EN1003 Tsung-Han Tsai Write an essay of 1,800-2,000 words on one of the following topics. Select one essay topic. Do not write about the Victorian poems and novels studied in Weeks 1-3. 5. Brian McHale has suggested that ‘among the oldest of the classical ontological themes in poetics is that of the otherness of the fictional world, its separation from the real world of experience’. In The Magic Toyshop we learn that ‘Melanie swam like a blind, earless fish in a sea of sedation, where there was no time or memory but only dreams’. Write an essay on Carter’s exploitation of the fluid boundary between reality and fantasy in the novel. The Fluidity of Fantasy and Reality in The Magic Toyshop After Finn explains Philip Flowers’ attempt to corrupt Melanie, she asks herself, “What if Uncle Philip of the iron fists is not my mother’s brother at all?” Here, she questions not only Uncle Philip, but also the integrity of the entirety of The Magic Toyshop. In doing so, Angela Carter highlights the boundary between reality, defined as “the quality of being real or having an actual existence,” and fantasy, defined as “a product of imagination, fiction, figment.” Throughout the novel, Carter explores the various, intertwined layers of reality and fantasy until the two become indistinguishable. First, Carter exposes multiple characters’ individual, frequently escapist, fantasies. Then, she presents collective reality and fantasy, exemplified by her metaphoric, uncanny prose and the fantastical world of Philip’s toyshop. Furthermore, she subverts the classic fairytale through grotesque, hyperbolic descriptions of Philip and allusions to the aforementioned fairytales and other works. By the end of the novel, both Melanie and the reader are unable to distinguish between fantasy and reality. Carter begins by juxtaposing reality with easily identifiable fantasy, often specific to
Throughout Gary Crew’s novel, ‘Strange Objects’, the author suggests that history’s repetitious nature, racism and the supernatural can only lead to situations in which many complications occur. Strange Objects represents these issues in a number of imaginative ways, such as paralleling factual events with fictional events. Gary Crew is Australia’s most awarded author for children and young adults. His novel, Strange Objects, has also won some accolades, due to its engaging nature, such as Winner of the Australian Children’s Book Council, Book of the Year for Older Readers and the 1991 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award.
Faris, Wendy B. "Scherazade's Children: Magical Realism and Postmodern Fiction." Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community. Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham; N.C.: Duke UP, 1995.
Fantasies, which are defined as fanciful or extravagant notions, ideas, or suppositions are things he often does while on his mission to victory. During the late afternoon hours, he would frequently climb into his foxhole and read his received letters from a girl named, Martha, that he absolutely adores. She sent him letters that he guarded with his dear life and kept secretly hidden from the other men. They weren’t by any means “love” letters, but he often imagined they were just for the spite of things. Jimmy read those letters every day and every night, paying no attention to what was going on around him, just focusing on Martha. Although, letters were the main source of his absence from the world around him, he would often imagine romantically, trips into the white mountains of New Hampshire while holding the letters in his hand. He would sometimes taste the flaps, knowing her tongue had been there (Obrein, “Carried” 272). Jimmy began to pass his days more quickly by trying to keep up his hope, while thinking about being with Martha, somewhere in a beautiful place, alone, with nothing to worry about. Meanwhile, Jimmy received a pebble in one of the letters from Martha, which she picked up off the Jersey Shoreline just for Jimmy as a good luck charm. He carried the pebble in his mouth most of the time. While on other occasions, he would often slip away into daydreams, just pretending, walking barefoot along, the shoreline, with Martha, carrying nothing (O’brien, “Carried” 275). He fantasized daily about Martha; He wondered who she was with, and what she was doing. Although, Jimmy carried Martha’s pebble with him continuously, he began to carry much more than just a pebble in his mouth.
Latin American author Elena Garro wrote works such as "Recuerdos del porvenir," "Andamos huyendo Lola," "Testimonios sobre Mariana," and "The Day We Were Dogs." The short story "The Day We Were Dogs" (1964) uses events that are questionable to the reader even though the characters do not question. Because these events are questioned by the reader, it is not a Magical Realist story. This story might have been miss identified because it was written by a Latin author.
