Conclusion | Literary Criticism

Conclusion

Hello everybody, welcome to the conclusion of my project about Literary Criticism. It is nice for having you right here. I hope you enjoyed this blog as much as I did.

During my project I leanrt many important things. I read books/stories that I never imagine could exist. I really like the fact that most of them are related to real life situations. I am not a frequent reader; it is something that I am not accustomed to do. Now, I have a different perception of books. I personally think that when you read a book, you are learning important lessons for life. Certainly, stories teach us lessons. I have been in many places and different situations apart of my life, through readings.

I have no words to thank my mentor teacher in this project, Danielle Traverse. She is such nice person. She always tells me about the importance of reading and enjoy what we read. I can see it is true. You will never lose time when reading, unlike, you will feed your brain and knowledge. I have acquired a lot of important information that will help me during my life. I have learned how to criticize literary works. Literature goes far than reading a book. I discovered how wonderful is “the world of readers” and literature lovers.

I would like to continue my blog. If you want to read more of my entries, fell free to leave on the comments any suggestion and I will read it. My blog is yours too.

This has been such an amazing experience. I hope to see you soon, guys.

-Bell Solís

A Doll's House | Feminist Criticism

A Doll’s House

By Henrik Ibsen

Hello everybody, nice to see you again. For today we have a feminist criticism about “A Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen.

In this play, Ibsen shows how women were treated back then. Society has changed in a high percentage of those retrograde thoughts. Nowadays, women have equal opportunities as men. Women study and are well-prepared. We are allowed to work and earn our own money. Of course, when I say “allowed” does not mean we were not able to do it back then. When Ibsen wrote this play, he was sure about the fact that Nora represents a real life situation. If you have not read the play yet, I recommend you to do. Otherwise, you might have some misunderstandings with entry. In A Doll’s House you can see that Nora’s life is not free of choices and personal opinions. Her decisions are not important as his father or husband. They take the control of her life. She is always at home taking care of her three children, with no money to do something that she desires.

From my personal point of view, Nora projects the life of many women back then. She sacrifices herself to get money and help her husband recovering from his sickness. She does this action, keeping it as a “big secret”. There is no way to justify it. She knows that it was “a bad action” and the only ones that are “able” to take decisions are men. Besides that, Nora is a good example to see how women were seen as puppets for men. Long time ago, a woman should be at home, taking care of children, with no social life and were not allow to express opinions. That’s why, throughout the play, Nora realizes she will never be happy. Because she is full of debts and she is like a puppet. She has no a normal life. Besides that, there is not anything that can fulfill her heart and happiness. She is living a torture and a stressed life.

Nora is not allowed to take decisions by herself. But, at the end of the play, she takes one final decisions and for me, the most important. Of course, it is not simple, but she has no choice. She decides to leave her house and family. We are not talking about her husband only, but her three children. She has a little baby who needs her. Back then, this situation was not a common thing. It was rare to happen. She discovers that her life is more important than anything else. And “life” is not living. Life is being happy, loved, satisfied and thankful for everything we have. Clearly, Nora lacks of “life”. She is very brave to take that important decision, but she deserves happiness.

Now, I want to know what is your point of view about the situation presented in the play.

1.     What would you do if you were in Nora’s position?

2.   Is happiness important to survive in this life?

Attached a link to a website with a detailed summary about the play A Doll's House

If you want to watch the movie, here I attach a link to a movie of the play.

See you guys!

-Bell Solís

Charlie and the Cholate Factory | Structuralist Criticism

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

By Roald Dahl

Hello everybody! Nice to see you again. For today, we have a structuralist criticism for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, published in 1964. 

If you have not read the story and you cannot find the book, I recommend you to watch the movie. In the movie (in which the protagonist is Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka) you will have a general idea about the story. The difference between the movie and the book is that the movie is focused on Willy Wonka, and the book is focused on Charlie, a poor little boy (the original story is based on that).

The story has two sides. First of all, we have the focal point of the story. Charlie and his family. Charlie is a little boy, who lives a small house with all his family. “All his family” means that he lives with his parents, Mr. & Mrs. Bucket, and his four grandparents. Yes, they all (seven people) live in the same small house. Besides that, they are poor, the only one who works is Mr. Bucket. He works in a toothpaste company and he does not earn a lot of money to provide a good life conditions for everyone. Charlie, is a nice and normal boy. He always hungry. He loves chocolate and likes to study. On the other hand, we have Willy Wonka. Wonka is the owner of an “ENORMOUS CHOCOLATE FACTORY!”. Which is located in Charlie’s neighborhood.

From my personal point of view, the story projects a real life situation. Charlie reflects the life of many little poor kids. He likes chocolate and he desires to eat chocolate. The sad reality is that he just receives chocolate on his birthday (He eats the chocolate in tiny pieces, to make it last for a month). On the other hand, the chocolate factory is reopening, and Wonka is giving the opportunity to five children to visit the factory if they find a golden ticket in the chocolate bars. 

Of course, to find a golden ticket, Charlie needs money. But, Charlie has something more important than the order four kids. Charlie knows how hard life is. He has faith and hope trying to find the golden ticket. That’s why, with those simple and essentials things, he found the last golden ticket to visit the factory with his grandpa Joe. At the end, Charlie won the enormous chocolate factory of Willy Wonka. The story teaches us a lesson, if you have a dream, go and fight for it. As you see, Charlie does not have enough money, but he has something more important than money. It depends mostly on your attitude towards your dream. Keep positive, and working hard for that. At the end you will have the best reward of your life, and it will be the opportunity to achieve your dreams.

Guys, I want to know what is your opinion about this story. I also have a question for you:

Do you have any dream that you would like to achieve?

Attached a link to a website with a detailed summary about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

See you later!

- Bell Solís