Edward Field Icarus

Behind each movie lies the meaningful aspects and significant features worth noticing. All movies and books can be carefully examined and interpreted. Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor provides a new view on interpreting literature. In the novel, Foster identifies and analyzes common patterns, themes, and motifs found in literature, many of which are also present in Disney’s film, Maleficent. This movie showcases several of his ideas, including quests, flight, geography, and symbolism. These are only a few characteristics that shape the movie into an enjoyable and thought-provoking experience for the audience.

After Cinderella, by Charles Perrault, we are acquainted with the moral that “beauty is a treasure, but graciousness is priceless. Without it, nothing is possible; with it, one can do anything.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinderella#Cendrillon.2C_by_Perrault) “Without doubt it is a great advantage to have intelligence, courage, good breeding, and common sense. These, and similar talents come only from heaven, and it is good to have them. However, even these may fail to bring you success, without the blessing of a godfather or a godmother.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinderella#Cendrillon.2C_by_Perrault)

In the first stanza, Field sets the stage for Icarus’ tragic death---a completely different world compared to the second stanza’s setting of modern life and general malaise. The first stanza explains the myth of Icarus through environment of a crime scene and of the aftermath thereof. Stanza two ironically deprives the myth of Icarus to a monotonous and unexplainably mind-numbing situation when compared to his former glory. The last stanza depicts Icarus lost prestige and splendor as a wound that he “probes” at, and daily tries to rebuild wings to escape his modern day prison, but to no avail.

In the poem Icarus, the author, Edward Field makes use of literary devices such as imagery, character dialogue, and word choice in order to adapt the long told myth into an urban setting.

Fairy tales are a big part of our childhood, they are the first window to real life. In the excerpt “The Uses of Enchantment” by Bruno Bettelheim, he points out all the benefits fairy tales posses and their significance to our development. He argues that classical fairy tales in contrast to modern stories have more of the “existential anxieties and dilemmas” of life kids need to familiarize in order to have the ability to understand and have a “satisfying independent” life. Undoubtedly, modern fairy tales sanitize every unpleasant aspect and leave the stories as a complete fantasy taking out any realistic aspiration. Consequently, I agree with Bettelheim due to the fact that modern versions of fairy tales leave kids thinking life is an easy

When the word “myth” is spoken or written in today’s society, the first thing that probably comes to mind is that of a tall, muscular man with a beard holding a sword fighting off some sort of fantastical monster. However, when the word is more deeply examined, one can see that the word does not merely describe a story from some ancient time period, but rather it details a certain type of story consisting of certain factors. Some of these factors such as the ability to teach and the belittling of fears can be seen in John Steinbeck’s “Tularecito”. The story of Tularecito is a full-fledged myth, consisting of multiple key factors required to be so. Although myths are mainly thought of as stories from ancient times, “Tularecito” also falls into

Adventure and desire are common qualities in humans and Sarah Orne Jewett’s excerpt from “A White Heron” is no different. The heroine, Sylvia, a “small and silly” girl, is determined to do whatever it takes to know what can be seen from the highest point near her home. Jewett uses literary elements such as diction, imagery, and narrative pace to dramatize this “gray-eyed child” on her remarkable adventure.

Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451, excels in figurative language, especially allusions. By skillfully incorporating numerous allusions into the novel, Bradbury gives the reader a better insight as to what events are taking place. His strongest allusions come from popular sources: the Bible, Shakespeare, and Greek mythology. Referencing these sources, Bradbury creates powerful descriptions that heavily impact how the reader understands the story.

Margaret Atwood’s satirical poem, “There Was Once”, aims to disrupt the generic conventions of a traditional fairy tale. Atwood begins with the traditional opening of a fairy tale by writing, “there once was a poor girl,

The author’s artistic use of a fairy is of great significance to the main character, hence to the tale itself. The use of

The ending of James Joyce’s “Araby” is certain to leave its reader reeling. The final scene, in which the young protagonist fails in his mission to purchase a prize for the girl he loves, drips with disappointment. The reader feels a profound melancholy which matches the protagonist’s own, an impressive feat given the story’s short length and the lack of description, or even a name, given to the boy. How does Joyce arrive at this remarkable ending? By utilizing the trappings of the Boy Meets Girl and Quest “masterplots” in his story only to reveal the story as an Initiation, Joyce creates an experience for his readers that mirrors that of the protagonist. In order to appreciate Joyce’s expertly crafted tale, one must examine the way in which

A fairy tale is a type of a short fairytale that typically features European folkloric fantasy characters, such as dwarves, elves, witches and usually magic or enchantments . One such fairytale is HANSEL AND GRETEL (German: ' 'Hänsel und Gretel ' '). It was originally written by Giambattista Basile. However, it was later adapted by Brothers Grimm. The fairytale is of German origin and was written for the middle-class readers of the 19th century.

Millenia after their creation, classical mythology continues to intrigue and inspire; Greek and Roman (and even Norse) figures and stories directly appear in the contemporary works of Rick Riordan, Jennifer Estep, Neil Gaiman, and Shelly Laurenston. Additionally, references and allusions to classical mythology frequently are and have been used in unrelated works for emphasis. The enduring strength and power of these myths is due not only to their divine and heroic feats, but also to the connection the audience can form with characters who don’t have happy endings, but suffer as much and often more than ordinary mortals. Thomas Foster, author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, devotes an entire chapter of his book to the employment

For example, "However, as stories so often shows what elders had said youth disregard ... [Icarus] soared exulting up and up, he payed no need to his fathers anguished commands. Then he fell" (Hamilton 247). Hamilton gave Icarus no motivation other than blatant curiosity as to why he flew too close to the sun. This depicted him as a bemused teenager who had no respect for authority. In addition Icarus said, "How splendid if I could get a really good look at the sun and be able to tell my father something he doesn't know. How that would delight him" (Evslin 182). Icarus had a clear motivation as to why he strayed from his fathers teaching. Icarus wanted to show his father, a genius inventor, something that even he wouldn't be able to know; he wanted his dad to be proud of him. Hamilton portrayed Icarus as an irresponsible, rebellious, teenager, where as Evslin gave Icarus a purpose for disobeying his

The article ´´ Surviving Rescue: A Feminist Reading of Scott O’Dell’s Island of the Blue Dolphins´´ by Diann L. Baecker published in Children’s Literature in Education in 2007 critically analyzes the content and main character of Island of the Blue Dolphins. The analysis includes a feminist approach and focuses on the theme of survival. Baecker contrasts the original story The Lost Woman of San Nicolas with Island of the Blue Dolphins. First, the analysis highlights special traits that O´Dell modifies to adapt Karana´s character making her likable to young readers. Additionally, Baecker compares Karana´s archetypal with other´s novels female characters ´´The archetype of the young, orphaned virgin in need of rescue by the handsome prince finds its way into many stories…such heroines as Snow White, Cinderella, Ariel, and Belle´´ (Baecker 197). All these characters share features but, at the same time, their stories are different. Karana´s plot focuses on survival and independence.