OK--so can you think of any novels without violence? Without injury or death? I'm sure you can--but I can think of many more that have some sort of violence. Even some of the short stories we have read have violence. For example, in The Chaser we know eventually there will be violence.
If any of you have read The Lord of the Flies, you would probably agree that the author thinks most humans are violent when given the chance and in the absence of rules.
What do you think about this? What books have you read that include violence? What kind of violence was it? What does it say about human nature? How did it impact the novel? Is violence in literature necessary? Why?
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I would go along with what the author from The Lord of the Flies thinks that most humans are violent when given the chance and when their is no rules. In the book called hoops that i read last year in mcelraths eng 3 their was about 5 kids who were playing basketball at a court right next to an abandoned fraternity house. They looted and stole a bunch of valuable things from inside the house knowing it was a bad idea in the first place. Its human nature that we all will make mistakes. I dont know a single perfect person in this world. But this violent act leads to these 5 guys bein kicked off the basketball team once news reaches the coach about their actions. I think that adding violence to literature is not necessary but it helps to bring out a lesson to be learned.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with that author in saying that most humans are violent when given the chance. I have read about a hundred books with violence in them one though that specifically comes in mind would be a story, i cant remember the name of the book but i really want to use this example anyways, about a girl who is in a coma but still knows what's going on because she is following her brother in spirit. She is trying to figure out what happened to her through her brother when her family goes back to the vacation home where she was found unconcious on the beach. It turns out that she had a boyfriend over the summer who had a crazy ex girlfriend. Then eventually she remembers back to that night and it turns out that the night everything happened the ex girlfriends dad, who beats her, showed up looking for her at a cabin that the they were all at and the boy tried to fight off the dad and told her, the girl in the coma, to run and she ended up falling off a cliff into the ocean. It was violence between a dad and his daughter, a boyfriend trying to protect his girlfriend from someone that hurts her, and then violence leading to the demise of an innocent girl. I think violence in literature is necessary because it can make a story or break a story and the violence was the main driving point in this story. This book says a lot about human nature because it's about domestic violence and that is a big problem in a lot of homes. It's violence between a dad and his daughter because of his own inner issues.
ReplyDeleteI think most book have violence and death in them. These two subjects that affect humans the most. Everyone is happy when someone is born and everything but most people remember death because it affects them the most. I think humans naturally are violent. They always think violent at some point. Most literature has violence which i think is a good thing because violence usually adds to the story and it increases drama and usually keeps you on the edge of your seat waiting to see what happens. I always go blank when I read these and can never think of a book that i have read that includes violence. However, this summer I did go see obsessed when it was in theaters and it definitely ended with violence and I loved it. I was on the edge of my seat and it just made the story better. the conflict could have been solved without the violence i think but then the story wouldn't be good at all.
ReplyDeleteMost books I have read have had some sort of violence in them. I think it is because, whether we admit it or not, we as humans are entertained by it. It is in books, movies, comic books, anything you can think of has had violent nature instilled into it at one time. There was a book I read in middle school, called How to Eat Fried Worms, and they basically made this kid eat worms all these different ways. Though this is not physical violence, it is emotional violence. I mean seriously, who would not be traumatized by the experience of being forced to eat things that you do not want to so many different ways, not to mention the health aspects of the whole situation. But as a human on the outside, we are entertained by the whole idea of someone being forced to do something they do not wish to do, and wait to see the outcome of the whole situation.
ReplyDeleteI have read many books that involve violence, in fact most of them. In the book Carrie by Stephen King violence played a major role. Carrie was picked on and treated horribly by all the kids at her school. Violence was used to express Carrie's emotions of anger in the story that she had built up throughout. I think that humans are attracted to violence. It is just in their nature. What would have happened to Ceasar if Brutus had never stabbed him? I believe violence is very necessary in literature.
ReplyDeleteViolence is a important part to reading. It helps the reader relate to the book. Each person has experienced violence in a way some shape or form. I remember this one quote that my mother told me and it is "As Long As There Is Man, There Is War." I always thought that it might that people believe in different things and somethings we believe in them so deeply that we are willing to fight for them. Man is not willing to compromise, and we will never know why. Harry Potter has a lot of violence, it stick out in my mind, not only physical violence but emotional. Harry is fighting his demons inside and in real life.
ReplyDeleteI think that two main themes of literary works are violence and love. When you stop and look at it, pretty much like every book, movie, etc. has something with either of those two things in them...and maybe even both! A main movie that comes to mind when I try to consider violence is Never Back Down, it's a movie about fighting--these two guys are constantly trying to beat each other and when the one eventually learns to walk away and let it go the other guy goes after his best friend to make him fight.
ReplyDeleteWell to be honest i cant think of any novels without any violence. The only reading material i have read that doesn’t have violence is children’s books, and even then somebody pushes someone and a there’s a scraped knee. This is making me see that humans are mean and violence cant ever be avoided, even sitting alone reading a book isn’t safe with all of the violence in books. but a book i can remember that includes violence is the book theif, good golly that thing was filled with death and misery. Bombs going off and what not killing tons of people, what a lovely story. But i believe violence is necessary in literature because its what draws the reader into a book and it helps readers even connect to books they read. This topic kind of saddens me, no where is it safe from violence, not even in a book.
ReplyDeleteMost books I have read involve violence. Twilight has some violence in it when Alice and Jasper and the others rip James' head off. People are interested by violence. It keeps people entertained.
ReplyDeletemost of the books i read have a form of violence. Now this violence comes in many forms Emotional, Verbal, and Pyhsical most of the books i read are verbal and emotional due to like love triangles two girls like a guy or vice versa and are willing to do anything to get them. People have an interest in the pyhsical violence where things explode and people die. the reason people enjoy it is its entertaining but also its a way of venting anger.
ReplyDeleteI think that violence plays a big part in all pieces of literature. I remember one book that violence played a huge role. I don't remember the name, but it is about this boy who has a split personality, and he and his friend love to photograh things. One day his friend goes missinmg and his other half knows why. Then his friend turns up, and he remembers that his friend thought that his dad was also his, and when he met with his dad, the man pushed his son's friend over a cliff to keep him quite. This revealed to everyone that the man was not a good person.
ReplyDeleteOver the summer, I read a series called the CHERUB series. It is about a boy who is a secret agent almost and he is in a lot of violence in every single book. The violence ranged from fist fighting to stabbing, and even to shooting people. It says that humans are very violent by nature, even if they don’t show it all the time. Even a young boy can be very violent at times. I think that violence is a key part to good literature. Without violence, the story would be plain. If there isn’t a conflict at some point in the story, then there won’t be any excitement in it, and people will stop reading after a few pages. Thats what I think about violence in literature.
ReplyDeleteI think most books involve some kinda of violence or death. I've read alot of sports books and in most of them there is always a fight sometime. In one basketball book the main character gets jumped because he is a black kid. I think books include violence and death so much because those are two things that effect human life the most. Also we are entertained by violence, it is in everything we read or watch. Without some sort of violence, literature would be very plain.
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