While many suppose — and perhaps rightly so — that Holly Golightly is the protagonist of Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s, I have been intrigued with the narrator in my reading this time. I noticed that the narrator plays down his role in the novella, acting passive and journatistic and not bringing much attention to himself. [...]
Tag Archives: criticism
The Aeneid: Some General Notes
Virgil’s Aeneid recounts events after the fall of Troy (9th century BCE), and written as a secondary, or literary, epic by Virgil in 14CE. Out of the destruction of Troy came an heroic figure who would found a new state. The Aeneid is a story of return that is providentially ruled by the gods. Aeneas’ story is one of founding and rebirth that is very different from the Homeric epics, but borrows from them in important ways.
The Telemachiad
The first four books of the Odyssey are often referred to as the “Telemachiad,” or the song of Telemechus as they focus on the difficulties of a young hero coming of age in a hostile environment. When we first see Telemachus, he is inactive, still very much a boy, but by the end of book four, he has grown out of his despair, discovers that his father may indeed be alive, and has begun to stand up for himself and his familial responsibilities.
The Lessons of Hell
At his lowest point as a man and hero, Odysseus looks inward — away from the living — in order to see just how he fits into the world of the living, how he got to the position he’s in, and what he can to extricate himself from hell.
