The Shining and Player Piano
The Shining is a horror novel written by Stephen King in 1977 and Player Piano is a science fiction novel written by Kurt Vonnegut in 1952. The events of The Shining take place after the Vietnam War and the events of Player Piano take place after a fictional World War III. These books are two completely different genres, horror and sci-fi, but with a few similarities. Although they bear some minor similarities regarding the setting, the differences between the time and place are pronounced. Vonnegut sets his novel in the future where people are or are at least being replaced by machines whereas King sets his novel in an isolated hotel in the mountains. But these two settings have something in common, they are disturbing. The settings that the authors chose are important because they are essential to the plot and it sets the mood.
King set The Shining after the Vietnam War, 1975, at the Overlook Hotel located on the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The novel did not take place at the hotel during busy times when there were people going in and out but at the hotel during the fall and winter when it is snowed in and isolated. The only way of communication and transportation during that time are, “the hotels two way radio... a snowmobile in the equipment shed also” (King 11). The setting is a perfect place to build a horror story at. On top of that, The Overlook Hotel is not an ordinary hotel. It is an old hotel with a long history including, but not limited to, violence, several unusual deaths, and supernatural things. “The Overlook had a whole coven of them. First suicide, then the Mafia, what next?” (King 245). The Overlook Hotel was also “the site of a triple shotgun slaying” which is referring to a shooti...
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...t 14). Also the time the story takes place is after the Second Industrial Revolution which means even more advanced machines. The place where all of this is happening is in Ilium, New York. At first this does not mean much because the name Ilium is not as well-known as the other name for it, Troy. Troy is “an ancient city of northwest Asia Minor near the Dardanelles, it is the legendary site of the Trojan War and was captured and destroyed by Greek forces c. 1200 b.c.” (American Heritage Dictionary Troy). In the city Troy, there was a war called the Trojan Way which was “a 10-year war between the Greeks and Trojans brought on by the abduction of Helen by Paris and ended with the destruction of Troy” (Merriam-Webster Trojan War). When the novel introduces that the events are happening in the city Ilium, New York, it gives the reader a clue about what will happen.
	The novel illuminates light on the situation not just during the Vietnam era, but also rather throughout all history and the future to come. Throughout mankind’s occupation of earth, we have been plagued by war and the sufferings caused by it. Nearly every generation of people to walk this earth have experienced a great war once in their lifetimes. For instance, Vietnam for my father’s generation, World War 2 for my grandfather’s, and World War 1 for my great-grandfather’s. War has become an unavoidable factor of life. Looking through history and toward the future, I grow concerned over the war that will plague my generation, for it might be the last war.
Goldwyn, Adam J. "A Literary History of the Trojan War from Antiquity to the Middle Ages." Order No. 3426747 City University of New York, 2010. Ann Arbor: ProQuest. Web. 13 ‘May 2014.
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is one of the most well known World War II authors. His humble beginnings and early life misfortunes shaped not only his writings, but also his view of the world. His imprisonment in Dresden in World War II, however, formed his opinions about war at an early age and later inspired many of his works and style of writing. After the returning from World War II, Vonnegut voiced his sentiments through his writing that war was wasteful and uncivilized. Vonnegut developed a unique blend of sadness, satire, and simplicity, along with his ability to understand the audience, which made his novels comprehensible and inspirational to any reader. Although one of his most famous novels, Slaughterhouse Five, is based off of his experiences in World War II, during the time of its publishing, antiwar groups applied the novel’s themes to the Vietnam War. Early life tragedies and imprisonment established Kurt Vonnegut’s antiwar opinions in his semiautobiographical novel, Slaughterhouse Five, which would influence and encourage the younger Vietnam generation to protest an unnecessary war.
The world of The Shining is a supernatural one, a world in which ghosts are real and can directly affect the living world. Yet this Supernatural world is also intended to be rational, one with “verisimilitude”, (“Writing The Shining” pg 60). What makes the ghosts in The Shining feel real? They mimic the less literal ghosts of the real world. As Diane Johnson, screenwriter of The Shining, remarks: “To what extent supernatural forces existed and to what extent these were psychological projections was something [Kubrick and I] discussed at length, finally deciding that the ghosts and magical apparitions at the Overlook Hotel were both” (“Writing The Shining” 58). Ghosts, as the psychological projections of history and our own minds, haunt
Since the beginning of history, human society has centered around war. People throughout the ages have attempted to understand why wars occur, and the effect of war on the people who fight in them. Authors have utilized the power of language to attempt to grasp the struggle and the horror of war, and make it accessible to the public. For example, Hemingway’s “In Another Country” and Bierce’s “Coup de Grace” both provide a glimpse into different aspects of war. Although they both pertain to the idea of war, “In Another Country” focuses on the psychological trauma of war while “Coup de Grace” showcases the horror of war. This is visible in the theme, setting, and characters of both stories.
Homer’s Iliad has been a European myth for many millennia , the long poetic narrative written in the 8th century B.C. recounts a fearsome war fought over a beautiful woman. The reliability of Homers Iliad as a true historical document has been challenged for hundreds of years and only through archaeological studies can the truth be deciphered. The Iliad was written five centuries after the war, where the stories had been passed down through the oral tradition, therefore the type of society reflected within the poems resemble much more the time of Homer . The fact and fiction of the Iliad has been uncovered through archaeology. Archaeologist found a site in which they thought to have been ‘Troy’ destroyed by the powerful country of Mycenae in the late Bronze Age. They found large amount of material culture from where they could reconstruct the society, this included pottery, engravings, murals and clay tablets. A reason for the Trojan War has always inspired great controversy. The Trojan War according to Homer was fought over the abduction of a beautiful women but this theory appears improbable. Other causes which could have sparked a war is Troy’s geographical positioning. This made it extremely opulent, where other countries of the Aegean would trade there goods and use its harbour. The Mycenaean’s being an extremely imperial, violent and militaristic country would have seen Troy as a great opportunity to gain territory and wealth, on this motive the war took place.
