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Candide, the Fredrick Douglass Narrative, and The Fisher King as Works in the Picaresque Form

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Storytellers use the picaresque form and the quest motif as standard literary devices in film, song, and the written word. The characters in such a story encounter many trials, setbacks, and triumphs on their quest to find what they so diligently seek. There is often much adventure and drama along they way, leading to their ultimate test. The three works discussed in this essay embody these themes. Voltaire's Candide, A Narrative of a Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, and Terry Gilliam's masterpiece The Fisher King present very different journeys using vastly different characters and time periods. Each, however, examines the human spirit as each main character navigates both grizzly and joyous …show more content…

He also references the words of H.E. Watts, who noted the picaro was "one who was at odds with the world" and "the adventurer who had missed his chance."

The Fisher King (1991), directed and written by Terry Gilliam, explores many of these issues. One of its main characters, Parry, is a homeless psychotic, which just so happen to be two of the most neglected groups in contemporary society. The movie uses the rouge as a constant theme. Its other main character is a morning talk radio shock-jock named Jack Lucas, whose profession many people loathe. During their adventures, they meet a cross-dressing musical theatre actor whose friends have all died of AIDS, a paralyzed Vietnam vet who begs for a living, and a host of bums and mental patients who have all been rejected by society. In fact, the film fits very well into Allen's definition, as the characters also encounter video-store owners, T.V. executives, doctors, street thugs and romance novel retailers.

The plot of this film takes on sort of a double picaresque, as two characters undertake a quest for peace that intersects paths. Both men are forced onto this path when a listener of The Jack Lucas Show, Edwin, reacts to advice Jack

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