A Literary Comparison The Victorian period can be described as one of imperial expansion abroad and social upheaval at home. Evidently, millions left Britain’s shores either as ambitious merchants, ruthless warriors, or peaceful settlers consumed by desire to attain a safe haven. In this particular assignment, our primary focus will be directed towards the representation of different colonial territories in Conan Doyle’s The Sign of Four and Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Beach of Falesa. According to prominent social thinkers such as John Ruskin, British Victorian respectability is plainly reflected in the amount of security guaranteed by comfortable homes. Ruskin asserted that a home was not a commodity or a necessity but rather a sanctuary from the outside world’s violence and discord. The theme of ‘home’ then is inseparable from our fascinating detective fiction. The fact that we are taken on a tour of London’s intriguing interiors including Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson’s bachelor apartment at 221B Baker Street is the most compelling evidence of my argument. In addition, this potential laid the groundwork for the novel to be characterized as a domestic one. However, the ideological facade maintained by Ruskin and his peers could not bury the naked …show more content…
Although Doyle's The Sign of Four admires the peculiar aspects of Indian cultures, it upholds England's authority without questioning its legitimacy as reflected in Small's description of the Mutiny which unjustifiably associates India with barbarism. Stevenson's The Beach of Falesa, on the other hand, adamantly emphasizes the moral depravity of the white perpetrators. Both of these tales have undoubtedly broadened the imaginative horizons of British readers and their analyses have broadened mine so I am extremely thankful for the knowledge I acquired through this
On the other when you are reading about Holmes, the reader has no idea what Homes is intending to do. This is why Larson decided to have a more colloquial diction in the chapters on Holmes. This makes readers curious when turning to pages and finding themselves on the chapters on Holmes. Another way Eric Larson manipulates language in order to connect to readers is figurative language. Larson makes it so that the hotel that Holmes is in charge of is intended as a symbol for himself.
¨Wingfield and Kendall, living in disgrace strengthened themselves with the sailors and other confederates to regain their former credit and authority, or at least such means aboard the pinnace, to alter her course and to go for England.¨ In this essay, we will see that Jamestown and Plymouth are two very different colonies. They live in different places, have different reasons for settling, and probably have many reasons for them to come settle where they decided to settle. And yet, they also have similarities that bring them closer together because they mostly came from the same time of place looking for something. Even though these colonies have similarities and differences, they both still exude qualities that make them unique.
Michelle Cliff’s short story Down the Shore conspicuously deals with a particularly personal and specific, deeply psychological experience, in order to ultimately sub-textually create a metaphor regarding a wider issue of highly social nature. More specifically, the development of the inter-dependent themes of trauma, exploitation, as well as female vulnerability, which all in the case in question pertain to one single character, also latently extend over to the wider social issue of colonialism and its entailing negative repercussions, in this case as it applies to the Caribbean and the British Empire. The story’s explicit personal factor is developed through the literary techniques of repetition, symbolism, metaphor, as well as slightly warped albeit telling references to a distinct emotional state, while its implicit social factor is suggested via the techniques of allusion, so as to ultimately create a generally greater, undergirding metaphor.
We will analyse, in this essay, the differences as well as the similarities which exist between Jane Eyre and Incidents in the life of a slave girl written by herself. We will see that they differ in terms of genre, the period of history in which they find themselves, the way the characters are presented and so forth. However, they share some of the main values concerning womanhood, race and some other aspects of life which they both treat in different ways and yet they do so in a specific aim. Charlotte Brontë and Harriet Jacobs present to us two texts which are both based in totally opposite moments in history. While many differences exist between the two texts, they have several aspects in common.
After 20 years of living in England, Bertram Francis returns the island of his birth. During this time, family and friends both denied his presence and would not accept him back since he never keep in touch with his family or friends. His people start to realize that Bertram has been corrupted with the England lifestyle therefore, they start to see him as an England man who is coming here to take their opportunities. Although, Bertram may not come just to benefit from the political aspect of it, the native people see him as someone who come during the independence period trying to enjoy the freedom. The way his own people treats him as an England man shows how England as a whole has not done a bit good to this islanders.
Colonial life during the time of the first settlement in Australia was depicted as confusing and somewhat bewildering through Jackie French’s novel Nanberry, through three main characters of Bennelong, Surgeon White and Nanberry this theme is made clear for the viewer to understand, even though at some points it may have appeared that there was just misunderstanding or miscommunication, confusion was the way that colonial life was ultimately
In England in 1785, an orphaned 8-year-old Tom Appleby is sent to the isolated and terrifying Botany Bay, Australia, with the First Fleet. This sees him go through trials and hardship in the beginning of the European colonisation of this harsh land. This historical fiction is told in a third person omniscient limited narrative which allows readers to see into the heart and mind of Tom as he goes on an adventure of a lifetime. Tom Appleby is the protagonist; he is a courageous and intelligent young orphan who tries to do the right thing for everyone. He is complimented in the book by two colourful and kind characters; Sergeant Stanley and his son, Rob.
