Over the summer, Honors English 10 students were required to choose two of three books for summer reading. The books up for choice included Neverwhere, by Neil Gaimen, The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah, and In The Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez.
I chose Neverwhere and The Nightingale, which were both extraordinary books. The Nightingale offered insight to a world at war, while Neverwhere took the audience to a mysterious fantasy underworld where humans could speak rat.
Although both books had an immense number of differences, they also shared similarities. One similarity that stuck out most to me was the authors use of characters to break stereotypes.
As stated previously, the Nightingale took place in France during World War Two. Hitler´s cruelty was spreading throughout Europe at the time, and Nazi's had control over many parts of the world. Vianne, a main character in the book, is required to billet a Nazi named Captain Beck. Nazi's are known internationally for the immense pain and torture that they caused, so personally, I was shocked when the author chose to characterize Beck as more of a human than a monster. He aided the survival of Vianne and her children during the war, by helping them acquire food and chopping wood for the freezing winters. He also mentions his family frequently throughout the book. These two actions make Beck seem human, and even kind. Therefore, the Nazi stereotype is broken.
Similar to The Nightingale, Neverwhere breaks the ultimate stereotype through the characterization of The Angel Islington. Let's be real-when one hears the word "angel", immediately a pure, loving, and kind image comes to their mind. So, you can imagine my shock when Angel Islington turned out to be a main villain of the novel. Throughout the book, the main characters Door and Richard go on an adventure to avenge Door's dead family. Angel Islington was supposed to be the key in achieving this goal, but I was floored when he turned out to be the mastermind behind the group who killed Door's family. When Door finds this out, Angel Islington smiles viciously, clearly happy at Door's despair. This is sadistic, and far from angel-like. Therefore, another stereotype is broken.
Both authors did an amazing job at breaking stereotypes. I personally was floored when a Nazi was kind, and an angel had the characteristics of a devil. What about you?
Kate - I love how you focused on something specific and I agree that the Angel Islington was the biggest surprise and certainly different from the stereotype! Great topic!
ReplyDeleteI really thought this was a cool topic to write about. I never really focused on the breaking of stereotypes in these books, but once you exposed and explained them, they couldn't have been more clear!
ReplyDeleteI found this very interesting I enjoyed reading it!
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