Fantasy And Reality Are Two Opposing Themes

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates has a constant theme of reality and fantasy running parallel for 15 year old Connie. This short story begins with a description of Connie’s vain personality. The narrator describes her as pretty and self-centered (Oates 421). To emphasize her selfishness, Connie is contrasted with her sister, June, who is chubby, plain, and well-behaved. Connie’s mother always praises June for her work ethic and help around the house, but says Connie can’t do anything due to “trashy daydreams”. There isn’t much of a father figure in Connie’s life due to her father being away for work most of the time and detached when

In his latest novel, Jasper Jones (2009), Craig Silvey uses syntax, visual and olfactory imagery, personification and symbolism to describe the inside of Mad Jack Lionel’s dingy house, creating a sinister, gloomy and malicious mood. As this setting is observed through the youthful eyes of the Bildungsroman novel’s narrator, Charlie Bucktin, you receive the eye-opening thoughts and perceptions of a child combined with Silvey’s precisely crafted language, producing an impactful and evocative passage.

At the mention of the name Alice, one tends to usually think of the children’s stories by Lewis Carroll. Namely, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are two classic works of children’s literature that for over a century have been read by children and adults alike. These two stories tell the tale of a young girl named Alice who finds herself in peculiar surroundings, where she encounters many different and unusual characters. Although Alice is at the centre of both stories, each tale is uniquely different in its purpose, characters and style.

Reality and Fiction: the True View 1 Reality and Fiction: the True View Americans rely a great deal on their entertainment to educate them about life. In many ways Americans live vicariously through the experiences of fictional characters and believe themselves to learn many things from fictional characters. For example, many persons have said they learned CPR by watching medical shows on television or believe they can assist in a medical emergency because they have seen “experts” on television handle similar situations.

How does one distinguish the difference between reality and fantasy? Can our realities be so complex and unwanted that we are simply unable to grasp it? Coming to terms with actuality allows us to accept and find who we are. If we choose to neglect and become unaware with reality we may become delusional to the point of becoming insane. Feminist Charlotte Gilman’s (1860-1935) “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Mississippi native William Faulkner’s (1897-1962) “A Rose for Emily” both contain extreme delusional characters (“Charlotte Perkins Gilman”, “William Faulkner”). These characters lose touch with the real world and slowly begin to exhibit madness. Although both characters are unable to grasp reality, they both express distinct methods that show the severity and capability of their insanity.

Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland creates a warped reality, causing each character’s identity to become confused. An exception to this confusion of identity is the Cheshire Cat, who shows an uncanny awareness of his own madness, giving him considerable control over his presence and allowing him to occasionally leave only a grin behind. Alice, contrarily, is strewn all over as she loses herself in Wonderland. In Wonderland, all are “mad,” but to Alice this is preposterous, even as she fails to explain who she is – both to herself and to others. Carroll’s juxtaposition of the Cheshire Cat and Alice in their first meeting scene exaggerates Alice’s insecure identity and its development throughout her adventures in Wonderland.

The Victorian Era was a time where not many ethical ideals and moral standards were sustained. Yet, it is also an Era in which modern society uses to make advancements in both humanity, and philosophy. Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland, was a novelist who wrote pass his time. He wrote further in the future of the "common" Victorian Era. The ideology he presents in Alice in Wonderland is conducive to an individual attempting to bring attention to the deteriorating mental health and humane conditions in Victorian-Era England. Alice is representative of a normal child in everyday-Victorian England. This child, Alice, has not been exposed to the likes of diversity, but instead solidarity. The type of solidarity that is all too prevalent throughout the Victorian Era, primarily in the upbringing of children during this time. Children in Victorian Era England were taught to be followers of the norms already established by adults, and to ask no questions. These types of parameters placed restraints on children growing-up during this time; not only physical restraints, but also mental restraints, such as their imaginations'. Carroll was no stranger to this ideal or the likes of this concept; In fact, he constructed Alice in The Wonderland with this in mind, to defy the imaginative 'norm' of Victorian-Era England. He created a character that dreamt of falling down a rabbit hole into another universe. This dream or imagination becomes so vivid in his novel that the

Reality is the state of the world of how it really is, whereas an illusion is erroneous interpretation of reality. Illusions often derail people from their sanity, as they cause them to inadvertently live lives in accordance to false beliefs. As a result, the outcomes for these people, and the people around them, are often atrocious. The theme of illusion versus reality is excessively demonstrated in Macbeth, a play written by William Shakespeare, and also in The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller. In both plays, the characters that lived illusive lives ultimately ended up leaving behind a trail of ignominy, grief, and death. In Macbeth, it is Macbeth and Lady Macbeth who consistently misinterpret reality as a world that

A supporting argument that the fantasy theme analysis and the convergence theory are appropriate perspectives for my artifact is Ernest Bormann's use of both perspectives in several articles to answer questions that are similar to mine. For instance, in his "fantasy and rhetorical vision: ten years later" article, Ernest address the foundation of fantasy theme analysis as a humanistic method of rhetorical criticism. He answers how effective and useful the approach is and examines the work that has been done under its auspices. Also, the article illustrates a relationship between sharing fantasies in a small group, which is one of my primary concurs in this paper.

'Alice in Wonderland' by Lewis Carroll seems a first a simple fairy tale, but in fact its meaning is a lot more profound. This novel criticizes the way children were brought up during the Victorian era. Carroll presents the readers with the complications these offspring must endure in order to develop their own personalities/egos, as they become adults. For Alice, Wonderland appears to be the perfect place to start this learning adventure. A way to understand her story is by compering it to the world as if being upside-down. Nothing in Wonderland seems to be they way it’s supposed to. The first lesson, Alice must learn in this peculiar journey through Wonderland is to achieve separation from the world around her and to stop identifying herself through others, in order to discover who she

Silently, my senses begin to abandon their rationale…who is to say then what is real? The world that we live in, the reality, which we are a part of, is small and thus limited. That is why, in his infinite capacity for potential improvement, man created fantasy. Fantasy is BIG! To a certain extent it is more imaginative, more exciting, and more fun. Fantasy is like a lake where man throws all his ideas and dreams, and then he dives on in from the springboard of imagination. So, jump in to the lake. Why not? Just make sure that when you jump in to the lake you know how to get back from where you came from. Because, no matter how big a fantasy is, to the point that it somehow changes our perception of what is

Versions of reality are one of the most important themes throughout every story we have read and every story out there. There are always different perspectives from everybody, who all have different opinions and different outlooks on things. One of the best things about it is that no one will ever be right because there is so many ways to look at one thing. Just like in the stories Tom Tit Tot and RUMPELSTILTSKIN. In Tom Tit Tot, it all started with the mother singing about her daughter spinning five skeins that day. The king overheard the singing while walking down the street said he would marry the daughter. All she would have to do in 11 months is to spin five skeins and she wouldn’t be killed and have everything she wanted. The mother looked at this as a fantastic idea. Even though she just lied to the king that her daughter can do such acts and proceed to put her in danger of death. Her perspective was that she was so ashamed about how her daughter had five pies so she thought it would be in her best interest to go with the king. In addition, another perspective that is very important in the story is the king’s. The king was the one who made up the whole plan, if the girl spins five skeins for the last month, he wouldn’t kill her. He only wanted her to do the act, but then he would’ve given her a daughter, all the food she would want to eat, all the gowns she would want to get and wear, and all of the company she would want to keep. Why could he marry someone for the

Tom Araya sings, “In the depths of a mind insane, fantasy and reality are the same”. The power that fantasy and reality have in human life is undeniably large. The novel The End of Alice by A.M. Homes is a story narrated by a man in jail who claims that he had been sexually abused by his mother early on in his childhood, engaged in sexual relationships with various young girls in his adult years, and conversed with a seemingly pedophilic 19 year-old girl while in prison. Through the scarring sexual abuse by his mother and her unexpected suicide, Chappy developed a distorted outlook on life, ultimately leading him into a world where his fantasies created the potential for some of the scariest realities. The fantasies in which the reader is subjected to come simply from Chappy’s thoughts alone. These thoughts often evoke feelings of horror and trauma, and leave the reader with an ultimate revelation: one’s fantasies are what create reality. The entirety of the book aims to focus on the disgusting possibilities that human beings have the ability to create and bring into the world. When one realizes this, it adds meaning to what Homes is trying to convey. A.M Homes writes The End of Alice to display to her readers the scary reality that could be created when one acts upon their fantasies.

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll endures as one of the most iconic children 's books of all time. It remains one of the most ambiguous texts to decipher as Alice 's adventures in Wonderland have created endless critical debate as to whether we can deduce any true literary meaning, or moral implication from her journey down the rabbit hole. Alice 's station as a seven year old Victorian child creates an interesting construct within the novel as she attempts to navigate this magical parallel plain, yet retain her Victorian sensibilities and learn from experience as she encounters new creatures and life lessons. Therefore, this essay will focus on the debate as to whether Alice is the imaginatively playful child envisaged by the Romantics, or a Victorian child whose imagination has been stunted by her education and upbringing.

This symposium paper will discuss one of the most distinctive features of Keith Waterhouse’s narrative: the appeal and effect of fantasy, in juxtaposition with provincial realism. In the context of ‘angry young men’ writers of the mid to late 1950’s.