42
votes
Accepted
What message is Bradbury trying to convey in Fahrenheit 451?
The book deals with a lot of themes about censorship, so naturally you would think censorship is one of his main points or themes he is trying to convey in the book. Strangely enough, censorship was ...
- 818
33
votes
Accepted
Is a moral lesson a requirement for fairy tales?
No.
Some fairy tales don't have morals, and lots that do have morals that aren't that useful.
For instance, the Grimm brothers wrote many amoral stories, and many (not just the Grimm's) are ...
- 6,198
24
votes
Is a moral lesson a requirement for fairy tales?
No.
There's a terminology conflict here. A fairy tale is a fantastical adventure, set in an indistinguishable far-off place and time, in which a good character goes through hardship and comes out ...
- 343
17
votes
Accepted
Moral of the Hunger Games Trilogy
You've misunderstood a few minor aspects and one whopping big major aspect of the ending and moral of the Hunger Games series. I'll get the most important point out of the way first.
The 76th Hunger ...
- 71.1k
15
votes
Accepted
What was Dr. Seuss's intended message in "Horton Hears a Who"?
The reason he wrote it is very interesting. He thought of the "person's a person, no matter how small" from his experiences in post-war Japan. He had drawn anti-Japanese cartoons during ...
- 4,412
9
votes
What is the Neverending Story's moral about power?
It is first important to recognize what kind of story this is. It is about a young boy whose mother has died. His journey in the novel reflects his emotional growth, developing sense of identity and ...
- 191
4
votes
Is there a term for stories that act to teach the reader (not the characters) a lesson without the use fantastical elements?
You have actually used the word in your question: such tales are parables. The term parable often is given narrow application that refers to specifically a story from the Gospels that illustrates a ...
- 22.1k
4
votes
Accepted
In Blood Meridian, why does the judge call out the kid as being different?
I’ve watched the Yale Hungerford lectures multiple times (they are available for free on YouTube #17, #18, and are fantastic), and the only conclusion I can come to is that she’s just wrong. Her ...
- 56
3
votes
In Blood Meridian, why does the judge call out the kid as being different?
There's a scene near the end of the book where the kid is captured, and he speaks of his experience with the scalpers:
In his cell he began to speak with a strange urgency of things few men have seen ...
- 31
2
votes
Is there a term for stories that act to teach the reader (not the characters) a lesson without the use fantastical elements?
This type of literature is known as didactic literature; the term refers to any work of literature that aims to instruct the reader. Hesiod's Works and Days is an early Greek example; Lucretius's De ...
- 44k
2
votes
What is the message of Poe's "Eleonora"?
Funerals are for the living. Deathbed promises, on the other hand, are for the dying. The story (as you note) is autobiographical, so this issue must have weighed heavily on Poe. His wife was sick, ...
- 1,217
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