Literary Work: Keep It Interesting
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Mr. Ferrare
Critical Lens Essay
“If the literature we are reading does not wake us, why then do we read it? A literary work must be an ice-axe to break the sea frozen inside us.” (Franz Kafka) In my own words this means that what is the purpose of reading something that doesn’t teach us something new or change how we view something. The premise of this statement rings true for me if literature does not effect us in some way what is the point of reading it. This applies to Night By Elie Wiesel and Black Boy by Richard Wright because both of these literately works over come a challenge that they were told could not have been done. Also, they did not give up when others did. The literary elements I will discuss will be mood, tone and irony. Night by Elie Wiesel is a good example of and validates Franz Kafka’s statement. A use of this premise in this piece is when the single prisoner is hanged and it has more of an impact on Elie then a thousand people being burned. It showed the reader how far they would go just to make a point and instill fear. Another event that falls into the quote is when he and his father were in the wagon packed so tightly trying to keep warm. At each stop they were told to toss out the dead. “Twenty corpses were thrown from our wagon. Then the train resumed its journey, leaving in its wake, in a snowy field in Poland, hundreds of naked orphans without a tomb.” This makes the point of how the value of a human being went down almost the same as a sack of laundry. This sets the tone of the piece of how devalued life was. The final example is when Elie considers running to the electric fence so it would be faster and less painful then being burned to death. This shows how bad and miserable the conditions there were it gives you a real insight and shock of what really went on. In Black Boy by Richard Wright is about an African American boy who publishes his first story and is heckled and judged for it. An example
Mr. Ferrare
Critical Lens Essay
“If the literature we are reading does not wake us, why then do we read it? A literary work must be an ice-axe to break the sea frozen inside us.” (Franz Kafka) In my own words this means that what is the purpose of reading something that doesn’t teach us something new or change how we view something. The premise of this statement rings true for me if literature does not effect us in some way what is the point of reading it. This applies to Night By Elie Wiesel and Black Boy by Richard Wright because both of these literately works over come a challenge that they were told could not have been done. Also, they did not give up when others did. The literary elements I will discuss will be mood, tone and irony. Night by Elie Wiesel is a good example of and validates Franz Kafka’s statement. A use of this premise in this piece is when the single prisoner is hanged and it has more of an impact on Elie then a thousand people being burned. It showed the reader how far they would go just to make a point and instill fear. Another event that falls into the quote is when he and his father were in the wagon packed so tightly trying to keep warm. At each stop they were told to toss out the dead. “Twenty corpses were thrown from our wagon. Then the train resumed its journey, leaving in its wake, in a snowy field in Poland, hundreds of naked orphans without a tomb.” This makes the point of how the value of a human being went down almost the same as a sack of laundry. This sets the tone of the piece of how devalued life was. The final example is when Elie considers running to the electric fence so it would be faster and less painful then being burned to death. This shows how bad and miserable the conditions there were it gives you a real insight and shock of what really went on. In Black Boy by Richard Wright is about an African American boy who publishes his first story and is heckled and judged for it. An example