UPDATE: Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Although I was about 8 chapters into the book, I haven’t really been able to follow what’s happening, therefore I’m re-reading what I’ve read from the beginning to try and take it in better. I said in my last post it’s been taking a little while too really get into it, this feeling has continued whilst reading more. I can see similarities between Tom Sawyer and Anne; such as imagination, strong will and comparisons to ‘model’ children. So I am keen to finish the book. :):)

Adventures of Tom Sawyer...

I am a little way into the Adventures of Tom Sawyer. I am enjoying the novel, but it’s taking a while to get into it each time I begin to read. Although some criticisms say it is more of a children’s book, I think that’s untrue because it’s a lot more difficult to read than my previous book. The key characters at the moment are Tom Sawyer, who is rebellious and a bit of a prankster, and Aunt Polly who struggles to keep Tom under control.

Key themes that are emerging at the moment are:

• Rebellion against society’s expectations
• Moral and social expectations and maturation

I am trying to focus on comparisons I could make between my two books, and I am finding it interesting that there are a few I could focus on such as the idolisation but hate of the model boy of the village. :):)

Anne of Green Gables...

Seeing as I’ve recently finished the book I am able to make comments on how the book progressed and an all round comment.

1)-     Anne Shirley: Anne is the main character of the story. She is an orphan girl who’s wild imagination and out of the ordinary manners has landed her in a difficult position when it comes to finding a home. But when she is finally taken in by Marilla and Matthew the story follows her as she grows up, matures and comes to terms with how she is supposed to act. Anne is a very imaginative lively girl who longs to have lots of close friends. She is also quite rebellious in the fact that she continues to contrast with what is thought as the ‘typical young girl’. Anne also has a problem coming to terms with her appearance as she longs to have rid of her red hair and be conventionally gorgeous like her best friend Diana. Throughout the story Anne starts off as this out of control 11 year old, but as we follow through her 5 years leading up to college we discover that she has controlled her imagination and can see the difference between pretend and reality, as well as her extraordinary intellect appearing.

          Marilla Cuthburt: Marilla is the unmarried woman that takes Anne into her home, although she first longed for a boy. She is very stern, dominant and strong willed. She also has a very clear idea of morals and expectations and she is determined to maintain the high class reputation expected of her and her family. We first see Marilla in the light that she hides and almost blocks out her emotions, she appears stern with Anne and does not comfort. But as the story progresses we can see that her emotions are unravelling and she does care a lot about Anne but treats her in a stern way that is intended to help her develop.

          Mathew Cuthburt: Mathew is the unmarried brother of Marilla who lives at Green Gables with her. Mathew appears painfully shy at first but when the prospect of Anne coming to live with them arises he makes it clear he is determined to have her and pressures Marilla into keeping her. Although he is very shy he shows his emotions a lot more than his sister and makes it clear to Anne that he is very proud of her. Anne considers him as a ‘kindred spirit’. As the story progresses Mathew’s characteristics do not change much but we see him be more giving to Anne and relates with her well.

          Diana Barry: Diana is Anne’s best friend and as soon as they are introduced they immediately decide to be ‘bosom friends’. The girls share a romantic heart and swear to each other that they will love one another for ever and be fully devoted. Although Diana and Anne get along well, she is a lot less intelligent than Anne and lacks her vivid imagination. We see throughout the story that Diana is a lot shier than Anne and prefers to befriend everyone and stay out of harms way, but the two remain the best of friends.

          Gilbert Blythe: Gilbert is a very handsome intelligent boy from Anne’s school and the two fall out immediately when he makes a rude remark about her red hair. Anne’s dislike for Gilbert results in his name being a taboo, although references to him crop up a lot as she sees him as a rival in school. Throughout the story Anne’s strong willed determination mean that the two remain sworn enemies even when Gilbert saves Anne on the river. Then at the end of the novel the two decide to put their troubles aside and become good friends. Gilbert shares Anne’s determination and intelligence.

          Mrs. Rachel Lynde: Mrs Lynde is the town gossip; she seems to know everyone and everything about them. She enjoys announcing her opinions and preaching about morals. She is normally outspoken on most things but when it comes to advice on how to raise a child, Mrs Lynde is always first to share opinions even though she has no children of her own. Mrs Lynde stays as a background character throughout the story.

          Jane, Charlie, Ruby and Minnie:  These are all children that live in the same town as Anne; she befriends them although all do not share her wild imagination.

2)-     Most of the characters are motivated by the need to fulfil the expectations that their parents/the society have put upon them. This results in the children and adults finding it difficult to maintain order and precision when it comes to speaking to one another and their behaviour. Also especially for the younger characters, fashion concerns have a key issue on their lives. The younger characters all long to be prettier, more elegantly dressed, or perceived in a ‘better’ way.

3)-     Basically the story is about an orphan girl who is taken in by an unmarried woman and her brother. They initially wanted a boy but have to come to terms with the fact a mix up left them with a girl. Anne finds it difficult primarily to fit in into the town and become one of the other children. An 11 year old Anne is very clever but her wild and distracting imagination makes it difficult for her to differentiate real life and dreams. The story follows Anne as she grows up and becomes more mature, as well as Marilla and Mathew discovering that they are actually proud of her and she is a credit. Towards the end of the story we see Anne have prosperous dreams of taking her scholarship to a college and getting a degree. However after Mathew death and Marilla has discovered that she is becoming blind, Anne decides to think with her heart and decides to stay at home and take care of Green Gables and Marilla rather than fulfilling her dreams.

          I think the plot is sort of what I thought it would be as throughout the story I could tell Anne was very fond of Green Gables, Marilla and Mathew. However I did not really expect her to give up her dreams instead, as her whole life depends on dreams and imagination, so this decision really proves that she knows the difference between imagination and reality.

