Exploring Literary Elements in The Big Wave
Characterization
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Master Elihu Lockton, wealthy scoundrel, has what most people would want. His social status is astounding. Laughing, gossiping, and chatting, he inspects people’s behavior. “‘Keep the wine flowing and the plates full,’ Lockton said” (58). He is only looking out for himself. He wants the right people to manipulate for his plans. Wishing, hoping, and praying, Lockton stands by the King. He is loyal like a child to its mother or a dog to its owner. He ignores everything else just to protect a man that is treated like a god. Lockton wants to get his duty for the King done, and he doesn’t want to waste any time getting involved with unrelated matters. Distractions are his arch nemesis. They creep up on him fast, invading his millions of mapped out plans. Failure is not one of his options. He is risking it all for a king who doesn’t even know his name. A loyalist in a world of rebels. “‘Pretend to be happy rebels’” (29). Perseverant he may be, but foolishness is what he screams.
Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson |
Setting
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The Prison
The freezing breeze that refuses to stay off of your skin creeps into your clothing. You shiver and quiver as you walk across the snow. You walk next to the rusty, frozen, solid, unused gate that separates the prison from you. Using a cold, frozen metal key, turning it hesitantly, pushing on the gate, you walk in. The gate creaks like an elderly man who hasn’t spoken for years. You walk in between the cells observing them like a nervous child. “The cells were filled with men and boys milling around like nervous cattle herded into a goat pen” (218). The stone walls enclose them like animals in a cage,blocking their path of freedom. Nothing but rags cover their swollen flesh produced from the deafening sounds of the gun, and the stinging blade of a sword. The screaming, groaning, and squealing left over from the battle rings in their heads. No bare flesh is revealed, for they are wrapped in scraps of clothing, attempting to escape the cold. They shake from fever like having a seizure. They moan, their hopeless stomachs ravenous for food. They haven't eaten in three days. “The stench was overpowering-men unwashed for months and puke and muck and rot that was eating living flesh” (294). Your nose, overwhelmed, cringes in disgust. Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson |
Point of View
1st Person
It's this detail, the untucked blouse forming a ducktail, that brings me back to myself. "Prim!" The strangled cry comes out of my throat, and my muscles begin to move again. "Prim!" I don't need to shove through the crowd. The other kids make way immediately allowing me a straight path to the stage. I reach her just as she is about to mount the steps. With one sweep of my arm, I push her behind me. "I volunteer!" I gasp. "I volunteer as tribute!" The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins |
3rd Person Limited
It was almost December, and Jonas was beginning to be frightened. No. Wrong word, Jonas thought. Frightened meant that deep, sickening feeling of something terrible about to happen. Frightened was the way he had felt a year ago when an unidentified aircraft had overflown the community twice. He had seen it both times. The Giver by Lois Lowrey 3rd Person Omniscient
And then, one Thursday, nearly two thousand years after one man had been nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be to be nice to people for a change, one girl sitting on her own in a small cafe in Rickmansworth suddenly realized what it was that had been going wrong all this time, and she finally knew how the world could be made a good and happy place. This time it was right, it would work, and no one would have to get nailed to anything. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams |
In the novel Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson, the main conflict is man vs. nature. The city of Philadelphia has been ravaged by yellow fever and caused most of the residents to leave the county for fresher air. The text says, “The only people left in Philadelphia seem to be shopkeepers and wharf rats. Robert has an appointment with the mayor this very day to insist that he put an end to the rumors of yellow fever” (26). The city was vacant, and only the poor were left behind because they couldn't afford the trip. With farmers remaining in the country, the food source became depleted causing the conflict between the people and their ability to get food.
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Theme
The theme of the novel The Maze Runner by James Dashner is persistence is the key to survive. Without Thomas's stubborn determination, the people in the Glade with him may have died, and when Thomas was in the Maze and was running from a Griever, he never gave up. He ran for hours and still managed to save his friend, Alby's life. Also, even when the people in the Glade had been there for over two years and still hadn't found a way out of the maze, they still insisted on finding a way out. This theme is similar to the movie The Karate Kid where Daniel is persistent in his training and overcomes his bullies.
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