Perspectives of Christianity in the Novels of Graham Greene
Pooja Shrivastva
APSU university, Rewa (M.P.)
Greene was indeed a prolific writer, and perhaps he still continues to be Britain’s ‘main literary export’ to the rest of the English-speaking world. It is really amazing that at a time when a considerable number of writers and other intellectuals of the West were learning towards Marxism on account of the Russian revolution of 1917, Greece embraced Roman Catholicism in 1926 at the age of twenty two. Nevertheless, he is a rebel Christian, and in this connection says: ‘I am a Catholic with an intellectual, if not an emotional belief in Catholic dogma’. He speaks a good deal about sin and salvation, damnation and redemption in his fictional
…show more content…
This novel, says R.W.B. Lewis ‘is the most traditional of Greene’s novels in both content and construction. As such, it is obviously less representative than The Power and the Glory; as such, it has a special appeal for those who mean by the word novel the kind of work that was typical in the nineteenth century. The very title of Lewis’ book, The Picaresque Saint, is highly meaningful and suggestive. The protagonist of The Heart of the Matter, Henry Scobie, is the deputy Commissioner of police in the British colony on the West African coast. He is an admirable person, responsible, honest and just, so much so that the commissioner of police, his immediate senior, calls him, even if jocularly, “Scobie, the Just”. It is really unfortunate that he is denied promotion to commissionership for no fault of his own. Any other person, placed in a similar situation, would naturally have become utterly indifferent to his or her official duties and social obligations. Henry Scooby, however, is made of different stuff, for, in spite of all humiliations, he preserves his mental cool and generous spirit. He feels extremely sorry for the child who dies in a boat mishap, for he is reminded of his own dead child, but is happy to have rescued Helen, a young girl, who faces imminent death because of her agonizing poor state of health. He takes adequate care of her, accommodates her in one of the abandoned Nissen huts, provides her with food, clothing, medicine and, of course, shelter, and visits her frequently for this very reason. It is for the sake of Helen that he has to take money from one local Syrian merchant named Ali, a smuggler, racketeer and murderer, a ruthless person, at the cost of his avowed honesty and integrity. It is utterly unfortunate that people
In every Disney movie the villain is generally portrayed as evil or crazy, and it is taken as a personality type, but Disney movies also tend to sneak in a backstory for the villain geared towards explaining how they had come to be evil. And in the end, the villain is usually convinced that they should be “good” (again). So from this perspective, it may appear more so that the villain is not a personality type but a product of the situations they were in each moment that lead to he or she becoming the villain. Malcolm Gladwell is an award winning author who constructed a theory labeled The Power of Context, a chapter in his book The Tipping Point, to prove that people, such as villains in Disney movies, are products of their situations. In essence, to be a product of situations is to be a product of context.
As the boom from the transatlantic slave trade was being put into a question of universal humanity and morality, millions of Africans were still being sold into a life of victimhood. Amongst those millions were freemen being stripped from their homes, because of their race, in the core and coastal regions of Africa. The Neirsee Incident occurred on, “January 21st, 1828” at a “British owned palm oil house near old Calabar” (Blaufarb and Clarke 71). The Neirsee as it was stopped at the port near the British owned palm oil house, was interrupted by a character name Feraud who “slipped out of old Calabar on the Neirsee”, where the ship was eventually seized after it had, “just loaded its human cargo” (Blaufarb and Clarke 72). The incident had led to innocent British citizens lives being sold into the slave trade.
All books that young adults read have power. Their power results in their ability to sway and to change the reader in so many ways, not the least of these is morally. These books can create a moral sense in the young by demonstrating what is morally right and what is morally wrong. They can raise and resolve ethical issues. The reader may not agree with each resolution, but is certainly forced to think about issues he or she may never have thought about before (Smith 63).
“The Great Greene Heist” by Varian Johnson is a story about Jackson Greene and one of his greatest cons in Maplewood Middle School. Before, during his last cons, Principal Kelsey caught Greene in his office, and Jackson swore off scheming for good. But, Keith Sinclair announces he’s running for school president, against Jackson’s almost- girlfriend, Gabriela de la Cruz. Gaby had been furious with Jackson since his last con, and don’t want him involved in her election. But Jackson knows Keith has connections to Principal Kelsey that would win Keith the presidency whatever the vote count.
Amir makes hassan look like a thief by “planting [his] new watch and a handful of Afghani bills under [the mattress]” (Hosseini 104). Hassan knew of Amirs intentions that Amir wanted him to leave so Hassan lies and says that he stole it in order to remain loyal with his friend Amir. Thus, Hassan and his father Ali, feel like they can no longer serve Baba or Amir anymore and leave forever; Amir never sees him again. It was then that Amir realized how much of a horrible person he was and how undeserving he was to have Hassan. His father realized it was him and forgave him even though his father said “theft is unforgivable.”
