Literary Analysis Of Footloose

In Thomas Foster’s book, “How to Read Literature Like a Professor,” readers learn how to look past the surface of a literary work to find a deeper or hidden meaning. Writers use devices, such as symbolism, imagery, foreshadowing, irony and allusion to reveal these meanings. If these are overlooked, important aspects of the story can be lost. One literary device that Foster emphasizes in his book is allusion. Every story has elements of another story, and Foster devotes Chapters Four through Seven explaining the meaning of allusion in works by Shakespeare, the Bible, and fairy tales.

Providing for your family and yourself is a important key to survival, in “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry the Youngers know the true struggle of survival in the 1960s being an african-American family in a low income neighborhood. The family of five (soon to be six) living in a two bedroom apartment must share everything and live paycheck to paycheck. The play itself shows the hardships the family are trying to overcome poverty, but once they receive knowledge of a check that is, ten-thousand dollars, coming for Lena (Mama) Younger from the life insurance of the Youngers’ (Walter Younger Senior) deceased father. Since the coming of the check everyone seems to have their own plans for the check. The check changed everything, we

Amy Tan, who wants to understand and figure out her own affiliation between her another mother, wrote The Joy Luck Club. This book explains and uses words to show the differences between the daughters and their mothers by putting in the Chinese culture and the western culture in the article. The Joy Luck Club has four different sections. And they all have common backgrounds but have different meanings behind them.

One time the theme is shown is when Johnny and Ponyboy realize that there were kids in the burning church, and they hopped right in to save them. Johnny courageously sacrifice his own life to allow Ponyboy and the children to get out. “Johnny shoved me toward a window. ‘Get out!’ I leaped out the window and heard timber crashing and the flames roaring right behind me.” (Hinton 93). Johnny and Ponyboy are two kids who are on the run because they are convicts.. Not too long before this, Johnny was standing over Bob, who he had just killed with a switchblade. People would never expect a killer to sacrifice his life for some kids and his friend, especially someone as young as Johnny. Johnny and Ponyboy didn’t do this to convince other people or themselves that they are good people with morals. They did it because they knew it was the right thing to do and they couldn’t just let the kids die in the fire. This shows that they can rise above what other people might expect from them.

Literary devices will be a primary source used to compare and contrast the narrative and stylistic choices made in the short story, “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, and the film 2081 directed by Chandler Tuttle. In the film the director is able to express visuals, sounds, and physical characters, to establish a firm idea of how the characters within the story act and feel based on their surroundings and what is happening around them. However, an Author in a short story is reliant on his words alone to paint the picture for the reader to understand the movement of the plot and its impact on the atmosphere. The literary devices used in creating and shaping pieces of literature will heavily impact the point of view of the

“There must be something in books, something we can imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.”(Pg. 51) Main character Guy Montag is a servant to a society that is controlled by censorship and the fear of knowledge; Montag has spent his life burning books, to prevent the spread knowledge. But a series of events cause Montag's mind to change, and result in him breaking free from his society. The internal struggle of dynamic character Guy Montag, as to whether he should go on believing the lies his society has told him, or risk his life for something as simple as words on a page, brings readers into the corrupt society of Fahrenheit 451. In the novel Fahrenheit 451 author Ray

pass on knowledge and lessons learned back in China to their daughters so they won’t make or

To begin with, the story Footloose the Musical unfolds with a teenage boy named Ren McCormack who lives in Chicago. One of the main hobbies of Ren McCormack is dancing, who plays a critical role throughout the story. The rising actions became with Ren McCormack’s father abandoning the family. Due to that, the family has to move to a small town where the sister of Ren McCormack’s mother lives. The town puts more emphasis on spiritual life while monitoring all events that occur in the town cautiously. In the town, Ren McCormack is having a tough time fitting with other people in the town. While that is happening, he discovers that there is a law which bans dancing of any type or any time which is set by local minister Reverend Shaw Moore. At that time, he also learns from Ariel's (Reverend Shaw Moore’s daughter) friends about an accident resulting in the death of four teenagers that occurred 5 years ago. Due to this incident, dancing in the town has been prohibited. Gradually, Ren starts connecting with the other teenagers in the town while also building a strong friendship with Ariel. With the help of Ariel and Willard (Ren’s best friend), Ren convinces the teenagers how dancing is not harmful, and it should not be prohibited, and they should tell their concern to Reverend Shaw Moore. After many attempts, the teenagers in the town were able to convince Reverend Shaw Moore that the town should heal from a tragedy that happened five years ago. In the end, Reverend Shaw

