Assignment: Please respond to the following questions. Feel free to check back to see classmate ideas and to further comment.
What connections can you make between the novels Candide, Thousand Cranes, and Chronicle of a Death Foretold?
Compare and constrast the writing styles of Voltaire, Marquez, and Kawabata. Feel free to reference past discussions we've had about author organization, voice, sentence fluency, ideas, and conventions.
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One connection that I had made was that most of the women in these books are very malicious and vindictive. I don't think that the authors in any of these three books write alike. They all have very distinct styles of writing. Voltaire describes where they are, while Kawabata decribes people more, and Marquez describes situations. None of the authors have a style of writing that resembles each other. They all use amazing imagery. I am able to picture the situations and scenes when I read their books. Other than that, there aren't that many things that are similar in their style of writing.
ReplyDeleteBetween all three novels, women/females play a large role in each one. I disagree with MaeAnna that the women were malicious though. I thought that the men just used women as an excuse for their actions. In Candide, he's all "yeah! shes beautiful im gonna marry her.. blahblah but then when he does its all. shes ugly all my life wasted.. blahblah". In Thousand Cranes, the female influence was because kikuji was being suppressed by his past. Although the way that Chikako did it was wrong, she was looking out for his future. In Chronicle, needless to say because of Angela being "unpure" (either due to her "lover" or not) her brothers went and killed someone for it. the brothers showed more than once that they didnt want to do it but because of their image they had to hold, their killing was correct. Like in a way i can see the women being not very nice people but in return the situations they were faced with were not so easy to deal with and nice either.
ReplyDeleteAll three novels share some similarities. One similarity that characters shared among the novels was that they had trouble staying true to their own personal beliefs or wants in various situations.
ReplyDeleteIn Candide's case, whenever something terrible happened he denounced his Panglossian ideals. Then when circumstances got better, he decided that he believed in the philosophy again. In the end, Candide shows that he really didn't have as strong beliefs as he thought he did.
For Thousand Cranes, it was apparent that Kikuji wanted to live his own life and to not follow in his father's footsteps. However he could never gather the courage to declare his independence from Chikako and the other women related to his father. Things would have turned out much differently if Kikuji had followed his own wants in the first place, and not allowed Chikako to obtain such a firm grasp on his life.
As for Chronicles of a Death Foretold we see this characteristic in the Vicario brothers. They didn't want to kill Santiago, but they had an obligation out of honor to commit the act in order to regain Angela's honor. If it weren't for that they would never have killed him and gone to prison for it.
In Candide, Thousand Cranes, and Chronicles of a Death Foretold, I agree with previous answers about the influential roles of women. Another common theme of the three stories was the role of forces greater than the characters. I don't remember Candide very well, but it seemed the whole world was out to dissuade him from his Panglossian view. In Thousand Cranes, Kikuji's past, which could not be avoided, even when he tried, played a role in how his life played out, and in Chronicles of a Death Foretold, it seemed fate had chosen Santiago to be killed, and no matter who tried, it happened.
ReplyDeleteI think the writing styles of Marquez and Kawabata are the most similar in the area of the amount of detail included. Voltaire wrote rather abruptly, but I don't know if I remember correctly.
In all three of the novels all of the writers manage to use their own distinct style of writing. In Voltaire's writing you can clearly tell that he is trying to get straight to the point and trying not to give too much description. In Kawabata's and Marquez's writing they give description but at times it can slow reading down and make the story seem to wonder off. A connection that I can make is that each character is put it a certain situation but they all deal with it in a way that corresponds to their society and culture.
ReplyDeleteIn Candide, Thousand Cranes, and Chronicles of a Death Foretold, the connection I think is that they all deal with a lot of drama and the way society viewed each of the characters based on their culture. In all three novels, the characters were tempted to go against their traditions and beliefs which in the end they all had to deal with the consequences.
