(855) 4-ESSAYS

Type a new keyword(s) and press Enter to search

Individuality and Community in Literature

             The role of the individual and their relationship with the community is an important thematic issue that is observed in the works of Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony and Barbara Kingsolver's Animal Dreams. The authors deal with individuals who have been dislocated from the community that eventually saves them from disintegration. Structurally, both novels are very different despite setting their protagonists on a journey of self-discovery that takes them through the American Southwest using memory flashbacks and Native American Mythology. .
             Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony uses the protagonist Tayo to tell his story, but the narrative is disturbed by analepsis memories, initially when he is still "sick;" the narrative is also disrupted by Silko's use of myth, both traditional Native American myths and contemporary interpretations of the myth form. The hummingbird myth is a continuous yet interrupted tale of a society who has been tricked into ignoring its own roots and has to make amends to the Mother Spirit before healing can begin. Nelson refers to this myth as the backbone of the story and how it acts like "trail markers" for the reader (2001 p4). The tale foreshadows Tayo's story of damnation from his Native American roots by his family and himself. It is only his journey through the ceremony of purification that he connects with his roots and therefore begins to heal himself and his community. .
             Silko allows two women, who are minor female characters, to assume the narrative. Night Swan takes up the narrative after we have been introduced to her via Josiah and the spotted cattle episode. She recounts her past through the story of her lover's death and the power of the dance. Here she gives an example of magic; perhaps there is a parallel to the Green Fly who has been introduced into the song narrative. Much later Helen-Jean takes over the narrative after Tayo has returned from his incomplete ceremony when Harley, Leroy and Helen-Jean pick him up on his way home and they all end up in a bar getting drunk.


Essays Related to Individuality and Community in Literature

1. Conformity and Fahrenheit 451

The American government censored the media and it's productions such as literature, due to their fear of communism, Bradbury expresses this in his novel. The government burns books and literature work so that individuals don't think or ask intelligent questions, this unites individuals and makes everyone intellectually equal as Beatty says 'fill people up with useless facts so they aren't harmful but also feel full'. ... Useless leisure activities are found upon students to further prevent them from socializing, gaining intelligence and individuals building strong rel...

  • Word Count: 564
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

2. Community in Ibsen-the defining element in an Individividual

One of Ibsen's most important contributions to literature or to drama is the throwing out of the kings and their courtiers. ... A role very much like the Greek gods used to play in the plays like Oedipus and that is how community becomes the defining element in an individual's life. In these plays we find community acting more or less like an umbrella, engulfing everything under it. ... What community does is that it partakes the individuality of an individual who is a part of it. ... A misfit in her community, her dissatisfaction and unhappiness rose from the passive and unsatisf...

  • Word Count: 1368
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

3. The Giver By: Lois Lowry

In many works of literature, a character has a significant influence on another character. ... In this work, the people lived in a community that was designed to be nearly flawless. ... In the community, that person was known as the "Receiver"; the one and only person in the entire community that had any memory of the past; love, war, peace, family, work etc. ... Birthdays in the community were celebrated as a community. ... Jonas now set out on the task of finding Elsewhere in an effort to discover the path of the human right of individuality. ...

  • Word Count: 902
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

4. The Quest for Identity

Rutherford (ed.), Identity: Community, Culture, Difference, London, 1990). ... But by whom, where, why, under what circumstances and for how long are these markers associated to one's individuality, still remains a matter of relativity and contingence. ... Successful men, as the narrator, are victims, in some way, of progress, because they are forced to renounce to a certain part of their individuality and conform. By refusing to change and challenging death through his silence, Bartleby fights constantly for the preservation of his individuality and identity. At a different leve...

  • Word Count: 2241
  • Approx Pages: 9
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

5. Social Deviance in American Society

To lack this freedom is to lack morality, individuality, and overall humanity. ... Known for their strict, repressive society, the Puritans barred all forms of deviation within their community, as described in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. ... In Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, the Puritan community of Boston essentially creates Hester Prynne's deviation. The Puritans view sin as a danger to the community, and Hester is ostracized for her sin and thus alienated from her community. ... Based on both the works of Thoreau and Hawthorne, social deviance and the ensui...

  • Word Count: 789
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

6. Consider the view that fascistization aimed to eliminate t

During the Fascist Regime of 1922-1943, Fascism was widely represented in Italian literature. Authors such as Ignazio Silone used literature as a tool to promote the anti-fascist movement and his first novel Fontamara, for which he is still best known, is no exception. ... Giorgio Bassani was born in 1916 into a middle-class Jewish family and so he belonged to that generation of Italian writers who emerged from the fascist era and the Second World War determined to change the course of Italian Literature. ... The invasion of Ethiopia in 1935 changed everything as far as Mussolini's att...

  • Word Count: 2562
  • Approx Pages: 10
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

7. Nella Larsons

A large volume of literature was written specifically, for this group, during this era. ... This new idea was big in many types of literature. ... However, once she does return back to the African American community, her story leads to a tragic ending. ... Because Clare wants to return to her own race on her own terms shows individuality in the face of the stereotypical tragic mulatto. ... Clare will stop at nothing to leave the life she once desired in order to re-enter the African American community. ...

  • Word Count: 949
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

8. Harlam rennaissance and writers

Literature can be often used as a primary source in understanding a time period. ... The time period was a revival of art, literature, theater and music, but it was mostly a revival of the African American spirit. ... They were demanding a new and different society where African Americans could have a place and still keep their individuality and culture. ... The community was one of "music and laughter" (Haskins, 24). ... The poem greatly reflects the self-respect African Americans had for themselves as well as for their community. ...

  • Word Count: 2855
  • Approx Pages: 11
  • Grade Level: High School

9. Italian Renaissance

The Renaissance was the revival or cultural awareness among art, law, language, literature, philosophy, science and mathematics . ... Humanists emphasized that it was every person duty to strive for excellence and individuality in everything he or she did. ... Humanism was an educational program of study and a philosophical outlook that focused on the individuals and his or her responsibilities to him or her self and to the community . ... Patrons also financed works that would increase his standings in the community and glorify him and his family. ...

  • Word Count: 946
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

Got a writing question? Ask our professional writer!
Submit My Question