Jacobson Who's Sorry Now

w.w. Jacobs was born a English writer more than an American writer. His whole name is William Wymark Jacobs was born in wapping, London ,England on September 8 1836 and he lived until 1943. He is the oldest son of William Gage Jacobs, and his first wife Sophia Wymark. She dies when Jacobs was very young.

Alex’s introduction of himself is exemplifies all of the above and then some by asserting “My legal name is Alexander Perchov” but my friends call me Alex because “that is a more flaccid-to utter version” (Foer 1). From the very beginning of the novel, Alex finds it difficult to see why a Jew would pay money to his dad’s business to travel from wonderful countries like “America to the Ukraine” and thinks that Jews had “shit between their brains” for doing so ( Foer 3). His choice of vocabulary and juxtaposition of words are key factors behind his comic in the novel. For instance, his substitution of the word bored with boring or his usage of the word “bitch” instead of dog. However his lack of exposure to different cultures and people is what truly brings out his blunt personality and allows readers to switch from gut wrenching humor to heart breaking sadness. A prime example of his naivety would be when Grandfather and Alex discover that Jonathan does not eat “meat” and considers him to be crazy rather than believe that he is a “vegetarian’ (Foer 65). While this is seemingly a hilarious conversation between the three, readers begin to see a strain in the relationship between Jonathan, Alex, and Grandfather. Especially when the waitress asks to see Jonathan’s horns after she finds out that he is Jewish from Alex, who calls Jonathan out for being Non-American because of his own personal egotistical problems. This exposes a divide between the Ukrainians and the Jews and their claims of superiority to one another which is still existent today in modern times. Jonathan’s interactions with those around him in Ukraine, just like the waitress, reveals the aftermath of Holocaust in regards to labeling Jews with titles and specific traits. These small actions create a bigger picture that can reflect the tension between other European countries

Maryusha Antonovksy was no more. In her place stood Mary Antin, the same immigrant Jewish girl but with a new “American” name. Mary had also bought “real American machine-made garments” to replace her “hateful” homemade European-style clothes. “I long to forget,” she said. “It is painful to be conscious of two worlds.”

In the short story, The Old Chevalier by Isak Dinsen, the male protagonist, Baron von Brackel reflects on his past sexual encounters with two women whose personalities are extremely different from one another. In many novels, short stories and comics authors would create two women as “polar opposites” for a man’s sexual and/or possessive gaze, which is evident in the text. In order to understand, why a man may be attracted to different character traits in women, I will examine The Baron’s attraction to Nathalie and The Mistress by looking at how literary works men portray women, what they find attractive and the fulfilment that men seek from a woman.

The narrator of Sophie’s Choice, Stingo, meets a young Polish woman at the Pink Palace in Brooklyn after World War II. She has a dark past due to some horrendous experiences during Nazi occupation in Poland and time in Auschwitz. It is important to take a critical look at her fictitious narrative and deem whether Styron has produced a plausible character. Also, it is key to assess if the stories told by Sophie attribute positively to real accounts of the Holocaust without trivializing the history in order to create a popular

When looking at John Gass’ article, “Moll Flanders and the Bastard Birth of Realist Character,” he approaches the conflicting question about how the audience is meant to feel about the main protagonist, Moll, and whether we are meant to respect her or not. While heavily focusing on the aspects of genre theory and irony, Gass argues that it is the multiple genre expectations that give Moll the reputation of being deep and complex, which leads to her controversial character. He uses historical context to show how Moll can be seen as a villain, but continues to argue that it is primarily the expectations brought on by genre theory that make people see her as a villain, based on those certain expectations. Gass’ interpretation using genre theory analysis, irony, and historical context to deeply analyze the novel strengthen his argument that our feelings towards Moll aren’t the main argument, but instead, that Moll is a true realist character.