...." Studies In The Literary Imagination 36.2 (2003): 61-70. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 6 Dec. 2013.
There are many powers that can be effective in establishing an ethical climate. The power that I think would be most effective for Paradigm Toys is referent power. Referent power is described as power of an individual over their employees because of the respect the employees have for them (Randall, 2012). A manager who has referent power will have the trust and respect from their employees which will in turn demonstrate to the employee how they should behave and what ethical behavior looks like. The referent manager will demonstrate the proper ethical behaviors and employees will learn from that and imitate their managers.
Buzard, James, Linda K. Hughes. "The Victorian Nation and its Others" and "1870." A Companion to Victorian Literature and Culture. Ed. Herbert F. Tucker. Malden: Blackwell Publishers, 1999. 35-50, 438-455.
It is a long and unusual journey. I still wonder what it really is. I read the selections of four wonderful authors and I am still a little confused about the real history and theory of magical realism. I do know that before a person gets into this idea of magical realism, he or she really has to have a big imagination and willingness to learn about it. I guess what I am trying to say is that magical realism depends on who a person is and what a person is willing to believe.
Bishop’s use of imagism in “One Art” helps the reader to comprehend the ability of the speaker to move on from lost items such as a mother’s watch or loved houses.
Watt argues that the characters in a novel owe their individuality to the realistic presentation. "Realism" is expressed by a rejection of traditional plots, by particularity, emphasis on the personality of the character, a consciousness of duration of time and space and its expression in style.
Blanche is a delusional character who creates life from her imagination to help her pass through the hardness of life. Blanche admits that living in fantasy is much better than living in reality. When she was talking to her lover “Mitch”, she admits that the world of fantasy is much kinder as she says, “I don't want realism. I want magic!” (Williams, 117). Blanche does not care if this magic is factual or not. The importance of magic to Blanche is that she has the choice to choose fantasy which allows her to believe in and hope for something better than harsh world. She is aware of that, making the world as attractive as sh...
(Google ebook page 96) Roemer, D.M and Bacchilega, C. (2000) Angela Carter and the Fairy Tale. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.
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.
The concept of character is an illusion, a reality where ‘there are no facts, only interpretations’. In this illusory reality, like Alice, we stumble through the looking-glass from the world of reality into the world of appearance, of illusion. We find ourselves among heroes and villains that seem familiar but, in fact, could not be stranger. In Henry James’ ‘In the Cage’, an unnamed telegraphist, restricted by ‘the cage’ in which she works, peers through the rims of the looking-glass and, seeking to escape from the mundane reality of her existence, imagines her own fantastic reality. James interrogates the concept of character through the relation between appearance and reality, in that the unnamed narrator defines herself and others, living vicariously, through the mock reality she creates. Ford Maddox Ford’s narrative in ‘The Good Soldier’ is dogged by the narrator’s inability to distinguish appearance from reality, resulting in not only an unreliable narration but also a skewed perception of reality. The result is that Ford’s interrogation of the concept of character, through unreliable narration, suggests personal perception is all we can ever have, that the concept of character is not objective, it is an illusion, one individuals perception of the truth. It is the relation of appearance and reality to the interrogation of concept of character I will now explore, that we mustn’t look for ‘the old stable ego of the character’ but treat the concept of character as an illusion, merely a perception, not an objective concept.
As a result of the horror installed in the Marquis’s masculine dominance, the narrator objectified herself to discover her personal identity. The transition from being a child into a married woman allows the narrator to be curious and gain knowledge that she may not have had before. The knowledge that the narrator gains challenges the masculine dominance that her husband has restricted on her. Through this lens, the intention that Carter may have is to deconstruct gender norms. In “The Bloody Chamber,” masculine dominance was the end for some individuals, but just the beginning for others to