...The Ingenuity of Narrative in Memento Abstract: Narration, simply put, is telling stories. However, the way movies narrate tales is not like that of novels developing plot in words or drama unfolding in stage space, but has its own special method for narrative - moving images. In Memento, through its unique nonlinear narrative structure and intense structure contradiction, the motifs of memory, self-deception and revenge and the philosophical exploration of existential angst are demonstrated in an elaborate and subtle way. Key Words: Memento narrative structure narrative contradiction Memento recounts the story of Leonard Shelby, a man with anterograde amnesia, who distorts his own memory to deny the harsh reality in a both conscious and unconscious way. Living in a world full of lies fabricated by himself, the ill-fated protagonist makes the very principle of his life consist in the pursuit and systematic exercise of the revenge for his wife’s death which is actually caused by himself. In Memento, the splendid way of narration gives audience not only indelible psychological experience, but also a test on their ratiocination. Below is the analysis of narrative advantages in Memento from aspects of narrative structure and narrative impetus, compared with novels and dramas. I．Narrative Structure Narrative structure is the structural framework that underlies the order and manner in which a narrative is presented to a reader, listener, or viewer. Compared...
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...The Narrative of Illegality The discourse of “illegality” is one that has become deeply ingrained and unquestioned in our society. Although it is rooted in contradiction, the narrative surrounding “illegality” establishes these “illegal” immigrants as a threat to the creed, identity, and national security of the United States. Like other elements of the “common sense” instilled in us by neoliberal ideologies, “illegality” was constructed so capitalism and the global apartheid could continue to thrive. It is an effective measure that produces a vulnerable labor force and a never-ending supply of detainees. It does not stem from any natural principles and at its core “illegality” is arbitrary and paradoxical. “Illegality,” therefore, is nothing...
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...POSTMODERN APPROACHES Solution-Focused and Narrative Therapies Key Terms: Alternative story- a story that develops in counseling in contradiction to the dominant story that is embedded in a problem. Co-authoring- a co-joint process where client and counselor share responsibility for developing alternative stories. Deconstruction- exploring meaning by taking apart/unpacking the taken-for-granted categories and assumptions underlying social practices that are guised as truths. Dominant story- understanding a situation that is accepted within a culture that appears to represent reality. Dominant stories are developed through conversations in social and cultural contexts and these stories shape how people construct and constitute what people see, feel, and do. Exception questions- SF counselors inquire about times when the problem(s) have not been problematic. Shows that problems are not ever existing and always overpowering. Externalizing conversation- a way of speaking about a problem as if it is a distant entity, separate of the person. Based on the premise that people who view themselves as the problem limit themselves to the extent they cannot effectively deal with the problem. Formula first session task- observation homework given that must be completed between first and second session. They must observe what is happening in their lives that they want to continue to happening. Mapping-the-influence questions- a series of questions asked about a problem...
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...As time went on, she realized that several key elements make a successful open marriage, and though those factors involved the community of people she surrounded herself with, it was mostly about how she chose to act and react, and how to be in her relationship and her own skin. Having come this far, she more than realized that it was never going to be easy. -Jenny Block, Open: Love, Sex, and Life in an Open Marriage Author Jenny Block (2008) provides a personal narrative about her and her husband’s road to negotiating their current state as a nonmonogamous couple within her book Open: Love, Sex, and Life in an Open Marriage. In the brief passage provided, dialectical contradictions can be seen through excerpts such as ‘how to be in her relationship...
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... 2 I want you to know as a new Christian I have learned more in Theology, Apologetics and Bible than the 30 years of going to my catalytic church and listening to the word of God. I feel the word of God coming in to my hart and I have no problem being vigilant about sinning. The Biblical world view I am going to talk to you about is Gods image from two sides. Frist I will share with you the view of the Old Testament and second I will share the view of the New Testament. The Theological world view on the Old Testament and the New Testament on Gods image there is no big contradictions if you understand how to read the narratives and understand the Bible. I will say that in the Old Testament narratives do talk more about man made from God image from flesh narratives then flesh and bone narratives except one passage. The characteristics of prophets in the Bible we will discover similar messages on the creation of man in Gods image. “After God had made all other creatures, he created man, male and female, with reasonable and immortal souls, endued with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, after his own image, having the law of God written in their hearts, and power to fulfill it; and yet under a possibility of...
