Rite

Hannah Kent’s Burial Rites sees Agnes Magnúsdóttir condemned by her community for murder. As an educated, but socially lower-caste woman, Agnes is unable to escape her fate once the community view her as undeniably guilty. This inability to escape her fate, leads readers such as myself to consider the extent of which the stereotyping associated with gender is influential in determining one’s fate. However, it appears there is also the possibility of the individual changing their fate through…

In Hannah Kent’s historical narrative Burial Rites, assistant Reverend Toti is given the task of being Agnes’ spiritual advisor before her death. However, providing Agnes spiritual guidance proves a hard task for Toti initially as he is inexperienced and the criminal herself is unwilling to atone by the officialdoms methods. As Toti accepts this, he uses his own methodology to help Agnes that she accepts – allowing her to narrate her own story. Kent shows that Toti’s method works as Kent not…

In the novel The Rite of Passage by Richard Wright and “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes poem, both show similarities through the novel and poem. The Rite of Passage by Richard Wright is about a fifteen year old boy named Johnny who lives in New York and starts out with a good life and a good family, but finds out devastating news that his family is a foster family. He ends up running away, because he has to leave his family and be sent somewhere else. He runs away and goes on the streets where…

tainted one depends on the choices one makes. Rites of passage to adulthood holds a strong stance when it comes to transitioning from a child to an adult; while some cultures have a major celebration for these, others simply do not, yet some others believe this can be achieved by rebelliousness, even if it is for a short time. I. Coming of age is something teenagers desire. A. Transitioning to adulthood is viewed differently based on belief and culture B. Rites of passage to adulthood may come…

covered in class that share a similar theme are “Rite of Passage” and “The One Girl at the Boys’ Party.” The theme expressed in both poems are youthful growing up; however, Sharon Olds approaches this theme differently with her use of connotation and imagery to describe the children’s road towards maturity. In “Rite of Passage,” Sharon Olds address the darker forces of children growing up. The title represents the overall theme of this poem well. A rite…

Humans all over have been noticing the passage of time, forming ceremonies into admirable passages in our mental, emotional, and spiritual lives. Events that represent a major milestone in our early lives can be considered Rites of Passage. Rites of passage are ceremonial events marking the transition from one stage of life to the next. Wedding transition and customs alternate between societies today. Three of those societies being the Chinese, the French, and Americans. For the Chinese, wedding…

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…

Hannah Kent, in her 2014 novel Burial Rites, and Joel Schumacher in his 1996 film A Time to Kill, both relay that minorities, when being judged for a crime, will always be subject to prejudice and discrimination. These ideas are portrayed by both texts predominantly through setting, symbols, and characterisation. The setting of each narrative gives an obvious indication as to the kind of oppression faced by the protagonists, and the point view and characterisation helps the audience to…

The main topic of this essay is comparing and contrasting the short story The Medicine Bag and the video “ Apache Girl’s Rite of Passage”. One important feature of the story is how Martin's feelings are described and how and why they are changing gradually from plain comfort to deep embarrassment to nervous unrest to strong pride toward his grandpa and the medicine bag. Also, an important feature of the video is how camera angles, music, special effects, and dialogue go together to set the…

finds their own identity they must choose to the best way to express their feelings through art. Sometimes finding your own way can be dangerous and scary, but getting past those feelings can be rewarding. Breaking from the norm was exactly what the Rite of Spring and Les Demoiselles d’Avignon did. Ground breaking can be controversial and dangerous when it is perceived as disrespectful and degrading. I will show how these two pieces of work from Igor Stravinsky and Picasso did just that all the…