Imagery. This seems to be a staple for Khouri throughout her series, Corpus. That statement seems to be truer than ever in her newest installment in the Corpus series, Kalahari, although Imagery itself is nowhere near capable of lifting this book from the gutters to the standards that Mrs. Khoury has written her other books by. It is quite evident that Khoury excessively uses imagery to mask the deficiencies of Kalahari. Her plot can be compared to plastic wrap as it is transparent and has very little actual substance. Although this book has good and occasionally great reviews online, intellectual and higher- level readers, such as I, will agree with my assessment of this book, which is quite logical and quite evident as detailed and insightful …show more content…
I begin with asking why are the teenagers so… basic? The smart girl, who is timid in the beginning but opens up. The jokester who never fails to inject a dose of humor into a dire situation. The rich snobs, who we learn come from a bad background and maybe, just maybe, will decide to cooperate. The leader, who shows off a brave and fearless attitude, but deep down is just as scared as the comparatively inexperienced followers. And finally, the unrequited love who stands by the leaders side at every moment, whose shallow personality and lack of development are over masked by the sweet moments of teenage love. Mrs. Cherie Searles has commented “ I was not at all satisfied with these characters. I feel like Sarah, the main character, is the only one who has any dimension at all. The others all fell really flat… We learn very, very little about these characters and what we do learn doesn't really add anything to the story”. Exactly my point! That, believe it or not, are the characters that are the protagonists that are the focus point of the book. Conventional, am I wrong Khouri? But, as I am woke member of society, I also see a greater problem with this use of recycled material. Why must she use the stereotypical personalities in order to create this book? Stereotypes are wrong in society because they generalize large masses of people, and generalization always proves to …show more content…
Feelings, intuition, and gut instinct do”. If one were to go solely off the majority of reviews, Kalahari seems like a wonderful sci-fi tale, full of action and adventure. Goodreads reviewers give Kalahari 4.12 stars on average with 884 five star reviews, compared to a meager 479 reviews total for three, two, and one-star reviews. Ninety-eight percent of readers say they enjoy the book, according to Google. So why I am I ranting about this tragedy of a book? Simply because I have come across this scenario many times in literature and I feel like Kalahari is not the thriller, soul changing book some young children make it out to be! I will admit that this book should have a positive impact on young readers. I mean, after all, the book shows a strong female protagonist that goes against her gender role to save lives. And let’s not forget, the theme is friendship. When you take this into account, no wonder a whole legion of simpletons have given Kalahari a good review without really delving into the content. I support the messages, definitely, but I strongly oppose those who believe that a positive message is enough to consider this work a good book. The book should be judged on how the theme is carried out, not solely the theme. Sarah’s so-called determination is unrealistic and a futile but admirable attempt to provide actual depth to someone in this atrocious book. It works in the end, I
It contributed to establishing Sammy’s naive, immature tone because it contrasted greatly with the symbols that Sammy carries. He pitied his 22-year-old, married coworker, "I forgot to say he thinks he's going to be the manager some sunny day, maybe in 1990 when it's called the Great Alexandrov and Petrooshki Tea Company or something”. The setting helped to locate the tone of the story as naive and immature because it was a place that Sammy didn’t belong. In his words, there was an obvious sense of sarcasm and a disdaining attitude towards the convenient store. He unfavored the idea of spending one’s entire adulthood in such a setting, as his teenage identity, and immaturity didn’t fit in to what the convenient store symbolized—the realistic world. Unlike his colleague, who is only a few years older and had a family, he still had his aspirations and teenage dreams that he wanted to pursue. His naive and immature tone was shown through as he felt proud to serve the swimsuit girls, instead of those adult customers who hovered to Stokesie’s line. He felt as if he was favored, or chosen. The setting built the naive and immature tone as he concluded that he connected with the girls in the convenient store, the epitome of adulthood while holding his superiority as an adult. His immaturity and naiveness suggested to him as if he was a rebel against the adult world, a protector of the girls, which then led to the dramatic irony
