The Odyssey is regarded as one of the greatest written Epics, O Brother, Where Art Thou? was nominated for the best motion picture in the 2001 Golden Globe Awards. The Odyssey follows the journey of the greatest hero ever written, Odysseus, home. The movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? explores Everett, Pete and Delmar’s journey as they search for a similar hidden treasure. The Odyssey and the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou have very similar elements yet both have their versions of the story: the similarities/differences are: both epics explore how sometimes trickery can overcome brute force and sometimes it does not, similarly the book and movie illustrate how temptation can triumph over common sense yet some can control their temptations while…
Both the 2013 historical novel, ‘Burial Rites’ by Hannah Kent and the 2003 independent film ‘Lost in Translation’ directed by Sofia Coppola explore the ways in which isolation can be shown through more than just the protagonists eye. Kent and Coppola create a harsh setting that works to alienate protagonists from their surroundings. Combined with dissimilar social statuses and the overarching effects of sound, a sense of separation within the two texts is developed. The implementation of film and literary techniques support the conveyance of these ideas which ultimately fashion the ever-present theme of isolation.…
Apply two literary theories to a text. Consider how the position adopted in a critical perspective reflects a particular interpretation of a text. The perspectives can either be from an identified lens or reflect your awareness of your own critical reading of a text and the way in which that is informed by the perspectives of other readers, viewers or critics. From a historical perspective Hannah Kent employs a postmodernist structure to her novel Burial Rites. She signifies the rich culture and social context of life in a 19th century Iceland, with her grand portrayal of third-dimensional characters and inclusion of official historical texts.…
In the Mystery Cemetery excavation, all attributes and artifacts are greatly interconnected and useful in order to form logical inferences and observations regarding age, sex, and status. Quick assumptions from individual artifacts would be impossible seeing that one object leads to another, which then correlates to my conclusions for every grave site. The most important grave site that allows all of my observations to be plausible is Burial 10. Because of Burial 10, I am able to determine the sex and status of each burial. Differentiating between age is a matter of skeleton size and its correlation with the type of artifact each are buried with.…
Strength is defined as the capacity to withstand great force or pressure, and in the novel Burial Rites, it is both the men and the woman who are strong. Hannah Kent’s novel tells the story of Agnes Magnusdottir, the last person executed in the barren country of Iceland in 1830. The story is told from many points of view allowing many different characters to express their own views and values of both Agnes and her conviction. Iceland was very much a male dominated society during the era of the book, exacerbated by the physical and domineering strength in which males possessed. Kent does, however, allow (show) females to present a different kind of strength to the males, which help them survive their harsh lives.…
The remarkable and incredibly famous Odyssey, an epic poem written by Homer and translated by Robert Fitzgerald contains a wide variety of characters and portrayals of these characters. Throughout the story, the reader is constantly meeting various figures who are represented in contrasting ways. Although the book is dominated by male characters and was written in a time when men were considered the superior gender, the poem does possess a group of female characters varying vastly in portrayals and reputations. Although some female characters are represented positively as clever, helpful and independant, some others are seen negatively as manipulative and foolish, and an overall problem for the male characters. Some females are seen only for…
True love is very strong and can be rare. With the millions of people in the world there is that person that others know is their one true love. While true love appears in life,it can also exist in literature. In the epic “The Odyssey”, Odysseus and Penelope’s love stays true and pure even while he is away for so long. Penelope greatly misses and aches for Odysseus’ return even though she has the chance to marry again to one of the suitors.…
Jasia’s beauty and youth do not threaten Sonechka—the thought never even crossed Sonechka’s mind. Another motivation for Sonechka is that she wants a large family but can have no more children, so she sees Jasia as an opportunity to gain a daughter (50-51). Sonechka practically adopts Jasia as part of her family, and because Sonechka is selfless and loyal to her family, she cannot turn her back on Jasia. Thus, Sonechka justifies the affair and puts it in the context of selflessness. Sonechka concludes, “How right is it that he will have someone so young and beautiful at his side, so soft and clever, and as exceptional and outstanding as he is himself” (57-58).…
In the emotional spoken poem “To This Day” by Shane Coyczan it shows how cruel children can be. In the video made for “To This Day” there is many pieces of evidence but our main focus will be the coffin scene the reason they put this scene in was to show how he was left behind by the people around him. The coffin has some symbolism that we need to get to so let’s start with the coffin. The coffin Symbolizes death to the person inside. In this case the person inside is a kid that has been emotionally hurt by friends, bullies, and life experiences.…
Hammurabi’s Code includes laws that tell the legal rights women had during the Mesopotamia time. There were many other places that also had strict laws or rights for women including Egypt, where even though women had the royal lineage they never ruled. In Greece, women weren’t in charge of anything in their lives. Rome, where being alive and female was considered to be a luxury, afforded to very few. As well as in China, where the women were excluded from any education.…
The writings of history have been significantly influenced by the time periods during which they were written. Indeed, during these time periods, political institutions with regard to political power have greatly affected the ways in which history has been interpreted. The rise of the nation-state as a political entity during the late 18th- 19th centuries had greatly altered historiography, for, with history emerging as a modern discipline, history began to mirror the ideals of, and acts as a font of, the polities of the time periods during which it was written. In both historian Thomas Babington Macaulay’s “Minute on Indian Education” and historian Lynn Hunt’s “The Many Bodies of Marie Antoinette,” the correlation between history and power…
Hannah Kent’s speculative biography ‘Burial Rites’ depicts a particularly unforgiving world that is Iceland in the early 19th century. Based upon factual events, ‘Burial Rites’ details an interpretation created by Kent into the final months of Agnes Magunsdottir’s life, a woman who has been convicted for her involvement in the murder of two men. Agnes had lived a terribly unfortunate life, both as a female in a brutal, male-dominant patriarchal, but also as someone who, perhaps rightly, believes has been victim of a successive run of ill-fate. As she approaches her final weeks alive, Agnes however learns that there are a minority of people in her world that important beacons in her otherwise dark final days; Toti, a young Reverend tasked with being Agnes’ ‘spiritual advisor’, and to a lesser extent, the family she spends her fleeting time with at the farm in Kornsa. Agnes’ story is one of misfortune, as…
Appearing better than you are is something that is expected in a day and age of social media. Every teen wants to have designer clothes, the best car, or the most followers on Instagram, which can be damaging to teens. Teens aren’t the only ones impacted by fake appearance; adults also will try and appear better than they are to give off a certain Image. This trend didn’t dawn during the past ten years, appearance versus reality has been around as long as humanity. Guy De Maupassant pushes the image of a false reality in both of his short stories, The Jewels and The Necklace.…
In the short story, “The Jewelry” written by Guy De Maupassant, the main character M. Latin finds the love of this life and marries her. M. Latin loved this girl, but there were just two things he never found fault with her, her love for theater and fake jewelry. M. Latin was hurt after what he had discovered, he felt betrayed. However, after selling his wife’s jewelry that was worth about 200,000 francs, he is so enticed with all the money that he doesn’t care about anything in the world but the fact that he is rich. M. Latin did not have any control over his wife and the author leaves us to make our own conclusions to how his wife got that jewelry.…
While reading “The Jewelry,” I found it to be an interpretive style of fiction. Maupassant’s primary goal is not only to entertain the readers, but to engage the readers mind into finding the deeper and hidden message that lies within the story. During the beginning of “The Jewelry,” I thought I knew what the outcome would be, however that was not the case. The plot took a completely different turn than I had expected it to. Maupassant used a lot of irony throughout the story, which hid the actual message of it pretty well.…