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WAR, CONTEX - Coggle Diagram
WAR
ERNEST HEMINGWAY
CONTEXT
The Great Depression
The Great Depression was one of the worst economic downturns that the industrialized world had ever experienced. Beginning with the crash of the U.S. stock market in October 1929.
The Spanish Civil War
In 1936 the conflict in Spain came to a violent head: the army, which sided with the right-wing Nationalists, overthrew the Republicans and took over the government. This act plunged Spain into civil war.
The Beginning of World War II
When World War II began in 1939, fascism formed the powerful belt of Spain, Italy, and Germany. Hemingway's time as a war correspondent in the Spanish Civil War was fresh in his mind, and he wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls to express his antifascist beliefs.
FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS
PLOT
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American Robert Jordan, takes orders from Golz.
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CHARACTERS
Robert Jordan
An American volunteer for the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War and the protagonist of the novel.
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THEMES
LOSS OF INNOCENCE: Each of the characters loses their psychological or physical innocence to the war. No definite sides of right and wrong
VALUE OF HUMAN LIFE: characters repeatedly question what can possibly justify killing another human being. Hemingway does not take a clear moral stance regarding when it is acceptable to take another person’s life.
ROMANTIC LOVE AS SALVATION: Love gives Robert Jordan new reasons to fight in the wake of the disillusionment he feels for the Republican cause. He believes in love despite the fact that other people reject its existence.
SYMBOLS
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PINES: protection, connection to nature and the land of Spain
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BIOGRAPHY
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Ambulance driver on the Italian front, medal
Foreign correspondent, 1922 Paris
1929, “A Farewell to arms”
1940, “For whom the bell tolls”
1953, Pulitzer Prize for fiction
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RAY BRADBURY
BIOGRAPHY
highly productive career, various prizes
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FARENHEIT 451
SYMBOLS
FIRE: the book takes its title from the temperature at which paper catches fire. It's a dual element, symbol of creation and destruction. The traditional expectations of fire are reversed: instead of protecting society from fire, firemen protect society with fire.
MECHANICAL HOUND: it's a distortion of nature programmed by the state. It’s designed to sniff out nonconformists and kill them. It’s a perversion of a relationship that in a normal society has positive connotations.
SALAMANDER: it’s a symbol of the firemen. For thousands of years salamanders have been associated with fire: the name means "fire within", there was the belief that salamanders were born in fire and could live in it, or that they could vomit it.
FIREMEN: instead of fighting the fire to save lives, they use it to destroy books. They symbolize the transformation of society into a dystopian one that values its ability to control and destroy.
SEASHELL RADIO: it provides citizens an escape from their lives and it symbolizes the government's invasion and control of the lives of its citizens.
PLOT
The novel set in a future society where books are banned and burned by firemen. The story follows Guy Montag, a fireman who begins to question his role and the oppressive nature of his society. He meets Clarisse, a young woman who sparks his curiosity about books and critical thinking.
Montag secretly starts collecting and reading books, a dangerous act that puts him in danger with the government. After being betrayed and reported by his wife for his book collection he decides to flee following the railroad, as suggested by a professor he befriended, and to join a group of rebels who have memorized books to preserve their knowledge in the hope to rebuilt a new society.
THEMES
the Power of Books
It’s a metaphor for the censorship of individual thought. They represent individuality, a way to escape mind control. They embody humanity, they represents a human mind and they connect humans to one another
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CHARACTERS
GRANGER: he's the leader of a group of people who memorize books. He becomes Montag's guide and explains to him how to survive.
MONTAG: he's a firemen who burns books. He begins to question his life. He steal and read books, and get passionate about them.
FABER: he loves books. He becomes a mentor to Montag, explaining him the importance of culture. He points him toward the group of book lovers Montag joins.
BEATTY: he's the captain of the firehouse. He argue that reading is dangerous to society. He senses that Montag is hiding books, but he never accuses him directly.
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CLARISSE: she's Montag's neighbor. She inspires him to question society and becomes the standard by which he sees how deeply society lacks humanity.
CONTEX
World War II
Germany's Nazi regime and the Soviet Russia did a campaign of censorship that included book burning and exerted media control to spread propaganda, control the information and eliminate opposition.
Rise of Television
The popularity of television exploded and it became a common feature in American homes. It helped reshape America to a unified national culture. The ability of television to reach a mass audience created the opportunity for businesses to persuade people to buy their products.
Nuclear War
Atomic bombs had been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the possibility of a nuclear war led to the Cold War, a political standoff between United States and Soviet Union.
McCarthyism
Senator Joseph McCarthy's did an anti-Communist campaign, and many aspects of his campaign dovetail with the novel's themes of censorship and conformity.
Dystopian Fiction
Dystopian fiction tales the negative consequences of events, technologies, and ideological shifts that are initially accepted as beneficial by characters.
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