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In many novels, the author includes characters that transform or change by the end of the story, mainly relating to the adjustment of their behavior or their new perspective on certain aspects of life. But, one author decided to alter this basic theme and by doing so created an amazing story. Roald Dahl, author of The Witches, wanted to approach readers with a familiar message but with an interesting approach. The author wanted to inform children that you should not judge a person based on their appearance and portrayed his message through the use of physical transformation. The Witches is a children’s fantasy novel about a young seven-year old child that is required to live with his Norwegian grandmother after his parents are killed in a car …show more content…
The protagonist was detected by the Witches and was captured and used as a test subject. He described the feeling of being inside a suit of iron and somebody was turning a screw, and with each turn of the screw the iron suit became smaller and smaller so that I was squeezed like an orange into a pulpy mess with the juice running out of my sides” (103). But in no way did the protagonist mention any alterations to his personality or mental attributes, just his physical qualities. The boy could would still act normally like before, feel normally on the inside, and the child even maintained his original speaking voice! This is what helped him communicate to his Grandmother, she understood that this was the same boy she adored, just in a different form, “‘Please close it," I said, and this time she actually saw me talking and recognised my voice’” (112). The goes with the statement that appearance is only a factor of what you are and how you act is what truly matters, Grandmother tells this to the boy “‘All they've done to you is shrink you and give you four legs and a furry coat, but they haven't been able to change you into a one hundred per cent mouse. You are still yourself in everything except your appearance. You've still got your own mind and your own brain and your own voice, and thank goodness for that’” (118). This is a crucial part of the novel because it expresses the theme very
Mistakes can seriously impact the people who make them; however, the effects are not always negative. In the book, Whirligig, by Paul Fleischman, a teenage boy named Brent is the new kid in town and he faces some major problems with his peers. After being pushed around, treated like a pawn, and utterly rejected, Brent tries to commit suicide by taking his hands off the wheel of his moving car. Although Brent’s attempt is not successful, his actions still have a tragic ending- Lea, a young, kind, beautiful girl, is unlucky enough to be in the car that Brent crashes into. The car accident results in Lea’s death, but also the start of Brent’s magical journey of redemption. Brent’s task is to travel to the four corners of the country, build and display whirligigs, and keep Lea’s spirit alive. Though Brent may not realize it, the trip does influence him in many different ways, one major change being Brent’s newfound ability to create strong relationships with a variety of people that he meets during the course of his adventure. Throughout Brent’s journey, Paul Fleischman uses the people that Brent interacts with to portray the idea that friendships can be formed regardless of personality type, race, and age.
She said "Ugly characters in kids’ books are generally horrible and their physical flaws are signs of other shortcomings. Villains have bad teeth, liars have long noses, zombies have thick skulls. The miserly are bony, the greedy, fat." We should fix that because not always the ugly is the evil and the beautiful are the heroes. And we can realize that when we look to the magaziens and sales; they usually used use an attractive people as models to make you look at their products. She also got a little nervous from her girl, because she refused to play with Eleanor Roosevelt doll, and on the other hand, she slept with her beautiful Barbie doll. But for me, we can't blame the little girl, because the girl judged the doll from its appearance. And that's the same thing that happens with the creator of the novel. When Safie, Agatha, and Felix return from their walk while the creature shows up to the old man, they hit him with cries of fear and panic because of the creature looks. And as we read, we going to see how the old man accepted the creature from his hear, and this one of the advantges of being blind, because if you are blind, you not going to be tricked with people's
In 1939, Victor Fleming made a film version of L. Frank Baum’s novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” However, both the novel and the film focuses or touches on the same moral, it features the protagonist Dorothy who resides in Kansas the farm, along with her aunt Em and uncle Henry as well as her dog Toto. Both Baum’s novel and Fleming’s 1939 film adaptation the setting is in Kansas which is described as a small farm which Dorothy lives in which in Baum’s novel is picturized as gloomy, grey and dull. Throughout Fleming’s adaptation of Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” there are a number of differences which presents itself in a direct manner on screen as well as similarities. The variety of changes in the film’s adaptation tends to take away from the meaning of L. Frank Baum’s depiction in his novel to a certain level and extent.
As the story of Tituba unfolds, it reveals a strong and kind hearted young woman, very different from the Tituba we meet in The Crucible. I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem unveils for the reader, Tituba's life, loves, and losses. Her long and arduous journey through life is inspired by her many female counterparts, yet also hindered by her insatiable weakness for men, who also press upon her the realities of life.
Faerie Tale follows the tale of the Hastings family and their move to a rural mansion in New York. The Hastings family includes; Phil Hastings, a screenwriter working on a novel and his wife, retired actress, Gloria Hastings, Phil's daughter, Gabbie, a wealthy heiress from Phil's previous marriage, and twin boys, Sean and Patrick, who are particularly targeted by the “bad thing” in the story. The “bad thing” is a minion of the evil faerie king who is attempting to re-enter the mortal world before the “moving” closes the temporary portal between worlds on midnight on Halloween. Throughout the story different characters help the Hastings in different ways. Most helpful are the Irish immigrant Barney Doyle who eventually tells Sean how to save Patrick from the faerie realm, and Mark Blackman, an author who provides information along the way every time a new secret about the mansion is revealed. In the end the Erl King is killed only to be replaced by the fairy that kills him, revealing the cyclical nature of the fairy realm and how the creatures are not truly immortal but trapped in a predestined loop that forever repeats the same story; the queen and king to be fall in love, a child is stolen, it is fought over resulting in a demi-war between two factions, with the new king to be sometimes killing the evil king to become a good king or siding with evil king to become an evil king and killing the queen. Various “plot twists” can occur but the faeries know that the end result will always be the crowning of a new king and queen through the shedding of blood.
