Devil Figure In A Thousand Splendid Suns

Erik Larson has organized The Devil in the White City chronologically, alternating between the construction of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and the evolution of a serial killer. In doing so, Larson is able to explore the details of the fair in-depth, while keeping the interest of the reader. By using this organizational structure, Larson is also able to tell the gruesome tale of a serial killer without scaring away his audience. Overall, the pairing of these two stories helps to balance out the novel.

A Christ figure can share attributes with Jesus and be the antagonist of the story. In Thomas C. Foster’s novel How to Read Literature like a Professor, he analyzes what a Christ figure looks like in literature. He argues that a character who shares personality traits and or physical characteristics with Christ is a representation and reflection of Jesus. Similarly, in Barbara Kingsolver’s novel The Poisonwood Bible, her character Nathan Price believes he is synonymous to Christ while in reality, he is far from perfect. She uses irony to exploit the idea of the Christ figure. The use of irony as seen in Kingsolver’s novel, up-ends Foster’s claims as to what makes a Christ figure by creating a character who assumes he is Christ yet does not reflect Christ’s attributes.

In chapter fourteen of Thomas Foster’s novel, How to Read Literature Like a Professor, when telling of Christ in our literature, he makes the all-composing assertion that we live in an overwhelming Christian culture. The common man or woman may not know all there is to understand in Christianity, but our media and minds are affected by it considerably and basic knowledge of its core is known by the majority. The figures of Jesus in literature are abstract and in no way have to be exact to Jesus in gender, morality, or actions. No literary character or real character can be as divine or perfect as Jesus was in the Bible, making it impossible to completely replicate him. Imagination is the largest

Indeed, the symbolic meanings of many of the people and things placed throughout the narrative depict certain attitudes and beliefs about Christianity and its religious system. Take for instance the Black box that is used in “The Lottery“. It is used as a representation of the

Mariam has a basic understanding of justice. She believes that she does not have it, will not have it, and even that she does not deserve it. The beginning of the novel

Authors can sometimes create an allusion by portraying a character as a figure of whom the reader may or may not have prior knowledge. A Christ figure is a character that resembles Jesus Christ in more than one significant way. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, John Proctor is said to be an example of a Christ figure along with Tom Walker in Washington Irving’s The Devil and Tom Walker.

In the sixth chapter of Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster examines the Bible and its importance throughout stories, poetry and film. The Bible is one of the most commonly known pieces of literature and is even “nonsectarian” in Foster’s eyes (44). Because stories from the Bible are so well known, the Bible is a tremendously easy for authors to reference when constructing a new composition. Especially “prior to sometime in the middle of the twentieth century” writers were “solidly instructed in religion” and could count on the public being very well acquainted with Biblical stories (47). This widespread knowledge of the Bible lead to greater understandings throughout literature, and the recognized allusions helped

The main focal point of Erik Larson’s Devil in the White City is centered around the excitement, murders, and magic of the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. In 1890, Chicago was becoming a very populated and anxious city of America. The city itself wanted something to prove to the more traditional eastern cities of the United States. Driven by its massive civic pride, Chicago joined in the election against New York, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C. to be considered where the placement of the next World’s Fair would be located. Paris, France hosted the previous World’s Fair and left the world astonished with its architectural achievements with the Eiffel tower. Civic leaders in the opposing cities ultimately agreed to place the Fair in Chicago.

Mariam struggled often with the constant rigor of her daily housewife work. As a child, Mariam encountered many horrific adversities and obstacles that she had to fight through. She lived with her mother, who she refers to as Nana. Nana was a very strict, bitter, and nasty woman. Mariam was the only thing she had in her life and she constantly treated her as dirt. She referred to Mariam as a harami, which translates to a sinner and/or a bad person in our culture. Her mother’s source of bitterness derived from the fact that Mariam’s successful father Jalil

In the fourteenth chapter of Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster depicts all the elements found in a Christlike character. To begin, a simple fact is stated; “we live in a Christian culture” (124). Foster declares this to establish the fact that Christianity is a predominant religion on Earth, and it greatly impacts it’s surrounding civilizations. “Culture is so influenced by it’s dominant religious systems” that religion may sneak into a writer's work, no matter their personal beliefs on the religion (125). While knowledge of religion is helpful - especially to a reader - too many religious beliefs can lead problems. Foster articulates that intelligent readers possess a diverse knowledge in multiple religions,

In Dante’s Inferno dante sees satan and see satan with three head and satan is trying to fly out of hell but his wing are making it where it is impossible to do so. Satan in the world now is known as the king of hell. Satan is different in this version of him. In our version he is the fallen angel from god and he looks like he has reds skin and has horns while the Dante version is like a big monster and is in his own prison and he is forced to eat so of the people that have went against god. In our version of satan he is cast of out heaven and rules the underworld and is the one that cause humans to be bad and make bad choices in life. In Dante version it seems that he is the one that is forced to have a punishment and pluto rules hades what

In his book “How to Read Literature Like a Professor,” Thomas C. Foster provides a list of attributes that a fictional character may have if they are a symbolic Christ Figure in their story. The list consists of characteristics such as “very forgiving” and “came to redeem an unworthy world.” In Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,” although the Old Man is thought to be an angel by the awe struck people around him, it is possible to claim that he is a Christ Figure. While the Old Man doesn’t turn water into wine, he seems to have something with the odd “miracles” occurring in the town. The Old Man’s ragged appearance is also an attribute that should be accounted for. Foster explains that “he’s dirty and unkempt and bug-ridden,

Chapter 14 of How to Read Literature Like a Professor discusses how to identify and the significance of Christ figures in literature. According to the book, Christ Figures are prevalent in literature for various reasons including putting emphasis on the sacrifice of the character or deepening the plot with the parallel to Christ. This works because Christ is an important feature in our culture. I believe that literature from dominantly Christian areas will contain many figures resembling Christ simply because the religion is ingrained in the culture. Foster lists many of the qualities that help to indicate the presence of a Christ figure. Some of these include wounds on hand and feet, and struggle in the wilderness, a sacrificing character,

This story uses metaphor to mention lots Christian symbols and the different actions between religion-religious people and non-religious people.

Steven Gregory’s book entitled The Devil Behind The Mirror is an ethnographical study of the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic is in the Caribbean, it occupies the Western half of an island, while Haiti makes up the Eastern portion. Gregory attempts to study and analyze the political, social and cultural aspects of this nation by interviewing and observing both the tourists and locals of two towns Boca Chica and Andres. Gregory’s research centers on globalization and the transnational processes which affect the political and socio-economics of the Dominican Republic. He focuses on the social culture, gender roles, economy, individual and nation identity, also authority and power relations. Several of the major relevant issues