Intertextuality

In what ways does Ian McEwan’s use of setting reinforce the central ideas of Atonement? Ian McEwan spends a great deal of time describing the setting his characters inhabit. The descriptions are so in depth and thoughtful that the houses and buildings almost become characters in their own rights. This attention to detail comes from McEwan’s use of setting in reinforcing the central themes of Atonement, such as love, pretence and order and chaos. Although he used many techniques, descriptive language, personification and intertextuality, to convey his ideas, it is the use of setting that reinforces those far beyond what the other techniques achieved. A significant portion of Atonement takes place in and around the Tallis’ house. The appearance of the house is explored in great detail at the beginning of the book – built in place of a mansion but referred to as ‘charmless to a…

S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders was written when the author was sixteen years old and attending high school. She witnessed the struggles of her peers, especially the violence between the different social class gangs, in school and began to write about them. The Outsiders began as a simple short story and quickly flourished into a novel due to Hinton’s irate state of mind regarding her own life. Her writing became a way to cope and work through her feelings about the violent situations surrounding…

One example of this is demonstrated through Olive looking for a man to save her, by playing old fashion. The huge montage of love and life existing as an 80’s film are directly referenced and set to Olive’s voiceover, which feature the ironic line of, “Just once, I want my life to be like an 80’s.” The intertextuality links consist of, “I want John Cusack holding a boombox outside my window” presented in Say Anything as well as, “I want Richard Gere climbing up my fire escape with the limo…

Maria Wisława Szymborska. One who has seen the good in the bad and looked for the best in the worst. Using her poetry, has been able to show a consoling view to the attacks on September 11, 2001. Given such a convincing opinion through the use of poetry, and communicated it through the use of poetic aspects within her poetry. Possibly one of the most subtle aspects used throughout her poetry could be the use of structure within the poem. The possible use of allusion which Szymborska experienced…

Does intertextuality damage the originality and validity of our claims, or does the idea of borrowing bits and pieces of information contribute meaning and credibility to our arguments as a whole? In this paper I will examine the fact that intertextuality has allowed the world to advance in the way that we write. Intertextuality does not in fact inhibit originality, but rather it is the sole reason people are able to generate new and influential point of views—by building upon writing of the…

Decades after the first publication of Mary Shelly’s revolutionary novel, Frankenstein, it still influences modern novelists and has even infiltrated our pop culture. Many authors have pulled upon her iconic book and have incorporated this memorable story into their own. These authors created literary connections between their work and Shelly’s to enhance their writing and Mary Shelly is no stranger to this common practice of intertextuality. Throughout her own science-fiction novel, she pulls…

Authors throughout history have utilized our senses to connect the reader to the characters in the novel in a symbiotic relationship. Without our connection and relatability, the impact of the struggles a character faces would not be the same on the reader. This is held true for Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. Chopin employs auditory allusions to foreshadow the fate of the protagonist Edna Pontellier. These small breadcrumbs of allusions placed throughout the novel lead us down the path of…

Intertextuality is one of the major factors that have enabled The Simpsons to sustain a large, diversified audience for more than twenty years, and it has created an incentive for this audience to participate actively in discussions and cultural analysis. The Simpsons often goes further its entertaining purpose and assesses analytically the television in general, and current medial surroundings, including multiplication and the sitcom genre, in particular. It is not only concerned…

In his book How To Slowly Kill yourself and Others in America, Kiese Laymon uses very specific, detailed allusions as a hidden tool to add to the experience of the reader and various aspects of his argument . All of Laymon 's essays in this book are packed full of Allusion, but they all have different effects. Throughout this book, Laymon uses Allusions to connect with the reader, add a dark side to his essays, remind the reader of past greats, provide second opinions, and build his credibility.…

In the world of writing, it goes without saying that certain writers pave the way for others in terms of their success and because of this, influence those that come after based on the movements they create and the stylistic choices they either make or break. Especially when it comes to modern poetry and its evolution, there are always those who are influenced positively and negatively by others in the community – no matter how many generations apart they may be. Having said that, the influence…