The Lost Thing Analysis

Through undertaking steps of discovery can individuals expose things that are concealed within society to gain the ability to review their acknowledgement of the events that changed their perception of self and others. in challenging other perspectives of Caliban can he be able to transform self from a monster in captivity to liberty in nature in William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”, as well as the revelation of finding belonging and uniqueness in an indistinguishable society of the lost thing in Tan’s “The Lost Thing”. While Shakespeare explores Miranda’s spark of curiosity that leads to knowledge, Tan explores the curiosity of the protagonist that reveals a society of despair and conformity by the audience.

A revelation about things obscured …show more content…
The slavery and mistreatment of Caliban further emphasises Prospero’s notion of Caliban’s inferior status through using commands and short utterances in “What ho! Slave! Caliban!”, restricts his social growth due to Prospero not speaking to him in developed sentences. This mistreatment that Caliban has experienced since his birth, explores the Shakespeare’s idea that Caliban was born into captivity. In Tan’s “The Lost Thing” he also communicates the inferior of abnormalities in a society that restricts individualism evident in the montage of shots framed by an enclosed box. This emphasises a world that restricts, an idea reinforced by the mis en scene with its extensive signage and dull colour palette. The status quo of the protagonist is challenged as the discovery of the ‘lost thing’ reveals a dull, suffocating world that lacked care for living things, aside from people. It is through the panning of the camera of society that reveals the abnormality of the creature as it stands out in a world that’s based on conformity. However, Shakespeare reveals Caliban’s …show more content…
In “The Tempest”, Shakespeare’s characterisation of Miranda reinforces that the individual reassesses their understanding of their world through the discovery of knowledge of the world while maintaining her innocence. Miranda grew up isolated within a physical and emotion sphere of insularity. In the vast bareness of the island that lacks vitality and liveness of other people, she is coddled in a very narrow worldview. Miranda is able to attach new meanings to old memories by contextualising the revelations that Prospero bestows upon her in the rhetorical question of “that my remembrance warrants. Had I not… women once that tended me?” Miranda rediscovers her past and gains a newfound awareness about her identity due to her new knowledge about her noble roots, widen her understanding about herself and her role in the world. Miranda’s lack of knowledge that other men exist is highlighted when she discovers Ferdinand and believes he’s a spirit, due to her questioning in “What is ’t? A spirit? It carries a brave form. But ’tis a spirit”. This unexpected discovery has evoked Miranda’s curiosity to aspire for more knowledge to broaden her mind to a new world filled with social interactions between others. In Tan’s “The Lost Thing”, he foreshadows the significance of the protagonist’s