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British Literature since 1798, two opposing perspectives - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Gradgrind and Clarissa change because they gain a new understanding of the world around them, hoping to enact a positive change.
  - - - Both Woolf and Dickens focus on empathy to inspire change. However, Dickens focuses on societal change, while Woolf focuses on interpersonal change. Both novels have an optimistic outlook for the future, so long as their respective messages are followed.
- - - - For Kerans, Haroon, and Eva, their new start is for their own forward advancements, not caring how it impacts the world or others around them. Their transformations are selfish.
        
        contrast
        
        While Kerans, Haroon, and Eva value a positive change in themselves, Gradgring and Clarissa want to change the world or others in a positive manner. Their transformations rely on empathy for others, while Kerans, Haroon, and Eva are obsessed with a better life for themselves alone.
        
        Ballard and Kureishi are pointing out the faults in our society, that of which come from an emphasis on the self. Dickens and Woolf do this in a far more optimistic manner, calling for social change rather than emphasizing the negative. Dickens and Woolf seem to have faith and optimism in people, hoping that they will change because of what they read. However, the selfishness posed in The Drowned World and The Buddha of Suburbia shows much more pessimistic views on how much people can really change.
- - - - In both Mrs Dalloway and The Drowned World, Clarissa and Kerans view time as an enemy. Time is the bringer of reason, a force that pressures one to accept what they have lost, done, or experienced. No one can escape time, its markers will be omnipresent; in the chime of a clock or in the rise of the sun. The Drowned World ends on an image of the sun, which rises and sets each day, signaling a passage of time, despite having no clocks around. Kerans wants to escape time are unattainable. Clarissa Dalloway, on the other hand, finally accepts the time she has left, and decides to embrace it. She realizes that despite the time she has left, she must embrace life.
- - - - Haroon and Kerans value their personal dreams above those around them, not caring about the pain that the others around them may go through. Kerans destroys the attempts to rebuild the past world, valuing his own belief system that they should return to the past above anyone else's. Similarly, Haroon wants to progress upwards through society, and rarely cares who he hurts in the process. He falls in love with Eva and abandons his wife Margaret, wanting to pursue his own performative Buddhist dreams.
  - - - Both Anwar and Gradgrind misunderstand their daughters, pushing them into arranged marriages that make them miserable. However, Gradgrind grows to understand the way his views hurt his daughter, while Anwar remains staunch in his beliefs. Anwar, then, is given an unhappy end, while Gradgrind is able to better himself as a person.
  - - - Both Ballard and Kureishi seem to have a more pessimistic outlook in regards to the future of Britain. They feel that not much is being done to substantially impact the massive changes that Britain has undergone over time. Both novels focus on superficial or solely personal changes that do not address the deep core of the issue.
  - - - Both Karim and Clarissa had fundamental homosexual experiences that they cite as important moments in their life, and yet these experiences do not define them as people. Neither Karim or Clarissa is presented as a homosexual character, they are simply people who happen to have same-sex attraction. This is interesting, as I find many contemporary novels may dwell on the fact a character is homosexual in some way and turn it into a spectacle rather than focusing on the character themself as these novels do.
- - - - Both NW and. The Buddha of Suburbia tackle inauthenticity as a major theme. The characters struggle with how they are perceived by their communities, wanting to change in order to separate themselves from their past. Both Karim and Natalie practice performances to intricately detach themselves from their lower-class upbringings.
    - - performative identities