Lucy Deadman explores the existence of archetypes across all literary text types and how they revisit from our childhood by pressing replay in our lives.

“The Outsider” by H.P. Lovecraft tell the story of a man’s decent further into loneliness after venturing out into the real world after escaping the castle he has been concealed in his whole life. Lovecraft presents a dark and eerie writing style to manifest certain elements in the story that set the theme. Lovecraft suggests themes of loneliness as well as loss of innocence in the story, “The Outsider”, by employing the use of tone, diction, as well as point of view.

In the biography, Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn, written by Karen McCarthy Brown introduces Mama Lola, or Alourdes, a Voudou priestess whom she met while working on an ethnographic survey (1). The book discusses the dynamics of Haitian Vodou and its importance in the lives of its practitioners. Voudouists serve the spirits and one particular group of spirits; the Ezili is a family of many spirits but three specific spirits that are examined. These three spirits: Lasyrenn, Ezili Dantó, and Ezili Freda act as parallels for Haitian women, like Mama Lola.

Distinctively visual texts aim to manipulate the we perceive images critically affecting our interpretation of events and people we meet in our lives. Distinctively visual techniques are utilised in the ‘Run Lola Run’ directed by Tom Tykwer and the picture book ‘Red Tree’ written by Sean Tan. The way the distinctively visual is shown throughout these texts is through the use of motifs, different angle shots, colours, lighting and reading paths. These techniques aim to show the important themes in both texts such as time, hope and love.

Beautiful imagery laced amidst a wondrous storyline, accompanied by memorable and lovable characters are all elements pertaining to enjoyable works of fiction. Tales that keep one up late into the night forever reading just “one more page” forever propelling the intrinsic imagination for a novel enthusiast. Yet, at times there are deeper meanings hidden between the lines. Symbols, analogies, and latent parallels all connecting to real life events and situations being portrayed by the author. Using literary theory can bring a more profound understanding of the reading material at hand, as well as unique insight as to what the author was feeling or intending to portray at the time of writing.

“Then, moaning, she ran forward, seized a book and ran toward the kitchen incinerator. He caught her, shrieking. He held her and she tried to fight away from him scratching,” (63). In the novel Fahrenheit 451 follows the protagonist, Guy Montag, and his interactions with society discouraging and encouraging his discovery of the illegal books. Along the way he understands who are the poisonous people in his dystopian world and who are not; changing his perspective to lose trust in his wife Mildred, from previous quote, and finding safety with Faber, a retired professor he came by one day in a park. In the novel Fahrenheit 451 the author demonstrates the idea that when there is censorship in the world, ignorance will follow because when a subject is hidden from one anything they do regarding it is under the impression of their lack of knowledge surrounding the topic, this becomes more relevant when Ray Bradbury acknowledges the emotions of people who have read books and whom haven't and their general opinions of them.

Authors use literary elements to enhance their writing through details to describe a scene in the author’s writing, or use language to elevate the story. “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry and “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, both use many literary elements to give their writing more depth. “The Gift of the Magi” uses irony throughout the story when Della and her husband, Jim, both do not have enough money to buy each other gifts for Christmas. “The Necklace” uses a lot of detail to show what Madame (Mme.) Loisel dreams of at the beginning of the short story. “The Necklace” is one of the many short stories that use literary elements to elevate the story and keep the reader engaged in the author’s writing.