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African culture and literature
African culture essays
African culture essays
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More handpicked essays just for you.
African culture and literature
African culture essays
African culture essays
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In “Cinderella”, by the Grimm Brothers, the authors utilize a multitude of fairy tale genre conventions such as frequent usage of rhetorical devices, magical creatures, and the classic “Happy Ever After” fairy tale ending, to emphasize the importance of genuineness and the dangers of pursuing superficiality. The authors use several rhetorical devices such as symbolism and juxtaposition
“I undid the lantern cautiously-oh, so cautiously --cautiously (for the hinges creaked)”(Poe). A grand amount of imagery is used in the quote to show the darkness of the story. Hinges creaking create a picture of an old, spooky house, therefore eluding to a darkened
Countless children's stories and fairytales begin with the infamous phrase, “Once Upon a Time.” Nadine Gordimer stylistically chose to employ this phrase as her title for her thematic short fiction tale to ironically explore controversial subjects. This strategic choice utilized the “childish elements” of young literature, such as the, “wicked witch,” to convey underlying messages of fear and racism. In Thomas Foster’s, “How to Read Literature like a Professor,” the strategy of “stealing” ideas and elements from four main literary sources, children’s literature included, was discussed. Gordimer pulled from these stories, shown explicitly in the title, to create irony by conveying modern, political ideas and issues in our society through “innocent” plot elements.
The tree represents all the poor inhabitants of the tenements and how strong they are, and how they manage to survive with almost nothing. However, the tree of Heaven more specifically
Listening to this video was very intriguing, especially since I have grown up hearing this story my whole life. I heard it in children's church, while reading the bible, and also in recent church services. Every time I heard this story, I never once considered that Goliath might have had something wrong with him, and that maybe David wasn’t so helpless after all. I completely agree with all of his points. None of them are absolutely certain, however there is a great deal of evidence supporting his claim.
Children in both of these tales do things that children today never have to do, and this is
Many families have many traditions, but one tradition that is common among all households is that they read fairy tales to their children right before they put them to sleep. They do this to fill their minds with good positive thoughts and leave them with something to think about. Religion dictates the characteristics of familiar fairy tales as religion provides a moral and ethical framework for having a good life, an ideal goal parents want their children to have. On the whole, fairy tales are constantly changed to adhere to cultural or social beliefs that are deemed important by diverse people in a community.
These stereotypes have always existed but have been passed down to us, precisely, by these stories. They target the most impressionable part of society, children. The purpose of these tales is to teach children how to behave and in which social norms they must fit into. “Fairy tales are a child's world of imagination and pleasure, but
The most significant element of the story is the use of a fairy. The author’s artistic use of a fairy is of great significance to the main character, hence to the tale itself. The use of
Justyna Deszcz wrote an article based on Zipes’ political and socio-historical approach and added a variety of facts she had collected from many other authors and articles. Deszcz believes that the reason we have shifted into the submissive and “family-friendly” theme of fairy tales is because “the fairytale has been reduced to a mass-produced commodity, to be purchased and owned, and to bring in considerable profit. What is more, the fairytale is being used as a source and a vehicle of powerful self-mirroring images affirming the existing value system, and thus lulling audiences into passivity and compliance.” This point proves that the original thought of harsh realities needing to be exposed in story telling has converted to just being a profitable way to tell simple-minded children’s
In Margaret Atwood’s poem “There Was Once”, Atwood uses irony to point out the societal problems within the genre of fairy tales. Charles Perrault, the author of the short story “The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood”, writes about fantastic creatures, magic, and love, following the generic conventions of fairy tales. When compared to Perrault’s short story “The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood”, Atwood’s poem both compliments and contrasts Perrault’s. These two texts, although similar, offer different views on the genre of fairy tales. Margaret Atwood’s satirical poem, “There Was Once”, aims to disrupt the generic conventions of a traditional fairy tale.
Most of the children read about many fairy tales, especially Snow Whites, Sleeping beauty, and Cinderella when they grew up. It is a surprising fact that to discover a hidden, unexpected political intention in the simple plot of fairy tales. That is a feminization of woman. The fairy tale world suggests a male-centered patriarchy as an ideal basic society and impliedly imply that man and woman need to have a proper attitude toward this opinion. However, Jewett’s A White Heron describes a new perspective of fairy tale’s plot.
The art of storytelling is at the heart of fairy tales. Since the beginning, fairy tales have captivated readers with its magical worlds and enchanted characters. Quintessential to fairy tales are destined happy endings and the clear division between good and evil. The nature of these stories creates distorted perceptions that do not align with reality, making it difficult to distinguish between reality and illusion. This is portrayed in Terry Pratchett’s Witches Abroad, in which Lilith Weatherwax struggles to free herself from the fictitious world she has fabricated.
Gender Stereotypes in Cinderella Fairy tales are read to children at a very young age. In today society, many children believe fairy tales are real which reflects negatively on children. The story of Cinderella is widely known across the world with many different versions of this folktale, which portrays gender stereotype throughout the tale. When reading The Cinderella, it shows how unattractive looks can lead to mistreatment by society.
Entering a conversation about literature ‘Once upon a time’ a short story by Nadine Gordimer transports the reader through the narration of an interpretation of Apartheid in South Africa. The author used the story of a white family whose members at first “Loved each other very much and were living happily ever after” (Gordimer, 1). Yet, at the end trying to find more happiness away from the black population end up living a tragedy with the death of their son. This misfortune was due to their obsessive fear of the black world. During apartheid, white identity has schemed as power over the blackness of the rest of the population which was segregated.