4)-     Key themes that have emerged are

 Vanity, and how Anne becomes almost obsessed with the way she looks and dresses, similarly the other younger characters share this worry about their appearance.  

Rebelliousness and expectations of behaviour, because Anne is expected to behave in one way but she continues to rebel against this.

Forgiveness, and how throughout the story certain characters come to terms with one another and become more forgiving in their faults.

 Conflict between imagination and social expectations as Anne’s imagination is really wild and crazy and this often causes problems with the way she is expected to behave.     

Imagination, this is a key theme as it plays a huge part in the story in the way that Anne has such an extraordinary imagination and dreams such wild things and often creates scenarios to replace ones she is already in.

Romanticism, as Anne and similarly Dianna have such romantic hearts in the way they relate everything to being ‘romantic’ and love the idea of a happily ever after. 

:):)    

Where i'm at...

Well i've just finished Anne of Green Gables today. I really enjoyed it, I enjoyed the fact that the novel follows Anne as she grows up, progresses, matures and has more faith in her intelligence. They key themes that have cropped up that i've found particuarly interesting are vanity, and how she is almost obsessed with being conventionally pretty. Also the way she is expected to behave because of connotations of other girls/social class typed thing and how she abuses these expectations. Similarly her vivid imagination plays a huge part in her life and continues to as she grows up and reaches the tricky stages of adolescence. I think I should be able to pick out some key things to write about, assuming i'll have sufficient comparisions of course!

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer has been dispatched so should be here within the next couple of days so i'll start reading that:):)

Feedback from various Gothic related presentations...

Gothic women->

Basically, there were two different portrayals of Gothic women. Early Gothic women were depicted as the weaker, helpless, vulnerable characters that were in need of a hero/man for protection and saviour. When events occurred they left the women fainting, screaming, helpless and lonely; basically implying that they are threatened and need protection. Whereas modern Gothic woman were more alluring, voluptuous, seductive and superior to men in the fact that their sexually aggressiveness was threatening.

Origins of the Gothic->

Particular motifs within the Gothic included ghosts, forbidden knowledge, double gangers and supernatural events. Key characteristics that cropped up are heroes, tyrants and bandits. The literature side of Gothic was mirrored by the movement of Architecture which had a big influence on the writers. The first Gothic novel is the Castle of Otranto which was written in 1765 by Horace Walpole. The themes in Gothic literature are often supernatural, featuring dark secrets, ghosts deriving from the main characters experiences, magic and dreams and visions.

Gothic male protagonists->

The Gothic male protagonist is often driven by their own selfish needs to rebel against society. This breaking rule theme helps excite the reader. Their actions move the story along as they are usually quite intelligent such as Frankenstein. The male protagonists are often not always a hero but they have evil intentions. There is often a dark disturbance which is unleashed upon unexpected victims. Examples of male protagonists are Ambrosio in Monk, Dr Jekyll and Dracula.

Gothic short stories, novels and poems->

These often have an underlying meaning to society.

Examples of short stories, novels and poems are-

·         Monk

·         The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

·         Castle of Otranto

·         Dracula

·         Turn of the Screw

·         Frankenstein

·         The Picture of Dorian Gray

·         The Raven

·         Masque of Red Death

·         Call of Cathulu

·         Monkey’s Paw

·         Woman in Black

·         Phantom of the Opera

And, Gothic settings which was our presentation, the content is in my last post :):)

Research on Gothic settings...

Research states that Goths where first formed in what we now know as Sweden, however their king led them to the southern area of the Baltic Sea. They then separated into two groups called the Visigoths (West Goths) and the Ostrogoths (East Goths) because of where they ruled. It was centuries until, during the Renaissance period, the word ‘Gothic’ was discovered by the Europeans and used as a word to describe the unusual architecture of the Greco-Roman culture. It was due to novels having settings of these unusual architectures that the idea of Gothic literature came about. Gothic literature was at its prime during around 1765 to the mid 1800s and it falls under the romantic literature category.

The setting of a gothic novel is highly important as it introduces the atmosphere of gloom, mystery and suspense but also links the decaying, ruined and deteriorating scenery to relate to the idea of a once successful world. Gothic settings usually feature mediavel aspects and ruined/derelict buildings which shows the interest that the authors at the time had for Gothic architecture which has rubbed off into their literature. I found out that the main settings in gothic literature feature a setting in a decaying and mysterious castle where the main action takes place. Linked to the castle, there is often an ancient prophecy to create anxiety and allow questions to form in the readers minds. Also, creating an atmosphere of mystery and suspense helps unravel the fear of the unknown. Omens, portents or visions may occur which may link to future events or be purely to scare.  There are often supernatural events such as ghosts or inanimate objects. Also, emotion is raised in a way that each event has more emphasis that would do in an ordinary novel; anger and sadness are often key emotions. Women in the book also may be threatened by a male whose characteristics are overpowering and impulsive which often leads to the setting of a woman in distress so that the readers feel sympathetic. Also, the vocabulary used helps create the gothic setting in a novel.

"The early Gothic novels conform pretty much to a pattern. The settings are black forests, haunted castles, ruined abbeys and mouldering tombs." (Preu, 1958)

:):)

Second novel for coursework..

After doing some researching and asking around I think the novel i'm going to compare Anne of Green Gables to is The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. In some places Tom Sawyer has been described as the male version of Anne, and some of the aspects and plot outlines featured in this book are similar to that of Anne of Green Gables. I haven't read this book before but I will get it and read it as soon as I can to see if it's comparable:))