Comparative 7
‘‘The opportunities or lack of opportunities available to the characters in the society or world in which they live, have a huge impact on them’’
The opportunities or lack of opportunities available to the characters in the society or world in which they live, have a huge impact on them. The amount of breaks or moments of relief in the cultural context of a novel shapes the values and attitudes of the protagonists. In my chosen texts, I will explore how chances of respite and hope or the lack of them moulds the narrative’s protagonist and how they affect them as their journeys progress. My chosen texts are the book ‘The Road’ (TR) by Cormac McCarthy, the film ‘Children of Men’ by Alfonso Cuaron and the book ‘How I Live Now’ By Meg Rosoff. The cultural context of T.R beholds a lack of opportunities which contrasts with H.I.L.N and C.O.M which have numerous opportunities in their cultural contexts. The cultural context of a text is the world in which the characters live. It encompasses the society, environment, values and attitudes of a text. T.R is based in a post-apocalyptic vision of a world at an unspecified time in the future. The setting is unnamed and described as ‘Barren, Silent, Godless’. ‘Nights dark beyond darkness and the days more gray each one than what had gone before’ gives us an indication of how desolate this society is. A lack of opportunities in this cultural context forces our protagonists, the man and boy to undertake a journey. They journey to the coast hoping for an alleviation of their perilous circumstances when they arrive. They have no other option but to journey on in the hope of reaching salvation. ‘Nobody wants to be here and nobody wants to leave.’ The man’s son is the only reason he doesn’t give up. ‘He knew only that his child was his warrant.’ All law and order is banished and ‘Road Rats’ patrol the street. A lack of food has caused survivors to convert to cannibalism. A very sceptical chance of life getting better and order
The opportunities or lack of opportunities available to the characters in the society or world in which they live, have a huge impact on them. The amount of breaks or moments of relief in the cultural context of a novel shapes the values and attitudes of the protagonists. In my chosen texts, I will explore how chances of respite and hope or the lack of them moulds the narrative’s protagonist and how they affect them as their journeys progress. My chosen texts are the book ‘The Road’ (TR) by Cormac McCarthy, the film ‘Children of Men’ by Alfonso Cuaron and the book ‘How I Live Now’ By Meg Rosoff. The cultural context of T.R beholds a lack of opportunities which contrasts with H.I.L.N and C.O.M which have numerous opportunities in their cultural contexts. The cultural context of a text is the world in which the characters live. It encompasses the society, environment, values and attitudes of a text. T.R is based in a post-apocalyptic vision of a world at an unspecified time in the future. The setting is unnamed and described as ‘Barren, Silent, Godless’. ‘Nights dark beyond darkness and the days more gray each one than what had gone before’ gives us an indication of how desolate this society is. A lack of opportunities in this cultural context forces our protagonists, the man and boy to undertake a journey. They journey to the coast hoping for an alleviation of their perilous circumstances when they arrive. They have no other option but to journey on in the hope of reaching salvation. ‘Nobody wants to be here and nobody wants to leave.’ The man’s son is the only reason he doesn’t give up. ‘He knew only that his child was his warrant.’ All law and order is banished and ‘Road Rats’ patrol the street. A lack of food has caused survivors to convert to cannibalism. A very sceptical chance of life getting better and order