Literal and figurative language is mainly used as a base in structuring literary texts. It is used as stylistic devices to make narrations appear lively such that readers can create mental pictures while going through the text. Macquarie pen anthology of Australian literature comprises of several literature work. It entails fiction, letters and anthology maps among others. The accounts of this collection range from settlers to gothic stories. Settlement at Port Jackson is a narration by Watkin Tench about a captive who blends into the life of his captives. In this story, Tench utilizes literal and figurative language to explain further how the captive learnt different ways of life in a short time. This paper therefore focuses on this account and specifically on a single character trait; masculinity. Heiss, Anita, and Peter Minter, 48, note the importance of literary and figurative language by indicating how well Tench used figurative and literal language in portraying masculinity in this account? This is the question that the paper provides answers for. …show more content…
From the text, “he appeared to be about thirty years old, not old, but robustly made and of a countenance which under happier circumstance it thought would display manliness and sensibility”. Referring to this text, Heiss, Anita, and Peter Minter, 51, argues that Tench utilized similes to compare the captive to a man that had such characteristics. On the other hand according to Wales, 25, Tench made the masculinity of the captive more realistic by comparing him to someone he already had in mind. It would have been vague and unrealistic to substantiate that the man was thirty and he had all those attributes without comparison to someone else. The appearance of the man appears vivid in readers mind and they can easily relate the picture to reality. That is, it shapes the physical attributes of the
The novel “Nanberry” written by Jackie French, tells the story of early European settlement in Australia. Nanberry, Surgeon White and Rachel Turner are all main characters in the novel but three minor characters who could have been examined in more detail were Maria, Colbee and Mr. Trench. Each of these characters either performs something or states something that is vital to the story line and plot. This essay will also suggest ways that these three characters could have been developed to make “Nanberry” a little bit more thought – provoking.
A Pulitzer Prize is an award for an achievement in American journalism, literature, or music. Paul Gigot, chairman of the Pulitzer Prize board, described the award as a “proud and robust tradition”. How does one carry on this robust tradition? By mastery of skilled writing technique, one can be considered for the awarding of this prize. Since its creation in 1917, 13 have been awarded annually, one of which, in 1939, was given to Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings for her novel, The Yearling. Rawlings is an American author from Florida known for writing rural themed novels. Consequently, The Yearling is about a boy living on a farm who adopts an orphaned fawn. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings procured a prestigious Pulitzer Prize for her effectual use of figurative language, sensory details, and syntax.
The title of the short story, “Four Directions” is symbolic for Waverly’s inner misconceptions. As she goes about her life, she is pulled in different ways by her past and her present. She is torn between her Chinese heritage and her American life. She never thought that instead of being pulled in four directions, she could take all of her differences and combine them. In the end she realizes this with the help of her mother. “The three of us, leaving our differences behind...moving West to reach East” (184), thought Waverly. Her whole life she misconceived her mother’s intentions. Lindo never wanted Waverly to solely focus on her Chinese heritage, but rather combine it with her new American ways. The idea of being pulled in four
Before we look at whether James Moloney effectively uses characterisation to convey Aboriginal issues we must look at the issues themselves. In Dougy, the issue of black and white prejudice is strongly present in the plot. The stereotyping of Aborigines and white Europeans play an important role in the events and the outcome of the story, as is individuality and the breaking of the stereotypes. The book also touches on the old Aboriginal superstitions that are still believed in by some today, though one of such superstitions plays an important role in creating the mood of the resolution. These issues impact most heavily on the character Gracey.
Poetry conveys emotions and ideas through words and lines. Long Way Down gives the story about a boy named Will, who wants to avenge his brother. He believes that a guy named Riggs killed his brother. He takes his brother’s gun and leaves his family’s apartment on the eighth floor. On the way down the elevator, he is stopped at each floor and a ghost from his past gets on.
