The Norton Anthology of World Literature - Essay Example

Reality-Check College: Reality-Check In the world of literature, there are different methods that the use. These methods represent different worlds. There is life in the real world and life in the world of magic. There are authors whose work is purely based on issues concerning the world and, on the other hand, are the authors of literature whose works are based on magical concepts. As such, life is the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from non-living organisms. It includes functional activities such as reproduction, breathing, growth and development and such continuous change that later end at death. In life, modernists have influenced people to have checks in their lives. Such checks are meant to reveal some beliefs and truths of life. Due to the modernists stand, some people have developed a mind of a negative attitude towards them as they feel that they influence their religious beliefs, thereby breaking away from the tradition that has existed for generations. According to Griffith, (2011), questioning and understanding knowledge is a part of human nature. This means that if knowledge, culture, and traditions are passed from one generation to another, then intelligent beings are capable of developing knowledge that is beneficial to them. To understand the perceptions that surround the world, authors Frank Kafka and Gabriel Garcia and a poet Andre Breton gave their analogy of life but in both the reality and a magical perspective (Zamora & Faris, 2005). From the point of view of the three personalities, life has been compared and contrasted depending on the dynamics of their surroundings thus making the unreal things in life seem real in eyes of humans. The advancement of technology and the increasing human population caused many changes to humans. The results were that new situations evolved while the old ideologies became inefficient in some ways. Notably, modernism could not be avoided as human beings began reaping the benefits of new ideologies while they realized that their old ways were making less sense. However, magical realism could not be avoided by some literature authors. This led to a reality check movement by use of literature. In their works, Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, Gracia Marquez’s Death Constant Beyond Love and Breton’s Free Union are all examples of the modern literature that has caused readers to reevaluate their stand on magical realism. In The Metamorphosis, we see a man turning into a bug. In contrast to most tradition monster stories, Kafka makes the monster the victim while he makes the society the real monster. Gregor is the young man who turns into a bug. He is depicted to care less of his predicaments but cares more of his family (Kuper & Hasenpusch, 2009). However, his family finds him more of a pest since they have no idea on how to handle his situation. As the story comes to an end, Gregor dies not because of his condition but because he found out that his family felt that he was a burden to them. We see his family getting relieved after receiving the news of his death. Kafka has represented a monster with the mind of a human being but in reality, such changes are only possible in the magical world. It is only through magic that living things have the ability to change into different forms. Gregor’s society comes up with conclusions that give him no chance to adapt to his new being. Besides the society is his family that he ought to rely on. However, instead of helping him adapt, the family finds him annoying and gives up on him. It is this isolation that Gregor could not withstand longer. Magical realism is expressed in the transformations that take place on Gregor and also on her sister. As the story begins, Gregor’s sister has immense care for him but as the story comes to an end, she is completely transformed. In Death Constant Beyond Love, Marques writes about a man living a dream as a successful individual. His life changes after he finds out that he has little time to live since he realized that he was not happy. The society may view this man as being successful since he has both wealth and power, but on the hand, after he finds out that he will soon die, he could care less about his success. He results in having value in his life. At this point, Marquez asks people if they find their lives valuable in any way (Martin, 2012). From the story, the writer was relaying the idea of not allowing the society convince one to live for wealth or just like the man, one may find that he or she has little value for their lives. T In reality, it’s the dream of many individuals to have both wealth and power. Similarly, it’s a trend that the societies always looks up to those with power and respect them as well. People believe that with wealth, it is easier to live and acquire everything that one wishes for. On the contrary, wealth and power come with a cost that many people may not understand. For instance, in the story of Senator Sanchez (Puncher, 2014), it is clear that his position is one that many people wished they had. It is a position that he lived for to a point that he did not tell his family that he was about to die. As a senator, he was focused on working such that he forgot about his personal relations. The feeling of death was always at the back of his mind to an extent that he was never happy. The author has expressed magical realism in the way he displays the rose that the senator wears as starting to wither. This was to represent the senator’s oncoming death. Also, the butterflies and the birds on the wall have been used in an illusion manner. He realized that not even his wealth could make him happy. This as a reality that dawns on many people although it is usually too late to change their lives. All he desired was a little support and love that he could not get not even from his family. In Free Union, Breton writes a poem about a woman she finds appealing. However, for any reader to understand what Breton is communicating, he or she has to fit into Breton’s world something that is impossible in reality. The poet, unlike most of the poets, is not influenced by what other people find appealing but rather what appeals to him. In reality, poems ought to use comprehensible imagery rather than the one utilized by the author. Therefore, rather than expressing his emotions in a way that the society can recognize easily, he chooses to express himself in his ideas (Breton, 2003). The author uses surrealism in the poem to make the one understand the content he is communicating. Breton uses a technique that poets are known for, but he replaces what most people find appealing with what he finds appealing. Notably, such a change of taste cannot make people like a poem or a piece of writing and it may result in people not liking the author’s piece of work. In this poem, the author uses the French Blazon technique to take the readers to a world of his own. Therefore, for one to understand the poem, he or she has to understand the author’s world. This calls for adaptation to the author’s world as a way understanding the poem. However, the world that the author presents is a fictional world that humans can not have access to in their physical nature. Hence, to understand Bretons world, the reader has to reexamine his or her methods by figuring out the means in a more valid and reasonable manner. Therefore, the author has used unreal imagery and surrealism to make his work more attractive but, on the contrary, he ends up making a majority of the readers lose focus on his piece. From the above discussion, surrealism has been well represented in the poem. Real World According To the