Sons and Lovers Narrative Essays

Sons and Lovers Narrative Essays Sons and Lovers Narrative Paper Sons and Lovers Narrative Paper The appeal of the novel hinges primarily on its narrative structure, Discuss the extent to which you agree with this statement. Narrative structure of a novel is primarily responsible for appeal of novel for reader. Essentially narrative structure encompasses the themes and the plot of the story. Prose writers feel strongly about issues that they want to sensitizes the reader to. However appeal of a novel requires use of narrative techniques not only structure such as style, setting and characterization. In D. H Lawrence novel, Sons and Lovers, his semi auto- biographic work, he bring across to readers his negative feeling towards his father and his feeling towards his over bearing mother. Lawrence narrative is designed for readers to interpret characters and events and draw own conclusions based on how he presents them. Lawrence characters plays a major role in bringing across his different perspective of themes to readers. As said by Haircut (2012), the main force of D. H. Lawrence novels is always located in characters. Lawrence uses narrative structure to portray to readers effectively background and circumstances which Paul grew up in whilst at same time alluding to themes of novel. Lawrence decides to break up the novel into two parts in order for the reader to understand the environment in which Paul grows up in. The first part effectively brings across to us a dysfunctional family with an array of problems including an overbearing mother, a deadbeat father and also creation of strong matriarchal influence on the children. The second part wows us Paul as a young adult and the challenges he faces. The main issue presents to reader the detrimental effect of Gertrude smothering ways, have in preventing Paul from forming long lasting relationships with Marina and Clara. Lawrence narrative structure pivots characterization of characters as an essential part of readers interpretation of the themes in the novel. Two themes presented to readers in the novel are masculinity and social class structure. In my interpretation of the novel Lawrence allows to juxtapose different prospects of what a man is. Mrs.. Morel idea of what a man is or rather her viewpoint of masculinity stems from her father of being able to provide for family, intellectual and well mannered. Mr.. Morel on the other hand provides us with a different viewpoint of masculinity of simplicity, great physical presence, natural warmth and lack of education. Additionally the disunity that arises between Gertrude and Walter must be seen as a union doomed to fail because of differences in social class. The incompatibility and separation of their viewpoint of Gertrude and Walter is best shown by this nine said by Gertrude, The estrangement between them caused him knowingly or unknowingly grossly to offend her where he would have not have done. Lawrence effectively displays a viewpoint that people of different classes are unable to coexist. Lawrence narrative technique may not be explicit In saying openly his feeling as plot unfolds however his style is effective in creating appeal and intrigue for the reader. The plot unfold with great detail placed also on explanation of setting particularly the Burrows. The use of setting by Lawrence to allow readers to be able to clearly identify environment and what social class of society, the people of Burrows represent. Lawrence style in terms of language of characters in the play emphasize difference in society with elite speaking with fluency and using proper English whilst most denizens of mining town speaking rough and dialectal variation. Novels require prose writes to use more than narrative structure to create appeal for readers. Writers must use narrative techniques to express and bring across their viewpoint, their narrative structure.

