Norms in The Little Prince

From my personal perspective, norms are different with different people, culture or time. In The Little Prince, it starts with with Turkish astronomer' discovery of a new planet to talk about this topic. If the astronomer wears the right clothes, he could be recognized, if he does not fits the society's normalcy, he will never be successful.

Most people follow the norms because the norms are usually considered to be the majority of people's ideas. The more you fit the idea of them, the easier for you to get  involved in to the society.However, it is good to have a certain norm to rule people's behavior?  I do not really know. However, the little prince in the story is definitely not a person knowing the certain norm of human. But his child-like perspective bring us, who have been deeply related to the norms, with new ideas.

The Little Prince

The Little Prince is the most famous work of the French poet and pioneering aviator Antoine Saint Exupery. The book's main character is a little prince from a small planet in the outer space. The pilot in the book as a narrator tells the story about the little prince's journey starting from their own planet to Earth. By the little prince's child-like vision, the story reflects the emptiness, folly and loneliness of the adult world.

I knew this book, and I guessed my parents read it to me as a child fairy tale a long time ago. But at that time I had no feeling about the true idea the author tried to express through the story. After I grew up, becoming an adult, and experienced part of the adults' world, the feeling about the prince is totally different and profound.

Anyway, it is not only a tale for child, but for all the people.

Marquez's Magical Realistic Writing Style

I am going to talk about "Eva is inside her cat" and "A very old man with enormous wings" as the two examples of Marquez's magical realistic writing style.

In my opinion, "A very old man with enormous wings" is more realistic compared with the other one. It combines the homely details of the daily life of the couple Pelayo and Elisenda with the magical elements such as the old winged man or the spider woman. People's reaction and the descriptions of the two non-human are realistic. It not only helps the reader to get a vivid and bright feeling of the characters, but also express the theme well which is the coexistence of cruelty and compassion.

To "Eva is inside her cat", there are definitely more magical elements, such as the transfer into the cat, the three thousands years' desire of the orange and the pain that Eva bears from being eaten by the insects. 

The magical and realistic elements in the story are complementary, and that is one of the reason why Marquez's works are so special.

A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

A very Old man with Enormous Wings is a fictional short story by author Marquez written in 1955. Everything in the story is realistic but the old man with the wings.

That old man with wings is a magical elements in the story who appears in Pelayo and Elisenda's yard one day. and his wings and unintelligible language prompts some people to believe that he is a fallen angel.Since he is so abnormal, people start to throw stones and even use branding iron to burn his wings to make him speaks and move.

As I was reading the story, I really got involved and sympathized to the situation of the old man. There are some moments of striking cruelty and callousness throughout the story, especially the on way of how people treat the old man. However, the old man helps the impoverished couple as a return. He cures the people in the town and let the couple charge 5 cents to visit him. The couple eventually moves into a big house with the money they charge and their child is not sick any more. In the end, the old man flies away, without saying any thing, and couple is probably feeling remorseful.

It was such a true story, if I did not see the "A Tale for Children" as the subtitle.

Eva Is Inside Her Cat

 

Most women dream of achieving physical beauty. It has been a timeless quest. Yet, in this story, Nobel laureate, Gabriel García Márquez explores the burdens that such beauty may create.

The central character, Eva dreams of being ordinary. She is troubled by the lascivious glances of men and her father's sensual avarice. She gets insomnia problem and even blame on her ancestors for making her being so attractive.

Being extremely beautiful also restrains Eva's personal freedom. In Columbian traditional culture, the woman usually could not choose the person to marry to, especially to the women who were extremely pretty. Absolutely, Eva faced his problem, and she keeps thinking of the "boy", her lover , all the time.

Last but not least, Eva is a variety of the biblical Eve come again, blaming the curse of her beauty on the first woman and indicates that keeping beautiful is always an issue for all the women.

Metamorphosis By Franz Kafka

Metamorphosis is a novella by Franz Kafka published in 1915. it generally tells a stry of a travelling salesman, Gregor, who wakes up and finds himself transforme into a monstrous insect-like creature.

The story is totally a tragedy. Although Gregor was a saleman, he tried his best to support his family. He wanted to send his sister to better place for furthering violin skills and use his income to pay his father's debt. However, after his family found him become a insect, everything changed. He became a drag of the whole family, and gradually no one cares about his life.

Gregor concerned and cared his family thoughout his whole life,but his family eventually abandoned him and were so indifferent about his death. They decided to go out having a picnic, and the story stoped with endless sorrow.

The Trial and The Parable of the Doorkeeper

First of all, I have to say Kafka's work is really abstract and hard to understand.As I was watching the movie, I could not really get the idea of the story.

The Trail is one of Kafka's best-known works. Basicly, it tells a story of the main character Josef K who gets arrested after waking up in the morning. However,he does not even know what his crime is, and finally get executed by two people late at night.

As for the parable of the doorkeeper,in my opinion,it is just the forshadow of the death of Josef K.The doorkeeper does not let Josef go though the door, and tells him that there would be more and more doors with doorkeepers if Josef enters in the door now.As the doorkeeper says, it implies Josef K will never win and get rid of the trial, and in the end, he has to face the destiny of death.