Assignment 2- Intertextuality

Intertextuality is basically the linking of two stories. This can be done across all genre types, time periods, story types, etc. Authors consciously or sometimes subconsciously add aspects to their story from works they have previously encountered. This can help to add depth and meaning to a character, event, or setting.

The main example of intertextuality I have encountered would have to be between Lowry’s The Giver and Huxley’s Brave New World. Obviously the two communicate back and forth with their similarities in setting. Both are presumably in the future and are “utopian” environments. It doesn’t stop there though. One of the main characters in Brave New World is Helmholtz who feels controlled and suppressed in his world of sameness and smothering necessary for a “utopia.” Published in 1932, this book was around long before The Giver so either purposefully or not, main character Jonas from The Giver has a lot in common with Helmholtz (especially after he receives the memories.) Both realize what those controlled by society are missing out on: beauty, love, happiness, feeling. But the two also come to understand the price they pay for these positive emotions. Fear, hate, selfishness, and aloneness come along with these positive emotions.

The next example of intertextuality comes from my favorite author, Sophie Kinsella. Her most famous books, the Confessions of a Shopaholic series, tie in with her stand alone novels: Remember Me?, Twenties Girl, Can You Keep a Secret?, and The Undomestic Goddess. It’s almost odd how much the main characters of these books have in common. Don’t get me wrong; these books are my absolute favorites but they seem creepily linked together. Becky from the Shopaholic series is a twenty-something year old girl facing a major problem…her mounting debt. She can’t seem to stop shopping! Another main plot in the book is her relationship with business owner Luke Brandon. In Remember Me? Emma is also a twenty-something year old girl facing a giant problem of her own; she unknowingly spilled all of her deepest darkest secrets to her boss, who just happens to be handsome and charming. Twenties Girl tells the story of Lara, struggling to keep her new business afloat. She is visited by the ghost of her great aunt Sadie who recently passed away. After being dumped by the “love of her life,” Sadie forces Lara to ask someone new out. Almost achieving partnership at her law firm, Samantha makes a huge mistake in Kinsella’s The Undomestic Goddess. Fleeing the scene, Samantha comes across a beautiful home and decides to stop and ask to make a call. The home owners assume she is their new maid and Samantha doesn’t correct them. The only problem is that Samantha doesn’t even know how to work an oven! Oh, and of course she starts up a nice relationship with the gardener. Remember Me tells the story of Lexi who suffered serious injuries in a car accident. She wakes up later in the hospital thinking it is 2004 when it’s really 2007. To her extreme surprise she learns she is married to a millionaire! Her life seems perfect until she starts to actually live it. Her husband is distant and fake and his right-hand-man even tells Lexi they were having an affair! The main connections between these novels and characters are staggering. All of these girls are in their twenties, involved in some storyline trying to find the perfect man, and are facing a challenge of some sort. The linking goes even further when you actually read these novels and find the same compulsive, giddy, and naïve personalities in every single girl.

Assignment 1- Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It's Not)

In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster identifies the five steps recognizable in almost every story involving a quest. In Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants, main character Jacob goes on a quest to find himself after a tragic accident that causes him to lose both parents.

Our quester: Jacob Jankowski

A place to go: More like a place not to go! He wants to escape his normal life and future with no parents.

A stated reason to go there: Jacob is in veterinary school and plans to join his father’s practice after graduating. When his father suddenly dies, Jacob feels lost and without a place causing him to jump on a passing circus train.

Challenges and trials: Jacob starts facing the normal hardships of a traveling circus worker: cruel bosses, no pay, little room for sleeping, and stress.

The real reason to go: Having no plan for this on the outset of his journey, Jacob meets and falls in love with his bosses’ wife, Marlena.