Scar Vegas, written by Tom Paine, is a book compiled of 10 unusual short stories that gesture toward a deeper understanding of reality. Almost all the stories can be viewed as variations on the theme of how the `powerful' (different perspective of power within each individual character) oppress the weak and while doing this, Tom Paine often relates to the uneasy moments when two cultures collide.
These `themes' are apparent in "General Markman's Last Stand," about a retiring Marine commander stealing a bra from the local Post Exchange. In the story the general's fetish, I feel, is paradoxically made to stand for his humanity, whereas those who ridicule his weakness come off as brutal. This situation may have been an exaggerated form relating to the parts of the American culture that are unable to accept different points of view or lifestyles.
Will You Say Something, Monsieur Eliot? is about a wealthy American whose yacht is wrecked in a storm during a single-handed sail. After drifting with part of his mast for days, he is picked up by a boat full of Haitians whose sails have been destroyed by the storm. They are ecstatic to learn that Eliot is a rich American because they are naïvely certain that with him aboard they will all be rescued under orders from the president of the United States. But when a helicopter finally arrives, the Americans only take Eliot away and the Haitians are left to go on drifting, fate unknown. Showing us how people have the conception that Americans are powerful.
"The Hotel on Monkey Forest Road," is about two best friends, Andrew and Sherm who are assigned to build a hotel complex on Bali. After spending some time in Bali with his new stewardess girlfriend, Andrew goes "l...
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...ut we know he doesn't have many close relationships. `Dude' is considered very weak in this story, while they are traveling they are targeted, not even because they were driving a stolen vehicle, but because of how they looked and dressed.
Society tends to judge people unfairly based on how they look, and after one of `Dudes' transformations into a normal suburban kid, people changed their perspective, even though he was the same person inside. The colliding cultures in this story were the anarchists and the `normal' people judging and protesting them. The collision in this story was actually physical. No matter what perspective you had while reading this story, it really made you think about the many different sides of people. I think that being able to relate this so closely to situations that I see everyday, is one of the reasons I enjoyed this story so much.
The book opens "Nous sommes tours Sauvages," which translates to "We are all Savages." It's a fitting way to begin a book chronicling the story of Major Robert Rogers and his rangers journey, Native American slaughter, and return home. In White Devil: A True Story of War, Savagery, and Vengeance in Colonial America, author Stephen Brumwell depicts a well researched, unbiased image of: war, hardship, courage, savagery, vengeance, and survival. Brumwell wants to show his readers an image of the true nature of war and all the trimmings that goes along with it. There has never been a war where atrocities were not committed. Further more, there has never been a war where the atrocities were not committed by all sides, to one extent or another. This war was no different. This compelling read draws from a broad range of primary sources, including Rogers' Journals, contemporary newspaper accounts, the letters and remembrances of Rogers' surviving Rangers, and several generations of Abenaki oral history.
As mentioned before numerous times, the story takes place in high school. High school is a very confusing place, which undoubtedly represents growing up. As Scott states, “I spotted more freshman. Familiar faces from Tom Paine Middle School, looking like Easter eggs in their new clothes” (9). This shows how everyone is ready for change, by dressing up in their nice clothes, even though they have no idea what is coming their way. As for Scott, all he needs are tips in the new environment of high school, “Tips about high school would have been nice, too. Today would have been so much easier if I’d had advice from someone who’d already been there” (29). When one is growing up it is common to want advice and tips, and especially in high school. Finally, the setting of high school has many, many, many scenarios that can relate to growing up. Specifically, when it comes to people's confidence about high school, “ ‘High school,’ Mouth said, staggering to the side as someone pushed him out of the way. ‘Here we come. This is going to be great. We’re going to rule this place.’ Wrong, Mouth. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong” (14). As you can see both Mouth and Scott have different views towards high school, which chow show different people deal with change different ways. In the final analysis, it is obvious that the setting of the story, which is high school, helps create the overall meaning of the story.
“California is a story. California is many stories.” But whose story is heard? What stories are forgotten? In the memoir, Bad Indians, Native American writer and poet Deborah A. Miranda constructs meaning about the untold experiences of indigenous people under the colonial period of American history. Her memoir disrupts a “coherent narrative” and takes us on a detour that deviates from the alleged facts presented in our high school history books. Despite her emphasis on the brutalization of the Indigenous people in California during the colonization period, Miranda’s use of the Christian Novena, “Novena to Bad Indians,” illustrates an ‘absurd’ ironic stance amidst cruelty and violence. The elocution of the Novena itself, and the Christian
Cormac McCarthy's brilliant descriptions of the landscape of the desert southwest in Blood Meridian can be seen to have a dual purpose. In one sense they are the lone highlight of a novel filled with gruesome realities. In analyzing the setting's features and connections to the novel's plot and theme, the reader can see that the setting is an element vital in plausibility of the plot and the understanding of the novel's underlying meaning.
The way they hold themselves with contorted stature gives away that they are able to corrupt peace. The shorter man in the white shirt with a black flag symbol on it shows that he may be ignorant to what his shirt represents. His shirt stands for anarchism, a political statement that wants stateless societies that are self-governed (Marshall 4). Anarchism is dealt with in harmful ways back when is first began in the mid 1800s. The symbol on the shirt the boy is wearing represents the time when anarcho-punk bands joined anarchism and made the circle with an ‘a’ through it a national symbol. The girl on the other hand, on the far right hand side, portrays risqué attire. With a cut off shirt and what looks like patched up clothing, can show a lack of respect for ones body. The boy who has his arm around her, looks similar in attire. It shows that he is not wearing a shirt and only a jacket. He looks like he is want-to-be band boy. The boy on the left side has hands raised looking as if he is trying to scare the mother, and by the look on the mothers face, the boy has succeeded. These kids aren’t helping make socialization a good thing what so
...e of reality, seizes the pleasures in their lives and portrays a loss of freedom. Both their perfect worlds were full of lies and instead of shielding its inhabitants from evil they gave individuals no rights of their own. What appeared in the beginning as a perfect utopian society was actually an imperfect dystopian environment.