ReplyDeleteI feel like Kawabata and Marquez were both very similar due to the fact that both of them basically were writing about their society and the beliefs that resides in society. Kawabata and Marquez used a lot of details so that the readers can get into their mind and understand why they did what they did instead of things happening randomly. Voltaire's writing in my opinion doesn't stay in your head. The three authors write about events that had occurred in at some point in life.
A connection I made between the three novels was that each of the main characters seemed to be victims, and they/everyone else made them out to be that way. It seemed as though Candide was trying to change the outcome of his life, or surroundings, but he was a victim to his love for whatshername. In thousand cranes, and chronicles Kawabata was always playing the role of a victim. He used his fathers life as an excuse to screw up his own and do whatever he wanted. Angela victimized herself as well, in that she let her society push her around and she was miserable for the rest of her life after bayardo left her. All of the characters were incredibly annoying in that they played the role of the victim, and let their surroundings and societal influences dictate their life. Society being a major influence on the characters lives was also a common theme through out all three books.
ReplyDeleteAs for writing styles, I really don't see any similarities. Voltaire writes in a very annoying abrupt way, which doesn't really keep my attention, or draw me in. There was nothing that i could relate to in his Candide, and I couldn't connect with the characters. Kawabata focused a lot on scenery and a lot less on conversation, there for the things that were said were a lot more significant then some of the conversation in the other books. Lastly, Marquez really seemed to focus on telling a story, I could tell he was writing in a way that was based more on oral tradition.
I agree strongly with Jessica C in saying that all three of the books seem to deal heavily with the personal beliefs of the characters involved. I also feel that they all tried to show the societal pressures that are often placed upon people in whatever culture the book was from. Essentially,in each book characters were asked to/compelled to act in ways which went along with their culture, but were often conflicting with their personal beliefs.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the writing styles of the three different authors, I agree with the idea that Savahna brought up and that we discussed in class. Voltaire tried to keep the story moving very quickly, and that he left out a surprising amount of detail, leaving a lot left to the imagination. Kawabata used very vivid imagery regarding particular symbolic items, and things that would make the book seem beautiful. Marquez seemed to focus solely on writing the book so that we could get a clear understanding of the situation that was laid out before us.
In all three of these books, I think the biggest similarity was the pressure of each society on the story's main character to be something that these characters were not. Each character was pressured to do things, or think a certain way, and never were given the chance to create their own beliefs. In Candide, Candide is constantly being told that "all is for the best." He never really has time, throughout his whole journey, to think about what HE believes, and he continues to lead an unfulfilling life of unhappiness, constantly wondering when he will become truly happy. In Thousand Cranes, Kukuji was always under the watchful eye of his traditional society, which included the townspeople, Kikuji, Mrs. Ota, even his father. He broke down under the stress of believing he had to do everything right, and take care of everyone, like he did with Mrs. Ota and the Inamura girl. Chronicle of a Death Foretold is a great example of how in their society, things are just done, no one talks about them, and people accept that. When the Vicario brothers are making death threats towards Santiago openly in front of the whole town, no one says a word to anyone about it, and the ones who do are portrayed to the reader as someone who is breaking a law.
ReplyDeleteAll three novels also focused on fate, and how each of the main characters, Candide, Kikuji and Santiago were not led to their fate, but were handed it, and then told to go where they thought they should go with it.
The one thing I found similar in all the authors' writing styles was that they all narrated the stories from an outside point of view (their own narrative,) and not 1st person from the protagonist's point of view.
A similarity in all three books that i caught was that the men seem to be controlled more than the women. Candide was controlled more by everyone and thier decisions whereas Kikuji was controlled by the women and himself by letting his father's past control him. Santiago was controlled by the village without him knowing because of the fact that no one, save a select few, bothered to tell him of his fate.
ReplyDeleteI strongly agree with Savanha about the writing styles. Voltaire's writing was too sporadic for me to be drawn in so i lost interest quickly. Kawabata focused a lot on detail and had little dialogue to further the story so it took awhile to get moving. Lastly Marquez developed the story well and had a good balance of dialogue and detail.