Review of Literature- Annotated Bibliography Assignment

Review of Literature- Annotated Bibliography - Assignment Example R. R. Tolkien’s writing style and inspiration. In a quest to examine the kinds of scholarly works inspired by Tolkien’s novels especially ‘The Hobbit’, I have selected five articles that used different perspectives in the treatment of the book and its contents. I do not intend to review Tolkien’s work but I want to present through this article the vast ways scholar’s like us have examined the book. The five articles were evaluated for the theories that they presented the manner in which these theories were revealed, and my own experience in reading the texts. The purpose for the analysis is to better appreciate the different perspectives that one can use to understand a work and the complexities in the themes and messages that can be derived from any form of literature which includes even fantasy novels and children’s books. Baptizing the Imagination: The Fantastic as the Subversion of Fundamentalism By Mara E. Donaldson The first artic le we will examine is one by Mara E. Donaldson. Fundamentalism can exists for many topics or ideologies like capitalism, communism, racism, and socialism, however, fundamentalists is are more recognized as fanatics of different religions – imposing that theirs is the only way to salvation while those that oppose are evil incarnate. As implied by the title, Donaldson’s take on The Hobbit juxtaposes two ideologies Openness against Fundamentalism especially with regards to religion. She presents that the fantasy world that Tolkien creates in ‘The Hobbit’ is a defiance of earlier interpretations of the book as allusions to religion. Religious fundamentalists interpreted the existence of a clear cut boundary between good and evil in the book as a reference to the existence of absolute good and absolute evil in the real world. However, Donaldson argues that instead of interpreting the book with a fundamentalists’ point of view, a reader is encouraged to b e critical and open. Though J. R. R. Tolkien is a devout roman catholic, it does not mean that his writings should be interpreted with a Christian point-of-view only. Though Tolkien himself said that many of his inspirations are from religious text, he also ascribed to the belief that mythology is the divine echo of truth and truth must be sought and not just blindly followed. The Politics of Fantasy: The Hobbit and Fascism by Peter E. Firchow To those familiar with ‘The Hobbit’ and the different races in middle earth, it is close to preposterous for someone to associate fascism to hobbits. Hobbits bear about themselves a natural, in-born, innocence that makes them highly incorruptible. Yet, the essay of Peter Firchow suggests otherwise – well, not so much as to explicitly label hobbits as fascists but to specifically point out that there are certain themes in ‘The Hobbit’ and the Lord of the Rings that endorses fascism or more appropriately fascist tendency (Firchow, p.15). Firchow’s discourse was inspired by the work of Robert Plank on the second to the last chapter of The Return of the King, wherein he (Robert Plank) contemplated on whether the Wizard Saruman and his minions should or could be seen as fascists or communists. Firchow applied this concept in analysing the actions of the characters in ‘The Hobbit’, especially the actual hobbit Bilbo Baggins. Firchow was consistent with Plank in not taking the trouble to categorically find a definition of fascism that can incorporate beings in the nature of hobbits but he (Firchow) focused more on

A River Runs Through IT Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A River Runs Through IT - Movie Review Example The film ends with Norman becoming an English teacher and dating Jessie. Paul becomes a successful journalist, but his foul dealings of drinking and gambling lead to his death. This paper is a response to the movie A river runs through it. Tom’s is the role of a stern father and a Presbyterian minister who will stop at nothing but have his children grow up in a proper manner. He sees to it that his sons have something constructive to do at all times. In the morning, they go to school, midmorning to religious classes and in the evenings to do fly-fishing. To him, all the three activities are the same things. During fishing, Norman and Paul add onto their divine attributes. They understand the importance of grace, harmony and patience as they wait to make a catch. Additionally, Tom wants his children to learn spiritual relationship between faith and nature. I think my relationship with my father relates to Tom’s relationship with his family. While Tom is a stern father wh o wants his children to grow up in the right way, my father is equally stern and will do anything to make sure that I grow up in the right way. He wants me to go to church every time there is an opportunity, as he believes, like Tom, that religion moulds people to be good people in the future. Although we do not go fly-fishing in my place, we are usually encouraged to go skating and playing basketball. I believe my dad when he tells us to use our time constructively since it keeps us off doing bad things. Additionally, remaining active makes us discover our talents. Just like Norman, I am the eldest in our family and my father makes sure that I take care of my younger brothers and sisters when we are out. Although my younger siblings are now grown up and responsible for their own actions, I am always held accountable, like Norman, to their actions. However, I like it since it makes me grow responsible with time. It is unfortunate that Paul chose to drop all the religious attributes that he had learned and chose to drink and gamble instead. It seems that there were no values at all learnt by Paul or rather he erodes them through his way of life. The movie depicts that abundant life is a matter of the little choices we make every day that give us true happiness. Although Paul enjoyed in his drinking sprees with his friends, this was not true happiness and he was headed for doom. Paul represents the people in the family who refuse to follow family values and end up less productive and useful in life. My cousin, just like Paul, became hooked on online video gaming when he went to college. He was not able to concentrate on his studies in the first two years and in the process got poor grades. We could not understand why he changed to such a destructive behaviour despite being brought up on good family values. Although he seemed to enjoy gaming just as Paul enjoyed drinking with his friends, I do not think that he was having true happiness. Paul was just having an i llusion that he was having the best of life when he was drinking. Likewise, my cousin thought he was having fun with gaming. Luckily, my cousin realised his bad and destructive behaviour when he went to third year and started concentrating on his studies. Otherwise, he would have ended up destroyed just like Paul. In conclusion, the movie A river runs through it leaves a long lasting impression in the mind of the viewers. The movie is indeed one of the best movies that teach the importance of good values in life. The film is a good