Authors From the three stories, a real world is a place where the society differs from an individual’s perspective of seeing and doing things. Gregor’s story relates the life of a successful businessman to that of a bug. In a real world, the successful man is only useful to the society while he is his true self. Once trouble set in, the society lacks the value of such people and they are left to carry their burden. However, in the real world nobody would expect real humans to change into insects. Such changes are only possible in the magical world as depicted by the author. The story also echoes the life of an author who grew up in isolation due to the ethnic diversities that existed then (Danow, 2004). He could not fit in any group due to the racial tension that existed at his time. Therefore, the book is a reflection of the troubles and the changes that the society was undergoing at that period. In the second story, a real world is one where the society accepts an individual. Wealth and power may seem like all that is needed for one to be happy, but the lack of self-value makes them useless. Hence, a real world is where a person can live happily with the rest of the societal members (Danow, 2004). In the last story, the author causes the leader to fit into his world for them to get the meaning of his poem. He relates the traditional description of an appealing woman to rather different oddities created in his surreal world, a trait that leaves the readers unable to express themselves in their individual manners. Therefore, fitting in the poet’s world requires the reader to have a deeper understanding of the imageries that he has used. From the three writers, a real world is where the society lets go of the tradition by embracing social reality and moving on with the moment. Besides, a real world is where real things happen. Differences between the Authors World and the Current World The world described by the authors is different from the world we live in some ways. For instance, in our current world, it would be unreal for a person to turn into a bug. This means that worlds, where living creatures have the power to change into different forms, can only exist in a magical world. Such a world is far from reality. Similarly, in the world that we live, people no longer watch their neighbors as they suffer. Humanity has it that one has to assist a neighbor who is in trouble. However, the world that is presented by the author is one where nobody is concerned about the welfare of the other. In the second story, their world is different from the one we live in that people do not get isolated due to wealth or power. An individual’s success in life is sometimes viewed as the success of the entire society. On the contrary, people with both wealth and power tend to attract many people, both rich and poor. In most societies, the wealthy tend to attract more attention than the poor. The society mostly appreciates the acts of the wealthy, unlike those of the poor. Notably, the families of people who are both wealthy and powerful are known to be united as a way of upholding family cohesion. In the last story, the world that the author describes is different from the world we live in that no one can control the way humans find the woman appealing (Breton, 2009). In reality, it would be impossible for a person to take control of others feelings and perceptions. In our current world, people view things differently and, therefore, they have different views. Similarly, nobody has the right to impose on another views and perspectives Similarities between the Authors World and the Current World There are a many ways in which the worlds described by the authors are similar to the world live in. For instance, there is a similarity where the entire family respects a familys sole breadwinner (Darraj, 2006). As such, anything that happens to such a person may be a cause of panic to the entire family. Similarly, if an individual has suffered a lot due to some illness, their death is seen as a relief to the entire family. Successful people may alienate themselves from the society as a way of maintaining their status quo. It is evident in our current generation that most of the powerful and wealthy people are usually unhappy. This could be as the results of fears that they may be having or some illegal businesses they conduct and they fear that their actions may be brought to light. Also, many are times that people begin to rethink of the mistakes that they have done to others when they get the news that they might die soon. It is at this point where a majority of people try to begin making up for the things they did wrong. In the same way, such people start getting closer to those they found unworthy to interact with. People can find a single thing appealing to them at the same time in an equal manner. This means that people can like or hate something due to its appearance. Therefore, the worlds that the writers lived hold some similarities to the world that we are living in. Authors Motivations The writers were motivated to present the world that is different from the one we experience since they had no experience of the current world. The writers were influenced by the existing technology, traditions, beliefs, and culture (Lawall, 2002). As the world developed, the factors that influenced the writers also developed. Cultures, beliefs and traditions changed with time, and so did the factors that influenced the writers. For instance, Kafka lived during the end of 19th Century and the first decade of the 20th Century. Therefore, his experiences were different from what contemporary writers are experiencing. It is possible that during his time, magic was real and hence he included some aspects of magic in his work. Since life was different from the current life, the same would be for the factors that motivated the authors. The same applies Marquez and Breton. The periods in which they lived were different and, therefore, their motivations were different. Notably, the authors lived in a time when the political, social and economic atmospheres differed from the current ones (Becker, 2012). Therefore, their experiences were entirely different from what a contemporary writer would experience. In conclusion, the authors represent different perspectives in the works of literature. This means that a reality check, if made will be relevant to show the changes that have taken place in the world of literature. Additionally, a recent author may write on the same topics and themes the authors wrote bout but their experiences and modernization will create all the difference. References Becker, H. S. (2012). Art worlds. California: University of California Press. Breton, A. (2009). Manifestoes of surrealism (Vol. 182). Michigan: University of Michigan Press. Breton, A. (2003). André Breton: Selections (Vol. 1). New York: University of California Press. Danow, D. K. (2004). The spirit of carnival: Magical realism and the grotesque. University Press of Kentucky. Darraj, S. M. (2006). Gabriel García Márquez. New York: InfoBase Publishing. Jeremy, Griffith. (2011). Human Nature. Retrieved from :< http://www.worldtransformation.com/human-nature/> Kuper, P., Kafka, F., & Hasenpusch, K. (2009). The metamorphosis. New York: Three Rivers Press. Lawall, S. N. (2002). The Norton anthology of world literature. New York: Norton and Company Publishers. Martin, G. (2012). The Cambridge introduction to Gabriel García Márquez. Puchner, M. (2012). The Norton anthology of world literature (3rd Ed.). New York: W.W. Norton and Company Publishers. Zamora, L. P., & Faris, W. B. (Eds.). (2005). Magical realism: Theory, history, community. Durham: Duke University Press. Read More