Frankenstein

"The threat of the fiend-' I will be with you on your wedding-night '". (page 139)

This is a motif used in the story as a reminder of the monster's presence in Victor's mind and actions. Victor is constantly reminded of the monster's threats. He cannot escape them, and I think that this has an affect of the character of the monster. At first, he is seen as the victim. Now, he is seen as the perpetrator, and he is the one who is instigating the unjust acts upon Victor. He threatens him, makes him fearful, and is always in Victor's head. I started to feel sympathy for Victor because he could not even be happy to get married because of this phrase said to him! Throughout the entire scenes leading up to and during the wedding, this phrase is repeated in order to emphasize the effect of the monster on Victor. It is also used as foreshadowing. It foreshadows the death of Elizabeth. It is so obvious that something bad is bound to happen, so when he left her for one minute I was pretty much ready for it.

The Kite Runner:9

"For you, a thousand times over." (page 371) The literary device used here is a motif. The motif begins with Hassan, and by the end of the book Amir is using it. It is repeated constantly in the book to stress the importance of the theme of friendship. The phrase is definitely strong. It is not a light phrase used loosely among anyone. Rather, it is a way of showing the complete dedication and loyalty to a dear friend. Hassan always shared this to Amir, and it constantly reminded him of the great friendship that he had. Although they grew distant, each was always there for each other in the end. In the ending, Amir wants to share with Sohrab that, like Hassan was for him, he would do anything for him. He was a true friend, and this time Amir is going to get it right. The ending may be ambiguous regarding how Sohrab will change or how their life will be affected, but this phrase is pretty much forshadowing that something is happening. Amir finally has shown he cares to a friend. He never really told Hassan, so I think that this is almost like his final redemption of the way he had treated his friend. He is going to show that he cares and not let anything in the past reoccur.

The Kite Runner:1

"To Hassan's brown corduroy pants lying on the bricks" (page 91).
Literary term: motif
This phrase can be considered a motif because it is mentioned more then once in the story. It is seen on page 84 as well. The phrase is used as a motif for multiple reasons. The first is that it emphasizes the internal thoughts and point of view of the story. It is the thoughts of Amir, and he shares us with the constant thought on his mind. Everyone has had something on their mind and just can't shake it off. In this case, Amir cannot get the picture of what happened to Hassan out of his mind. I think that it makes the story more personal because we see how much it effects the internal being of Amir. In addition, the motif serves as a way to strengthen the theme of the effect of betrayal on a person. Amir betrayed Hassan's friendship by not standing up for him. When Amir realizes how cowardly he is, he cannot rid himself of the constant flashback. The betrayal scarred his thoughts and causes him to continually guilt himself for what he did. In the story, guilt is the most powerful effect on them after betrayal, which is seen through his constant memory of the event. It is obvious that Amir is plagued by the memory and constantly feels guilt from it.

Literary Term #6

Motif

• page 19: "There's a moral here, said Mitchell Sanders."

This is a common phrase made when finishing a war story. This is an important motif since storytelling is one of the major themes of the book. The moral of the stories is either ridiculous or funny, or it is really a life lesson or new thing they have learned as a result of a certain situation. i think that it may also be a way to make a sad story humerous. An example would be on page 20 when the moral of the story of Lavendar's death is "Stay away from drugs..they'll ruin your day every time."(page 20). Yes, this is a true statement, but it is funny because really this is not a good moral to the story. We just heard a really depressing death story and the moral deals with drugs? I didn't think his death really had much to do with his use of drugs. (In addition, this phares presents irony because to Lavendar the drugs made his day better. Just wanted to point that out!)

Okay, so the motif really supports the theme of storytelling. On page 74, it says "In a true war story, if there's a moral at all, it's like the thread that makes the cloth". This shows that the motif of a moral is important because it makes the story. It makes the story worthwhile and able to be told over and over. This is just my thoughts on why the motif is important to this book.

I bet you can guess

Literary Term #9

Motif

• page 172: "she's falling in love with this bull-fighter chap"


• page 147: "Brett's had affairs with men before"

This motif would be that Brett continually falls in and out of love with men. She says that she wants to marry almost every single one of them. Brett meets them and almost immediately says she is going to marry the man. This seems a little absurd. I just don't see how someone can want to marry someone bases soley on looks. She doesn't know anything about them but wants to marry them. She pretty much is marrying as a result of her sexual desires. From this, the motif of sex comes about. She has sexual relations with, I assume, each of the men, or at least wants to and wants to marry them not for their knowledge or character, but for their looks. This is really showing that marriage is not thought of in high regards. It is not sacred to her or any of them for that matter. This is happening today! When I think of Brett, I can't help but think of celebrities such as Britney Spears. This may sound ridiculous, but it makes some sense. Britney Spears marries people and knows nothing about them and quickly divorces them She then moves on to the next guy she finds. This has happened a number of times, and I see this as similar to Brett. Both of them marry for the wrong reasons and obviously do not respect the holiness of marriage.

Literary term....

Literary Term #8

Motif

• page 112: "So they bought a drink and then we bought a drink and then they slapped us on the back and bought another drink."

Although this is only one instance in the story, drinking is a huge reocurrance among the characters. Not only is it drinking, it is excessive drinking. They drink all the time. When they hang out, they drink. When they have meals, they drink. When they meet people, they drink. And etcetera etcetera. Drinking is bound to happen if you are with theses characters. If this is occuring, then it is bound to be a hectic time. Pretty much every single important event that happens is in the presence of drinking. This can be connected to today because drinking is associated with having a "good time". Even though this is not necessarily true, it is the perception. People think its all fun and see celebrities drinking and find it acceptable. The truth is that it isn't glamorous at all. This story really shows this to us when we see Mike on numerous occasions make a fool of himself. He says rude comments and just is obnoxious! On page 149, it is quite obvious everyone notices this as well when Brett says "Mike was awful. He's terrible when he's tight". I mean at one point she wanted to marry him. For her to say this he must be bad.