In his mind, he believes that Baba will send Ali and Hassan away, and, as a result, he will finally gain some peace. To Amir’s surprise, Hassan confesses to stealing his gifts without hesitation symbolizing “Hassan’s final sacrifice for [him]” (105). At that moment, Amir realizes that Hassan knew of his betrayal, which added to his already guilty conscience. Hassan could have easily told Baba the truth and he would have believed him because”[everyone] knew that Hassan never lied”, which, in turn, would ruin Amir’s relationship with his father (105). He probably knew that Amir was unworthy of his sacrifice, that he was the “snake in the grass, the monster in the lake”, but he lied for Amir’s own benefit
The Rocket Man-Literary Analysis The Rocket Man is a story about a man that has two different lives. The Rocket Man by Ray Bradbury is about a man that is split between staying with his family or going back into space and not seeing them for another few years. He has to choose whether he wants to stay with his family which consists of Doug the son, and Lilly the wife and mother. This story is about a man that has a job as a “Rocket Man” that goes into space for long periods of time and they don’t see their family for a while.
He resists for Amir whom he loves with his whole heart. Amir witnesses this struggle, but he does nothing; he runs away since “he was just a Hazara, wasn’t he?” (Hosseini 77). Amir has always believed, deep down, that his father favored Hassan, a Hazara, the dirt of Afghan society, over him, his own son. Seeing Hassan reduced to that level of baseness is perversely satisfying for him.
The next morning, Amir mirrors an action he committed twenty-six years earlier with a different purpose. He “planted a fist full of crumpled money under a mattress” for Farid’s family to show gratitude and so they would be able to feed their hungry kids (242). As he reminiscences back to the first time he did this, his tone is no longer remorseful and abashed. In fact, the more selfless actions he accomplishes, the more he starts to embrace the changes in his behavior. Amir progresses to forgive himself for getting Hassan and Ali kicked out by counterbalancing it with his selflessness in giving Farid’s family
In the book Fahrenheit 451 Beatty is killed by Montag. To understand this event we need to understand what 's happened. Beatty addresses Montag on the dangers of books. Beatty makes Montag feel intimidated. In his hand is a flamethrower at this time.
Thus, glancing towards either direction to make sure that ‘the coast is clear’. He deprives Hassan and Ali from the house they have served faithfully for a long time, thereby stealing the truth from Hassan and depriving them of a home they knew well. Amir is driven by both the greed for his father’s attention and the guilt of being helpless when Hassan was raped. The reason why he couldn’t remain under the same roof as Hassan was because he felt guilty that he hadn’t tried to stop the rape and save his friend. The reason why he couldn’t step in to save his friend was because he was not strong enough and wanted to please his father at any
First person. For centuries the notion of war as an exciting and romantic endeavor has existed until Stephen Crane DE glorified war in his novel The Red Badge of Courage. He tells about the true nature and experience of war through a young soldier Henry Fleming and contrasts it with his romantic imagination. Crane introduces a more realistic approach to war which is in contrast to Henry’s expectations.
he stole the right to Hassan 's life, the right to have a father or a mother, he has nothing but a ruler and Ali who looked over Hassan. So he moved away from his riches to work one coming, long hour shifts to support his family and to tell the truth he gave up himself to explain his story even though he knew they would be upset with him but it 's
In John Green’s Video, “How and Why We Read” Green states that reading allows us to be able to basically communicate with the dead. I agree with him because even after one dies their message is still portrayed in their book or article. Without people writing and documenting their thoughts and ideas down while on this earth our technology today would not be as advance as it is. Without these ideas being preserved through their writing we wouldn’t have been able to know what one was doing or trying to invent. One of John Green’s arguments was that with reading “we have a fuller understanding of lives other than your own”.
The novel, The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway, describes the life of some people from the Lost Generation in post-World War I Europe, but mostly in Paris, France and Pamplona, Spain. This novel rotates around Jacob, or Jake, Barnes’, the narrator’s, life; which mostly includes drinking with his friends, Robert Cohn, a Jewish man who is often verbally abused by his “friends”, Ashley Brett, an attractive woman who Jake is in love with, Bill Gorton, a good friend of Jake’s, and a couple others. Their life in dull Paris seems to revolve around spending money and drinking, but when they go to colorful Pamplona, Spain, they have an amazing time during the fun-filled fiesta. Ernest Hemingway uses the “iceberg theory” when he presents Jake Barnes to the reader; he does not directly tell you a lot about Jake, but through Jake’s thoughts and emotions, one can tell that he was injured in the war, he is not a very religious person, he would rather do what he loves, instead of what he must, and he does not like to be honest with himself, despite the fact that he is one of the more honest characters in the novel. Ernest Hemingway does not directly let the reader know that Jake is injured in a special place; he allows the reader to interpret that from Jake’s thoughts and memories.