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How violence is used as a tool in literature
How violence is used as a tool in literature
How violence is used as a tool in literature
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Joyce Carol Oates uses loss of control to show the effects of trauma caused from death. The trauma is later turned into the permanent characteristic of being violent. Being “one of the most prolific and versatile contemporary writes” Joyce Carol Oates creates amazing works related to loss of control, murder, suicide, loss of identity that catch the reader’s attention. (ENOTES) Little Bird of Heaven and The Falls are novels mainly focused on characters that are greatly impacted by murders of family members or someone close to them.
In Little Bird of Heaven, Aaron battles with the murder of his mother, Zoe Kruller. The mysterious murder develops Aaron into an uncontrolled violent character. As a young child that discovered his mother’s body, he is greatly impacted by the trauma. Powerless, Aaron does not know any way of managing with this loss other than turbulence. Oates tends to create characters that deal with “violence as a tragic affirmation struggle to emerge” (TRAGIC VISION EDIT). He even drew characters away because of the “fear of provoking him to greater anger” (Little 437). Aaron is greatly deteriorated by confusion and rage, being informed that the only two prime suspects are his father, Delray Kruller, and Edward Diehl. Not knowing what to believe, Aaron copes with his mother’s death in a considerably negative way. He deals with this death through fights at school and arguments with classmates. This results into Aaron being “expelled from school, sent home” and permanently damaged. (Little 365).
Oates creates a vision for the reader of a powerless child in need of mental help and reacting violently to a tragedy. The emotional distress Aaron struggles through his entire life demonstrates how severely his life is im...
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...h having years of experience in English, she became an English professor. During her years of creating novels, she was devoted to running. Running helped her mentally envision scenes for her novels. She finds running “very meditative and almost trancelike” (Arch 1). Running is certainly a decisive requirement for the accomplishment of Joyce Carol Oates’s incredible novels that she has produced. As a result, her grandmother, famous authors, and running greatly contributed to Joyce Carol Oates’s interest in becoming a writer.
Today, Joyce Carol Oates’s continues to write. She lives in Princeton, New Jersey where she continues to do what she loves at Distinguished Professor of Humanities at Princeton University. While growing u p she had been easily influenced through many aspects that showed through in her writing which connected someway to her personal life.
Michael Patrick MacDonald lived a frightening life. To turn the book over and read the back cover, one might picture a decidedly idyllic existence. At times frightening, at times splendid, but always full of love. But to open this book is to open the door to Southie's ugly truth, to MacDonald's ugly truth, to take it in for all it's worth, to draw our own conclusions. One boy's hell is another boy's playground. Ma MacDonald is a palm tree in a hurricane, bending and swaying in the violent winds of Southie's interior, even as things are flying at her head, she crouches down to protect her children, to keep them out of harms way. We grew up watching Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow and Peanuts. Michael Patrick MacDonald grew up watching violence, sadness and death.
Experiencing a tragedy at a young age causes many problems as that individual grows up. The most common effects are changes in usual behavior, episodes of crying or sadness, and suicidal thoughts. In The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, and The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D Salinger, the death of a close sibling causes two characters to act out and experience these effects.
One of the most famous authors in American history is Edgar Allen Poe, thanks to his intricate and unsettling short stories and poems. One of the strongest aspects of Poe’s writing style is the allure and complexity of the narrator of the story. These narrators, ranging from innocent bystanders to psychotic murderers, add depth to such a short story and really allow Poe to explore the themes of death and murder which he seems to have an unhealthy obsession towards. Furthermore, he uses these narrators to give a different perspective in each of his many works and to really unsettle the reader by what is occurring throughout the story. The narrators, whether an innocent witness of death as in "The Fall of the House of Usher" or a twisted murderer as in "The Cask of Amontillado" are used by Poe to discuss the themes of death and murder within these stories and, depending on their point of view, give a different take on such a despicable act such as murder.
Joyce Carol Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" is about a young girl's struggle to escape reality while defying authority and portraying herself as a beauty queen; ultimately, she is forced back to reality when confronted by a man who symbolizes her demise. The young girl, Connie, is hell- bent on not becoming like her mother or sister. She feels she is above them because she is prettier. She wants to live in a "dream world" where she listens to music all day and lives with Prince Charming. She does not encounter Prince Charming but is visited by someone, Arnold Friend, who embodies the soul of something evil. Arnold Friend symbolizes "Death" in that he is going to take Connie away from the world she once knew. Even if she is not dead, she will never be the same person again, and will be dead in spirit. With the incorporation of irony, Oates illustrates how Connie's self-infatuation, her sole reason for living, is the reason she is faced with such a terrible situation possibly ending her life.
Chris a sixteen year old African male enter into therapy seeking professional help. Chris grew up in an urban neighborhood in New York, together with his mother and father. Chris develop problems due to longing attention. He begins to act out, hang around with the incorrect crowd, and get into fights.
