Snow lures readers into the distant land of Turkey. A country rampant with poverty and political turmoil. While snow drifts into every chapter of the novel, our heroine, Ka, relates his emotions and ideas with snow. Snow represents the good and bad emotions Ka encounters during his short stay in Kars. The endless snow surrounding Kars is a nuisance to the inhabitants of the city, but to Ka the sight of pure white snowflakes falling from the winter sky reminds him of God. Snow can epitomize some of the darkest and saddest emotions man can have. Orhan shrewdly uses snow to not only paint Ka's thoughts, but also illustrate the dark feeling abused citizens have against their heartless government.
Even though this book is based in the early 1990's, the issues addressed in the novel are very relevant today. Currently, Turkey is struggling economically and politically. The Islamic party grows ever stronger, while the Liberal Party attempts to suppress the Islamic religion and westernize Turkey. "Tension between the secularism" (Updike) and "rise of political Islam"(Updike) show the ever growing instability of the country's government. In his late twenties, Ka left Turkish politics and media, and exiled himself to Germany for twelve years to pursue happiness in poetry, and after many years of seclusion, Ka returns to Turkey to attend his mother’s funeral. After arriving into his hometown, Kars, for an investigation, a snowstorm hits the city and traps Ka. Secretly, Ka is pleased and excited to finally be able to return to his homeland, but small eruptions of fear swallow Ka's mind while he watched the unrelenting snowstorm harass his bus ride. As Ka ponders the snow that is quickly blocking his exit, Ka remembers the excruciatingly ha...
... middle of paper ...
...iolence and failure as the blizzard produced by illiberality and indecision.
Pamuk's modesty as a writer, his refusal to write as if he knows what is happening, is one of his finest qualities. There are episodes in this novel--such as the conversation in a coffee shop between the director of the education institute and his assassin about the state's banning of head-scarves--that illuminate the confrontation between secular and extremist Islamic worlds better than any work of nonfiction I can think of.
One of Ka's interlocutors, a theologian named Blue, complains that because the country has fallen under the spell of the west, it has forgotten its own stories. This may be true. But Pamuk shows decisively that the European novel (here superbly translated by Maureen Freely) remains a form, and a freedom, for which we have reason to be thankful.
Evans, Julian
Joyce’s intentions of the snow will forever be open to interpretation, however it is reasonably evident that his intentions of the snow provide the reader with a symbol used to depict the unification and vulnerability of humanity. It is the snow that first showcases Gabriel’s dominant and superficial personality, and reciprocates itself as it serves as reasoning for the epiphany that illuminated his flawed humility.
The snow storm that citizens of Amity Harbor endured and last throughout Kabuo Miyamoto’s murder trial was used symbolically. The snow storm represents the tensions t...
Critics have already begun a heated debate over the success of the book that has addressed both its strengths and weaknesses. The debate may rage for a few years but it will eventually fizzle out as the success of the novel sustains. The characters, plot, emotional appeal, and easily relatable situations are too strong for this book to crumble. The internal characteristics have provided a strong base to withstand the petty attacks on underdeveloped metaphors and transparent descriptions. The novel does not need confrontations with the Middle East to remain a staple in modern reading, it can hold its own based on its life lessons that anyone can use.
In life many obstacles may appear. Whether it be the death of a loved one, or a bad grade on an important test. No matter how tragic or simple they may seem, all people endure hardships. At times, it might feel like there is no hope for life to get better. Danticat proves that there is hope. She poetically provides a looking glass into the lives of struggling Haitians. While expressing how damaged these people are through the stories staged in Haiti, she still creates optimism. Throughout the novel Krik? Krak!, Edwidge Danticat illustrates that beauty and hope can still be found in severe and dire circumstances.
After hearing of her diagnosis, the narrator travels from his residence in “California to New York” where his mother lives (3). Staring out of his airplane window, he noticed a change in the scenery. The “mountains giving away to flatlands” is used to not only describe the scenery, but how his life is changing (3). He will no longer be living a lavish life in California, but a depressing one that would “bring tears to his eyes” (22-23). He got a “sense of slippage” at the thought of losing his mother (3). When he finally arrived to his parent’s residence, the narrator was greeted with “brittleness and frost” (4). The author uses these two words with a cold denotation to describe more than just the weather on Long Island (4). Brittleness and frost are utilized to display the narrator’s feeling, as well as the theme of the book. The weather wasn’t the only thing the narrator noticed when he entered his parent’s town. His mother's actions caught his attention as well. When she held his hand, he again felt a sense of slippage (9). It mirrored the sensation he experienced on the airplane. His mom is slipping out of his hands, while life
Since September 11, 2001, the Western world’s view of the Middle East, specifically countries like Iraq or Afghanistan, has shifted drastically. Whenever the media portrays the Middle East, they manage to spin a story negatively or violently. Due to these extrinsic influences, the youngest generation of Americans has never known an America that did not express at least some hatred toward certain parts of the Eastern world. Novels like The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini strive to encourage a healthy interest in Afghanistan and the Middle East while breaking the stereotypes that westerners have come to accept as fact about the culture and religion of Afghanistan. Hosseini manages to conjure a universal story line with relatable characters that introduce the world to the everyday people of postcolonial Afghanistan. On a grander scale, in The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini utilizes his own life experiences alongside his firsthand account of the contemporary history of Afghanistan to craft a novel that breaks down these negative stereotypes and offers a significant contribution to Afghan American literature.