While high school in reality is full of surprises and twisty roads, teen television shows and movies are based off a strict set of conventions that allude to other teen films. In David Denby 's "High School Confidential: Notes on Teen Movies," he describes the typical movie storyline and characters: the blonde, superficial cheerleaders that make up the popular crowd, along with the buff, handsome jocks versus the social outcasts comprised of geeks and freaks. Denby continues to explain the nature of these two social standings, including how the “cool group” bullies anyone below them. Denby goes on further to discuss how a particular outsider usually becomes the hero or heroine of the story, despite their social discomfort or awkward
Stereotypes are assumptions people make about the characteristics of a person or group. Obnoxious, narcissistic, rebellious, emotionless, unloyal, out of control and up to no good… are a few wide number of stereotypes that are accredited to teenage boys nowadays. Stereotypes are everywhere: social media, television, magazines, etc… Stereotyping a person or a group of people in a negative manner has a lasting detrimental effect on those who experience the prejudice. Stereotyping causes many misconceptions about teenage boys. This could be seen throughout the novel, Holes, the author, Louis Sachar, endorses and challenges the teenage boy stereotypes by the diversity of the characters’ persona, actions and characteristics. The book Holes follows
At first, I thought the formatting of the book was a little bizarre, but as I delved deeper into the story, I grew to appreciate the setup of the book and how it showed the eight different perspectives of each of the girls. It really lets you see all the different dimensions and perspectives of what it really meant to be the prettiest or ugliest of each grade. This was great, as it let you see how some girls chose to embrace their label with open arms and how some didn’t let the labels define them. On the other hand, I loved all the characters, but one character that really fascinated me was Bridget Honeycutt. She had me hooked on her story, from her starving herself all summer to her finally learning her lesson.
Identity; Romance; Segregation; Beauty; Friendship; Within the film industry’s classic interpretation of female adolescents, these elements of teen culture are typically represented. A film’s demonstration of themes such as relationship tensions or social status struggles are that which attracts the popular viewership of female adolescents, for they are personally dealing with similar experiences. Furthermore, in continually representing the aforementioned traditional elements of teen culture, the film industry seems to make it so films’ story-lines and characterizations adapt to and directly reflect the era in which the film is set. This adaptation is significantly demonstrated in the popular teen films The Breakfast Club (1985), Clueless (1995), and Mean Girls (2004) as they each clearly and diversely characterize young women based on the distinct time period and the cultural attitude towards teen girls of that time. The Breakfast Club (1985) details five high school students in Illinois, a nerd, a jock, a bad boy, a weirdo, and a
In an essay published in the New Yorker in May 1999, entitled “High-School Confidential: Notes on Teen Movies,” writer David Denby analyzes movies targeted towards teenagers and the stereotypes associated with them. He begins his essay by describing the archetypal characters in high school genre films: the vapid popular girl and her athletic male counterpart, and the intellectual outsider and her awkward male counterpart. He then describes the reality of teen life, and compares it to the experience depicted in these films. Next, he analyzes the common theme that the geeky characters are the protagonists, and suggests there are such because of their writer's personal experience and a history of geeks being ostracized. Finally, Denby analyzes the tropes in
Language can be a powerful tool which can build individuals up but it can also tear them down. When reading Literature through a post-colonial lens it can give us the needed tools to provide or grasp the information in order to reveal the bigger picture in the story. “Post-colonialism examines the manner in which emerging societies grapple with the challenges of self- determination.” (Aladren, 2013) In one way we can see that approach of colonist being conveyed through the native tongue which tends to be taught to its subjects. Such examples can be seen in Shakespeare’s The Tempest (Act1 & 2) and the The Epic of Gilgamesh which illustrates how a “savage” can be domesticated simply by learning the imperialist language. As the subjects Caliban and Enkidu encounter these dominating issues due to the situation they face once they are introduce to oppressors culture.
