Humanizing Morally Reprehensible Characters: Finding Sympathy for Protagonists in “A Rose for Emily” and “The Country Husband” Typically‚ readers have a difficult time rooting for or even sympathizing with characters who engage in behavior which is considered deviant or morally wrong. Two writers who challenge readers to find fallible and immoral characters sympathetic are John Cheever and William Faulkner. In John Cheever’s‚ “The Country Husband”‚ the reader truly sympathizes for Francis Weed
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How does Steinbeck create sympathy for Candy and his position on the ranch? Of Mice and Men is a novel written by John Steinbeck‚ set in America in the Great Depression of the 1930s. The main characters in the book are the clever‚ quick George‚ and his slow‚ child-like companion Lennie. They are itinerant workers who find work on a ranch in California’s Salinas Valley. There are many characters on the ranch‚ including Curley‚ Slim‚ and Crooks. However‚ the first ranch worker George and Lennie
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We are a blend of family‚ friends‚ lovers‚ and lack their affection. The narrator in Louise Erdrich’s “I’m a Mad Dog Biting Myself for Sympathy” agrees. “Who I am is just the habit of what I always was‚ and who I’ll be is the result” (127). We truly are a creation of our environment. Some of us are just luckier than others. The narrator is doubtful‚ and brave. He’s lived a hard‚ neglectful life and now he is deeply scarred emotionally. In brief moments of revealing his sensitivity‚ the narrator
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Cindy Weinstein claims in Family‚ Kinship‚ and Sympathy in Nineteenth-Century American Literature‚ with respect to Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women‚ that this piece of sentimental literature has a “profound awareness of the relative fragility of the biological family and a commitment to strengthening and redefining it according to the logic of love”(Weinstein 4). Through Weinstein’s claim‚ she states that biological‚ familial ties are not what define a family; it is‚ however‚ through the love that
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Heathcliff‚ the main character in Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte‚ has no heart. He is evil to the core - so savage that his lone purpose is to ruin others. Yet at the very moment at which the reader would be expected to feel the most antipathy towards the brute -after he has destroyed his wife‚ after he has degraded the life of a potentially great man‚ and after he has watched the death of his son occur with no care nor concern‚ the reader finds himself feeling strangely sympathetic towards this
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How does Shakespeare retain a degree of sympathy for Macbeth‚ through to the end of the play? Shakespeare manages to retain a degree of sympathy for evil Macbeth‚ throughout the full play‚ no matter how small it might be. Initially‚ Shakespeare introduces us to the positive character of “brave Macbeth”. He is a hero to the people because he is a “noble” soldier. King Duncan holds Macbeth in high regard and refers to his cousin as a “worthy gentleman”. His positive attributes are stressed from
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“Sympathy for the Devil?” How does Mary Shelley persuade the reader to pity Frankenstein’s Creature? Mary Shelley published Frankenstein in 1818. At that time‚ the Gothic Horror genre was becoming increasingly popular. The Gothic Horror genre combined the genres of horror and romance and is often associated with dark castles‚ murder and monsters. The idea for the novel came about during a dream while Shelley and her husband Percy were staying with Lord Byron. She then used that dream as a basis
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How does Shakespeare create sympathy for Romeo and Juliet? Shakespeare creates sympathy for the two protagonists in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ skilfully using emotive language‚ sonnet form‚ alliteration and metaphor. Before the play begins‚ the audience are told that it will end in a disaster. This creates an emotive reaction in the audience throughout the play as they are reminded of the fate of the two young lovers. This is emphasised by the fact that the protagonists foreshadow their own
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Great Expectations Dickens’ gripping novel of 1861‚ Great Expectations‚ portrays his distinguishing tendency to exaggerate both plot and characters. Chapter eight enhances his main aim of initiating sympathy for Pip‚ and this‚ consequently‚ lasts for the novel’s entirety. We are shown similarities between Dickens’ early childhood memories and the protagonist’s inability to defend himself against the injustices he discovers throughout the early years of life. Dickens successfully creates
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How does Shakespeare gain audience sympathy for Macbeth? In late 1905‚ Shakespeare’s Macbeth was performed for the first time in Hampton Court. At the time‚ King James I was in power‚ and it is widely believed that Shakespeare wrote Macbeth in order to flatter him‚ as the previous year The Gunpowder Plot had shown an attempt on his life. In the play‚ King Duncan gets murdered‚ which would have been quite disturbing for King James I to watch. By the end of the play however‚ King James I would have
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