Khaled Hosseini, author of A Thousand Splendid Suns, is indisputably a master narrator. His refreshingly distinctive style is rampant throughout the work, as he integrates diverse character perspectives as well as verb tenses to form a temperament of storytelling that is quite inimitably his own. In his novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, he explores the intertwining lives of two drastically different Afghani women, Lailia and Mariam, who come together in a surprising twist of fate during the Soviet takeover and Taliban rule. After returning to his native Afghanistan to observe the nation’s current state amidst decades of mayhem, Hosseini wrote the novel with a specific fiery emotion to communicate a chilling, yet historically accurate account of why his family was forced to flee the country years ago.
Have you ever seen snow before? That white fluffy stuff that covers the ground completely. Well if you have, I am sure you have overcome an obstacle in your life and have reached something “irreplaceable and beautiful” (102). Just like Sister Zoe had said when she saw that snow falling from the sky. This story was very enlightening because the way the author brought in herself and portrayed herself through the character Yolanda was very intriguing. She brought the subject to life in many ways. However, the author of “Snow” uses two specific elements, its symbolism and its character to prove how overtime one individual will be able to overcome obstacles. Not only does theses elements point this out but the narrator also makes an impact of the reader as well.
“Let It Snow” by David Sedaris is a short story that magnifies the extent in which children might go in order to grab the attention of their parents. It is simply short and it is full imagination that would help the reader what it feels to be a child. Sedaris first gives the reader a sense of imagery when he describes the snow storm that cancels school for him and his sisters. After the reader begins to reread he/she might think that the story will be about a snow day but it takes a sharp turn. The story focuses on the hurt and neglect in which the Sedaris and his siblings went through with their drunken mother with the absence of their father. After being kicked out into the cold by their mother, the children are left to think about their relationship with their parents that has been left in the cold. The writer begins to express his feelings towards his parents, especially his mother by providing various details that keep the reader emotionally interested in the story. To the reader it might seem that story is about the children but it is actually focus on the mother. Also Sedaris did an
...fall of snow and the unremitting “sweep” of “easy wind” appear tragically indifferent to life, in turn stressing the value of Poirier’s assessment of the poem. Frost uses metaphor in a way that gives meaning to simple actions, perhaps exploring his own insecurities before nature by setting the poem amongst a tempest of “dark” sentiments. Like a metaphor for the workings of the human mind, the pull between the “promises” the traveller should keep and the lure of death remains palpably relevant to modern life. The multitudes of readings opened up through the ambiguity of metaphor allows for a setting of pronounced liminality; between life and death, “night and day, storm and heath, nature and culture, individual and group, freedom and responsibility,” Frost challenges his readers to delve deep into the subtlety of tone and come to a very personal conclusion.
Julia Alvarez. “Snow”. Portable Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Ed. Lauren G, Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. 8th ed. Boston, Wadsworth 2011. 75-76. Print
“The Snow Man,” by Wallace Stevens, dramatizes a metaphorical “mind of winter”, and introduces the idea that one must have a certain mindset in order to correctly perceive reality. The poet, or rather the Snow Man, is an interpreter of simple and ordinary things; “A cold wind, without interpretation, has no misery” (Poetry Genius). Through the use of imageries and metaphors relating to both wintery landscapes and the Snow Man itself, Stevens illustrates different ideas of human objectivity and the abstract concept of true nothingness. Looking through the eyes of the Snow Man, the readers are given an opportunity to perceive a reality that is free from objectivity; The Snow Man makes it clear that winter can possess qualities of beauty and also emptiness: both “natural wonder, and human misery”. He implies that winter can also be nothing at all: “just a bunch of solid water, dormant plants, and moving air.” (The Wondering Minstrels). “One must
Neil Gaiman’s “Snow, Glass, Apples” is far from the modern day fairy tale. It is a dark and twisted version of the classic tale, Snow White. His retelling is intriguing and unexpected, coming from the point of view of the stepmother rather than Snow White. By doing this, Gaiman changes the entire meaning of the story by switching perspectives and motivations of the characters. This sinister tale has more purpose than to frighten its readers, but to convey a deeper, hidden message. His message in “Snow, Glass, Apples” is that villains may not always be villains, but rather victims.
This essay will discuss the central themes of the book The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. Because the story is told at a time before the War on Terror, it brings the reader back to an Afghanistan the average American never knew existed and presents the current socio-economic reality of a United States one may choose to ignore. The description of Afghanistan before its many "occupations" is a tragedy in itself. The Author portrays a country on the cusp of greatness, which of course makes the inevitable future occupations all the more tragic. When Amir returns to Afghanistan after nearly twenty years, his shock is palpable. He has come back to an entirely different country, and only fragments remain from his past.
“Snow” is a short story in first person narration, told by the main character. Set during a time when people lived in fear of nuclear fallout. Instructions were often reiterated in school and on the radio about how to react when seeing the flash. This nuclear fallout setting lends itself to intrigue and suspense; it is intensified by the use of the narrator. The narrator, a young girl, gives the reader a perspective of child like understanding and, a limited understanding. The main character’s mind is full of nuclear fallout lessons, one after another in class. The main character, which has never seen snow before, sees it begin to snow outside the school window. The girl cries out, “Bomb Bomb”, terrifying the teacher and other students (85). As other girls in the class begin to cry the teacher reassures and explains to the main character what snow is and, that there is no bomb. If the author of Snow had told the story from an adult’s point of view, maybe the teacher’s, the story would lack believabi...