A Humble Remonstrance By Thomas Stevenson Analysis

This story is also a way for Stevenson to have a go at hypocroisy and

Frye now deals with the respective claims of the reader and writer, the producer and consumer of literature. “We need two powers in literature,” he says, “a power to create and a power to understand” (p. 104). Both writer and reader need to understand literary convention.

”(Stevenson 2) The second type

Throughout the whole course of the novel, readers can identify an unbreakable connection between Hyde and animalistic images as he was shown to be big, awkward and childlike. This kind of figure is regarded by Stevenson as parts of human nature. It also expressed Stevenson’s repression towards hypocritical society during Victorian times.

This essay will focus on how Robert Louis Stevenson presents the nature of evil through his novel ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’. Using ideas such as duality, the technique used to highlight the two different sides of a character or scene, allegories, an extended metaphor which has an underlying moral significance, and hypocrisy; in this book the Victorians being against all things evil but regularly taking part in frown able deeds that would not be approved of in a ‘respectable’ society. This links in with the idea of secrecy among people and also that evil is present in everyone. The novel also has strong ties and is heavily influenced by religion. Stevenson, being brought up following strong

Bryan Stevenson, human rights lawyer and founder of the Equal Rights Initiative (ERI), has been central to an ongoing project of the ERI to create markers for the lynching sites of African Americans. Its function is to “to create a mechanism for forcing people to talk more about slavery,” with the hope of confronting racial injustice within America through confronting our long history of abuse (Carp). Stevenson believes that any impetus to talk about slavery is vital to understanding why our society is shaped the way it is, and why we deal with the problems we do. I agree with Stevenson in that the identification of these sites is a beginning in our journey to uncover the truth of our past and our present, which for too long has been shielded from the American consciousness.

King and Stevenson both have the same views on the injustice on the criminal system. King feels compelled to work for justice anywhere that injustice is being practiced. Although King’s actions are a bit different from Stevensons, they still

Robert Louis Stevenson uses imagery to make the book creepier. He describes Hyde as “something wrong with his appearance...displeasing…detestable...deformed somehow” (53). Hyde looks different than other people, but no one can tell how- they just get a sense of deformity. Another example of imagery was “a room in a rich house…friend lay asleep...and then the door of that room would be opened,curtains of the bed plucked apart…there would stand by his side a figure...he must rise and do his bidding” (58). This passage started out normal, and then it began to get creepy, like a scene from a horror movie where the person in the bed was being forced to do what the figure told him. The last example of imagery is “fine dry night, frost in the air, the street...clean...solitary...silent”(59). This is an suspenseful passage since it is an empty street, on a quiet night, and the reader is left wondering what will happen. The imagery in this book combines to make a creepy mood for

Written by Jeffrey Eaton, an Open Letters editor, this source is reliable because the magazine speciality is to critique many works of art and literature. Rather than merely summarizing the main events of the memoir, Eaton actually expresses his dislike about it by providing

Flannery O’Connor’s “The Nature and Aim of Fiction,” and Nabokov’s “Good Readers and Good Writers,” both authors discuss the element of truth in their essays on fiction, however in O’Connor’s blueprint to writing fiction she states that the writer should dive into the truth in their stories with fiction. This is a contrast to Nabokov’s ideology, because he says that “Every great writer is a great deceiver, but so is that arch-cheat Nature. Nature always deceives,” (Nabokov). This contrast in their essays presents a difference in O’Connor’s and Nabokov’s view on the element of truth in fiction.

In an age where the printed novel has been somewhat on the decline, and the necessity of readable fiction has almost faded into obscurity. I believe that literature still harbours a crucial part within our society; from the very foundations of most theatrical adaptations, to preserving the culture and encapsulating the feelings of generations past. In this case literature cements itself as one of the most decisive elements of our civilisation, and combining it with history makes it become a testament to who we are as people, as well as the conservation of both our progression and degradation. I have always enjoyed reading literature, from reading J.R.R Tolkien’s classic ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy within my childhood, to perhaps more sophisticated,

However, Stevenson uses the graphic novel form to subvert these stereotypes of hero, villain, and monster through Nimona’s cute character design and visual comedy. As Mihaela Precup notes, Nimona’s round figure, boisterousness, and “deceptive smallness” make her an endearing character, and the reader identifies with and supports her despite her supposed monstrousness (Precup, 7). By depicting Nimona as a funny, cute character, Stevenson not only subverts the hero/villain binary in the novel but also the process of labeling others based on appearances, an

In 1837, the start of the Victorian era, Britain began experiencing massive changes in the culture of the nation and in the industrial sector. Cultural works began to move away from rationalism, and became more romanticized and more influenced by mysticism. Privacy became a hallmark of British life as well; the outer walls of citizens’ homes were transformed into a façade by which innumerable mysteries resided behind. This romanticized idea of mystery that seemed to lurk behind the doors of the common, everyday man became a prevalent theme in the works of many writers and artists throughout the time period. Robert Louis Stevenson uses this theme of not knowing the true nature of an individual, as well as the idea of duality, to develop his theme that an evil side lies within every man and that balancing both sides is vital to preservation of ones sanity.

Stevenson shows how repression can lead to the development of dangerous, horrible secrets. The novella depicts repression through the character of Dr. Henry Jekyll, and shows what kind of threats it could pose on the society and its individuals. Edward Hyde is Dr. Jekyll’s doppelganger. He is the manifestation of Dr. Jekyll’s suppressed thoughts and desires. When Dr. Jekyll transformed into Hyde he turned the tables around. He challenged society. The transformation of a typical, respected Victorian gentleman into a troglodytic, dwarfish creature is an unsettling secret that highlights Gothicism in the novella. The idea of transforming from a high class Victorian gentleman into an apelike atavist underlines society’s fear of social and moral regression (Clausson, 2005).

In the extract, Stevenson has used several stylistic devices like similes, repetition, metaphors and imagery. All these mentioned stylistics devices are used to describe Uma who is often compared to an animal or a child. Stevenson uses simile to describe her; A simile is used to make direct comparison, in order to show similarities between two dissimilar things. The female character is described to behave ‘like a child or a kind of dog’ and ‘as bright as jewels’. These words from Wiltshire proves to the reader that he is somehow physically attracted to Uma, despite considering her as ‘Other’ as she is a native, unlike him, a white. The author also makes use of metaphor. This is another mostly used stylistic device, which is a figure that makes comparison between two different objects which have a few similar characteristics between them. ‘She played kitten with