“Open City” is the debut novel of Teju Cole. The novel is written in first person narrative, from the point of view of its main character Julius. The novel swings back and forth between the present and the past. The present represents the time after Julius came to the United States and while he is finishing his residency. The past represents the time leading up to Julius coming to U.S., when he was in a military school in Nigeria, where he used to drink and get involve with women and picnic etc. living in Nigeria.
Julius is contemplative in nature, and has had a recent breakup with his girlfriend “Nadege”. He uses walking and strolling through streets of New York to get a relief from the work stress and the thoughts in his mind about his
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It relates to the mental conditionings and the ever increasing accessibility of information which we keep on gathering and fail to relate in our daily life. The author juxtaposes two aspects in the novel, one is about the propensity towards realism and interrelation with historical events and other is propensity towards fictionality and reflexive self- examination. Cole uses Julius as a means to show various aspects of the city, such as the activities going in the city, big tall buildings, restaurants, music etc.
Open City is additionally successful at sensationalizing the connection between objective and subjective experience. In one scene, Julius is stuck on a fire exit, high on the edge of Carnegie Hall. It's evening time. He finds himself lost in relativity, plunged between the wailing of an ambulance "reaching me from seven floors below" and "starlight that was unreachable because my entire being was in a blind spot".
The book's title suggests that that the city is kind of vulnerable, that the enemy cam march in anytime, and keeping this point in mind gives a different perspective about the novel apart from the revelations made by Julius’s contemplations. The book vividly reveals about urban history and Immigrant experience, and also has a taste of intellectual show
The novel “Night” was written by Elie Wiesel and is a memoir of his life during World War II. The book starts with his life living in Hungary with his family. It then tells of how they were taken away to concentration camps throughout the war. During Elie’s stays at the various camps you see the sacrifices he makes and how the experience changes him.
In the novel, A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens opens with an anaphora, about how the world is throughout the novel. A reoccurring theme throughout this story is the battle between good and evil. Most of the novel is about the struggles each force has and how most of the time good triumphs over evil. In A Tale of Two Cities, the triumph of love, the death of the Marquis, and the contrast between Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay shows how good triumphed over evil.
In this novel, Larson helps readers make sense of what was new about big cities at the end of the nineteenth century—transportation, communication, electricity, anonymity—by showing how these aspects of
Night is a recollection of Elie Wiesel’s time spent during the holocaust. It is a gripping tale of survival and death. While it is a small book, it has a huge message. During the time in which the book takes place, the Jewish people were srtripped of their humanity. Elie and his fellow inmates at Auschwitz endure dehumanization throughout starvation and on the train to Buchenwald.
In Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson utilizes the idea of a “devil” during a time of when Chicago was prospering to showcase the evil lurking behind the mirage of wealth and beauty. The speaker is a third person omniscient narrator who has known about Burnham and Holmes life Chicago in the late-nineteenth century. The audience is intended for readers who enjoy non-fiction thriller novels or wants to know about the historical event from different viewpoints. The purpose is to entertain the audience but also teach them about the coexistence and balance of “good” and “evil” in one city. The subject is about Chicago during the Columbian Exposition, focusing on the juxtaposition of the lives of Burnham and Holmes. The tone shifts throughout the novel between every other chapter when there is a change in character since they have different thoughts and settings. Larson uses this to emphasize the universal themes of harmonization of polar opposites. He contrasts the two demeanors of Chicago, the white city was Burnham’s fair, also known a dream land. On the other hand, the black city is Holmes’ house of terror.
The novel, A Tale of Two Cities, was written by Charles Dickens and was published in 1859. A Tale of Two Cities is a historical fiction based during the French Revolution. As two groups of people who both live in London and Paris find themselves in a situation that affects all of them, which ends with some deaths and suffering. Charles Dickens purpose for writing A Tale of Two Cities was to inform and amplify the readers mind on human nature. Throughout the book Charles Dickens uses many themes and characteristics, that bring out human nature in all his characters, to broaden the view of the readers.
