Meek AP Lit

The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay  has been described as a swash-buckling tale that conveys cultural atmosphere and popular media, often reviewed using a plethora of colorful adjectives to describe it's intangible idealism. These adjectives include exuberant, compelling, whimsical, idealistic, eloquent, and dynamic, and are meant to convey Chabon's storytelling ability in the setting  of persistent creativity in the harsh reality of American life in WWII.  It is critically acclaimed and unique in literature, because the novel builds an intangible cultural atmosphere into a surface-level story of young Jewish comics in the Gilded Age. It pulls much of the influence from qualities generally associated with comic books, such as the wildly popular jewish hero in Superman . The book is brilliant in it's composition because it employs characteristics that are distinctly reminiscent of comic books. Chabon intentionally filters the tone of his writing through a naive, ideal...

After completing Penelopiad , it is clear that Atwood's goal was to explain the plot hole of the twelve deaths of the maids in The Odyssey . However, in some ways, it raises even more questions. Towards the end of her book—or shall we call it an essay—Atwood plays around with the format and perspective. For the most part her writing is relatively consistent, switching from Penelope's first person perspective as events unfold in the afterlife and her version of events as they happened during her lifetime. Then, it begins to introduce much more unique and modernized concepts, such as in the form of a courtroom transcript. In these scenes, Odysseus is on trial in a modern-day court for the wrongful murder of the twelve faithful maids. This jarring effect strengthens Atwood's arguments about the injustice of the maids' suffering during their tenure at the palace by using the court system as a lens through which we can view the ancient events. Not only does this format...

Penelopiad , by Margaret Atwood The essay  Penelopiad is Margaret Atwood's rendition of the historic Greek epic The Odyssey , and she retells the piece of mythology in an attempt to fulfill her own personal questions about the plot. There was little explanation or reasoning for many of the storylines in The Odyssey , which inspires Atwood to connect and build the epic to be structurally sound. It is interesting to analyze this retelling because of the fact that Margaret Atwood is already an established author, and she carries a recognizable persona in her publications. There are common messages that appear in her writing, which often revolves around women's rights. Therefore, her decision to write from the point of view of Penelope is not entirely surprising, as she is giving a voice to a female character in a time period that did not acknowledge or discuss the rights of many groups of people. Yet this also creates confusion for the inspiration behind Penelopiad , as the...