When we feel the need to change outward appearance we need to be concerned and aware of how those changes effect the person we are within as we are about appearance. External beauty is not as attractive if the person inside is not the type of person we would want to be with. Appearance can be initially blinding and deceptive. When you being to look beyond the outer layers of appearance and into the character of the person you are relating to you can quickly find the beauty alone is not enough to sustain a meaningful relationship. Beauty can fade and appearance change as we grow older but who we are at the core should remain constant or improve with age and wisdom. Kit Reed’s story shows the high cost of how focusing only on your outer appearance to the detriment of the person you are can
Stephen King once said, “People think I am a strange person. This is not correct. I have the heart of a small boy. It is in a glass jar on my desk.” This quote seems fine at the beginning but has a startling ending. This relates to a very significant element in stories meant to scare us: transformation. The most compelling part of this element is transformation in people or characters. There are incredible examples of this in the stories Frankenstein, The Fall of the House of Usher, and The Raven and even in a personal experience of mine involving the popular movie, The Goonies.
Everyone goes through a time where they wish they were a different person. Many people believe that they can never change who they are. However, transformations occur every day. Emily Bronte proves this true in her novel Wuthering Heights. Throughout the entire plot, numerous characters changed, either in their appearance, their social status, or their personality.
During the American literary movement known as Transcendentalism, many Americans began to looking deeper into positive side of religion and philosophy in their writing. However, one group of people, known as the Dark Romantics, strayed away from the positive beliefs of Transcendentalism and emphasized their writings on guilt and sin. The most well-known of these writers is Edgar Allan Poe. Poe was a dark romantic writer during this era, renown for his short stories and poems concerning misery and macabre. His most famous poem is “The Raven”, which follows a man who is grieving over his lost love, Lenore. In this poem, through the usage of tonal shift and progression of the narrator’s state of mind, Poe explores the idea that those who grieve will fall.
Anne of Green Gables is the story of a young girl named Anne who is living as an orphan at the turn of the twentieth century. At the age of eleven she is sent to live with a middle-aged brother and sister on their Prince Edward Island farm called Green Gables. All though at first unwelcome, she goes on to win the hearts of her hosts, and become a young woman of character and promise. Anne of Green Gables was written by L.M Montgomery in the year 1908. The book and its characters are fictitious, as the story was created in the imagination.
Little Women by Louisa Alcott would definitely appeal to women of all types and ages. Little Women appeals to a broad audience, its full of the values and beliefs, and it paints a very real picture of most American’s lives at the time.
As the saying goes, “Women can do everything Men can do.” In the Gothic Novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, there is a constant theme of sexuality, from both male and females in society. In the Victorian era, the roles of male and females have caused a lot of tension. After reading Dracula, some would argue the roles men and women hold in society. As mentioned in Dr. Seward’s Dairy from Val Halsing., “Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina! She has man’s brain—a brain that a man should have were he much gifted—and a woman’s heart. The good God fashioned her for a purpose, believe me, when He made that so good combination” (Stoker and Hindle, 2003 250). A women’s mind is not the always the first thing on a males mind. Some would overlook what a woman really has to offer.
“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,” (“The Raven” 1). “The Raven” arguably one of the most famous poems by Edgar Allan Poe, is a narrative about a depressed man longing for his lost love. Confronted by a talking raven, the man slowly loses his sanity. “The Haunted Palace” a ballad by Poe is a brilliant and skillfully crafted metaphor that compares a palace to a human skull and mind. A palace of opulence slowly turns into a dilapidated ruin. This deterioration is symbolic of insanity and death. In true Poe style, both “The Raven” and “The Haunted Palace” are of the gothic/dark romanticism genre. These poems highlight sadness, death, and loss. As to be expected, an analysis of the poems reveals differences and parallels. An example of this is Poe’s use of poetic devices within each poem. Although different in structure, setting, and symbolism these two poems show striking similarities in tone and theme.
In Edmund Spenser’s epic romance titled, The Faerie Queene, the author takes the reader on a journey with the naive Red Crosse Knight on his route to finding holiness. On the Red Crosse Knights journey to holiness, he encounters two very different women that affect his travels to becoming a virtuous man. The first woman the Red Crosse encounters is Una, a woman that represents innocents, purity, and truth. Una is beautiful and graceful yet appears to be the strong force that leads the Red Crosse Knight to a more virtuous life. To oppose the truth in Una, Spenser creates Duessa a juxtaposition to Una’s personality. The Red Crosse encounters trouble when he is deceived by the wicked Duessa who represents duplicity, falsehood and deceitfulness. Duessa, like Una appears to be very beautiful but her looks, like her personality is deceiving. Unlike Una, Duessa’s beauty is only skin-deep, a detail that the Red Cross Knight learns the hard way. Throughout the epic romance, Spenser depicts the representation of the women of the sixteenth century through a variety of female figures. While women like Una and later Caelia and her daughters represent the grace and faithfulness in women, other figures like Duessa and Errour represent the falsehood and evil of women. While Spenser created two very different types of women in The Faerie Queene: Book One, the two types of women are similar in the sense that they appear to be very strong at times and very weak at others.
The concept of physical appearance as a virtue is the center of the social problems portrayed in the novel. Thus the novel unfolds with the most logical responses to this overpowering impression of beauty: acceptance, adjustment, and rejection (Samuels 10). Through Pecola Breedlove, Morrison presents reactions to the worth of physical criteria. The beauty standard that Pecola feels she must live up to causes her to have an identity crisis. Society's standard has no place for Pecola, unlike her "high yellow dream child" classmate, Maureen Peals, who fits the mold (Morrison 62).