In the short story “A&P”, John Updike uses similes, metaphors, and other figurative language in order to portray the narrator's opinion on women. He uses phrases such as “giving me hell”(Updike 1), “she was the Queen”(Updike 2), “buzz like a bee in a glass jar”(Updike 2), “shoulder bones like a denten sheet of metal”(Updike 2), “the sheep pushing their carts down the aisle”(Updike 2), and much more to describe the narrator's opinion on the people who go into the store. This insight into the narrator’s mind is a good tool to show his personality since the story is written in his point of view rather than third person or one of the girls.
It is said that fiction is an essentially rhetorical art and that the author tries to persuade the reader towards a specific view of the world while reading. This is evident in both short stories, A Secret Lost in the Water by Roch Carrier, and He-y Come on Ou-t by Shinichi Hoshi. Although through A Secret Lost in the Water, Roch Carrier displays how fiction is an essentially rhetorical art better than Shinichi Hoshi in He-y, Come on Ou-t (awkard sentence), Shinichi Hoshi demonstrates it better through the use of prognosis. Furthermore, by utilizing the characters, such as the farmer from A Secret Lost in the Water, and the use of symbolism such as the hole from He-y, Come on Ou-t, it is evident that the author makes an endeavour towards persuading
By reading a certain print texts, readers are manipulated into accepting or rejecting additional texts. The short story “The Altar of the Family” written by Michael Welding shares many comparisons with the feature article “Boys to Men” written by Stephen Scourfield, and by reading one the reader can make clear understanding of the other. Symbolism, genre and certain values and attitudes are present in both the texts and will be further examined in the following essay to show that a readers understanding of particular print texts is shaped by the reading of previous texts.
The concept of metafiction in Foe and “Happy Endings” is both engaging and difficult to grasp. While metafiction lends a sense of self-consciousness to the individual pieces of writing, identifying exactly what the authors are trying to say about fiction writing itself is complex and open to multiple interpretations. Nevertheless, Coetzee and Atwood both identify some similar ideas within their works. Gender conflict plays a central role in both stories, as women such as Susan and Mary are portrayed as inferior to their male counterparts. Their stories are dismissed in favor of a more conventional perspective.
There seems to have developed a pattern in modern literature ironic and paradoxical, that involves the hero in struggle for identify in a world that almost always is rejected by him as incomprehensible or absurd. Because of the omnivorous nature of the novel as a literary form, both the intellectual theme of defiance and the metaphysical anguish are presented not only in sophisticated, cosmopolitan, intellectual settings, but also in provincial atmospheres, where daily routines, sounds, and smells are very familiar.
Wood, Tahir. Author's Characters and the Character of the Author: The Typical in Fiction." Journal of Literary Semantics 40.2 (2011): 159-176. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Mar. 2012." Print.
22 of Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900. Rpt. in Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag.
Narrative perspective and voice is a major aspect of a novella as Jeremy Hawthorn suggests in Studying the Novel, “[s]ource and medium affect the selection, the authority and the attitude towards what is recounted of the narrative” The narrative perspective can be used to shape or in some cases mis-shape the story. Looking at both Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and George Eliot’s Middlemarch, the narrators of these novellas hold a quality of influence over the reader. Through comparing and contrasting how the two different authors have used the narrative perspective to develop their novels, through voice, linguistic register, free indirect discourse and narrative distance in respect to the intimacy of the information shared with the reader.
The Norton Anthology: English Literature. Ninth Edition. Stephen Greenblatt, eds. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. 460. Print.
Narratology divides a ‘narrative into story and narration’. (Cohan et al., 1988, p. 53) The three main figures that contribute a considerable amount of research to this theory are Gerard Genette, Aristotle and Vladimir Propp. This essay will focus on how Emily Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights can be fully appreciated and understood when the theory is applied to the text. Firstly, I will focus on the components of narration Genette identifies that enhance a reader’s experience of the text. Secondly, I will discuss the three key elements in a plot that Aristotle recognises and apply these to Heathcliff’s character. In the final section I will apply part of the seven ‘spheres of action’, Propp categorises, to Heathcliff’s character. However, not all of Narratology can be applied to a text. This raises the question; does this hinder a readers understanding and/or appreciation of the text? This paper will also address this issue.