Part of what makes “Night” so challenging to read is knowing what will inevitably happen to many of the characters during this time era. Like the sinking of the Titanic, the fate of most will be tragic. Knowing that these innocent men and women in the novel were forced to endure such torturous events and had the ability to avoid them is painstaking to read. The verbal, situational, and dramatic irony seen throughout Elie Wiesel’s memoir makes his experience during the holocaust even more unreal.
In Night, by Elie Wiesel, people face the Holocaust, this tragic time can be related to nighttime through the never ending time, darkness, and hope.
The symbolic portrayal of the nighttime helps to add a deeper meaning to the text. The title of the novel, Night, brings the symbol to the forefront of the reader’s mind. Nightfall is a time full of fear and lack of clarity due to the lack of light. This immediately presents an environment without safety or predictability. Similarly, the first mention of nighttime in the story is when Elie’s father receives the news that all of the Jews in his area are going to be moved into another confined section of the town. The introduction of the night signifies the end of the sun’s appearance and a plunging into darkness. There is no longer any light which Wiesel uses to mark the descent into the unknown as they enter the confined areas and later the work/concentration camps. Additionally, when Elie and his father are
The novel Night sincerely bring to attention the power society has over humanity and what is seen as wrong and right. The powerful events of the holocaust have a deeply emotional impact, along with the important message of the world and its hidden horrors within. Society makes a habit of keeping its inhabitants in the dark; therefore, todays world may be just as corrupt as Hitlers, it just hasn't realized it
A Tale of Two Cities, written by Charles Dickens, takes place during the French Revolution. The book centers on the heroic attempts of Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay. Sydney Carton puts on the façade of being insolent and indifferent, but his true nature is expressed in the book when he puts others first, defends Charles, and dies for the ones he loves. Charles Darnay is a once wealthy aristocrat whose attempts at heroism include going back to France, his financial sacrifice, and the noble way in which he was willing to face his death.
Often, the theme of a novel extends into a deeper significance than what is first apparent on the surface. In the novel Night by Elie Wiesel, the theme of night and darkness is prevalent throughout the story and is used as a primary tool to convey symbolism, foreshadowing, and the hopeless defeat felt by prisoners of Holocaust concentration camps. Religion, the various occurring crucial nights, and the many instances of foreshadowing and symbolism clearly demonstrate how the reoccurring theme of night permeates throughout the novel.
The Time is Night is a short novel by Liudmila Petrushevskaya. It is one of the few stories that I enjoy reading over and over again. The reason is that each time I re-read it, I perceive it in a slightly different way. The complicity of characters and the style of the novel is what I would like to emphasize most about the novel, as well as the fact that The Time is Night represents an outstanding social awareness of the author.
In the memoir Night, by Elie Wiesel, the word night is repeatedly used as a metaphor symbolizing the conditions and emotions that the Jews struggle with during the Holocaust. Elie’s personal struggle with his experience evoke connotations of darkness that describe the inhumane treatment that Elie and the Jews are forced to endure throughout the memoir. In the beginning, Elie's town is invaded by German soldiers and soon, the Germans force all of the town's Jews to evacuate. After being thrown onto a freight train to Auschwitz, Elie experiences a whole new world filled with fear and hatred. Elie uses “night” to describe the struggles and hardships that he encounters throughout his experience. The literal meaning of the word night is simply the period of darkness everyday between sunset and sunrise. However, the metaphorical meaning of night, in this memoir, is far more sinister. As depicted in Night, the title metaphorically refers to the evil, hopelessness, and emotional coldness that the Jews are constantly forced to face throughout the Holocaust.
Charles Dickens wrote A Tale of Two Cities in order to enlighten the average Briton about the events of the French Revolution. The novel compares and contrasts cities of London and Paris, which represent French and British society, through the eyes of Dickens’ human characters. The two cities play such a large part in the novel that they become characters themselves, and the contrasting societies of the two cities become a conflict. In Charles Dickens’ classic, A Tale of Two Cities, the individualistic society of London champions the first feudalistic and later socialistic society of Paris.