Comparison of Literary Elements in Literature - Research Paper Example

A comparison of literary elements in literature Introduction Literary elements refer to the various artistic styles of writing in literature which distinguishes a particular piece of literature material. The various literary elements in literature include the theme, symbolism, plot, character development, setting and context. This analysis seeks to compare and contrast the literary elements evident in Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid and The portrait of a young artist as a young man by James Joyce. Character development The major characters in Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid include Anne John, Mrs. John who is Ann’s mother and the Red Girl. Anne is the main character who dominates the whole novel and the story is told in her own subjective voice. The author depicts Anne as an arrogant and complex being who struggles to survive and define her own separate world from that of her mother. Anne is seen to develop as a character as she struggles with the fear of separation from her mother, becomes an expert in marbles and eventually develops hatred and anger as she rebels against her mother’s attempts to define her world (Kincaid 32). Mrs. John’s character is developed and defined by Ann through her subjective narration. She is initially portrayed as a person who is strong, wonderful, kind and full of knowledge about the societal norms and values. Anne develops bitterness and hatred towards Mrs. John when she repeatedly tells her that they are two separate beings. In addition to this, Anne points to her mother’s sexual relationship with her husband as the reasons for her alienation and neglect. The Red Girl on the other hand is developed as a character that represents the outside world and does not have to adhere to the societal norms and values. The Red Girl represents the new world which Anne dreams of creating and she becomes a key figure in Anne’s development as a character by offering her a sense of self. The major characters in The portrait of a young artist as a young man by James Joyce includes: Stephen Dedalus, Simon Dedalus, Emma Clery, Cranly and Charles Stewart Parnell. Stephen Dedalus, the main character in the novel, is developed as a highly sensitive individual. He has the advantage of a quality education but is portrayed to be living in isolation and deprivation amidst the oppressive colonial nationality, highly developed social immorality and extremist family and religious values. Just like Anne in Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid, Stephen feels trapped and seeks escape by abandoning the restrictive societal norms and living freely as an artist. As a character, Stephen undergoes growth, development and transformation as the story progresses. His transformations occurs in various stages starting in his first year in college where he demonstrates that he is an intellectual person with his understanding of societal systems and begins to create a different perception of his environment (Joyce 32). Another transformation occurs when Stephen engages in sexual intercourse with the prostitute in Dublin which transforms his from innocence to promiscuity according to the societal values. The third transformation was motivated by Father Arnall’s speech regarding the concept of death and hell which led to his conversion from a sinner to a Catholic. His final transformation indicates his maturity as a conscious individual when he changes his obsession from religion and focuses on the appreciation of art and beauty. Thematic analysis Themes refer to the major topic or subject in a piece of literature. The themes in Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid include the relationships between mother and daughter, colonization and the impact of colonial education and the various gender relations in the society. The main theme is the relationship between mother and child where Kincaid develops the complex relationship between Anne and her mother in her childhood and adolescence. As a result of the closeness of their relationship, Anne encounters several challenges and tension as she struggles to identify herself as a separate self from her mother. In an attempt to break loose from this relationship, girls seeks friendships with the hope of replaced the lost love of the mother. As a result, Ann finds herself in a situation of love and hate for her mother. The relationship between mother and daughter is a familiar and traditional theme in other literature such as Lucy and The Autobiography of My Mother (SparkNotes Editors). The portrait of a young artist as a young man by James Joyce explores several themes including the development of consciousness in individuals, the issues related to religious extremisms and the role of the artist in the society. The main focus of the novel is on the development of individual consciousness in the life an Irish boy in the nineteen century who struggles in isolation as a child and an adolescent. Stephen is young and only able to define his world in phrases. As a child he fails to create a link between the causal relationship between elements in life and as teenager, he becomes obsessed with religion (Joyce 54). While in the university, Stephen becomes mature and this is illustrated in his developed artistic expression which implies that he has attained emotional, intellectual and artistic adulthood. Stephen’s experiences represent the struggles, hard work and sacrifices artists go through in their development in order to achieve excellence in their field. Use of the style of symbolism Kincaid uses symbolism to convey deep meanings and messages in a particular culture that plays a great role towards the development of the themes in his novel. The symbols used in the novel Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid includes the trunk belonging to Anne’s mother and the other trunks, marbles and Anne’s copy of the Paradise Lost. The trunks in the novel symbolize the self and its conflict with the other self. Anne holds onto her mother’s trunk because she has no separate self from her mother. Later on she rebels and seeks her own self by owing her own trunk clearly labeled with her name on it. Anne is given two marbles by her mother that symbolizes the mother’s world which defines the common social order. Anne, however, goes ahead to gather other marbles that symbolize her attempts to break from her mother’s world and creates her own world. Lastly, Anne’s Paradise Lost symbolizes her attempt to defy the dominant power of her mother just as Lucifer challenged God but she is afraid that doing this would separate her completely from her mother. The portrait of a young artist as a young man by James Joyce also employs symbolism to convey specific messages in the text. The various symbols employed include green and maroon, and Emma. The color green and maroon is associated with the political leaders in Ireland. Green and maroon appear as a vision in Stephen’s dreams to symbolize the impact of Irish politics on his family life and organization. The image of Emma flashes in the eyes of Stephen during his tender years. This image represents an element of sexual purity that Stephen adores and worships. Stephen’s religious obsessions are guided by his believe that by keeping himself sexually pure he will be able to go to heaven and unite with Emma. While in the university, Stephen keeps a diary which illustrates his maturity by abandoning his religious extremisms to occupy a central ground that indicates the maturity of his consciousness as an individual. Plot analysis The author handles