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...arguments usually question or celebrate the transgressive potentials of the book (Giroux; Mendieta), or address issues of masculinity brought into the fore by their literary and cinematic representations emergent in the same decade (Tuss; Friday). However, few, if any, have addressed the literary aspirations of the text and its author. Although none of the approaches to the thematic concerns of Fight Club are unjustified, in the argument that follows I will suggest that conclusions drawn and critical judgments passed have been hasty, and not only failed to take into account the formal aspects of story-telling, but that the narrative features of Palahniuk’s text have largely went unexplored, and constitute a blind spot of the reception. Critics condemning or acclaiming the novel, and, indeed, many a cultic reader of Palahniuk ignored Fight Club as a literary narrative, and have inadvertently been repeating the catchphrases of the text, either reinforcing or trying to undermine what they have understood as their meaning. I see the significance of Palahniuk’s fiction and the literary event of Fight Club’s publication in somewhat different terms. Palahniuk’s emphasis and continued insistence on minimalism suggest that his fiction is properly understood as belonging to a literary tradition whose evaluation remains troubled and, for a large part, unsettled. Nevertheless,...
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...various rhetorical strategies—metaphor, imagery, and narrative structure—to engage readers and invite them to participate in his introspective exploration. This essay argues that Schrand’s use of the Bone Road as a metaphor, his vivid descriptive language, and his non-linear narrative techniques effectively draw readers into his exploration of family history and personal identity, reflecting broader themes of searching for meaning in a...
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...do readers respond to the metafictional work? Can this response change when a different media is being used? These questions must be evaluated first in order for the metafictional to be comprehended in the second reaction. After the reader has had time to pose certain questions it will help them understand the work of leiterature. Using reader’s reactions to Beckett’s “A Text for Nothing, Number 4,” “The Magic Poker” by Robert Coover and Virginia Woolf’s Orlando , we can evaluate the responses to these works and acceptance of the evident fictional world. In the first round of reading Samuel Beckett’s “A Text for Nothing, Number 4,” the reader might start off with more questions than answers. In the beginning the narrator asks himself personal questions of preference that we often find ourselves asking. “Where would I go, if I could go, who would I be, If I could be..” are questions the reader relates to having asked themselves the same thing at some point in life. These questions give a base for the reader to feel that they will connect and...
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...education that is free of any oppressive qualities, is an education that will foster personal inquiry, group argumentation, and ultimately, social revolution. This would be the ideal model of education for all educational institutions; however, there is a threat looming within our classrooms and it is affecting the way students and teachers approach educational enlightenment. Paulo Freire’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” argues about how our current educational system is denying teachers and students the opportunity to develop a dialogue, thus allowing their critical ability to develop. He dubbed this concept “The Banking Concept of Education”: Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor. Instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiques and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat. This is the "banking" concept of education, in which the scope of action allowed to the students extends only as far as receiving, filing, and storing the deposits (para. 5). The banking concept of education is affecting current educational systems by guiding both educational patrons and their students in a direction of oppression and conformity. This is being done by taking away any potential interactions between teachers and students, turning a bidirectional conversation into a one directional narrative where the teacher is raised to a position of knowledge, while the student is lowered...
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...“A reality check for America” Mary C. Terrell was a powerful pioneer in civil rights and a powerful leader who faced many struggles of prejudices because she was a colored woman. Because she had lived a difficult life in the capital of the US, she decided it was time the world knew of her the many trajectories she continued to face along with many other African Americans. On October 10, 1906, Terrell gave a speech titled, “ What it Mean to be Colored in the Capitol of the U.S.,” to the members of the United Woman’s club in Washington, D.C. This speech was very influential and significant speech that served as a voice for other African Americans who had no voice. This speech also was a time for Terrell to explain the unnecessary hassles she and other blacks had to take on when trying to live as a citizen in the capital. Through this speech we can see an abundance of prejudice that taint the lives of African Americans in the U.S.. In the following paragraphs, I will establish the notability of this speech, analyze the historical context that sparked the discourse into existence and explore other rhetorical features that will establish my analysis’s significance. Mary Church Terrell embodies feminine style rhetoric in her argument to address the social, economic and political struggles placed against African Americans with the undertone of constitutive rhetoric, topical structure, pathos and logos to validate her point. History: Mary Church Terrell...
