Wolfe and Richler

Wolfe and Richler We contin" rel="nofollow">inue lookin" rel="nofollow">ing at language and education in" rel="nofollow">in different environments. Mordecai Richler, in" rel="nofollow">in “1944: The Year I Learned to Love a German,” is a Jewish teen readin" rel="nofollow">ing a WWI novel by a German durin" rel="nofollow">ing WWII’s Holocaust. In “The Right Stuff” Tom Wolfe describes what it takes to succeed and fail in" rel="nofollow">in military flight train" rel="nofollow">inin" rel="nofollow">ing. These narrative essays are fairly straightforward. Wolfe uses his unique style of New Journalism, which presents factual detail in" rel="nofollow">in novelistic style in" rel="nofollow">in “The Right Stuff.” It is journalistic writin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">in a non-fictional report, and yet the characters, settin" rel="nofollow">ing, plot development, narration and description resemble a fictional novel. “The Right Stuff” comes from a large book resemblin" rel="nofollow">ing a novel called The Right Stuff. Wolfe’s title is somewhat vague. “Stuff” is usually the wrong kin" rel="nofollow">ind of highly generalized word to use in" rel="nofollow">in an essay. Why might he use it? His strategy in" rel="nofollow">in this defin" rel="nofollow">inition essay is to defin" rel="nofollow">ine this almost undefin" rel="nofollow">inable quality. There are many human qualities that you can collect in" rel="nofollow">in the domain" rel="nofollow">in of “The Right Stuff.” At the end of the essay, it comes down to “manly courage.” You might ask whether Wolfe is objectively reportin" rel="nofollow">ing the requirements of the American military as a journalist, or whether he is criticizin" rel="nofollow">ing these demands in" rel="nofollow">in a supposedly “sophisticated and rational age.” We should remember that in" rel="nofollow">in 1979 this part of the military did not in" rel="nofollow">include women. Paragraph five is the longest and most descriptive in" rel="nofollow">in our book. What is the effect of readin" rel="nofollow">ing this paragraph? It is so densely packed and full of action that it is overwhelmin" rel="nofollow">ing. Here Wolfe enables readers to feel what it is like to be a Navy pilot tryin" rel="nofollow">ing to land a plane on an aircraft carrier: “That shape!—It’s so damned small!” Italics emphasize the Geometry from the sky lookin" rel="nofollow">ing down on the “skillet” the pilot is supposed to land on. The perspective then switches to come from the ground as this greasy fryin" rel="nofollow">ing pan “heaved” and “rolled” under the feet of the train" rel="nofollow">inee when he tried to land the airplane like a fallin" rel="nofollow">ing brick from the sky. Descriptive language full of metaphorical imagery is “a blur of momentum” in" rel="nofollow">in this paragraph, such that the reader might share the candidate’s feelin" rel="nofollow">ing of sickness in" rel="nofollow">in paragraph six. Here we might begin" rel="nofollow">in to in" rel="nofollow">internalize the psychosomatic (min" rel="nofollow">ind and body) reactions of the candidate. His min" rel="nofollow">ind-body struggle leads to the fin" rel="nofollow">inal few paragraphs describin" rel="nofollow">ing his reduced role as one without “The Right Stuff” in" rel="nofollow">in the military. In Mordecai Richler’s “1944: The Year I Learned to Love a German,” we read about one of Canada’s best-loved authors. A reason for this novelist’s popularity is his sense of humour. Here we read about a pimply 13 year old in" rel="nofollow">in Montreal who begin" rel="nofollow">ins to read as a way to pick up girls. No athlete and a fan of comic books, our narrator is so skeptical about literature that even his high school teacher who fought in" rel="nofollow">in WWI and read poetry in" rel="nofollow">in the trenches did not impress him. Yet young Mordecai was at home sick and needed a book to read, so the librarian recommended All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. This book written by a German about WWI seems the last thin" rel="nofollow">ing a Jewish kid from Montreal would like to read durin" rel="nofollow">ing the Holocaust as millions of Jews are murdered in" rel="nofollow">in Nazi concentration camps. Yet Richler’s essay shows his love for the book’s main" rel="nofollow">in character, German soldier Paul Baumer and his comrades. The novel teaches Richler that the enemy is human through scenes like the one in" rel="nofollow">in which they make potato latkes -- a common Jewish dish in" rel="nofollow">in Montreal, yet here “a German concoction.” The world opens up for Richler in" rel="nofollow">in serious and funny ways. We read about him dressin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">in a blue beret tryin" rel="nofollow">ing to look like a Parisian in" rel="nofollow">intellectual so he can order house win" rel="nofollow">ine and impress Goldie Zimmerman on a date. Only in" rel="nofollow">in Montreal can you be served win" rel="nofollow">ine at age 13. As long as your chin" rel="nofollow">in is higher than the bar, the bartenders figure you’re old enough for a drin" rel="nofollow">ink. More important is the success of All Quiet on the Western Front and its impact on Richler. The book was turned down by several publishers before sellin" rel="nofollow">ing millions of copies, bein" rel="nofollow">ing translated in" rel="nofollow">in 29 languages and bein" rel="nofollow">ing made in" rel="nofollow">into an Oscar-win" rel="nofollow">innin" rel="nofollow">ing film in" rel="nofollow">in 1930. The book’s popularity contin" rel="nofollow">inued, which proved a problem for Adolf Hitler, who decided to ban the book that argued again" rel="nofollow">inst war as a construction by politicians. For Richler the book was his in" rel="nofollow">initiation in" rel="nofollow">into a life of writin" rel="nofollow">ing.