Critical Analysis on Summer Reading
Books have been around for over a millennium, while the motion picture industry is no more than a century old. Despite this age difference, many of the qualities that make a book deep and entertaining are no different than what makes those two hours at your local cinema so immersive. Occasionally, a book will even take the form of a movie or visa-verse. Many times, however, a book that would seem rather irrelevant to a movie of a completely different nature may have more in common than one would assume. A great example of this literary connection is the similarity between the novel In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez and the movie Jakob the Liar starring Robin Williams. Three themes that are portrayed throughout both stories are hope, the utilization of propaganda, and using corruption to gain power. Propaganda plays a big role in both stories. For example, in Jakob the Liar, a Russian propaganda radio broadcast tells of German defeat, and Jakob spreads the news around the ghetto. Meanwhile, the Nazi regime is using propaganda to convince the German people that they are in control of the war effort. Similarly, an example of the use of propaganda in In the Time of the Butterflies is the twisted and guiltless lies abou
In In the Time of the Butterflies, General Trujillo comes to power using the same methods. The Jews in the ghetto are more depressed than ever and need hope, as he begins to realize, "We relied on the little things: a dark joke, a sunny day, a hopeful rumor" (Kassovitz). He had millions killed and would kill as many as necessary to maintain his authority. This is not all Hitler and Trujillo had in common. As Dede Mirabal says, "And my heart in my rib cage was a bird that suddenly began to sing. Similarly, Las Mariposas from In the Time of the Butterflies must sacrifice their own lives to bring hope to the people of the Dominican Republic. In numerous instances he bribed those above him to get what he wanted, until finally he was superior to them. The movie Jakob the Liar and the book In the Time of the Butterflies may seem relatively different at first glance. Their similarities are more than surface deep, and when the stories are truly explored in a thoughtful perspective, the possibilities are endless. When she is still fairly young, Minerva Mirabal even admits, "At home, Trujillo hung on the wall by the picture of Our Lord Jesus with a whole flock of the cutest lambs" (Alvarez 17). Literary connections like these can be made by comparing books, movies, and ideas. In the film Jakob the Liar, hope is more than just a theme. They both killed anyone who opposed them or their anti-communist government, and both ruled with an iron fist. First he was in the army, and all the people who were above him kept disappearing until he was the one right below the head of the whole armed forces" (Alvarez 17). He was viewed as a saint by all those who were ignorant of his ruthless regime.
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Acceptance Essays
