My Favorite Canon In The Velveteen Rabbit By Margery Williams

A dream is to envision another life or characteristic that could be better or worse than what the person already has. In the case of most people it is a dream that is positive. People mainly are selfish dreamers who dream only about themselves but there are some who dream about the world or others such as friends and family. Two examples of these types of dreamers are Mama from the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry and Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech “I Have a Dream”. In Dr. King’s speech he brings up that his dream is not only for him but for others with the same problem. He is a caring dreamer, one who believes others come first then himself. Mama is also a dreamer of this sort. Her dreams are for her

5. a.) Revisionism that stresses the faults of great figures can lead to an overwhelming negativity toward some great heroes who ultimately bring lessons of morality to the table. It perpetuates the idea that human beings, even the best of us, are always crawling with gaping character flaws. But, it also helps us humanize these great figures whose reputations often run away with them. It helps us to remember that political success does not equal morality. b.) This trend in historical writing alludes to a growing sense of both negativity and revolution in our society. As we begin to reject common figures of greatness and replace them with our own versions, modern-day youth culture is beginning to establish their own identity separate from current systems. This straying from the norm of decided importance implies a lack of trust or satisfaction with current

The novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini fits in the American literary canon because it exhibits characteristics of American culture and has impact on it. The American literary canon is perpetually changing and the criteria for being accepted has drastically changed over time. The exclusivity of distinct canons insures that they remain influential but diverse, however canons previously only consisted of old or dead white men. Since then, society has evolved it’s way of thinking. Critics began allowing a more diverse selection of authors into the canon, while still maintaining the exclusivity, thus allowing The Kite Runner to be accepted into the canon. The American influenced themes and Amir’s experience in America make the novel a candidate

New historicism is premised upon an ideological attempt to wed the practice of history and literary criticism. In this type of textual analysis, the literary work is juxtaposed with historical events (characteristic of the time period in which the work was produced) in an effort to understand the implications within the text. This line of inquiry serves to recover a "historical consciousness" which may be utilized in the rendering of literary theory. "Poems and novels came to be seen in isolation, as urnlike objects of precious beauty. The new historicists, whatever their differences and however defined, want us to see that even the most unlike poems are caught in a web of historical conditions,

Dreams are something all humans share in common and they manifest the realization of our lives. They have a great influence over our essence and can provide colossal amounts of courage and strength to accomplish our greatest desires. However, when we do not have dreams to fight for our lives become meaningless and sorrowful, nevertheless this is the situation many people face throughout their lives. Broken dreams have become a popular theme among writers because a connection can be made with the theme and because there one’s truth can be faced. Whether dreams are forgotten or unaccomplished, there is a theory by philosopher Carl Jung that states, “Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment, and especially on

Most of the characters in Of Mice and Men admit, at one point or another, to dreaming of a different life. For example, before Curley’s wife death, she confesses her desire to be a movie star. Also, Crooks allows himself the pleasant fantasy of hoeing a patch of garden on Lennie’s farm one day, and Candy latches on desperately to George’s vision of owning a couple of acres. Before the action of the story begins, circumstances have robbed most of the characters of these wishes. Curley’s wife, for instance, she has resigned herself to an unfulfilling marriage. What makes all of these dreams typically American is that the dreamers wish for untarnished happiness and the freedom to follow their own desires.

A canon is a collection or list of sacred books accepted as genuine (“Canon”). There are many different canons depending merely on the teacher or the institution the teacher is at. There will always be a canon of some sort because all teachers must have a book they get their criteria from. This class had a wonderful canon because it was all stuff we needed to know, from Mary Rowlandson to Johnathan Edwards. In a Tempest: An Ode to the Hurricane by Jose Maria Heredia is one text I think Mr. Higginbotham should include in his class because it speaks of a different country, shows how they wanted to control America and covers things that are common to today in America all through the symbol of a Hurricane.

“Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board,” (Page 1) starts Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, a story about a young girl’s experiences as she tries to find love. The novel begins by distinguishing the dreams of men and women. The dreams of men either come along naturally, or “sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time.” (Page 1) Women, on the other hand, remember only what they want to remember. For them, “The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.” (Page 1)

It gives us an example of the resentment that is growing. People are getting more inflamed emotionally, just like the wound gets worse if not treated. It draws a clear parallel between people's emotions and the images of the sore. Just as an untreated sore will not heal, but get more infected, a deferred dream will not go away, but become more intense. A wound that gets worse will eventually start to smell bad. Hughes compares this to rotten meat. "Does it stink like rotten meat?" This image creates the idea that unrealized dreams will bring out the worst in men. It also means that for some the realization of their dreams will become less attractive.

In Winter Dreams by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author describes through a love story the idea of the American Dream. When young Dexter falls in love with Judy Jones, she quickly becomes his dream. However, it will become apparent that Dexter is not Judy’s dream. Although their dreams are very different, this somehow embodies the very idea of the American Dream as a concept that cannot be specifically defined by one specific idea. Fitzgerald is able to portray the idea of this dream without ever giving on specific definition of this dream. In Fitzgerald’s Winter Dreams, the American Dream is seen to be completely dependent on a person’s confidence, although an extremely fluid idea, an achievable one nonetheless.

Throughout the world, people have to strive for a better life. Not many of them acquire the life that they want. The reality of society affects their desire toward dreams. But not every dream are the same and can come true. There are times when something hard or even unexpected occurs, everything that they have been worked for can halt. In the story "A Rose For Emily" by William Faulkner, he uses imagery of a daughter with a dream of obtaining true love to describe the obstacles, whether physical or emotional and aspect of time, that can cause achieving a dream more difficult or even appear to be impossible. This pattern of images suggests that dreams seem to be unattainable because of obstacles.

And what exactly does a person call a group of literary works that are important from a specific period of time or location? This is the definition of a literary canon; but first let’s break it down to figure out what this canon is. A canon according to the Cambridge dictionaries in the sense of literature is: “all the writings or other works known to be by a particular person.” (Cambridge). The term, “canon” can refer to the works of more than one person as well. In order for a book to fall into the literary canon it has to

Any literary work is unique. It is created by the author in accordance with his vision and is permeated with his idea of the world. The reader’s interpretation is also highly individual and depends to a great extent on his knowledge and personal experience. That’s why one cannot lay down a fixed “model” for a piece of critical appreciation. Nevertheless, one can give information and suggestions that may prove helpful.

In "Historical Text as Literary Artifact," Hayden White compares historiography with literature. Historians must rely on a "historical imagination," such as filling in the blanks or making assumptions about events. History is a "constructive" enterprise, and historians are trained to perceive patterns that may or may not have actually existed. If historians rely on the "historical imagination," as they must to complete their task, then historiography and historical literature are qualitatively similar. White admits that the "conflation of mythic and historical consciousness will offend some historians and disturb"¦literary theorists," (1713). Yet these two seemingly distinct disciplines have more points of convergence than is often assumed. The sensitivity surrounding White's claim stems from a common presumption that historiography equals absolute fact, whereas literature equals absolute fiction.

To me, love doesn’t seem to be a special goal for the American dream. This article was written by Ru Freeman