The British colonies in the Chesapeake region and those of the New England region were both similar yet different in certain ways. One because both the colonist that settled there were looking for new opportunities. However, it was mostly second son aristocrats, which means the first born usually inherits the better half of the father’s riches. Their lives in England had either been mistreated or they were unable to flourish economically. Regardless of whether they were searching the land for expansive homesteads, religious freedom, or exchanging and merchant opportunities, the colonist in both regions were searching for another land in the New World.
Throughout her book, Games was very eager in presenting the various pull facts that attracted the English in wanting to come to the new world. Whether it was for personal gains, religious freedom, or social mobility, she was thorough in all aspects; yet, Games did not fully elaborate on the push factors back in London, that undeniably played just as significant of a role in promoting migration. Indeed, Games briefly identified that an uncontrollable growth in English population, along with food shortages and the, “collapse of England textile industry” (16), promoted migration , but this explanation is not sufficient to answer why around tens of thousands of English people, each year, are willing to face a sixty percent mortality rate (190) in going to the new world to seek opportunities; it simply does not provide the whole picture. Literatures that clearly record the economic limitations of England, social structure, religious freedom, or even the daily life of the common English man could have allowed the audience to more closely apprehend why some of the English were willing to risk their lives for a chance in having a better future. Yet, Games forfeited her chance to use these promising sources and reserved herself to words such as crowded and unemployed (23) to briefly present the unfavorable situations back in
To develop the setting of the house, Gilman uses vivid diction to craft an image of the house to show how men a imprisoning the minds of women in Victorian society. Gilman introduces the house as a “colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say a haunted house, and reach the height of romantic felicity” (1066). Although her description uses the words “romantic felicity” which seem to carry a light tone, these words are preceded by the dark statement that the estate is a “haunted house”. By contrasting these two tones, Gilman foreshadows that the house in which the narrator is interned for treatment might seem magnificent and grand, but in reality, the house and the rest cure will turn out to be her doom. The foreshadowing hints that Gilman uses the contrasting description of the house to point out how physicians like John are oppressing women by denying them their right to a postpartum experience with their baby, a thing of “romantic felicity,” and instead, turning it into an ordeal as nightmarish as a “haunted house.”
He uses descriptions of spaces in St. Petersburg to morph protagonist Raskolnikov’s mind and his surroundings into an indistinguishable amalgamation of confusion and claustrophobia, showing the Westernized city’s stifling effect on the internal workings of a traditional Russian man bombarded by new ideas. Dostoevsky focuses on St. Petersburg on the scale of individual rooms as opposed to full cityscapes. This use of space is most evident in his repeated descriptions of the cramped living quarters which act as barriers to Raskolnikov’s achievement of his full potential. At many points in the novel, Raskolnikov appears stuck in his own mind as well as in his physical space. The first description of his living-quarters immediately conveys this feeling of entrapment: “His closet was located just under the roof of a tall, five-storied house, and was more like a cupboard than a room.”
The Englishmen held themselves high above any important figures in India, and wanted to show that they were in charge any way they could. Fleete feeling superior to a god shows the arrogance that came with the Englishmen, and how insensitive it could cause them to
“The impression I had was that we were leaving the West and entering the East” (Bram Stoker ) This is one of the opening statements with which Stoker’s main character, Jonathan Harker, starts his description of the landscape he encounters while traveling across the continent towards Transylvania. As we come to understand later on, this remark is the first of many to segregate the West from the East in Dracula, converting rural Transylvania into “a place where the supernatural reigns supreme.” (Light, 2009: 243).
While the events narrated in the story are important in constructing the author’s point of view on imperialism, the narration itself, and the reactions
Saint Petersburg, the setting of Crime and Punishment, plays a major role in the formation in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s acclaimed novel. Dostoyevsky’s novels focus on the theme of man as a subject of his environment. Dostoyevsky paints 1860s St. Petersburg as an overcrowded, filthy, and chaotic city. It is because of Saint Petersburg that Raskolnikov is able to foster in his immoral thoughts and satisfy his evil inclinations. It is only when Raskolnikov is removed from the disorderly city and taken to the remoteness of Siberia that he can once again be at peace.