The theme of the novel is to not follow the crowd, because it may lead you into the wrong direction. Truly followed the populars and dropped her friends who “saved her in the 6th grade.” This teaches middle school girls to have more
Middle school, as we all know, is full of surprises, rivalries, hatred and love. It is one of the tensest moments for a teenager. The three middle school students in the story “PATTERN OF LOVE” by Irwin Shaw go through these challenging moments. Writers always avoid stereotypes in their stories and do not expose the character to the readers because they think that it will be boring. But Irwin Shaw doesn’t avoid stereotype in his short stories, so that it will be more interesting. He talks about three middle school students, Katherine, Charley and Harold, who break out of their mould, and come out to be what readers don’t expect.
I selected the book The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth by Alexandra Robbins because I was interested to read about an adult author’s perception of a modern American high school experience. I also chose the book because the reviews mentioned that it related to a TV series I enjoyed, Freaks and Geeks. As I read through the book, I found that it centered around the theory that if a student is excluded or dismissed in high school for having different traits than what other students considered normal, those same traits that made them different will allow them to succeed in an adult life after high school. As soon as I got about a quarter of the way into the book I was not as enthusiastic as I was at first glance. I did agree that these traits could benefit someone, but they don’t define what you have the potential to be when you’re an adult. This high school cliché, despite the seven heartwarming storylines, is inaccurate in describing what the future holds for high school students because our future is unpredictable, and a book with a little statistic and seven high school experiences can’t solidify someone’s adulthood. I also noticed that there were no counterarguments present in the book, leading me to assume that Robbins may not have heavily researched both sides of her ‘quirk’ argument. Although I had differing opinions than the author, the seven characters, their storylines, and the promise of a young James Franco continued to perk my interest and
It shows us how these values and ideals can be achieved, however, IMO, lacks to focus on anything that may entice teenage thought.
Kingsolver begins the novel with intense, vivid imagery, allowing the reader to fully engulfed in the environment, questioning where such a place exists. Kingsolver’s use of magical realism intertwines reality with fiction as she constructs the setting of the wild Congo. “Every space is filled with life: delicate, poisonous frogs war painted like skeletons, clutched in copulation, secreting their precious eggs onto dripping leaves” (1). Rich literature is woven into every sentence, loaded with foreshadowing and symbolism that the reader can only truly comprehend when the novel is over. The idiosyncratic character of the first opening pages continued to draw the reader back. Every time the opening is read again it had a different meaning depending on where the reader is in the book, and what connections have been are made.
The main of theme of the over all book is first introduced in Chapter 1, and escalates throughout the novel. The conflict between the groups Socs and Greasers also comes into play. The Greasers are described as “poorer than the Socs and the middle class… almost like hoods; we steal things and rive old souped-up cars and hold up gas stations and have a gang fight once in a while.” (“The Outsiders” Pg: )Meanwhile the Socs are described as “the jet set, the West-side rich kids,” who “ jump greasers and wreck houses and throw beer blasts for kicks, and get editorials in the paper for being a public disgrace one day and an asset to society the next.” (“The Outsiders” Pg: )The way the two different groups are described in the first chapter shows how they see each other so differently. The greasers believe that the Soc’s lives are, so much betters than theirs, but in reality it isn’t. This part of the chapter teaches students how images aren’t always what they seem. Many people may look like their rich, but in reality they aren’t. This part of the novel, supports the over all theme of the novel.
A concept of a stereotypical teenager in the 20th century was to grow up through childhood but not surpass the values, beliefs and attitudes of a typical adult. In the 1998 film, the audience is shown a great selection of characters, symbolism and setting which reinforces the idea of a teenage role that shows a new perspective that affects society.
As an adult reader who has crossed over to the reality of life, reading about these characters can be a transparent, futile exercise because as adults looking back at youth we have the experience to know where these characters are headed before they even start their journey. However, for young adults who are still in the throes of existential angst this is a powerful novel that handles teenage rites of passage and coming-of-age issues such as loyalty, friendship, belonging, and even death and loss very well.