Paradox Of Thomas Gray

Literature; it has compelled us, entertained us, educated us, and drove us to madness. It has served as life instruction, by using the characters as the lesson plan. It is sometimes blunt, sometimes ugly, and in Truman Capote’s case, is so gruesome that we do not dare forget it.

Atwood uses the rhetoric device of dirimens copulatio in the extract “what are novels anyway? Only a very foolish person would attempt to give a definite answer to that”, this hints at self-deprecation and creates a sense of humility and textual integrity as she accept s this flaw in her argument so to appear unbiased. Atwood argues that the depiction of women in literature ironically prevents women’s advancement, similarly Aung San Suu Kyo argues that the depiction of women in their traditional roles of carers and nurturers has prevented their advancement in politics. Atwood employs polyvocality to shift from complex arguments to the seemingly simplistic anecdote of the eternal breakfast. Her literary knowledge and wit allows her to embody her message and complex ideas to convey that she as a woman is complex. The speeches timelessness and treatment of universal concerns through the construction of rhetoric support her argument and captivate the attention of past and present audiences.

When reading literature we often attempt to use particular threads of thought or lenses of critique to gain entry into the implied historic or legendary nature of literature. To accurately process a tale in the light in which it is presented, we have to consider the text from multiple viewpoints. We must take into consideration intentional and affective fallacies and the socioeconomic circumstances of the presenter/author/narrator. We also have to consider how our personal experience creates bias by placing the elements of the story into the web of relationships that we use to interpret the external world. There also is the need to factor in other external pressures, from societal norms, cultural ideals, and psychological themes, and how

According to the Bill of Rights, we are afforded the freedom of speech through the first amendment. But this awarding of freedom is only allowed if it goes along with what the general population deems “normal”. During the middle part of the 1900’s many books were banned on political, religious, and moral views. While our society has changed these issues are still prevalent in today’s public views and opinions of author’s work. These books are not “normal” and that is why they play an unprecedented part in literature today. Books written in this era had a different political, religious, and moral atmosphere than those written in the modern day; but these same issues arise in today’s society.

Throughout all of time, literature has played an important role in people’s lives. Books are more than just stories to laugh at, cry with, or fall asleep to, but books can teach. Books can teach a person a simple task such as baking cookies or an extremely complex one such as solving for the derivative of a trigonometric path and its parabolic motion. Whatever the subject, whomever the reader, books can teach people many lessons. One of the most important lessons that a book can teach a reader is a lesson about himself, about the difficulties of life, and about living a good life. As time has passed, so has literature itself. Older books focused on historical events, fictional poetry, and important figures; however, books now have evolved to

Thought-out history literature of pronounced authors of significant have touched the hearts and souls of they intended audiences. These writers’ have written stories that have shaped our thoughts and caused us to think deeper about life. In deeper thought, we look at the tales from the standpoint of epiphany, point of view, and symbolism.

This shows that authors of the twentieth century were attempting to dismantle these preconceptions that readers had of their characters before they had even read the text. The preconceiving of characters is a way in which readers blur the line which distinguishes between fiction and reality as they attach human

With each English class, we skimmed through the most difficult of word searches, hoping to locate the perfect words for our numerous ex-de-texte’s. Not only did we find an economy of words which captured the essence of our thoughts, but we also delved into the word searches of literature, dissecting its themes and characters up, down, forwards, backwards, diagonally . . . you name it. By searching for quotes that revealed the hidden meaning of the author, we discovered the letters and meanings that connect the fictitious literary world with our reality.

In other words, reading literature goes beyond just the words of the author. As readers, we become more aware of what the narrator and of what the characters might be feeling. There are feelings that form our underlying base of who we are and a lot of the times we avoid them because they’re a constant reminder of what’s real versus what we want to think is real. From time to time literature may make the readers thing of something personal that gives us a sense of reality. Through John Updike’s Rabbit Run, Vladimir Nabokov’s Pale Fire, Margaret Atwood’s Happy Endings, James Joyce’s Araby, Patrick White’s The Vivesector, and Jorge Luis Borges’ Pierre Menard, Author of the ‘Quixote’ readers come to find a sense of reality within the characters portrayed through these works.

Literature is susceptible to misconception. At times, the presentation of content, enticing details, and storyline take away from the morals and ideas being presented in a piece of text. Most times, as a result of focusing on the distracting elements of a novel, audiences fail to recognize the deeper meaning or purpose of why the author choses to include certain sections of a novel. A book’s intention is to accurately express an author’s thoughts, but, many times, the delivery of unfamiliar content results in fear and a lack of understanding from the reader.

History has had an inarguable and behemoth impact on the trajectory of art and literature that it surrounds. Quite often, these mediums are a mere reflection of the artist's or author’s existence, and can be viewed as heavily autobiographical, regardless if the artist acknowledges this or not. In fact, many artists and authors will deny that their work is influenced by outside events, and wish to attest that their productions are sporadically born out of the creative abyss of their minds. However, this is absolutely false, since that mind is undoubtedly affected by external stimuli. Consequently, it is an undeniable premise that history changes the course of literature.

Thesis: Classic works of literature should not be amended or banned because the novels pertain to pivotal moments in history and help shape literary works today.

This subsequently allows audiences to understand the role of gender inequality in society and how it has historically permeated into literature. However, Atwood later acknowledges the restricting role feminism also played in the depiction of female characters in more modern literature. Atwood uses hypophora in order to direct the audience, “is it not today - well somehow unfeminist - to depict a woman behaving so badly? Isn’t bad behaviour supposed to be the monopoly of men?”, “Were women to be condemned to virtue for life, slaves in the salt-mines of goodness?”. This continued use of questioning catalyses a reflection upon the ironic idea that feminism, a movement created to equal the sexes, has supported a similar one-dimensional view of women as being solely good. In doing so Atwood ultimately challenges the audience’s view upon how female characters should be represented within literature, ultimately arguing for a barrierless approach which enables writers to explore the complex nature of female

There are different forms and examples of exemplary and classic literature which have been deemed as significant works that are highly esteemed worldwide. These examples of literature would awe the world with how much literary skill they entailed when they were composed and written: attention to details as to formation of characters, the most crafty of plots, the most eloquent speeches and lines, the most astounding of twists of scenes, and most of all, the most universal and meaningful of themes. The theme of any literary work is what makes it great as it should be able to encompass the immense diversity of the world and as it would be able to transcend the boundaries of religion, age, race, gender, etc. Two examples of this great and

Indeed, the best works of literature are those which are of relevance to our lives today. Through their relevance, these novels continue to persist and endure on. Through their relevance, we can better comprehend the messages, the themes, and the ideas that are imbued in them. Rather than literature being contradictory and in conflict with the truth and unpleasant reality of daily life, it becomes a weapon through which we can be educated about the existential crises facing our world today. In fact, the statement above could not be more far and distant from the reality of literature today. It is fatally flawed. Literature, whilst at the surface, seems whimsical and amusing is, at its very core, a medium through which we are enlightened