The Dew Breaker By Danticat: Literary Analysis

This book report discusses the plot, significant characters, setting (e.g., time of the story took place, historical background), problems and resolutions, themes or messages of the story. A reflection of the author’s writing style will be presented followed by a conclusion.

Hurricanes, earthquakes, war, riots, death, and economic problems. Haiti has experienced it all. Through the novel Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat shares stories of Haitians experiencing tragedy. She expresses how Haitians can find hope even in suffering. Danticat uses the motifs of generations and children to convey the idea that Haitians can discover hope even when experiencing pain and hardship.

Taking into account the previous descriptions and the definitions of horror and terror we will try to identify which of these stories presents horror and which one may be said to go deeper by portraying terror. The Pit and the pendulum is characterized by having a narrator who seems in absolute use of his mental faculties. As it is mentioned above, this character is aware of what is happening around him and by having a peak of his logical thoughts and feelings the reader experiences the struggle of the narrator to stay alive in a much more personal way. The fact that this character is sane, integrated and coherent in his thinking is one of the reasons why the reader may sense the terror of the story on a whole other level.

The characters of the novel are fit to the theme of man’s intuitive evilness, as the boys are under the age of 14. When they continue to enjoy torturing others, they reveal their enjoyment of being savages. They do not desire any order or law of directing force in their state of savagery.

Out of the 9.5 million Jews in Europe, 60 percent of those people were innocently murdered from January 30th, 1933, to May 8th, 1945. Fascist dictator, Adolf Hitler, led this horrendous genocide, well known as the Holocaust. The Nazis believed that they were superior to others, and their goal was to eliminate people who were different. Many people attempted to go into hiding, living in abandoned buildings, or with non-Jewish families. Sadly, many non-Jewish resented the idea of rescuing the Jews, because if caught, they would be immediately killed. In like manner, the plot of the poem, "The Hangman", written by Maurice Ogden, is about a hangman who arrives in a town and executes every citizen there. As each person is killed, the others are afraid to object out of fear that they will be the next. The last man standing, the narrator, is then hung by the merciless man, as by then there is no one left to defend him. In addition, in "Terrible Things", by Eve Bunting, the author creates an entertaining allegory in which the Terrible Things invade the creatures' homes in the forest and capture them, separating the animals from each other one group at a time. Fear spreads across the forest, and the chaos turns the creatures into thinking that it is every man, or animal, for themselves. Throughout both the poem and the parable, the author's use of symbolism and irony to aid in the development of the theme that although speaking up and fighting for what one believes in can be

Teenage years are difficult. Time tells this story of struggle again and again. The Catcher in the Rye is a classic novel showing the struggles a teenager goes through while transitioning into adulthood. The main character, Holden Caulfield, is a judgmental and temperamental boy who struggles to see the positivity in life. Throughout the story, Holden searches to find himself, as he feels forced to grow up. He holds onto aspects of his childhood and isolates himself so much that it is even harder for him to transition. J.D. Salinger uses the red hunting hat, the museum and cigarettes as important symbols in the story to convey the themes of transitioning from childhood to adulthood, loneliness, and isolation.

feel isolated and afraid. Moreover, the narrator of “The Pit and the Pendulum” also experiences

Why does Holden continuously judge people based on their physical appearance? Could this be a projection of his insecurities or a reflection of his mental health?

Nineteen thirty-seven is set in haiti in the 1950s or 1960s. The story was written by Edwidge Danticat. In this story, it mainly focuses on josephine and her mother. The story’s main objective is “the madonna”, a little porcelain doll that josephine's mother had kept with her for a long time. Josephine's mother was accused of witchcraft and was taken to Port-au-Prince, a prison.

In any great work of literature, each action and thought should contribute to the underlying meaning of the entire work. No action should exist for its own sake; it must instead advance the plot and reinforce the symbolism of both the characters’ actions as well as the truth of what the composer or author is trying to convey. This is especially true of acts of violence; great literature must carefully articulate the violence into a logical meaning. Most importantly, violence and acts of extreme passion work best when communicating a character’s inner-struggles as they relate to the motive and effect of each scene and action.

There are several characters in this book, including both adults and children, that demonstrate integrity and/or social and political responsibility. These dynamic characters include, Mariatu, Marie, Mohamed, Yabom, Kadi, and Salieu. These characters have a positive change throughout the memoir, The Bite of the Mango, and they learn from their experiences in the civil war to strengthen their character.

As the two dogs tied the battle, altercation between Skeetah and Manny arose as to who won the battle. Not to mention that the entire cause of the occasion was to a confrontation that had taken place beforehand at Randall’s basketball game. When daddy loses his fingers during the exact time frame of China killing her own puppy, intense emotions arose within me. The scene was a vivid surprise and seems to have even been a foreshadow of how shocking the arrival of Katrina was to the citizens of Bois Sauvage. These violent scenes create suspense of fear and sympathy for the characters in the story all the way up until the last horrifying event. Also, by adding these scenes Ward is able to anticipate the arrival of hurricane Katrina. Allowing readers to ponder upon how these characters are going to come together when Katrina arrives. These scenes also distract the reader from the obvious that a storm is on its way; however the characters within the novel seem to be disregarding it. When the storm finally hits readers are able to clearly see how the family sets aside almost every brutality to save each other’s lives. This is where the tenderness of the characters persona’s come in to play. In other words, although Ward wanted to place scenes of intensity within her novel, it is perceived to be that she did so with a mindset to build up to a mind boggling ending. With all the violence and chaos throughout the story it humbles the

“The Book Thief” presented a story filled with various themes that comprised a powerful plot line. Although there were many themes in the story, there was one that stood out to me more than others. In the process of reading the book, the theme of suffering affected me the most. The definition of the word suffer is to experience or be subjected to something bad or unpleasant. Different characters within the story are subjected to dreadful feelings and are therefore suffering. Through my analyzation, I observed the three different types of suffering that the characters experienced: guilt, feelings of emptiness, and anxiety. The characters of “The Book Thief” experience these three types of suffering in different ways.

The Other is configured in the two writers’ works as victims of power play, their unjust mistreatment subsequently exposing underlying social inequalities. Through adopting the Gothic medium characteristic of Romanticism, the texts induce within the reader emotions of terror and pity towards the marginalised, leaving a profound effect which impactfully conveys the intended social criticism.

“To realize the American Dream, the most important thing to understand is that it belongs to everybody. It is a human dream. If you understand this and work very hard it is possible.” However it is not always guaranteed. A Raisin in The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is a story about a family who continues to struggle while reaching towards The American Dream. The American Dream is described as “The ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative.” The Youngers are a hard-working family who all have different interpretations of the American Dream. Mama, Walter, and Beneatha’s shared powerful dreams that give the a look into The American Dream. Despite