Writing The Silence: Dimensions, Tragedy And Foreshadowing Essay, Research Paper

Many writers are distinct in their work, some better than others. A couple of these writers include Franz Kafka, Barbara Kingsolver and Hendrick Ibsen. Their works express the elements that make literature interesting.

Franz Kafka, a writer of the silence and one of dimension. But what makes Kafka better than other writers such as Barbara Kingsolver? The answer is simple: writing the silence and adding the representation of space. Kingsolver explains the details of the story unlike Kafka. His writing represents space without the word explaining it. He allows you to write the setting as a reader. It’s a difference that makes his work distinct as compared to modern writers.

An example is in the opening of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, where Gregor the main character is waking up. “When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin.” With no reason for this miraculous change, we the readers have to decide for ourselves why this man is now a bug. This written silence adds interest to the story. The use of architectural terms adds a visual dimension as well. Kingsolver lacks this in here work. If she were to tell this story, it would begin by describing the room, Gregor himself and telling every detail to why and how he is now a bug in a bed!

Another interesting writer is Henrick Ibsen. In his play “A Doll’s House” he pulls off a work of modern tragedy. To most, tragedy is a play by Shakespeare, but not so. Ibsen, in the time period of this play, wrote a true tragedy. Going against the belief and ideas of the people, he denied them of their thoughts on modern plays. The play opened and was soon being acted, as well as read, all over

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Scandinavia. Nora’s startling “declaration of independence” was a perfect reason for the play to later be barred from theaters. This play was rejected based on the premise that Nora simply left Torvald after she wasn’t happy with their marital relationship. Unheard of in those days! Therefore, Ibsen himself called the play a “Modern Tragedy.”

An important element in “good writing” is foreshadowing. An example is in the TV-Drama series Felicity. In a recent episode, Felicity the main character went to a Frat party with friends where she got wasted and woke up in a strange guys bed. Her best friend Noel, a computer technician, got called to a dorm to take care of a PC with a virus, when he opens the computer owners email to scan it, he sees a picture of Felicity, nude, with the Frat guy at the party, that had been sent to every student in the database. In the meantime, Felicity is at the doctor’s office being checked for STD’s and getting the morning after pill to make sure she didn’t get pregnant. This entire beginning foreshadowed the following break up with her boyfriend, Ben, and sappy makeup after the Frat guy admits that he didn’t have sex with her. Noel, the computer tech., then must be the one to “fix” things between Ben and Felicity and the show ends, with things being okay again.

In modern drama, most of the good writing ideas have been taken. This makes the stories even more predictable, because it’s already happened. That also is a problem with good writers and especially poets. Is there a rhyme that hasn’t been done?? These writers such as Ibsen and Kafka were the pioneers. They could do it like it had never been done before. They truly, “wrote the silence!”