Motif

Bigotry goes further than one’s judgement; it spreads rapidly and defines humanity as a whole. It lies within the heart of society resulting in immense social issues that affect the innocent. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee utilizes the motif of prejudice to illustrate the prominence of the social issue of discrimination in Maycomb through Atticus Finch, Boo Radley, and Tom Robinson. First, Atticus Finch faces animosity from society due to his moral beliefs and actions.…

Following the release of D.W. Griffith’s seminal work, The Birth of a Nation, was an explosion of controversy over the racism in the film’s portrayal of blacks and people of mixed race. Since then, Griffith had thoroughly maintained that he himself was not racist and in righting his wrongs, he went out to make in particular, two films to show the movie going public how unprejudiced he was (Lesage). Those two films were Intolerance and the movie to be discussed in this paper, Broken Blossoms.…

When time features in literature and films, it often shows the relationships between the past and the future. In Beloved (1987), Toni Morrison shows how Sethe had dehumanizing experiences during her years of slavery. Even in freedom, Sethe was reminded of her past which affected her decisions and destroyed her identity. In contrast, in Eric Bress and J. Mackye Grubber’s The Butterfly Effect (2004), Evan witnessed and participated in traumatizing events in his childhood. When he discovers his…

Tom is overwhelmed by his happiness. These examples show the romantic motif of the connection with nature and the feelings of the chimney sweeper. Thirdly, there is a critique to be found in social aspects given in the poem, which was one of the main goals of romantic writings. The term romanticism stands for “the many manifestations…

Throughout the novel A Tale of Two Cities fate is shown as the force that cause everything to fall into place. By employing Lucie and Charles’ marriage and the revolution, Dickens uses the motif of fate, to manifest the thematic concept that fate is the universal governor over everything and to demonstrate that fate can both limit and expand people's freedoms Fate played a major role in the unification of Lucie Manette and Charles Darnay. In Book one: Chapter 3, fate is shown to be pulling…

others” (Achebe). This quote greatly depicts the moral of one of Achebe’s most successful novels. In the book, Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, the author uses the introduction of Western ideas into the Ibo culture to overall develop a father-son motif between Okonkwo and Nwoye, along with the establishment of cultural identity. Additionally, in the novel Things Fall Apart, the main character, Okonkwo, is represented as a strong and fierce leader who experiences the fear of being…

during what she called those "unspeakably difficult years" of World War I and its aftermath. As a mother who also lost her two sons to War she had humane empathy. Kollwitz married a Doctor and often met his patients. Their lives also became motifs of her inspiration and so she decided to tell their stories using her talent as an artist in many mediums to express the aftermath and grief or war. On the other hand life in France was a bit more comfortable in post WWI…

Through discussion of these four artists I have shown that they all have used a feministic approach in their work to succeed in shocking, provoking and inspiring. Artists like Frida Kahlo, unintentionally and unknowingly, paved the way for later female artists to push the boundaries of their time, successfully questioning and provoking change. Kahlo’s fearless honesty and personal portrayal in her art work bred an empathy amongst women, and, in particular, the feminist movements. These feminist…

from a devastating event that causes one to lose who he or she is on the inside and making him or her zombie-like. Wide Sargasso Sea, a novel by Jean Rhys inspired from Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, demonstrates this idea of two deaths. Rhys uses the motif of zombies, demonstrated through her characters of Annette, Rochester, and Antoinette, to illustrate that the death of one's soul changes one to become seen…

Hosseini’s The Kite Runner: A Look at Violence In Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, violence is a reoccurring motif. This violence is used in the novel for different reasons. It is used to highlight the theme of the search for redemption, for characterization and to emphasize the symbols in the novel. Violence is a key element in The Kite Runner and is essential to emphasize the other key elements in the story. One of the themes in The Kite Runner is the search for redemption. Rahim Khan’s…