“What You Pawn I Will Redeem,” by Sherman Alexie gives readers a look at the life of homeless, easygoing, middle aged Native American, Jackson Jackson. The story, which is set in Seattle, describes the conditions that Jackson finds himself in. Alexie’s choice of motifs emphasizes the significance of cultural and historical references. With these concepts in mind, the reader is taken through a journey of self-realization. “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” narrates the internal struggle Jackson feels trying to figure out his personal identity as a Native American.
Themes: While each chapter acts as its own separate theme for the text, there are themes inside of the chapters that are apparent as the reader works their way through the text. One of these themes is identity. Many soldiers identified as Christians and that Christianity was challenged when they were forced to kill enemies and faith was shaken by the overwhelming cruelty and death. In response to this, there were soldiers that would dress as Native Americans, people whom they viewed as savage, before/after killing, because they could then identify with their more savage side (37).
Backpack Literature defines theme as “the general point or truth about human beings that may be drawn from” a story. Most novels do not have one single theme, but instead have many themes spread throughout. Some of the themes may be related but others can come from opposite ends of the spectrum. The Great Gatsby has several themes that are related such as greed, lust, and selfishness. One of the themes that stood out to me was that some people will never be fully satisfied. This is demonstrated by Jay Gatsby’s continuous us of illegal activities to make more money to impress Daisy, by Tom Buchanan’s affair with a mechanic’s wife even though he was already married, and by Jay Gatsby constantly throwing parties to try and win Daisy back after
The opening paragraph of the story contains a metaphorical passage: "I stared at it in the swinging light of the subway car, and in the faces and bodies of the people, and in my own face, trapped in the darkness which roared outside"(349). This reference is significant because it is a contrast to the dismal society that the narrator and his brother Sonny live in. The darkness is the portrayal of the community of Harlem that is trapped, in their surroundings by physical, economic, and social barriers. The obvious nature of darkness has overcome the occupants of the Harlem community. The narrator, an algebra teacher, observes a depressing similarity between his students and his brother, Sonny. This is true because the narrator is fearful for his students falling into a life of crime and drugs, as did his brother. The narrator notes that the cruel realities of the streets have taken away the possible light from the lives of his brother and his students. The narrator makes an insightful connection between the darkness that Sonny faced and the darkness that the young boys are presently facing. This is illustrated in the following quote:
Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. The story “Battle Royal” by Ralph Ellison displays a few specific themes through the story which are easy to depict. A few themes from this story are, first racism and finding his self identity, then the danger of fighting stereotype with stereotype, and last blindness. These themes play an important role in the story to better help the reader understand it.
Throughout an individual’s life-time, he/she has a vision as o what his/her should be. But when things do not go as planned and the unexpected occurs, does that person face it, or run away? In “An Act of Vengeance” by Isabel Allende, running away is not an option at well. Through the usage of plot, character and irony, Allende illustrates the cost of war.
“The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell and “The Child By Tiger” by Thomas Wolfe are two short stories that have completely different plots, but have many similarities that relate them. Both stories deal with unexpected killers and have a twist that surprises the audience. These pieces make use of foreshadowing and address discrimination, but the characterizations of the protagonists are very different and they affect the readers in distinctive ways.
Louise Erdrich’s short story “American horse” is a literary piece written by an author whose works emphasize the American experience for a multitude of different people from a plethora of various ethnic backgrounds. While Erdrich utilizes a full arsenal of literary elements to better convey this particular story to the reader, perhaps the two most prominent are theme and point of view. At first glance this story seems to portray the struggle of a mother who has her son ripped from her arms by government authorities; however, if the reader simply steps back to analyze the larger picture, the theme becomes clear. It is important to understand the backgrounds of both the protagonist and antagonists when analyzing theme of this short story. Albetrine, who is the short story’s protagonist, is a Native American woman who characterizes her son Buddy as “the best thing that has ever happened to me”. The antagonist, are westerners who work on behalf of the United States Government. Given this dynamic, the stage is set for a clash between the two forces. The struggle between these two can be viewed as a microcosm for what has occurred throughout history between Native Americans and Caucasians. With all this in mind, the reader can see that the theme of this piece is the battle of Native Americans to maintain their culture and way of life as their homeland is invaded by Caucasians. In addition to the theme, Erdrich’s usage of the third person limited point of view helps the reader understand the short story from several different perspectives while allowing the story to maintain the ambiguity and mysteriousness that was felt by many Natives Americans as they endured similar struggles. These two literary elements help set an underlying atmos...
The idiom “revenge is sweet” appears so frequently that one might think the cliché is true, yet the nature of revenge is far more complex and may leave more bitterness in its wake. The cyclical nature of revenge and man’s inhumanity to man means it has a propensity to intensify and devastate the people in its wake including the inflictor. Gabriel García Márquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold and Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits examine the theme of the nature of revenge through the presence and significance of prominent characters seeking revenge in both Latin American novels.