the various elements of plot including introduction, suspense, climax, conclusion to develop a chronological description of Anne’s life from the time she was ten years to the time she is seventeen. The plot is developed to illustrate the exact conflict between Anne and her mother when she comes home and finds her parents having sex. The resulting conflict represents the climax of the novel and creates delineation between the Ann and Mrs. John as Anne attempt to break loose and define her own self. The conclusion is represented as a resolution to the conflict which is attained when Anne turns seventeen, becomes and independent person and moves out of her parents out to start a separate life in England. The plot in The portrait of a young artist as a young man by James Joyce is quite difficult to describe without making it appear as fictitious. The novel focuses on the essence of life as the main character, Stephen, is developed through a series of transformations. Joyce brings a distortion to the norms of life and then attempts to rearrange and reorganize it through the development of plot in the novel (Mistron 43). Joyce uses childhood, confinement, prostitution, extremist religion and art to create a conflict and ultimately seeks to bring a resolution to this conflict thus defining the destiny of Stephen and accomplishing the core theme of the novel which is development of the individual consciousness. Author’s style The intellectual, emotional and aesthetic qualities of Kincaid have earned her a lot of praise as a writer and also defined her writing styles. She employs a prose which is lyrical and which is sometimes incantatory in nature. She beautifies her work by incorporating the various names of plants, local names and foods which exemplify the true Caribbean culture and way of life. The uniqueness of her work has made it an important illustration of the various theories relating to feminism and post-colonialism in the in the West Indies. Joys employs several styles in the development of his novel The portrait of a young artist as a young man. He employs several motifs such as music, flight, prayer and secular songs. Music is employed to illustrate Stephen’s development in language and his desire to live life to the fullest. The motif of flight is used to symbolize the attempt of Daedalus and Icarus to escape by flying away using artificial wings and feathers (Thornton 33). Daedalaus manages to escape but Icarus flies too close to the sun and ultimately fails. Joyce uses this motif to illustrate the fact that Stephen has to be careful in making his decisions to escape Ireland lest he overstates his ambitions and fails in his attempt. Stephen therefore bids his time in the university and works on his aesthetic theory before attempting to venture out. Another key style dominant in The portrait of a young artist as a young man is the various streams of consciousness which are explored by Joyce in detail. The style explores the characters internal thought systems and perceptions rather than the external elements. Joyce also uses the style of epiphany successfully to illustrate the exact moment in the characters life when they suddenly develop a realization that alters their thought systems, perceptions and ultimately their ways of viewing the world they live in. Stephen witnesses a young lady at the beach and he suddenly realizes that beauty can be wonderful. Setting and context The novel Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid has its setting in the Caribbean bildungsroman. The context of the novel is on the chronological development of individuals in terms of their social, physiological and intellectual perspectives. The novel was set the West Indian colonies where the main character attempts to grow and achieve maturity in relation to the attempts to move away from the oppression of colonialism to independence. The complex and bitter relationship between Anne and her mother indicates the strained and ruined relationship between the British protectorate and Antigua. The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man on the other hand also exhibits the same setting and context as Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid. The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man draws on the early life of Joyce. The novel is set in Ireland during the early twentieth century. The novel represents the political struggles and the role of religion in the confrontation between England and Ireland. There were religious tensions everywhere as a majority of Irish people who were Catholic fought for independence while the minority groups who were the Protestants preferred the colonial rule. The various opinions regarding religion and politics arise on several instances in The portrait of a young artist as a young man. A good example relates to an argument in the Dedalus family regarding the Catholic religion which turned emotional Stephen is confronted with difficulty questions from his friends while at the university regarding the issues of religious struggles and political standing between Ireland and England. Conclusion This paper sought to compare two novels namely Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid and The portrait of a young artist as a young man by James Joyce an attempted to determine the similarities and differences in their use of literary elements. Various literary elements including themes, character development, plot development, use of symbolism, author’s style and the setting and context of the stories have been analyzed. Most of the elements identified have been employed by the authors in their various respective works. Both the novels are set in the colonial period and they attempt to illustrate the strained political relationship between the colonies and their colonizers. The authors employ the same styles in character development where the characters are shown to transform and change ultimately as the story progresses. The two authors also employ symbolism to show the trapped nature of the characters and their striving to gain freedom and define themselves. The main difference lies in the main theme where Kincaid focuses on the relationship between daughter and mother while Joyce focuses on the attainment of individual consciousness. However, there is no significant difference as the themes are developed to illustrate attainment of freedom and achievement of self identity in the colonized countries. Works cited SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Annie John.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. n.d.. Web. 27 November 2013. SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. n.d.. Web. 27 Nov. 2013. Thornton, John. 'A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man' Review. About.com. classics literature. n. Kincaid, Jamaica. Annie John. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1985. Print. Edwards, Justin D. Understanding Jamaica Kincaid. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2007. Print. Mistron, Deborah E. Understanding Jamaica Kincaid's Annie John: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Westport, Conn. [u.a.: Greenwood Press, 1999. Print. Wollaeger, Mark A. James Joyce's a Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man: A Casebook. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. Print. Joyce, James, Kevin J. H. Dettmar, and James Joyce. A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man: And, Dubliners. New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2004. Print. Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist As a Man. , 2011. Print.d..Web. 8 December 2013. Read More