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Theory of reading motivation
Theory of reading motivation
A few ways that historical events have influenced literature
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Books nearly always have multiple themes, whether they’re evident or not. These themes can vary from being extremely evident to barely perceptible. In the novel, Ranger’s Apprentice, by John Flanagan, there are quite a few themes. In this book, a young orphan named Will is chosen to become an apprentice to one of the most elite of men in the country, Halt. He trains to become a ranger, learning to hone his skills in weaponry and remaining unseen. When the dark lord, Morgarath, attempts to take over, Will takes on a perilous journey to defeat a savage race of beast known as the kalkara that Morgarath set loose. Throughout the course of this novel, Will shows many admirable traits that enhance the obvious themes that Flanagan set in place.
The abundant animal imagery in Timothy Findley's book The Wars is used to develop characterization and theme. The protagonist, Robert Ross, has a deep connection with animals that reflects his personality and the situations that he faces. This link between Robert and the animals shows the reader that human nature is not much different than animal nature.
These feelings drive O’Brien to seek out a journey in order to find out what is truly valuable to his self being. His adventure of self-knowledge mirrors the narrative archetype of the Hero’s Quest. One might argue that as a result of O’Brien’s uncooperative nature towards his circumstances, he is able to pursue the main motive of the Hero’s Journey, in which he departs from his ordinary world and is able to obtain the life treasure of self-acknowledgement. Tim O’Brien begins his journey as a young “politically naive” man and has recently graduated out of Macalester College in the United States of America. O’Brien’s plan for the future is steady, but this quickly changes as a call to an adventure ruins his expected path in life.
Newjack is Ted Conover’s personal memoir as a correctional officer in one of New York’s famous maximum security prisons: Sing Sing. The job of a correctional officer consists of long days locking and unlocking cells, moving prisoners to and from various locations while the prisoners beg, aggravate and abuse them. After a short time at the academy and a brief period of on-the-job training, Conover found himself working, often alone and always unarmed, in galleries housing sixty or more inmates. He heard of many stories that happen in prison. Stories include inmates beating inmates and burning their cell house, an inmate who was beaten by correctional officers after striking an officer in the head with a broom handle. Surprisingly, there are even some instances where there are voluntary sexual encounters between female staff and inmates. It is really a welcoming job for the “newjacks” and for the readers. On top of that, supervisors do not mentor or guide new officers and officers on one shift push problems off onto the next. Conover sees and realizes that correctional workers are very flexible characters, neither good nor bad, but must cope with stress and problems in a well-organized manner. As Conover points out, that at Sing Sing is against the possibility of staff getting to know prisoners. It is ridiculous to see that there are problems that prison administrators clearly could have solved but do not, instead, they care more about the inmates and officer’s relationship. In particular, enticements for better supervision and more support for effective staff are clearly needed.
To fully appreciate the significance of the plot one must fully understand the heroic journey. Joseph Campbell identified the stages of the heroic journey and explains how the movie adheres meticulously to these steps. For example, the first stage of the hero’s journey is the ordinary world (Campbell). At the beginning, the structure dictates that the author should portray the protagonist in their ordinary world, surrounded by ordinary things and doing ordinary tasks so that the author might introduce the reasons that the hero needs the journey in order to develop his or her character or improve his or her life (Vogler 35). The point of this portrayal is to show the audience what the protagonist’s life is currently like and to show what areas of his or her life are conflicted or incomplete. When the call to adventure occurs, the protagonist is swept away into another world, one that is full of adventure, danger, and opportunities to learn what needs to be learned. T...
The theme in a story is a message or lesson that the author wants the reader to take away when reading the story. These themes can teach the reader lessons, get points across or help them understand the book better. All Quiet On The Western Front displays the themes: the horrors and destruction of war and the effects on soldiers, sacrifice, loss of innocence, and friendship.
In the Historical fiction, “The Red Badge of Courage”, written by Stephen Crane; a young man try’s to find courage in himself in the time of war. After watching your commander die in war, would you stay and fight or return home and be a coward? Enlisting Himself into war Henry, to be more than the common man to prove worthyness and bravery. With the sergeant dead will Henry lead his men to victory, or withdraw his men in war. Not being the only are faced with the decision Jim and Wilson Henry’s platoons will have the same decision.
