"Wake in fright" first appealed to me through its title rather than its promised content. At first I found the novel very tedious to read and lacking in the action that was promised by the title but as I continued through the text I became engrossed in this violent story of animal people and animal customs set in the overpowering heat of the Australian outback. .
The language, I found was not difficult to comprehend and was simplistic and basic. I feel that if the language were any more complicated than this it would have taken the focus off the storyline, which is at times a labour to fully comprehend. Although as the storyline became more erratic I sometimes found myself lost in the speech of the text in which the main character thinks to himself which matches in some ways how erratic the character's life has become.
One of the first things I noticed about the text was that there was a very heavy, depressed tone which continued to increase throughout the text as Grant's stay in Bundanyabba continued and gradually worsened so the tone reflects Grant's helplessness and his state of mind. In the opening pages Cook presents us with people who " have withered, their skin contracting and their eyes sinking as their stock became white bones" and statements such as "little of the hope that he had abandoned". These underline the oppressive tone which continues throughout the novel.
John Grant is a character that I found I could not admire. At the start of the text I didn't really feel a response towards him but as the story continued I felt immense pity for him and even felt some of his own frustrations as a simple game of chance sets off a chain of events which slowly moves John Grant into a hideous nightmare world. He is confronted by the ugly side of the Australian outback, where human behaviour descends to animal depths. Every effort made by Grant to escape this living hell is frustrated by the cruel hand of fate, and the harsh environment eventually wears him down beyond the limits of his tolerance.
By her unjustified work, Abigail Williams left the town of Salem confused and crippled in her wake, with many left dead and few to remember the tale. ... While talking to John Procter, Abigail confessed that the sickness that Ruth and Betty had was just from a fright, "Oh posh! ... [Betty] took a fright, is all (Act one, page 21-22, Elizabeth)." ...
I open my car door and the sound of the West High School Marching Band fills my ears. The powerful music causes a smile to cross my face and this affirming group's music once again starts my day. The student body should appreciate the positive effect the marching band has on our school. The marchin...
"Quiet, your going to wake them up," my sister hisses at me as we shimmy out of the window and onto the roof. The damp night air hits me as I slide silently off the roof, and onto the log stack piled just high enough to be of use on a night like tonight. The sweet smell of freshly cu...
Mrs Jackson Gets a Fright Mr Mullet and Mr Jackson go to the pub and the children are in their beds. ... Jackson tells her family why she got a fright. ... Jackson wants to wake up Sadie for breakfast, when he sees that she didn't lie in her bed the whole night. ...
A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of Shakespeare's early "festive comedies,"" written around 1595-6. Despite the many thematic references to "dreams- and the fantastic setting of the Athenian forest, the play also contains a fair amount of commentary on Shakespeare's contemporary English world. The play's title, for instance, refers to an English holiday custom: on "Midsummer Eve,"" or the night of the summer solstice on June 23, English men and women would spend the night outdoors around bonfires, telling supernatural tales of fairies and witchcraft. The play not only ...
Chapter One The narrator assures us that the book we are about to read is true, more or less. The parts dealing with World War II are most closely associated with actual events. Twenty-three years have passed since the end of the war, and for much of that time the narrator has been trying to write ...
Arthur Miller, winner of many literary and dramatic awards, is an incredibly influential force in American drama. His plays deal with issues common to every society. He makes the audience face fault, weakness, and ignorance; subjects we would typical hide from. At the same time he emphasizes strength, human spirit, and familial love. Alice Griffin believes that Miller's plays are important internationally (xii). ...
