The contrast between Sir Walter Elliot and Captain Wentworth will be used to unveil how the novel presents the social changes England was undergoing at the time and to assess the relevance of these issues to the novel. In addition, the effects reading has on the characters will also be discussed; specifically the way issues related to female reading are touched upon in the novel, such as the effects of
Female sexuality and its representation has been the primary concern of this research while applying each of the approaches to proves that du Maurier’s work builds on Jane Eyre but the portrayal it grants to feminine sexuality and identity renders her work a narrative of modernity on its own. Several critics have analyzed the intertexuality between the two novels. However, this study builds what has been said before to dwell on the not yet exhausted topic of feminine sexuality. Nungesser is one of the critics who have presented a comparison between the novels to conclude that both works bring an air of freshness and novelty to the traditional female Gothic plot, the novel of development and the fairy-tale narratives. Nonetheless, Nungesser overlooks to precise subject of female sexuality which happens to be submerged in Jane Eyre’s concern with presenting a financial independent heroine whom in spite of what she suffered prefers to spend the rest of her days as a mere angel of the house.
Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey is a Bildungsroman, a coming of age story that focuses on the psychological development, of the protagonist Catherine Morland. This essay will analyse the language, and narrative techniques of the extract, and discuss how this excerpt suggests vicissitude in Catherine’s personal perspectives, and relationships. In addition, it will discuss the ‘domestic gothic’ and abuse ubiquitous in ordinary situations. Furthermore, it will argue how Austen’s rhetorical techniques work to encourage reader interest, and to exercise perception, when distinguishing between appearance, and reality. Finally, it will conclude by briefly discussing the significance of the extract within the novel’s wider themes.
(Le Guin 1975: 209) The concept of otherness is one highly complex and interwoven with deeper issues of psychology and sociology. In literature, one of its theorizers has been Ursula K. Le Guin, who, in her novels, makes heavy use of the notion, in order to mirror and reveal some of the issues of her society. The aim of this paper is to give an overview of what alterity is and how it applies to Le Guin’s novels, her society, and ours today. I have strived to highlight the importance of the way we define the Other (and ourselves, at the same time) and the manner in which these definitions can underline social issues. As always, the historical context is of great importance to better understanding the framework within which these novels were written, as Le Guin has danced to the song of her days, dealing with issues such as feminism and racism when these were just emerging.
In Mia Couto 's novel, The Last Flight of the Flamingo, epigraphs are used as an introduction to each of the 21 chapters. Additionally, there is one before the prologue. Epigraphs are one of the key tools a writer could use to communicate directly to the reader, apart from the main content. As a method of foreshadowing, they enhance what is important, so that the reader knows what to pay attention to in the following chapter. Usually they require some sort of contextual understanding, such as through maintained literary analysis.
To deliberate these points further, the setting of Gateshead, Lowood and Thornfield will be closely analysed. Additionally, it will discuss how Bronte used the setting of Jane Eyre, to demonstrate that women can go beyond the oppressive limitations of their gender, and social class and find fulfilment. It will also consider how the setting reflects the political and social conditions of the era. The novel opens with a vivid description of the setting at Gateshead, which epitomises the first stage of the protagonist’s Jane Eyre’s life journey and her childhood development. The passage declares that ‘the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre and a rain so penetrating’ (Bronte, Jane Eyre, [1847] 2000, 1.1, all subsequent page
This quest for knowledge, more importantly for self-knowledge, structures Jane Eyre as a Bildungsroman. According to M.H. Abrams, “The subject of these novels is the development of the protagonist’s mind and character in the passage from childhood through varied experiences ̶ often through a spiritual crisis ̶ into maturity, which usually involves recognition of one’s identity and role in the world” (Abrams, 193). The novel is the product of first wave of feminism which “focuses on women’s gaining status as human beings with full civil, intellectual, social, economic and legal rights” (Scholz, 06). The novel can be studied by the discourses of Victorian psychology.
Coral Ann Howells suggests that the novel ‘could be read as Atwood’s own retrospective glance back at the imaginative territory of her earlier fictions’ (Howells 2005, 110) in addition, Howells in her book The Cambridge Companion to Margaret Atwood (2006) states that Cat’s Eye is similar to t Atwood other novels such as Surfacing and Lady Oracle that it is not only a Kunstlerroman but Bildungsroman as well (182). In “Margaret Atwood’s Cat’s Eye” Marta Dvorák also argues that as a Kunstlerroman, Cat’s Eye depicts the development of the young artist (narrator-protagonist) and her relationship to her surrounding culture and society (303). On the other hand, Roberta White in “Northern Light: Margaret Atwood’s Cat’s Eye” claims that to date, Cat’s Eye
The Ramsays’ utter dissimilarities contribute to the ability to interpret Woolf’s novel by means of psychoanalysis, as demonstrated by Nussbaum. Additionally, she touches on Sigmund Freud, and his influence on the writing of Woolf, as Freud believed that when behaviour or conscious mental activity is explained to others, we rarely give a true account of our motivation, and this is the issue that Nussbaum deliberates throughout. Indeed, this is predominantly the motivation behind Woolf’s work, the ‘stream of consciousness’, which is evident as almost all of the events take place in the characters’ minds. In the words of Nussbaum herself, “emotions don 't stand still to be inspected like so many stones or bricks. The act of bringing them to consciousness frequently changes them; the act of expressing them to another almost always does so”.
In the reading selection Things I Would Tell Her (If I Could) written by Amalia Salamat, three elements of fiction are used to unravel the story. In the short story, Salamat uses character to show the evolution of the story from start to finish, point of view in order to get a closer understanding as to how the events reveal themselves through the protagonist’s eyes and how it affects her and finally, symbolism which represents the protagonist’s longings and true intentions. The protagonist in the story is an unnamed girl who moved from the city and now resides in the province. It is safe to assume that the girl’s age ranges from 10-13 years old since she quotes “Very few people transfer from one elementary to another, especially if they are nearly graduating” and “I thought I was going to die too, when I first menstruated recently.” It is also safe to infer from paragraph 5 that the girl thinks lowly of herself. In this paragraph, it is seen how she compares her situation to that of pigs.