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Symbolic Archetypes In Children’s Stories Analysis
These symbolic archetypes are very old. The earliest written record we have is often in fairy tales. Innate Wisdom vs. Educated Stupidity Some characters exhibit wisdom and understanding of situations instinctively as opposed to those supposedly in charge. Loyal retainers often exhibit this wisdom as they accompany the hero on the journey. This pretty much…
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Annie Proulx’s “Pair A Spurs” Analysis
“Pair a Spurs” is a short story by American author Annie Proulx, published in the collection Brokeback Mountain and Other Stories. SETTING “Pair A Spurs” by Annie Proulx is set on a couple of Wyoming Ranches in the late 1990s SURROUNDING CULTURE Rather than open with landscape, sky-scape and weather, this time Annie Proulx opens…
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Little Muriel Courage The Cowardly Dog
Often in stories with a very small character there is some metaphorical/thematic reason for it, but in this case Muriel’s regression to the body and mind of a 3 and a half year old is pure fun. In other words, this is a carnivalesque story.
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What can flight symbolise in literature?
Flight is amazingly common in children’s stories. Several other motifs should be considered symbolically similar: FLOATING AS FLIGHT SYMBOLISM Characters might hold onto helium balloons, levitate by magic or by supernatural means. A picture book example of floating can be seen in “Outside Over There” by Maurice Sendak, in which Ida floats backwards out the…
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Annihilation (2018) Film Study
Today’s film makes a lot more sense when you sit back and accept it’s not supposed to make sense at a surface level. However, it does sense if you read the story at a metaphorical level.
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Story Opening Case Study: Uglies by Scott Westerfield
A close analysis of the opening to a 2005 young adult novel. How much backstory to include? What about setting? And how does setting link to character and theme?
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Looking Out To Sea
In stories, if a character is looking out to sea they’re frequently experiencing epiphany. In art, too, there’s no shortage of characters gazing out to sea. The guy giving the sermon below clearly understands the epiphanic power of the ocean, especially in combination with the higher altitude of a clifftop.
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The Signal-man by Charles Dickens Short Story Analysis
“The Signal-man” (1866) is a ghost story by iconic English author Charles Dickens. If you’ve ever fantasised about leaving your open office or customer service job to work alone in a tiny box in the middle of nowhere, unbothered and free to get on with your straight-forward but very necessary job, this might be the…
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The Cosy Little World In Illustration
Artists have various ways of deliberately distorting naturalistic perspective to achieve a certain mood, for example, a cosy little world.
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Donnie Darko Film Study
Donnie Darko is a 2001 film set in 1988, in a fictional Virginia town called Middlesex. This genre blend of drama, mystery and science fiction is precisely ambiguous enough to generate much discussion about what is meant to have happened. This is ideal ‘cult-following’ material. Note that Donnie Darko didn’t make much of a splash when…
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Two Weeks With The Queen by Morris Gleitzman Novel Study
Two Weeks With The Queen is an Australian middle grade novel by Morris Gleitzman. My edition is copyrighted 1989, though other places on the web will tell you this book was first published in 1990 or 1991.
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The Overview Effect In Fiction
If you’re reading a picture book and you ever come across a page like this one, you might be seeing the overview effect as utilised by storytellers.
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The Halfmen of O by Maurice Gee
The World of O is a trilogy of fantasy novels by New Zealand author Maurice Gee published 1982-1985. The Halfmen of O (1982) is the first of the series. We might call this series The New Zealand Chronicles of Narnia with a bit of sci-fi thrown in. There are also tropes recognisable from The Wonderful…