Through the use of his words, Douglas is not only able to make the audience hear his argument but visualize it as well. Douglas’ uses a lot of imagery, metaphors and symbols to help better understand his speech. Through the use of imagery, Douglass shows the struggle for freedom with the founding fathers and the condition of the slave in America at the time he’s the speech. He paints a picture for his audience about how the founding fathers wanted to set themselves free from a tyrant king and how they accomplished their goal. He also uses many metaphors through out his speech. One being the most effective one, “For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake” (69). By saying this Douglas is trying to say that only talking is not going to do anything but something stronger to let them know that it’s going to take much more than that to end slavery once and for all. This piece compares to Rogin’s writing style but Rogin uses imagery and metaphors as well. In the beginning of the text he quotes William Carlos Williams who says, “History begins for us with murder and enslavement, not with discovery” (26) which already allows the readers to picture in their mind the kind of brutality he is speaking of. The imagery that comes to mind is the cruelty towards the Native Americans on their
When Stephen Crane first wrote, The Red Badge of Courage, it wasn’t revered throughout the nation. Instead, it circulated abroad, where the English loved it. Eventually, after many years, the same fame happened here, causing Crane to earn a spot in literature history. However, many have asked how he accomplished this feat without having the experience most would require to write a book like he did. I believe that his lack of experience actually aided in his endeavors and the real question that should be asked is what is Crane trying to show us throughout his book and I believe a big hint is in the title. Crane is trying to show us the true definition of courage. His way of doing so is by having readers follow the thoughts and emotions of Henry
The main character of this book is the Ranger’s Apprentice Will. Will is a determined,
In Khaled Hosseini 's novel, The Kite Runner, an afghan named Amir must redeem his past actions in honor of a childhood friend. The novel is based around the relationship of Baba and Amir, as well as the relationship of Hassan and Amir. One day Amir’s world is shaken up by the rape of Hassan, making Amir chose which person means more to him, Baba, or Hassan. Khaled Hosseini proves that Amir comes full circle through Hosseini 's through his portrayal of Amir 's relationship with Hassan, Amir’s conflict with Assef, and Amir 's relationship with his father, Baba.
The major themes of the book are directly related to the themes which John Demos uses to tell this story. The storyline moves on though the evolution of one theme to the next. The function of these major sections is to allow the reader to relate to John Williams overall state of mind as the story unfold. By implementing these major themes into his work, John Demos make it possible for the reader to fully understand the story from beginning to end.
Another theme is the ability of a person to have some dignity even when it feels like the world is against you. These themes remain important today because it teaches us what can happen to a person if their dreams are never fulfilled. For example, Walter had a dream to open a liquor store, however this dream never came true after Willy (the person Walter gave the money too to open the store) betrayed him. He broke down and felt hopeless. It also teaches us that dignity is important, Walter also portrayed his need for dignity after he rejects the offer of Mr. Linder from the“home improvement
Every story has a theme: a major message shown throughout the story. These themes can be vast and some stories have multiple themes. Most of the time, the theme of a story isn’t clearly stated in the story and you often have to look for it. Because of this, different people are often able to come up with different themes for one story. Many critics question the themes that have been found by other people and even argue why those themes are or are not legit themes for that story. There are many different elements in a story that can be used to prove whether or not the themes given really fit the story. One of the themes commonly believed fit for To Build a Fire, by Jack London is that instinct triumphs over intellect. In To Build a Fire, by Jack London, the theme instinct over intellect is expressed through characters, plot, and point of view.
There are many themes that occur and can be interpreted differently throughout the novel. The three main themes that stand out most are healing, communication, and relationships.
War forces young soldiers to grow up quickly. In Stephen Crane’s Civil War novel, The Red Badge of Courage, Henry Fleming is no exception. He is faced with the hard reality of war and this forces him to readjust his romantic beliefs about war. Through the novel, the reader can trace the growth and development of Henry through these four stages: (1) romanticizing war and the heroic role each soldier plays, (2) facing the realities of war, (3) lying to himself to maintain his self-importance, and (4) realistic awareness of his abilities and place in life. Through Henry’s experiences in his path to self-discovery, he is strongly affected by events that help shape his ideology of war, death, courage, and manhood. The romantic ideologies will be replaced with a more realistic representation.