Preview

What Is The Purpose Of Going Solo By Roald Dahl

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1246 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
What Is The Purpose Of Going Solo By Roald Dahl
In the nonfiction novel, “Going Solo” written by Roald Dahl himself, the reader is wrapped up in the sensational adventure of Roald Dahl’s life. His life, filled with excitement, drama, hardships, and achievements, is what makes this book stand out in a crowd. Dahl’s exceptional sentence style and word choice advises the reader for the duration of the book. However, these writing strategies are not the only ways that shape the novel. William Somerset Maugham once stated, “There are three rules to writing a good book. Unfortunately no one knows what they are.” While this may be true, there are three evident rules that are modeled in Dahl’s autobiography. Being extremely descriptive, breathtaking moments, and most importantly, a thought …show more content…
If a reader is unable to paint a clear picture in their mind, then they most likely do not fully understand the novel. Additionally, the details make the reader feel as if they are with Dahl in the story. This ability to be very vivid is the first rule to a good book. There are many occurrences throughout the book where Dahl is very detailed. In some scenes in the book, the reader feels as if they are right there in the book with Dahl due to the great description. To be more accurate, Dahl takes the reader into the time when his plane crashes while on his very first venture into combat territory. Due to the darkness falling upon him, he needed to take a forced landing, which caused the plane to come crashing down as Dahl describes it as a “mighty whoosh as the petrol tank in the port tank exploded.” This crash resulted in major injuries including unconsciousness, a fractured skull, his nose pushed in, and teeth were knocked out, but he felt no pain. When the “tremendous heat around his legs galvanized his soggy brain into action,” Dahl became aware that he needed to get out of the burning plane. He unbuckled his seatbelt and crawled out. A while after, Dahl was saved by pair of wandering soldiers who took him to the nearby hospital. This event and portrayal of Dahl’s crash, makes the reader feel like they are right there …show more content…
The ending is what the majority of readers take away from the book. It is very important for a novel to contain a considerate ending. If it does not, the reader, in most cases, will think of the book as unsatisfactory. Although the rest of the novel the was fantastic, the ending may impact the reader’s overall view of the novel. A good ending wraps up all of the components of the book, and does not include anything that does not relate to the book. Dahl does a phenomenal job of providing the reader with a sincere, genuine, and passionate ending. In the novel, Dahl was separated from his family for three years because of fighting as a fighter pilot on the war. Because of Dahl’s afflictions, he was invalided from the war and sent home. As soon as he arrived, he went to the nearest telephone and gave his mother a call, but eventually found out that his mother’s line had been disconnected months ago. Right then in that moment, the fear that his mother and family passed away while he was at war washed over him. Shattered, Dahl went to a local hotel trying to find a telephone number of a relative, and that he did. The number in which belonged to his ancient half sister showed up and Dahl gave her a call. Luckily, he later found out that his mother and sisters were staying in Grendon Underwood. The next morning Dahl took a bus out to Grendon Underwood, and was elated to see his

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Another reason why you should read this great novel is because it has this realistic feeling to it you can actually feel the emotions being said in the novel it will touch you in an unexplainable way.…

    • 1240 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    1. How does this family rebuild their life? Where do they go, what do they do, etc?…

    • 364 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Laughing in the face of war and death, literally, is one of the things that make the novel Catch-22 by Joseph Heller such an intriguing and original story. It was written in 1961, a time when, due to the fighting of the Second World War, all war novels were written with a dark and dreary tone, while still trying to continue the pre-conceived romantic notions about war. However, Joseph Heller strips away all of the romantic pretense, and pulling heavily on his own Air Force experience during WWII, presents war in its most raw, un-censored version. It takes away thoughts of being the amazing hero, and winning medals, and replaces them with the screwed up, bureaucratic way that we fight wars. It shows the true paradoxes that arise, and shows the violence of war, in its most un-adulterated form. This book came right after WWII, a war that most American citizens saw as a just and needed war, and shocked all who read it with the truth about war. Then, as if to prove the literary genius of the author, the Vietnam War comes along. It then turns out that the novel Catch-22 was almost prophetic about the war. Almost the entire novel is shown through the eyes of the main character, Captain John Yossarian. He is an Assyrian, who is completely paranoid and always trying to convince people that there are other people out there who are doing their best to make sure he doesn’t return from each mission he flies. He then decides to make it his personal mission to return alive from every flight. Throughout the entire story, the main theme or subject is the craziness of war, and how it is not romantic as it has been previously portrayed, but actually hellish and dangerous.…

    • 1829 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    ENGL 125 S15N02 Outline

