Discuss the way in which, Montesquieu encourages his readers to Essay

Discuss the way in which, Montesquieu encourages his readers to identify with or distance themselves from the characters in the - Essay Example This literary style and the socio-political content of the novel as told by two foreign figures enabled its readers to identify with the characters at the same time feel separated from their stories and experiences. It also allowed Montesquieu to achieve his objective in writing the novel. Detachment The first prominent variable that affects the way readers perceive and interpret The Persian Letters is its form. As a collection of letters, which contain discourses and essays on diverse issues, it made the novel disconnected to the readers because the emotional involvement is stunted by the interrupted presentation. This is best explained by Theodore Braun who commented that the novel "moves along in an apparently unpredictable manner from letter to letter, from theme to theme, from interior plot to the exterior plot" making the readers fumble particularly in making sense or identifying the coherence of all the parts provided (Runyon 2005, 13). Readers can also feel the detachment whe n Montesquieu used Persian characters in his narrative. Their characterizations were depicted as alien for the original intended reading public. They are Persians and that their way of life and their perspectives on the French lifestyle represent a glaring difference that is easily identified and sympathized with by the readers. Montesquieu, wrote Hulliung (1976), substituted Persian travelers with psyches that are long written full by Eastern culture and that the interaction between the East and the West could lead to the threat on the Eastern language of despotism (117). By transplanting the two Oriental characters in Paris, there was a depiction of a striking polarity in culture and ideas. Say, when Montesquieu portrayed the Persians as exotic, with sufficient allusions to their cultural norms and their harem and so forth, the reader naturally sided with the West and/or the French society and that the two protagonists - including all that they stood for - came to constitute other ness, the unknown and the unidentifiable. There was an imposed detachment that came with the double plot of the novel. At one point, there was the criticism of the Parisian way of life. On the other hand, there was the Oriental storyline (e.g. the disorder in the protagonist's seraglio back home). This approach enabled Montesquieu to highlight his themes more effectively, more specifically the kind of skepticism and relativism that he obviously wanted to express about the important questions that characterized his time. Furthermore, the differences and the detachment that the author encouraged were necessary in order to explain his ideal social theory. This is when Montesquieu was able to successfully reject the European social theory and advocate the actual expression of human nature as the ultimate solution to the issues and problems that confronted his day (Rossides 1998, 72). Connection It is, however, important to underscore that even though The Persian Letters assumed a degree of disconnect from its readers, there are times when its characters - or the themes and issues they discussed and were involved in - came close to the readers’ hearts and own concerns. As a political allegory, the novel explored, examined and commented on themes and issues that are relevant to the times. For example, there is the issue about love, social institutions, gender equality, religion,

Summary Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 28

Summary - Assignment Example The government advocated socialist ideologies but which however could not be marketed on the global market since these did not appeal to the post modern types of films. It is for this reason that the Fifth Generation films took a radical approach in their development and could be viewed as rebellious. Though they were banned on the domestic market, they received significant appreciation on the global market. The fifth generation films specifically moved from a usual Chinese Kung fu movie towards depicting a disintegrating socialist background. This is illustrated in the film tilted (Platform 2000) which shows the successful troupe of cultural workers from Fenyang to the countryside. The other issue is that Jia’s films are primarily concerned with portraying a sociological perspective with regard to the social problems caused by the Chinese development. For instance, the films focused on issues such as destruction of the environment, neighborhood s as well as the destruction of families as some of the problems caused by contemporary Chinese development. Jia also incorporated pop music in his films as a form of entertainment given that his childhood was characterised by complete lack of entertainment. The arrival of Japanese pop music and Hollywood films had a liberating effect since these revolutionized the Chinese film. The other issue that characterized Jia’s films is tha t he was concerned about portraying reality through the camera. The sixth generation on the other hand not only rejected the metaphysical image of China but reflected a polarized society. However, the sixth generation film is of the view that a paradigm transformation about the way the camera portrays reality should be confronted and all the contradictions should be captured. For instance, xiancheng is is a true reflection of socialist industrialization failure. This has in fact led to cultural poverty as depicted in Jia’s films. The