Short fictional story, Margaret Atwood’s Bread (1981), emcompasses multifarious literary techniques, written in a confronting manner to explore and question the extent of the representation of realism. The multifaceted story contains perspectives encompassing a symbolic loaf of bread, conveying conflicting versions of reality through indifferences, thus positioning the assumptive privileged reader in belief of their own culpabilities. Furthermore, through examining the equivocal second-person narrative, Atwood experiments through narration, point-of-view and the use of stylistic devices in representing the ‘real’ within literature. Within Bread, Atwood alters the narrative voice and point-of-view to emphasise the importance of implicating the audience in the action and discomfort, thus using the realistic technique of representing the actual and ordinary experience reflecting the social world of the common reader. Within the first paragraph, …show more content…
You don't have to imagine it, it’s right here”(Atwood 40). By drawing attention to reader’s position, Atwood breaks down the division between the author and reader, reminding the reader of their privileged reality. In succession, two following paragraphs describe outlandish scenarios, assertively directing readers to question their reality by imagining the importance of bread in another of less fortune-“Imagine a famine” and “Imagine a prison”(40), with the narrator using omniscient power to guilt readers. In third-person, the narrator in the fragmented fourth paragraph distances reality from the reader-“This is a German fairytale”(40), thus alerting
The essay The Writer's Responsibility by Margaret Atwood is written with the intent of urging the privileged writer to utilize their position to speak out for those who are unable to. Her intention is a noble one which I am in agreement with, however, in order for her to express this intent her tone is quite straightforward. It is this candid tone in combination with several generalizations which I have a gripe with. For example, on several occasions Atwood degrades her readers through grand generalizations such as when she says “on a whole the audience prefers art not to be a mirror held to life but a disneyland of the soul” (Atwood 1).
This paper will be a unique interpretation coupled with an analysis of rhetoric in A Thousand Acre’s by Jane Smiley. This non-fiction novel is told in third person omniscient and is focused on the point of view of one of the main characters, Ginny Cook. A Thousand Acres was a modern-day retelling of Shakespeare’s King Lear; set on a large farm and small town in Iowa. This setting is important to the plot because it is more realistic compared to a far away mystical land that is detached from its audience. Smiley uses various rhetorical and literary techniques within her book to engage readers while still keeping to the basic storyline previously written by Shakespeare. Smiley’s use of language positively aids the imagery and emotions seen
Atwood tries to open our eyes by satirising our society with a brilliant contrasting novel. Dystopian in every way, the reader encounters a world in which modern values of our society seem/ are replaceable. Showing the worst of all possible outcomes, she demonstrates that our primarily heartless, just economical thinking could bring the downfall of our society. Altough satires are often used to be funny ;Atwood uses this instrument of literature for an attack on a society which she strongly disapproves of. With the intent to bring about improvement, she
The short stories, “Turned”, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “The Good Corn”, by H.E Bates provide strong examples of how the representation of characters influence’s the reader’s perception of a text. Both stories depict similar characters: a middle-aged, childless wife, her husband and an 18-year old girl who works for them. They are both about a similar situation: man cheats on wife with girl and girl falls pregnant. However, the author’s of the text are from very different backgrounds and this is reflected in their stories. Although there are many similarities between “The Good Corn” and “Turned”, the values reflected in these stories, their resolutions and the reader’s perception of them are vastly different due to the contexts of
“You can imagine… the dreadful terror of Elizabeth Ann” (1). Fisher tries to put the reader in Elizabeth’s shoes and feel the fear. By doing this, Fisher adds a mood of pity. Instead of making fun of Elizabeth for being afraid, Fisher instead wants the reader to be afraid with her. This shows that Fisher is sympathetic to the plight of Elizabeth.
'Stone Mattress' is a collection of short stories by Margaret Atwood that all have a very similar recurring theme. Though the four short stories analyzed are unrelated, they all examine the evils that exist in in modern society. Through this collection of short stories, both realistic fiction and fantasy, Atwood sheds light upon the evils that all people are capable of. Upon reading the short stories, the reader is able to connect with the characters, as the scenarios and characters are are relatable and engaging. The realistic fiction pieces within the novel such as The Dead Hand Loves You, Stone Mattress and The Freeze-Dried Groom narrate characters in situations that could very easily occur to anybody. It is no doubt that the internal dialogues
Damon Knight’s “The Country of the Kind” follows a narrator who the audience at first knows little about, who lives in a society that is different from the norm, but is also initially left ambiguous. This sense of the unknown exists up until the narrator stumbles upon a pamphlet which opens up new viewpoints to the reader. The pamphlet serves to create three new perspectives in particular, all of which significantly shift the reader’s understanding of the story. First, it gives the reader a chance to understand the narrator and sympathize with him. Second, it offers a new perspective on society and their overall conception of what defines a utopia. The third and final perspective is that of the people who live within this society, and their interactions with the main characters. These three new perspectives prove to be formative in understanding the main character, his interactions with other characters in the story, and the role of society.
What’s the most common adversity of an immigrant? Struggling to cope with embedding oneself into being servant to two masters. The term “masters” used here are figurative objects where two distinct form of societal expectation collide with each other and one can’t completely ignore either side. Sarah, in Anzia Yezierska’s Bread Givers, as an immigrant, faces adversity to implement her personal pursuits in assimilating with the American Culture against her native culture where the father plays the authoritarian and dictatorial rule in the family. Being servant to two master brings one nowhere but Sarah fights on her stand and brings out the outcome to be otherwise.
c. Is there some sentence or paragraph that focuses the reader’s attention on some particular issues, aspect, or theme that the paper examines as
The narrator’s diction on the page can be described as vain due to the fact he doesn’t need an introduction when the narrator says it is “not really necessary” (4). The narrator’s diction reveals that he has a methodical, stone cold personality that puts the narrator in a more superior position then the human race. Achieving
Chamberlain’s use of imagery and anecdotes in the novel Necessary Lies is displayed as effective due to the appeal given to the reader, which is essentially created by the reader’s imaginative perception of the events and characters in the
second paragraph – describe and identify the type
Therefore, this paper will examine further Davis’s short story by analyzing the writing styles she used and the ideologies of no free will and feminism that she applied. Realism in literature is generally the depiction of life as it
II. —Body Paragraph 1: A. Topic Sentence (Something reader
Atwood uses strong wording to paint a picture of a world in which women are demeaned on a daily basis, and in doing this ascribes a meaning to these far beyond what they mean literally. By using these words to start a