English First Semester Final Essay To many readers, the most enjoyable stories are the ones that take place without sorrow, and betrayal. While these are both tragic topics, some pieces of literature are fantastic, while still broaching topics that may be harmful to the characters themselves. In the novel Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, the play A Midsummer’s Night Dream by William Shakespeare, and the novella The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, all contain examples of the these specific topics. These pieces of literature all share common themes of family, magic, and betrayal.
In How to Read Literature like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster, the ideas from chapter 7: “Hansel and Gretel” can be directly related to the novel. This chapter of the novel solely relates to the fairy tale aspects of literature, and how they have been repeatedly re used. In the strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Dr. Hyde, it seems to have a concept of a work that had been created earlier during the Victorian era. The author Thomas Foster says “Literature grows out of other Literature”.
Percy Jackson and the lightning thief is about the offspring of poseidon and a mortal, going on a quest with his friends to find Zeus’ missing lightning bolt. The bolt went missing and Percy Jackson is accused of taking it. This is an excellent book that was made into a film. Though the film was good it was very different from the book.
The fantasy is about Buttercup, a milkmaid, and Westley, a farm boy, who fall in love and have to face many obstacles. The story mainly develops the themes of true love and revenge. However, in the book, The Princess Bride by William Goldman, the story develops the theme of revenge and true love in more depth compared to the movie. First of all, the book provides a detailed past of each main character which makes the reader sympathize with them. For example, in the book, the author has dedicated four to five pages to understand Inigo’s and Fezzik’s past.
“The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too.” Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter relates to Odysseus because he has a cause to finally reveal he was important; it was until his arriving of letters and proof of magic that he realized he wasn’t at his rightful home. Much like Odysseus who was stranded in an island trying to get home. They both had to prove they were stronger than what they were to get to their main destination.
Ever since the first came out in 1997, the Harry Potter novels have been a point of debate between readers, with some instantly attaching to the series, while others have been disgusted by each and every novel in the series. This major split seems to be between older traditionalist readers who are against the novels, and younger readers that see the books for what they are as entertaining and appropriate for young readers. Regardless of any single person’s viewpoint, the books rapidly became popular and weaved their way into pop culture. As a result, critics rushed to get their reviews of the novels out and give their opinion on the novels sweeping the world by storm. Two of these critics, Joan Acocella and Harold Bloom, were among these critics
It revolves around the flight of the princess to escape the awful marriage to his father (Perrault, 1977). Charles Perrault uses the princess’ character to reveal the major themes of overcoming evil, child abuse and incest in the story. Perrault also brings out the moral that it is better to encounter awful challenges in life than to fail in one’s duty. He shows that although the virtue may seem unrealistic, it can always triumph. The author uses various literary devices to reveal the various morals of the story.
Storytelling can be described as a powerful tool, with the ability to reach many different individuals and affect their perspectives through the messages they are conveying. Narratives in a similar sense can have perverse effects on human consciousness, leaving impacts of how we think, feel, imagine, remember and relate. Mitchell states that popular fiction is important to society as it contains many important messages that can be disguised as social transformation or ideological revisioning due to the large and diverse audience that it is able to reach (Mitchell, 2012). The focus will be to examine four different popular fiction narratives from this term and the important messages within them that aid or encourage some aspect of social transformation.
An example of a character can be seen in the novel, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Referred to as Ron Weasley, he shares every trait that a character would. He is described as a young male, with notably red hair, blue eyes, freckles, gangly appendages, and a large nose. Additionally, Ron develops throughout the novel as the reader learns he has low self-esteem, although he is very loyal and always there for his friends. I chose Ron Weasley to represent a character as he truly is the most memorable side character I have ever read.
The film of J.K Rowling's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is an uncommon critical movie in the arrangement. Like the book, this film is vital in setting up a perception for the straggling leftovers of the course of action. It is essential that the film supplements the novel however much as could sensibly be normal. Using one of the critical features of a movie; visual imagery, the film change of the fourth novel is a better than average reinforcement to the novel. The visual similarity in this film complements sentiments and reactions that we can't in any capacity, shape or form get from the book.
The Princess Bride vs. The Movie “The Princess Bride” was basically about how Buttercup was deeply in love with Westley. Although the girls were jealous of her because the village boys kept talking to her she really didn’t care about brushing her hair or washing her face. Prince Humperdinck father was not going to be king anymore, so he had to find a princess to marry. Unfortunately, he didn’t want to marry a bald girl. So, they find another person for him which was Buttercup.
The idea that ‘with great powers comes great responsibility’ (Benjamin Parker) is widely accepted. Indeed, in “A Wizard of Earthsea,” Ursula Le Guin develops this very idea by detailing the evolution of the progressive maturation of an enthusiastic young wizard, Ged, who in extreme hubris, recklessly unleashes a terrible evil, and is forced to deal with the harsh consequences of it by not only confronting his fears but also learning the lessons of maturity, self-mastery, and balance. Accordingly, in “A Wizard of Earthsea” Le Guin reveals that the trials and tribulations of a personal quest are essential to character development, through the analysis of Ged’s evolving recklessness, self-control and maturation. Initially, Le Guin’s analysis
The authors want their audiences to use these tales and examples as life lessons and hope for them to utilize these sources in their future lives. These two ideas are presented through the use of figurative language, mainly metaphors. In addition, the similar tone of these pieces allows the author to connect more deeply with the readers. Toni Morrison’s Nobel lecture, folktales, and several poems illustrate how metaphors and tone are used to describe experience and caution the readers.
When adapting pop culture into different forms of media, it is necessary to change a variety of aspects to fit individualized nuances of each medium. The transformation of The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R.Tolkien, from a novel onto the screen is not an exception to this notion. However, Peter Jackson, the director of the popular film series, is known for staying fairly accurate to the original plot of the book. After all, when creating a film based off a novel, the director is not creating something completely his own, rather, he must stay accurate to the plot, in order to observe the wishes of the author and the expectation of his fans. While for the most part Jackson succeeds in his mission to fortify the narrative, rather than stray from
Joseph Campbell once said, “A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself”. Beowulf is a hero who helped Hrothgar and Hrothgar’s towns people by defeating Grendel and Grendel’s mother. Harry Potter is a hero when he protects his friends and Hogwarts. Beowulf and Harry Potter have similarities and differences so their values teach the reader about society. Having values is important in our society for many reasons.
