Honestly I can’t pinpoint a favorite author or story. I enjoy reading a broad spectrum of literature and have encountered a multitude of stories which have left indelible marks on my psyche, providing insights into different times, worlds and viewpoints. But after reading Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” I recalled a novella I’ve always held in high esteem. Richard Matheson’s “I am Legend”, written in 1954, has been claimed by several genres; horror, science fiction, apocalyptic and gothic. There have been four unsuccessful attempts to adapt “I am Legend” to film and it has been an inspiration for a plethora of stories and films.
“I am Legend” is difficult to read but also to put down. The utter loneliness, the sheer magnitude of hopelessness
The actor Keanu Reeves once commented, “Grief changes shape, but it never ends.” Perhaps, nowhere else is this idea of never-ending grief more prevalent than in dark romanticist Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven.” The popular eighteenth century poem follows the despondent narrator’s encounter with the Raven, the ominous bird later forces him to realize his never-ending isolation and sorrow due to the loss of his love, Lenore. In his poem, through the use of allusions and the literary devices of repetition and comparison in stanza 17, Poe explores the perpetual effects of loss.
Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Tell-Tale Heart." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 7th ed. New York: Longman, 1999. 33-37.
In Pat Mora’s “Sonrisas,” A woman tells the audience that she lives in between two worlds: her vapid office workplace and a kitchen/break-room with family members or colleagues of her same heritage. Mora includes many sensory details to enrich our understanding of the speaker’s experience in both “rooms.” The speaker is content living in the “hallway” between the two rooms because she can put on a metaphorical mask, as mentioned in Jungian psychology, which fits what is acceptable to the different social society that is in each room of her life. Adrienne Rich on the other hand, is not content with peeking her head into the doorframes of the roles she must play in order to be accepted. In her poem, “Diving into The Wreck,” she pursues, in my opinion, a form of individuation by diving into the wreck of her inner consciousness to find who she is among the wreckage of the world and its effects on her. Both Pat Mora and Adrienne Rich explore the dangers of being defined by others and the rewards of exploring different worlds.
Through the lost and lonely souls, McCullers depicts the significance of forming a god to eliminate feelings of isolation and desperation, however, confiding a god also destroys the lost soul. Besides the lonely hunters, Singer’s bond with Antonapoulos illustrates a relationship in which one relies on a god but by committing this action, destroys his self. Through communication solely with Antonapoulos, Singer really speaks to a mirror of his self.
The Shadow of the Galilean by Gerd Theissen is a fictional narrative about a Jewish merchant, Andreas, searching for information about a group of people known as Essenes, John the Baptist, and Jesus of Nazareth. While traveling through Jerusalem Andreas was imprisoned by the Romans thinking he was a part of a demonstration against Polite when his mission was to find Jesus. Andreas writes, “I never met Jesus on my travels through Galilee. I just found traces of him everywhere: anecdotes and stories, traditions and rumors. But everything that I heard of him fits together.
Some people in this world feel like they are outsiders in society. Also, there are many examples of stories, in which people and the main characters face the feeling of being neglected from society and others. The authors use figurative language, word choice and death as a way to show the narrator’s sense from being disconnected from society and the pain it causes them.
“I had been born into a raging ocean where I swam relentlessly, flailing my arms in hope of rescue, of reaching a shoreline I never sighted. Never solid ground beneath me, never a resting place. I had lived with only the desperate hope to stay afloat; that and nothing more. But when at last I wrote my first words in the page, I felt an island rising beneath my feet like the back of a whale”.
During the process of growing up, we are taught to believe that life is relatively colorful and rich; however, if this view is right, how can we explain why literature illustrates the negative and painful feeling of life? Thus, sorrow is inescapable; as it increase one cannot hide it. From the moment we are born into the world, people suffer from different kinds of sorrow. Even though we believe there are so many happy things around us, these things are heartbreaking. The poems “Tips from My Father” by Carol Ann Davis, “Not Waving but Drowning” by Stevie Smith, and “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop convey the sorrow about growing up, about sorrowful pretending, and even about life itself.
The book Ordinary Men discuss the story behind the men who were involved in the killing force of the final solution. Throughout the book one finds out that the men who were involved with these groups were no different than any other person at the time but they just got stuck in a bad situation. The Reserve Police Battalion 101 was responsible for a large amount of the mass murders that were taking place during the holocaust. The basis behind these mass murders was to fulfill the plan of the final solution. The final solution was the plan to completely wipe out anyone who was not a member of the Aryan race. The goal was to have country of all German Aryans. Although Hitler and associates were never able to completely carryout the final solution they did succeed in the murdering of millions of innocent people.
The title One Hundred Years of Solitude can be interpreted in many different ways because it has such a vague meani...
Many times people express their feelings through words others can understand but in the poem, “Lost Soul” by Brianna Alvarez, she expresses her way of feeling and thought through poetic and literary devices. There is a use of imagery and the theme to imply heartbreak, suffrage, and hopelessness. The poem express how the speaker wants to be left alone of something or someone that has hurt or is hurting them.
A couple honorable mentions go to Hatchet by Gary Paulsen and Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls. Even with all that I’ve read the number of amazing works of fiction available will never come to an end. Let’s pass on the books we love to those who are younger than we are. These books already have a legacy from the children who loved them long ago. Let’s not allow that legacy to
There is no any reason to continue my life any more. My only hope turned into my end surprisingly. While I was hoping for the end of hard life conditions of my family and me, my old heroes became tyrants and the murders of my whole life. I am not sure that these words will be read in the future by someone or not, I just wanted to tell what I have collected in my heart for four years. It is my only choice because there is no anyone to talk anymore. All people have killed! Writing this paper and baring my heart is my only solution to sleep peacefully for forever.
Auden’s lines makes it possible to read his meaning in a variety of ways. Mourning the
Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Tell-Tale Heart." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 7th ed. New York: Longman, 1999. 33-37.