essay is to compare and contrast “The Monkey’s Paw” and “The Third Wish.” Although the “The Monkey’s Paw” and “The Third Wish” are both fantasies and have similar themes, they have different main characters, wishes, and resolutions.
Tolstoy shows Anna as an equally loving mother and wife. Yet soon she meets Vronsky, and another element is added to her character. Anna’s romantic love and the love towards her child are the two great feelings that start out and remain forever separate for her. With Vronsky she presents herself as a lover, and with Karenin ...
The Oblonsky family of Moscow is under a large amount of stress due to adultery. Dolly Oblonskaya has found out her husband, Stiva, is having an affair with their children’s former governess, and seriously considers divorcing him. Stiva is slightly regretful, but is none the less trying to maintain his composure. Stiva’s sister Anna Karenina arrives at the Oblonsky estate to act as a mediator.
The novel, Anna Karenina, parallels its heroine's, Anna Karenina, moral and social conflicts with Constantin Levin's internal struggle to find the meaning of life. There are many other underlying themes which links the novel as a whole, yet many critics at the time only looked upon its critical view of Russian life. Henry James called Tolstoy's novels as "loose and baggy monsters' of stylessness, but Tolstoy stated of Anna Karenina ".....I am very proud of its architecture--its vaults are joined so that one cannot even notice where the keystone is." That is absolutely correct, because within Anna Karenina, there exists many themes that are all linked together to create such a wonderful piece of work. Critics tend to miss the role that the theme of life and death plays in Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. Despite its apparent meanings, these two themes are intertwined in the novel and provides a backbone for some of the other existing themes. With a masterful touch, Tolstoy is able to use these two themes to show the characters in their true forms at both stages. The characters are shown to be living in a state of delusion, and as the characters find themselves at times of near death situations or on their deathbed, they are able to reveal themselves truthfully.
The short stories “Souls Belated” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” have in common ‘Marriage’ as main theme. However, the marriage is treated quite differently in both short stories. In "Souls Belated", Lydia chooses to take control of her destiny, to deviate from conventions and to choose what is good for her. She is the strongest character of the couple. Whereas, in "The Yellow Wallpaper", the name of the main character who is also the narrator of the story is not known. She is identified as being John’s wife. This woman, contrary to Lydia in "Souls Belated" is completely locked up in her marriage. This essay will first describe and compare the characters of Lydia and John's wife in the context of marriage, and then it will look at how marriage is described, treated and experienced by couples in these two short stories.