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...tell you. When looking at Mein Kampf (My Struggle) by Art Spiegleman, Resurrection by Frederick Douglas and What Sacagawea Means to Me by Sherman Alexie, it is very easy to miss the point that each author is trying to get across. Although each of these stories was written for a different audience the stories being told are very similar in nature. One purpose of each story is to tell a story, which is why both authors used narration in which to do so. Narratives are usually very sequential in nature. Using narration when telling a story helps to draw people...
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...example for this paper, Chinese indentured laborers or former indentured laborers and African slaves or former slaves married in 19th century Cuba both romantically and strategically. I argue that there needs to be further research around Afro-Chinese marriages in Cuba and a recentering on women. I had originally planned to center this paper around African slave women who married Chinese men in Cuba in the 19th century but was not able to because of the lack of literature available. However, I aim to focus on a reading against the grain for indications of women’s agency and voice in this set of literature. My personal stakes in this topic are two-fold. First, my mother’s side of my family lived in Cuba for a few decades from the late 1920s to 1960 as a part of an entrepreneurial endeavor and as refuge from persecution from the Communist Party of China. Because of my personal tie to Chinese in Cuba, I seek to uncover untold stories and hidden transcripts. Second, this paper is a part of a larger project on Chinese in Cuba in the 20th century, specifically looking at race and the transition to socialism. My specific interventions in this topic is a rereading of the secondary sources written about Afro-Chinese marriages for resistance and erasures with a feminist and diaspora lens. For this paper, I will not be using the term “Coolie” or “Coolieism” as a form of resistance to the violence...
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...Grace Elizabeth Hale’s Making Whiteness demonstrates how the culture of segregation came to be. In the second half of her book, Hale argues the contradictions embedded in the culture of segregation that Southern whites have created and the way lynching had modernized and perfected violence which would then be used as a means for consumer culture. This paper will begin with a short summary of Hale’s arguments; next it will touch upon the importance of violent display on the phenomenon of public lynching. Altogether it will become evident that participation and consumer culture of lynching was used as a method for Southern whites to preserve their superior status. After emancipation African Americans were now free to purchase and consume goods in the same space as whites. This...
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...Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”. For Bob Dylan” presents a compelling narrative exploring the nuances of teenage rebellion, vulnerability, and the predatory behavior exhibited or displayed by specific individuals. The main character, Connie, is portrayed as a typical teenager, yearning for independence and lost in her daydreams. However, her innocence stands clearly opposed by the menacing presence of Arnold Friend, who symbolizes the veiled dangers of the world beyond. By highlighting the contradictions in Connie’s thoughts, her longing for freedom, and her unease regarding the unknown, Oates underscores the vulnerability of youth and the predatory nature of those who prey upon it. The story’s setting is pivotal...
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...Compare and Contrast American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis and The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro focussing on the topic of the unreliable narrator The unreliable narrator is a technique used by authors where a scenario is created in which the reader cannot trust the narration of the book usually done in the first person. In American psycho, Ellis explores the sinister nature of Wall Street yuppie culture by examining the sanity of the narrating protagonist Patrick Bateman using the unreliable narrator. Ishiguro also uses this, exploring ideas of regret and also self-justification in the character of Mr Stevens in The Remains of the Day. Unlike Ellis who examines Bateman during his early working years, in his mid-twenties and presenting a snapshot of his life, Ishiguro uses his take on the unreliable narrator to look at Stevens towards the end of his life using a series of flashbacks narrated unreliably, by Stevens. Both novels are comparable in the sense they examine the topic of failure using unreliable narrators that will do anything to escape the idea that they are failures. A popular debate regarding American Psycho is whether Patrick Bateman is a murderer or not, certainly Bateman describes in detail of murders he commits and why he commits them, however, certain factors bring Bateman’s reliability of narration into question. Bruno Zerweck argues that due to the lack of ‘detective framework’ and ‘unintentional self-incrimination’ the narration of the novel is...
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