Literary writers incorporate narrative elements in order to convey the flaws of humanity in society, such as gender or class based issues. The Wife of Martin Guerre, by Janet Lewis, portrays the individual’s struggles in feudalist, sixteenth century France and delves into the issues of a complete authoritarian rule, the place of women in patriarchal societies, and the concepts of family honour, justice, truth and love. Lewis utilises metaphorical characterisation of Monsier Guerre, Bertrande de Rols, Martin Guerre

Alison Bechdel’s memoir, Fun Home, is a compelling narrative in which Bechdel takes the reader through her life and gives insight into her relationship and the complex lifestyle her closeted homosexual father, Bruce Bechdel. However, her serious topic is told through the narrative of comics, images that literally put the readers into the moments of her life with her. Even though, the graphic images provide visual insight, Bechdel makes a conscious decision to include a multitude of literary allusions because, as Bechdel describes, “I employ these allusions to James and Fitzgerald not only as descriptive devices, but because my parent’s are most real to me in fictional terms.” (Bechdel, Page 67) Her continued use of literary allusions can be seen as an insight to her life. The particular works of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Oscar Wilde’s plays An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Ernest because of their content concerning facades and the lengths one person goes through to keep a part of their identity or life a secret. TRANSITION Bruce Bechdel was the master of secrecy, hiding a part of his sexuality behind his heterosexual marriage in order to keep his idea of an acceptable livelihood. It is clear that Bruce Bechdel had a few infidelities with males throughout Bechdel’s childhood, infidelities that she did not know until later in life. This creates a whole new perceptive for Bechdel. The father who she thought as a controlling, stern, literary fein

Different from other resources, in this article the author does Jewish social studies in the works of Christie and concludes that Jews in the works of many Christie novels. The Jewish character are stereotype, most of them are good looking man. The author also lists the titles of works in which Jewish appear.

Tobias Wolff’s memoir, ‘This Boy’s life’ explores his record of growing up in 1950’s post-war America. Frequented with tropes surrounding masculinity, identity, and relationships between individuals, Wolff retells his experiences beginning with Jack at age 10, attempting a fresh start with his mother, Rosemary, and continues throughout his adolescence, navigating toxic relationships and societal expectations. Jack’s compelling desire for a worthwhile identify results in him manifesting webs of lies and acting out in problematic means, cracking the façade of his virtuous nature. However, Rosemary’s troubled relationship complex of attracting abusive men, may act as a conduit and instigator towards Jack’s behaviour during his childhood and the

In Maus, Spiegelman uses a third person narrative to tell the story of his father’s experiences in the Holocaust. In contrast, Robinson uses first and second person to tell the story of Lisa Marie’s family’s hardships due to Residential Schools. Through the use of historical references, relationships and evoking emotion in the reader, Eden Robinson’s narrative better exemplifies how individuals of second generation trauma use the experience of post memory to connect with the reader when compared to Spiegelman’s Maus.

Though set in entirely dissimilar countries at different points in history, Margaret Atwood’s ‘Alias Grace’ and Hannah Kent’s ‘Burial Rites’ possess significant comparisons. Both for instance, are fictionalized historical novels following the tribulations of a female protagonist convicted of murder and both have been widely acclaimed for their incredible literary style which merges classic poetry, epigraphs, folklore and historical articles with fiction. The most striking parallel between each novel that can be drawn, however, is the way in which authors masterfully craft the stories of untrustworthy, cunning and deceptive criminals to elicit sympathy from their audiences. Readers of the novel and secondary characters alike are gradually pulled into sympathising with ambiguous and untrustworthy female leads, Grace Marks (Alias Grace) and Agnes Magnusdottir (Burial Rites). Despite the heavy suspicions of others and a lack of evidence to support their claims of innocence, these characters present artfully manipulated features of their defence stories to provoke empathy, sympathy and trust from those within the novel, and those reading it.

As illustrated, Englander effectively incooperates comedy into his narrative in order to portray the horrors of the Holocaust in a lighter manor than traditional Holocaust writings. He successfully fuses together humor and historical accuracy. Other novelists admire his creative work in What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank. As Jonathan Franzen states, “It takes an exceptional combination of moral humility and moral assurance to integrate fine-grained comedy and large-scale tragedy as daringly as Nathan Englander does” (“What”). Instead of taking the Holocaust literally and describing a specific survivor story or summarizing a set of facts, Englander subtly highlights the Holocaust while focusing on a different, comical story

In William Styron’s book Sophie’s Choice Styron explains the effects of World war 2 on an American, a Polish person and a Jewish person. Sophie, the polish women, who is forced to make a very difficult decision during the war, a choice that, affects her mental state of mind for the rest of her life. Stingo, the American and narrator of the story struggles to find inspiration for his writing career while also discovering his families past. Nathan, the Jewish man who is hopelessly in love with Sophie a holocaust survivor, lashes out in anger and questions her about her past. Sophie’s Choice uses three characters guilt to portray the hardships of World War 2 and the mental instability it has caused.