Throughout time, music has been an influential part of society. As a form of entertainment and expression, its impact has always been felt both economically and emotionally. During the Vietnam war, music evolved into more a form of expression rather than pure entertainment. Emotionally charged songs became a method to oppose the war, and vent frustrations. While many songs opposed the war, numerous others focused on peace and happiness. They provided a positive perspective in an otherwise depressing time. Along with incorporating passion into music, cultural diversity increased in music greatly. Black artists became progressively more popular and accepted in the musical scene. This respect carried over to society slowly but surely. During the Vietnam war, music played a crucial role in the societal evolution into a state where emotions fueled actions, more emphasis was put on equality, all opinions counted.
The Shining is about a white middle class dysfunctional family that suffers from natural and supernatural stresses in an isolated Rocky mountain hotel. .The father, a former teacher turned writer, is portrayed as a habitual drinker, wife- and child-abuser, with a kind of evil streak The mother is shown as a battered woman. The film suggests that due to the abuse at the hands of his father and the passivity of his mother, the child of this family developed psychological problems. He had imaginary friends and began to see frightening images.
Pyrrhus who plays a deeper and personal meaning into the story has his fathered killed by Paris and seeks to avenge him by slaying someone just as dear to Paris, his own father Priam. However with the great walls of Troy blocking his advance there is little he could do, but madness drives him and they build a great “Trojan” horse as a transport to fool the superstitious Trojans. To make it believable they even stage like they abandoned the siege by having all of their ships sail away from the island off on the far end to avoid attention, and leaving the horse there as if it were a gift from the gods. The Trojans seeing this as a great victory happily took the horse into Troy and threw a great feast, and drunk themselves to sleep. Then in th...
...ities from WWII in his experiences at Dresden. Vonnegut’s writing is unique because “the narrator offers a very different kind of war story—one which combines fact and fiction” (Jarvis 98). With the combination of fact and fiction, Vonnegut successfully connected events from WWII to the political references and societal conflicts during the Vietnam War.
The Iliad by Homer is an epic poem separated in different books or chapters that shows a fictionalized account of the Trojan War. Book 6: Hector Returns to Troy is the specific portion of the poem that is being covered in this essay. Hector from the Iliad shows a very clear aspect of his personality, a strong sense of loyalty and tenderness for his loved ones and also his people by being on the front lines during the war and showing his people he is willing to fight with them and essentially sacrificing himself for his family. Hector even knows his forgiveness towards his brother, Paris even though Paris is the main reason the Trojan War is in existence.
Earnest Hemmingway once said "Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime." (Ernest Hemingway: A Literary Reference) War is a gruesome and tragic thing and affects people differently. Both Vonnegut and Hemmingway discus this idea in their novels A Farewell to Arms and Slaughterhouse Five. Both of the novels deal not only with war stories but other genres, be it a science fiction story in Vonnegut’s case or a love story in Hemingway’s. Despite all the similarities there are also very big differences in the depiction of war and the way the two characters cope with their shocking and different experiences. It is the way someone deals with these tragedies that is the true story. This essay will evaluate how the main characters in both novels deal with their experiences in different ways.
Book Six of The Iliad depicts one of the most interesting conflicts depicted by Homer in this poem, one that occurs between both Hector and Paris in a passage approximately between 380 through 410. Through the context and language Homer uses to illustrate this conflict also explores certain characteristics of these two Trojans. This characterization of Hector and Paris is important as it scrutinizes the brotherly relationship that exists between these characters, offering insight into their personalities and characteristics. The language that Homer uses to describe the conflict in this particular passage establishes the relationship and characteristics of Hector and Paris through the conflict, highlighting the fundamental aspects and values
Over the thousands of years that the epic story the Iliad has survived, there has no doubt been some form of alteration to Homer’s original. Last May, Wolfgang Petersen directed a movie based on the Iliad. This movie, Troy, has proven to be a very loose adaptation of Homer’s original, as are almost all stories that are made into movies, unfortunately. With its timeless storyline, amazing scenery, gorgeous actors/actresses and most of all, its reported two hundred million dollar budget, it is easy to see why Troy was hyped up to be a box office hit. However, the film critics were harsh on this movie, as they had every right to be, and it ended up being a total flop. Compared to Homer’s Iliad, Troy is rather disappointing. But, to be fair, one must keep in mind the limitations of a movie compared to those of a book, and the fact that the title is Troy, not the Iliad. It really is not as bad as expected. Troy is Homer’s Iliad gone to Hollywood. There probably are just as many similarities as differences from the original. The three major upsetting differences in Troy compared to the Iliad are the absence of the Gods, the weak character and plot development, and the addition, exclusion, and reversal of key points.
Looking for peace and quiet to write his novel, Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) becomes the winter caretaker of Colorado’s desolate Overlook Hotel. Despite learning about the previous caretaker’s descent to madness, and the slaughtering of his family, Jack decides to bring along his wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and his son, Danny (Danny Lloyd), to keep him company during the stay. But shortly after acclimating to life in the Overlook Hotel, the family’s sanity begins to deteriorate. Danny begins to use “The Shining,” a telepathic ability that allows him to read minds and experience premonitions, and Jack starts to succumb to cabin-fever, growing more and more aggressive as time goes on. Finally, when the previous caretaker confronts Jack, things take a turn for the worst, and the only force that can save Danny and Wendy is “The Shining.”