文中包括了暴力的主题，英语毕业论文，这是不可缺少的，因为它在说明故事的主题。福斯特指出“文字暴力更广泛的表现在敌意或至少冷漠的关系。在公主新娘中，英语毕业论文，在伊尼戈和维兹尼斗智斗勇的事件展示了英雄的勇敢和聪明，突出了主要人物韦斯特利他对真爱的追求。 For students, reading literature is enjoyable and delightful as a way of learning something new, on the condition that a complete undestanding of what is being read is gained. Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature like a Professor, which discribed as “a lively and entertaining guide to reading between the lines”(), can help students to actually undterstand literature. Foster’s book gives a guide to lierature by providing different themes, which is a key point to comprehend the purpose of a written work. Among them the themes of weather and violence are common in literature work, and often appear together to form smybolic meaning or greater depth of the works. Foster states that “weather is never just weather”(), and it will serve as a plot device, signals or symbols in the works. As for violence, he believes it is an symbolic action which make readers sense greater weight in works. Foster’s themes of weather and violence are used in the following three stories The Princess Bride by William Goldman, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin , and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini in similar ways such as plot device and symbolic action, differing in ways such as foreshadowing tragedy and a hint for something happening beyond the surface. Weather is a common setting in a story, but it always means something more. “Weather is never just weather. It’s never just rain. And that goes for snow, sun, wamth, cold…”() The weather is brought for special reasons, and usually it is a plot device. In The Princess Bride, the winds that constantly whistled during the dinner that held in the Great Hall of Lothaon’s castle is one great example. At the beginning of the dinner, Goldman brings the wind into the setting, and then the strong cross wind, and finally the gusty situation which everything is flying including Princess Noreena’s hat. All these prepare for the roaring of Prnce Humperdinck. Chopin and Hosseini depict some weather-like conditions in their works as well. In “The Story of an Hour”, Mrs. Mallard stared out the open window and feels the “the delicious breath of rain”(); in The Kite Runner, the descriptions of snow the fall of darkness when Amir go to find Hassan after the tournament serve in a similar way. Each of the weather setting mentioned above can be seen as a plot device, but the function of the weather is more than that. The wind, rain and snow have different meanings in the settings. Goldman uses the wind to foreshadow the accident: revealing the fact that Princess Noreena is actually bald, and follows on the wrath of Prince Humperdinck. In “The Story of an Hour”, Chopin’s description of the scenery after rain is restorative: “the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life, the bird’s singing, and the delicious breath of rain”(). It is the sign of spring and hope. With this symbolical meaning, the rain is the sign of Mrs. Mallard’s hope, freedom and new life. In Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, there are many scenes with snow. Snow means as much as rain, as Foster says: “you can do just about anything you want with snow”, and the one illustrates above is cold and suffocating. The descriptions of snow after the tournament create the atmosphere of suffocating despair. The place that Hassan is blocked by Assef: “The narrow path… one side to a snow-filled ravine…other side stood rows of snow-burdened cypress trees…” (77); and when Amir meets Hassan, he pretends he hasn’t seen “those tiny drops that… stained the snow black” (86). Snow, with darkness, creates a cold and desperate background for the tragedy of Hassan and the break of his friendship with Amir. The three works have another similarity: the authors include the theme of violence which is indispensable in illustrating the themes of the stories. Foster states that “the literal violence encodes a broader point about the essentially hostile or at least uncaring relationship we have with the universe”. In The Princess Bride, the man in black fight with Inigo and Fezzik, and the battle of wits with Vizzini are events to show the bravery and cleverness of the hero, and make the main character Westley heroic, and his quest for true love wonderful in an adventure story. In “The Story of an Hour”, Mrs. Mallard’s sudden death implies that the theme of this story is searching selfhood in marriage life. Hosseini, likewise, uses the theme of violence in The Kite Runner as the cause of Hassan’s tragedy, which also leads to Amir’s betrayal and life-long guilt. Violence is everywhere in this book, and almost every crucial plot that concerns the theme of the story relates to violence. |