    • 1100 Words
    • 8 Pages

    1. Chalykoff, Lisa, Neta Gordon, and Paul Lumsden, eds. The Broadview Introduction to Literature: Short Fiction. (BV)…

    • 1100 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    4. The British novelist Fay Weldon offers this observation about happy endings. "The writers, I do believe, who get the best and most lasting response from their readers are the writers who offer a happy ending through moral development. By a happy ending, I do not mean mere fortunate events -- a marriage or a last minute rescue from death -- but some kind of spiritual reassessment or moral reconciliation, even with the self, even at death." Choose a novel or play that has the kind of ending Weldon describes. In a well-written essay, identify the "spiritual reassessment or moral reconciliation" evident in the ending and explain its significance in the work as a whole.…

    • 1309 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In this way, the title of the book has a significance that is only understood after reading the entire book through and seeing how it relates to and is developed throughout the plot of the…

    • 362 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tim O'Brien provides his audience with a very descriptive image of both the physical and mental "things" the characters in the story carried. He gives the reader insight as to how the characters are physically and mentally dealing with the turmoil of the war. However, in the end of the story - Jimmy Cross - a round character, reacts to the death of Ted Lavender, and decides to grow up.…

    • 752 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Writers use many tactics to get across to their readers. In order to get the moral of the story or the overall theme of the book, they might write about the main character reaching an epiphany of some sort that reveals the focus of the story. Writers tend to end their story with a happy ending in which the main character experiences a spiritual reassessment or a moral reconciliation. In Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind, the main character, Scarlett O'Hara, undergoes a spiritual reassessment and moral reconciliation.…

    • 714 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This literature was confusing however, conceptually understandable that even though this short story was written somewhere between the life-time of Ernest Hemingway. People can relate to it in someway and the style of how it is written is something it could be said to be artistic and educational that people can learn from. As this textbook was dedicated for the purpose of learning literature, it was appropriate for using this literature in the book; So that people could debate, discuss the very meaning of the contents and…

    • 466 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Home Soil

    • 630 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The feeling of regret can weigh a person?s emotions beyond normalcy. As the story unfolds and the plane arrives in Chicago from San Francisco, Bohdan becomes immediately unsocial from an expected level. ?We stood apart, unlike the other soldiers and their families who were hugging and crying on each other?s shoulders in a euphoric delirium,? said Bohdan?s dad. Mentioned briefly in the beginning of the story was the fact that Bohdan?s dad was also in a war and had never spoken of it to anyone. As little words are exchanged, Bohdan?s dad finds himself wondering why his son has not told him any details of his journey. This is a realism that the father has had before in his own experiences. Zabytko then begins to tell the father?s story of regret in a lengthy description, including all of his war efforts. When regret is established one tends to dwell on that incident searching for a resolution.…

    • 630 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I stood up with a groan. In the distance, I could hear the cracks of gunfire and the loud, heart-stopping sound of artillery hitting the ground. I couldn’t help but think that with every explosion I heard, men would die. It’s a thought that only us soldiers could understand. I crept along the trench, towards the bunk area. I turned into the small room. There was a dim, somewhat melancholy lantern lit in the far…

    • 1870 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Life

    • 684 Words
    • 3 Pages

    How does the last chapter of the book differ from the other chapters? Why do you think…

    • 684 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Things They Carried

    • 2212 Words
    • 9 Pages

    The words that Tim O’Brien used to describe the war were mind boggling. It made me realize anything can happen at any minute and anything can change at any moment. It’s hard to imagine what the soldiers must have felt so young in such a terrifying and unforgiving war. To constantly live in fear of death is unimaginable. The descriptive language of this passage helped clarify how the soldiers felt and perceived the war; by expanding my mind on how feelings and emotions can change as rapidly as clock ticks. This is an extremely powerful passage as it presents war in a way that may not be typical or expected.…

    • 2212 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    What is the number one reason that parents worry about their children in schools? The reason is the increased numbers of school shootings across the United States. The school shootings happen almost twice a week during last year which often end with the killer shoot and kill about a dozen of school students before the shooter were killed by the police's lethal force. The result can be damage families, community, and friends. In order to stop the school shootings in the USA, the school system must increase their security, arming the teachers with handguns or a shotgun, and install more cameras.…

    • 726 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Everyday thousands of chemical reactions happen in our bodies. These reactions produce the energy for our bodies to use. During these chemical reactions there are enzymes, biological catalysts, which help speed up metabolic reactions by lowering the energy barriers without being used up or altered in the reaction. (Campball, 2008) Every enzyme has an optimum pH at which it is most active. An increase or decrease in the pH of the solution will cause the enzyme to have a change in its three dimensional shape. If an enzyme is placed in an environment that is to basic or acidic the reaction will take longer to digest the starch because the enzyme shape has changed and the substrate will have a harder time connecting to the active…

    • 1386 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays