Humorous Wings: A Fictional Narrative

Written by Edgar Allan Poe, “The Raven” is a famous short poem known for the dark fantasy that it portrays. From the mindset of a first person narrative, one may experience the tale through the eyes of a haunted man who is in mourning for the death of his beloved Lenore. As this man sits in his chamber, within a dark and dreary December night, a “raven of the saintly days of yore” visits him. The raven is no ordinary bird, for it is like a ghost, silent, yet it answers every inquiry the man presents in it’s own personal way. This dark and tragic tale grabs one’s attention through the rhythmic, yet melancholy verses, through the classic references, and through the dark imagery that all play a critical role within this poem.

Ha Sŏngnan’s story Waxen Wings uses a unique style of writing. The use of flashbacks are very important throughout the story, and the use of the second person point of view is an important factor in developing the story. Another thing we have to look at is if this is a tragedy or not. Some people might say it is and some people might say it is, but I will give my reasons on why I believe this is a tragedy. Sŏngnan also uses a number of different literary devices to heighten the effect of the story. I will overview how Sŏngnan completely put together this story and all of the methods she used.

Setting is everything in a novel. It describes the historical background and provides a modern background for which the characters of the novel can flourish or decline in. The setting in The Invention of Wings is a normal one at the time, or at least it was normal.

Having no rights, being owned by other people, and being punished as your “master” sees fit. This was the reality for many people around the world in the early 1800 's. In the novel The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd, this is illustrated clearly from the views of a white woman, Sarah Grimkè, and the perspective of a black woman, Hetty “Handful” Grimkè who was under the Grimke’s ownership. Sarah opposed the way of life for Southerners in Charleston where slavery was a common occurrence in every white’s household. With her abolitionist views, Sarah treats Handful as if she was any other white. In The Invention of Wings, slavery is seen from two perspectives: one is from the whites who see it as necessary and useful to have

Although Birdie’s sad story seems to be very tragic, it is not identical to the normal literary tragedies that we normally see. Usually, a tragedy is written with a heroic character and features characters acting out the roles of the story. Instead, Waxen Wings displays a girl who loves flying, but is caught up in a series of unfortunate events Unless the reader is also a lover or flying, it is

I am reading The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd, and I am on page 300. This book is about two young girls who evolve into women, Sarah and Hetty ‘Handful’, one white and one black. The two women are living and experiencing turmoil, poverty, and oppression during a time of slavery in the Southern region of the United States of America. In this journal, I will be predicting and evaluating.

Because of the supposed similarities between humans and birds, birds are a useful tool for authors wishing to symbolize human emotions or thoughts. Mynott offers that birds are often “distinguished partly by the different human emotions they seem to be revealing” (Mynott 282). He references several examples of the use of human-specific traits in the description of birds, such as “kind,” “stern,” and “astonished” (282). It is not such a huge leap from the attribution of such human characteristics, to “anthropomorphic misdescription” (282). The birds in The Ant of the Self are said to be looking “as though they [had] placed bets” on who would lose Spurgeon’s and his father’s confrontation. While Spurgeon is taking a stand against his father by ordering him out of the car and onto the shoulder of the road, the birds’ curious glances are exposing Spurgeon’s own thoughts. The birds, a symbol for Spurgeon, wonder whether he or his father will “go down in flames” (Packer 95). The caged birds, which are so capable of human expressions, are expressing Spurgeon’s thoughts. ZZ Packer endows the birds with a look of human quizzicality, having them glance from the nervous Spurgeon to his angered father. Spurgeon wonders whether he or his father will win, and the birds, as his symbol, express this.

Birds are shown throughout our culture as symbols. Simply by their appearance, they can spark feelings of love, freedom, or wonder in the hearts of people. Birds are creatures that have attributes similar to the beings on earth that are so fascinated with them. Humans are full of constant bewilderment and curiosity, so it is no epiphany that they are entranced by such graceful creatures of the sky. People tend to use birds as symbolism, given the stark similarities between the creatures in the sky and humans. Each can fly with the desire to soar above in the sky and see all that is hidden down below. Both humans and birds can sing songs of revelation to their neighboring friends. Additionally, birds and humans can find themselves being restrained by something. Although such a comparison seems bizarre, Anthony Doerr captured the essence of birds and its connections entirely in his novel, All the Light We Cannot See. Almost every character that is spoken of has an aspect of freedom and flight deep in their story. Doerr’s novel follows the life of two teenagers as they travel through life during the disaster of World War Two. Many characters in the novel exhibit actions and situations in which a bird might find itself in. Werner finds himself fighting restraints, as a bird would to its cage. Marie-Laure is a young birds stretching her wings for the first time. The surrounding friends and characters also face the issues of the war, similar to which a bird struggles with the

The Invention of Wings is a historical novel by Sue Monk Kidd that details a story of two struggles for freedom: the battle of Handful to find the wings her mother promised and the equally intense quest of Sarah to liberate her mind and spirit. This triumphant novel also speaks with wisdom about the nature of evil and injustice and the courage to dare what seems unattainable.

Slave by definition is a person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them. That about sums up what slavery really is in our mind and is pretty much the definition that we all picture when we think about slaves and slavery. But this is not what slavery truly was within the antebellum time period. Most of the slaves had a whole different outlook on the way they viewed, and acted and while living in their unfortunate circumstances. This is one of the few things that will be discussed further on within this paper. The main concept of this paper will be to discuss slavery in three sections; these sections will be discussing the types of people who were enslaved, and the nature of their bondage in the first section. The

“Well, for instance, when I left her to-day, she put her arms around me and felt my shoulder blades, to see if my wings were strong, she said. `The bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings. It is a sad spectacle to see the weaklings bruised, exhausted, fluttering

When someone looks up at a bird they see something soaring through the sky free from the world’s troubles. Through out man’s history they have been trying to find a way to be as free as birds and learn to fly. Unfortunately it has been an unsuccessful feat for man to accomplish. Although man has never really been able to fly on their own, they are able to fly with the help from a little machinery and ingenuity. Macon Dead Jr, or milkman, the nickname he adopted because he nursed from his mother, the protagonist of Song Of Solomon by Toni Morrison, had been trying to fly all of his life. But until he discovers his family’s history and his self-identity he unable to discover the secret that has

First the author uses symbols to help describe the Angel and portray how weak the angel actually is. The Angel’s wings symbolize strength and power. While the Angel is in the cage his wings are beat up and he is weak, but over time his wings begin to heal and he becomes more powerful. It says, “... and at the beginning of December some large, stiff feathers began to grow on his wings,” (367). This line demonstrates the power the Angel is obtaining and soon after he

At the bird’s appearance and apparent vocal articulation, he is at first impressed, then saddened. He compares this evening visitor as only another friend which will soon depart, just as “other friends have flown before” (58). But the raven again echoes quite aptly his one-word vocabulary, thus leading the man on to think more deeply about the possibilities that exist at this juncture. Somewhere deep inside him, he has realized that it doesn’t matter what question he poses, the bird will respond the same.

As the raven enters the room, its presence reveals emotional suffering and loneliness. For example, the intrusion of the raven suddenly makes, “the air [grow] denser” (129). By making the air grow denser, the raven has an emotional affect on the mind, body, and spirit of