Compare Nationalism in China and Japan

Compare Nationalism in China and Japan The period between 1750 and 1914 was pivotal in world history, and particularly in East Asia. China had long been the only superpower in the region, secure in the knowledge that it was the Middle Kingdom around which the rest of the world pivoted. Japan, cushioned by stormy seas, held itself apart from its Asian neighbors much of the time  and had developed a unique and inward-looking culture. Beginning in the 18th century, however, both Qing China and Tokugawa Japan faced a new threat: imperial expansion by the European powers and later the United States. Both countries responded with growing nationalism, but their versions of nationalism had different focuses and outcomes. Japans nationalism was aggressive and expansionist, allowing Japan itself to become one of the imperial powers in an astonishingly short amount of time. Chinas nationalism, in contrast, was reactive and disorganized, leaving the country in chaos and at the mercy of foreign powers until 1949. Chinese Nationalism In the 1700s, foreign traders from Portugal, Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, and other countries sought to trade with China, which was the source of fabulous luxury products like silk, porcelain, and tea. China allowed them only in the port of Canton  and severely restricted their movements there. The foreign powers wanted access to Chinas other ports and to its interior. The First and Second Opium Wars (1839-42 and 1856-60) between China and Britain ended in humiliating defeat for China, which had to agree to give foreign traders, diplomats, soldiers, and missionaries access rights. As a result, China fell under economic imperialism, with different western powers carving out spheres of influence in Chinese territory along the coast. It was a shocking reversal for the Middle Kingdom. The people of China blamed their rulers, the Qing emperors, for this humiliation, and called for the expulsion of all foreigners - including the Qing, who were not Chinese but ethnic Manchus from Manchuria. This groundswell of nationalist and anti-foreigner feeling led to the Taiping Rebellion (1850-64). The charismatic leader of the Taiping Rebellion, Hong Xiuquan, called for the ouster of the Qing Dynasty, which had proved itself incapable of defending China and getting rid of the opium trade. Although the Taiping Rebellion did not succeed, it did severely weaken the Qing government. The nationalist feeling continued to grow in China after the Taiping Rebellion was put down. Foreign Christian missionaries fanned out in the countryside, converting some Chinese to Catholicism or Protestantism, and threatening traditional Buddhist and Confucian beliefs. The Qing government raised taxes on ordinary people to fund half-hearted military modernization, and pay war indemnities to the western powers after the Opium Wars. In 1894-95, the people of China suffered another shocking blow to their sense of national pride. Japan, which had at times been a tributary state of Chinas in the past, defeated the Middle Kingdom in the First Sino-Japanese War  and took control of Korea. Now China was being humiliated not only by the Europeans and Americans  but also by one of their nearest neighbors, traditionally a subordinate power. Japan also imposed war indemnities  and occupied the Qing emperors homeland of Manchuria. As a result, the people of China rose up in anti-foreigner fury once more in 1899-1900. The Boxer Rebellion began as equally anti-European and anti-Qing, but soon the people and the Chinese government joined forces to oppose the imperial powers. An eight-nation coalition of the British, French, Germans, Austrians, Russians, Americans, Italians, and Japanese defeated both the Boxer Rebels and the Qing Army, driving Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu out of Beijing. Although they clung to power for another decade, this was really the end of the Qing Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty fell in 1911, the Last Emperor Puyi abdicated the throne, and a Nationalist government under Sun Yat-sen took over. However, that government did not last long, and China slipped into a decades-long civil war between the nationalists and the communists that only ended in 1949 when Mao Zedong and the Communist Party prevailed. Japanese Nationalism For 250 years, Japan existed in quiet and peace under the Tokugawa Shoguns (1603-1853). The famed samurai warriors were reduced to working as bureaucrats and writing wistful poetry  because there were no wars to fight. The only foreigners allowed in Japan were a handful of Chinese and Dutch traders, who were confined to an island in Nagasaki Bay. In 1853, however, this peace was shattered when a squadron of American steam-powered warships under Commodore Matthew Perry showed up in Edo Bay (now Tokyo Bay) and demanded the right to refuel in Japan. Just like China, Japan had to allow foreigners in, sign unequal treaties with them, and allow them extraterritorial rights on Japanese soil. Also like China, this development sparked anti-foreign and nationalist feelings in the Japanese people and caused the government to fall. However, unlike China, the leaders of Japan took this opportunity to thoroughly reform their country. They quickly turned it from an imperial victim to an aggressive imperial power in its own right. With Chinas recent Opium War humiliation as a warning, the Japanese started with a complete overhaul of their government and social system. Paradoxically, this modernization drive centered around the Meiji Emperor, from an imperial family that had ruled the country for 2,500 years. For centuries, however, the emperors had been figureheads, while the shoguns wielded actual power. In 1868, the Tokugawa Shogunate was abolished and the emperor took the reins of government in the Meiji Restoration. Japans new constitution also did away with the feudal social classes, made all of the samurai and daimyo into commoners, established a modern conscript military, required basic elementary education for all boys and girls, and encouraged the development of heavy industry. The new government convinced the people of Japan to accept these sudden and radical changes by appealing to their sense of nationalism; Japan refused to bow to the Europeans, they would prove that Japan was a great, modern power, and Japan would rise to be the Big Brother of all of the colonized and down-trodden peoples of Asia. In the space of a single generation, Japan became a major industrial power with a well-disciplined modern army and navy. This new Japan shocked the world in 1895 when it defeated China in the First Sino-Japanese War. That was nothing, however, compared to the complete panic that erupted in Europe when Japan beat Russia (a European power!) in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05. Naturally, these amazing David-and-Goliath victories fueled further nationalism, leading some of the people of Japan to believe that they were inherently superior to other nations. While nationalism helped to fuel Japans incredibly quick development into a major industrialized nation and an imperial power  and helped it fend off the western powers, it certainly had a dark side as well. For some Japanese intellectuals and military leaders, nationalism developed into fascism, similar to what was happening in the newly-unified European powers of Germany and Italy. This hateful and genocidal ultra-nationalism led Japan down the road to military overreach, war crimes, and eventual defeat in World War II.