The novel Nothing written by Janne Teller is nihilistic and thought provoking. The books opens with the lines “Nothing matter. I have known that for a long time. So nothing is worth doing. I just realized that.” These crisp opening lines lead the reader to ponder their own thoughts and beliefs on this matter. The novel is delves in the idea of meaning using a seventh grade class for the vessel. In this class a student has decided the world has no meaning. The other students react quite strongly to this and resolve to show this student that meaning does exist. They begin collecting things from students in their class, taking things with lots of meaning to them. This process slowly escalates and our own personal beliefs are challenged. Despite the novel being a recipient of a few different awards it is not without criticism. One rather …show more content…
After the pile of meaning is created the students then shift their focus towards getting Pierre, the student convinced the world has no meaning, to the saw mill where they kept the pile of meaning. Pierre refuses saying that “nothing matter, and nothing’s worth caring about. And that includes your pile of junk,”. The students are let down feeling themselves lose heart in their cause, but only for a little while. Through this interaction the author is trying to say that meaning cannot be imposed on another person. They pile meant everything to the group of students at this point and meant absolutely nothing to Pierre. The reader can accept that meaning to another person is meaningful even if they the reader don’t find it meaningful. Pierre is infuriating in the way that he refuses to acknowledge this point than most people living in the real world do. I think that the author did this on purpose to put emphasis on the fact that meaning is not universal and even if something means something to you another person could be completely
basic charge of this criticism can be stated in the words of a recent critic,
Other authors (all of these authors write mystery/thriller novels as well) have praised the book as well. These authors include: Karin Slaughter, Nelson DeMille, Douglas Preston, and James Patterson. This book alone has over a hundred five star reviews on Amazon. Not bad for an author just releasing his first
Though described as “dull in his invented hide” (28) by “Uncle Tom in Heaven,” Zero is actually quite complex in his desire to articulate his ideas about his brief life with Susan and his life eternal. His complexity is compounded further by his paradoxical nature, especially his simultaneous existence as a “real” man and as a fictional product of Susan Smith’s brutal imagination. As an eternal symbol of the oppressed and abused, he could be said to maintain a symbolic reality regarding the existence of external forces acting against the oppressed, stripping them of the extent of their free will.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and believe it to be one of the best books I have ever read. It was extremely well written and challenging for me to understand at times. It conveys that dark side of human ambition very well, and it has given me much to think about.
have chosen it for my report. Finally, I will give my reactions to the novel
Bressler, Charles E. Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. 5th ed. New York: Longman, 2011. Print.
Bennett, Andrew and Nicholas Royle. Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory. 2nd Edition. New York: Prentice Hall, 1999.
In the book, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, a boy named Jeremy wants to find the keys for a special box left by his late father. He meets people along the way as he’s looking for the, “Meaning of Life”, such as Mr. Rudolph and Dr.Grady. These men gave him their beliefs about the meaning of life.
If my life had no purpose, no individuality, and no happiness, I would not want to live. This book teaches the importance of self expression and independence. If we did not have these necessities, then life would be like those in this novel. Empty, redundant, and fearful. The quotes above show how different life can be without our basic freedoms. This novel was very interesting and it shows, no matter how dismal a situation is, there is always a way out if you never give up, even if you have to do it alone.
The first point of significance is that a person should never take life for granted. The book Death Be Not Proud is about a young boy and his struggles with a brain tumor. While Johnny, the young boy, was a very mature seventeen year old it is still very tragic that he did not get to live as long as most people. Many people in our society do not stop to think about the small things in life until something grave has happened. Johnny lived his life to the fullest before and after he found out about his illness. He had great aspirations for his life. He wanted to do many things with his life. He wanted to be a chemist, mathematician, physicist, poet, and a cook. Johnny did not stop with his schoolwork or his chemistry experiments unless absolutely necessary; he loved doing both. Johnny's illness was much unexpected. His parents never would have guessed that he would get as sick as he did, and could not understand why it had to be his brain. Many people thought that was the best part of Johnny. In today's society, many people become ill and the families do not understand why. Throughout the book, Johnny's father tries to understand why Johnny was the one to become ill and why it was his brain instead of his arm, for instance. Johnny never gave up on his life or the fact that he would live through the illness.
I learned from the book that a former student reconnected with his old college professoi Morrie who was diagnosed with ALS (a terminal disease). Through their reconnection, Mitch and Morrie begin to meet every Tuesdays to discuss the different problems they face and the meaning of life. Also, choosing not to live his final months in fear. Morrie meditated on life and spread his ideas in the form of short aphorisms.
...nd enjoyable. The one thing that did bug me was that Youngs does not directly tie his thesis directly to the end of the book. It would have been helpful for the reader to be able to confirm Youngs’s intention for writing the book, but since he fails to re-introduce his argument in the end, it left me questioning that intention.
Bressler, Charles E. Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. 5th ed. New York: Longman, 2011. Print.
In a great essence, John Green changed the way authors are respected in the game of writing. He managed to stabilize his popularity, capture the hearts of fans from every background, and deliver influential works of literature that top standardized goals today. Whether it be helping charities with web projects or swaying minds, Green’s inspiration continually effects the 20th century’s today.
Greiner, Rae. "The Art of Knowing Your Own Nothingness." ELA 77.44 (2010): 893-914. Project MUSE. Web. 24 Feb. 2011. .