The descriptions of Quoyle provide us with a character who has so many flaws and struggles, that he is unable to live a normal life like those around him. Quoyle’s problems started at childhood, and the narrator provides us with vivid images of his childhood. “Raised in a shuffle of dreary upstate towns” and “survived childhood” show us that it was not easy for young Quoyle. With these descriptions we get an image of how his childhood was harsh through Quoyle moving around through different towns in bad areas. The narrator continues on to Quoyle’s later life and shows through repetition the amou...
...) Oates novels in the nineteen seventies explored many different complex cultures and elements of human life and tragedy. She barrowed many of these idealistic views from Edger Allen Poe. These ideas referred back to death and love suicide which fell along the same lines of Poe’s. (2)
Joyce Carol Oates is a writer who takes many risks. Her writing style varies with each story and she is constantly trying to find new ways to make her stories more interesting. In her novel What I Lived For she writes from a 3rd person perspective. This book was written in the 1990s and it was unusual that a female writer wrote from a man’s point of view. Oates wrote this book to be different and to prove her skills as a writer. She has an extensive amount of characterization for the main character, including conflict, to help the reader get a better understanding of the characters life and struggles. It also gets the reader hooked as the story develops. Oates is known to use different types of conflict in her novels. In What I Lived For she uses Man vs. Society, Man vs. Self and Man vs. Man.
Suffering from the death of a close friend, the boy tries to ignore his feelings and jokes on his sister. His friend was a mental patient who threw himself off a building. Being really young and unable to cope with this tragedy, the boy jokes to his sister about the bridge collapsing. "The mention of the suicide and of the bridge collapsing set a depressing tone for the rest of the story" (Baker 170). Arguments about Raisinettes force the father to settle it by saying, "you will both spoil your lunch." As their day continues, their arguments become more serious and present concern for the father who is trying to understand his children better. In complete agreement with Justin Oeltzes’ paper, "A Sad Story," I also feel that this dark foreshadowing of time to come is an indication of the author’s direct intention to write a sad story.
The author skillfully uses literary techniques to convey his purpose of giving life to a man on an extraordinary path that led to his eventual demise and truthfully telling the somber story of Christopher McCandless. Krakauer enhances the story by using irony to establish Chris’s unique personality. The author also uses Characterization the give details about Chris’s lifestyle and his choices that affect his journey. Another literary element Krakauer uses is theme. The many themes in the story attract a diverse audience. Krakauer’s telling is world famous for being the truest, and most heart-felt account of Christopher McCandless’s life. The use of literary techniques including irony, characterization and theme help convey the authors purpose and enhance Into The Wild.
Such a series of tragic events has a great toll among the two main characters (Cox ) . For a vicious, careless indivi...
Emotional discomfort can sometimes be perceived as mental instability. A person may look, act, or feel insane, when in truth they are just very uncomfortable in their own skin. The narrator has a genuinely difficult decision to make which far outside his comfort zone. He is choosing between a woman who has been like a mother to him and much needed job that he feels he may enjoy. This choice is tearing him apart from the inside out. From the ringing noises that interrupt his every thought to the skin he is scraping off. The author uses diction, syntax, and extended metaphors to express the complete and utter discomfort of the narrator, both physically and emotionally.
Alex is a 15 year-old boy cast into a problematic future society. He is the dominating only child of an ordinary working class family. He attends corrective school during the day and seeks violent pleasures with his droogs during the night. As ...
Despite the misfortune Frank O’Connor faces in An Only Child, he has two particularly strong role models to keep him focused on his future. His mother and his teacher Daniel Corkery are the most influential people in his life and he describes both of them with extreme respect and admiration. His mother, his main parental figure because of his father’s unpredictability, is his role model at home and in life. Her ability to overcome her difficult childhood growing up as an orphan as well as how she continues to overcome the struggles they face as a family inspires the author in his own struggles. Daniel Corkery, one of O’Connor’s instructors at his school, acts as a guiding, supportive father figure in his life. As the author’s teacher, he inspires
Whether a person’s life is something experienced authentically, or factually written down as literature, there are more complexities faced then there are simplicities on a daily basis. This multifariousness causes constant bewilderment and hesitation before any sort of important decision a person must make in his or her life. When it comes to characters of the written words, as soon sensations of ambiguity, uncertainty, and paranoia form, the outlook and actions of these characters are what usually result in regrettable decisions and added anxiety for both that character as well as the reader. Examples of these themes affecting characters in the world of fiction are found in the novel The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon, and the play Glengarry Glen Ross written by David Mamet. Throughout both of these texts, characters such as Oedipa Maas who allows these emotions to guide her in her journey of self discovery, and Shelly Levene who is so overcome with these emotions that they become his downfall. For both of these characters, these constant emotional themes are what guide their most impulsive actions, which can generally also become regrettable decisions. Even though it is a distinguishing factor of human beings, when these characters are portrayed in print, it somehow seems to affect the reader more, because they are able to see the fictional repercussions, and also know how they could have been avoided.