Parallel Worlds and The End of the World Essay Example

creative way to get the most out of his premise. Hence, the author Murrain built a delectable character and story structure.

In the next short story, "Night Face Up" the protagonist also confronts an apocalyptic theme through a combination of reality and dream. In Julio Court;Sara's up in the hospital bed. The protagonist drifts in and out of sleep in his room and he dreams that he is a Motet Indian and tries to flee the Aztec hunters who want to capture him for a mass sacrifice.

What is occult about the main character's dream is that his dream is actually his life and he was actually dreaming about living in the city.

The character is daydreaming from the forest as he hides from the Aztec hunters. In the end, the main character finally realizes which story is a dream and which is reality. He realizes which is the dream right before he is about to be sacrificed by the Aztec priest. This narrative has an apocalyptic theme because the main character fights to save himself from becoming a sacrifice and faces doom in the end.

Both stories "Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" and "Night Face Up" go back and forth from two parallel worlds and fuse into one. In Murrain's novel, one section of the narrative takes place in a futuristic Tokyo, whereas the second section is obviously fantastic and fantasy. In CourtГSara's short story, the story bounces back between the modern world, a place like Mexico City, and a past world in the dense Jungles of South America and the Aztec. These are two parallel worlds because one is

dazzling and peaceful, while the other is dark and harsh. Both narratives are similar because they occur on different levels of reality.

The last text, "A Hard Rain's A-Goanna Fall" is an apocalyptic ballad that can be interpreted in many ways and reflects upon the inevitable human reality.

Bob Dylan song has remained appropriate throughout the years because it has a significant and broader meaning. Bob Dylan use of poetic and literary devices are extremely beneficial to the meaning of the song. Authors such as Hark Murrain and Julio CourtГcar use imagery and humbly to help the overall theme of the novels. In "A Hard Rain's A-Goanna Fall" Dylan utilizes the use of devices to voice his opinion on war, more specifically pertaining to the nuclear fallout.

There are many paradoxes and metaphors that can be found throughout the song.

This is evident in the line, "l Heard the sound oaf clown who cried in the alley. " This is a paradox because clowns are supposed to be happy and bubbly, not upset and crying. The line, "l saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it," is also a paradox because you would never discover a newborn baby anywhere near wild wolves. Dylan uses symbols like a newborn baby because babies are a vision of innocence and purity in contrast to ferocious wolves.

A Hard Rain's A-Goanna Fall" tells a story of the long lasting effects of war for future generations. Dylan tells the listener that by taking away the innocence of these young men who are being forced into war, there will be a devastating effect which includes the death of these

men. Many people have said that the refrain of this song refers to nuclear fallout and some consider the hard rain to be an atomic rain. Additionally, in the last verse, "the pellets of poison are flooding the waters" can be interpreted as all the lies that people get told on their radios and in their newspapers.

The unique and well thought out lyrics ultimately helped Dylan in his overall message in his song. The main reason for choosing "A Hard Rains A-Goanna Fall" by Bob Dylan is because Murrain has referred to the author a few times throughout his novel. For instance, "Say, is that Bob Dylan you have on? " "Right", I said. Positively 4th Street "Because his harmonica's worse than Steve Wonder? " She laughed again.

Nice to know I could still make someone laugh. "No, I really like his voice," she said. "It's like a kid standing at the window watching the rain.

After all the volumes that have been written about Dylan, I had yet to come across such a perfect description (Murrain 345). Furthermore, Murrain employs his taste of music in Bob Dylan yet again, "What's lost never perishes.

I closed my eyes and gave myself over to sleep. Bob Dylan was singing A Hard Rain's A-Goanna fall, over and over...

" (Murrain 396). In conclusion, the authors of "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World," "Night Face Up," and "A Hard Rains A-Goanna Fall" succeeded in writing an apocalyptic narrative when they used the end of the world as a singular concept.

Again, even though both authors CourtГcar and Dylan portrayer an end of the world theme,

Hark Murrain displays a more unique ending because he is able to manipulate his premise in the most interesting way. Murrain and CourtГcar did an excellent Job in building interesting plots and characters around their stories.

This is evident in all three texts discussed in this paper because the audience can interpret the conclusion in several different ways. Even though the apocalypse in literature can be a very boring concept today, all three texts prove that what's important isn't how original the premise is, but rather what is done with it.