Book Comparison, Term Paper Example

Till we have Faces is always referred to have been one of Lewis’ favorite works and it is arguably his best job to have been done in his writing history. The book has since been receiving much attention along with attraction from a broad reading. The entire book has most of its ideas greatly revealed in the end.  The general ideas and concepts come out clearly as the author approaches the end of the work. The ideas of the book are expounded at the book’s ending.

Told through the eyes of Queen Orual by a first-person, the book is the queen’s diatribe in opposition to gods for the unhappiness that they have caused in the queen’s life. a bitter woman by the name Orual is accusing the gods and thereby receives the gods’ answer. The woman is then obliged to live the rest of her life with the awareness of the faulty assumptions and perceptions that she made (Lewis, 1980, 178-216).

Lewis demonstrates an antithesis in a way that is beautiful and haunting as the psyche’s perceptions of Oraul and that of her sister are at this point contrasted. It is through such crisis of faith similar to that facing Orual that we are constantly challenged to view ourselves as we really are. We are also made to understand what it is meant to trust in God under the disappointments of life. We are also made to see the role which our own actions play in our unhappiness.

The name of Jesus has not been mentioned in this work. This has been a point of contention for most of the readers. Lewis has been faced criticism based on this and his perception of the afterlife from elements of this piece of work as well as “The Last battle.” this book therefore cannot be read as a thesis on doctrine on afterlife but it is rather a mythical story that depicts the elements of the scriptural truths of repentance, atonement salvation and spiritual perception.

The end of the book is an indication that their still exist a point Orual maintains which is contrary to the gods. “I had at least loved Psyche truly. There, if nowhere else, I had the right of it and the gods were in the wrong.” (Lewis, 1980, 178-216).

this forms the significant of the end vision. The author applies an alternative Greek legend: Orual is sent to collect back water of death. This water is to be brought from deceased lands with regard to the Ungit. Encountered by an impenetrable mounting-range she comes across the eagle which tells her “‘It is not you that I was sent to help (Lewis, 1978)”. This speech rekindles the negative response that Orual always sensed in her entire life due to her ugliness along with more lately as she attempted to smarten her psyche. At this spot, in a dream seemingly fine, revolution, Orual finds out that ‘my possession all along a book’ rather that a bowl – her complaints in opposition to the gods. Orual has a complaint instead of having a receptive bowl. This is her life’s story and that the god’s silence. The eagles directly inform her to go in a court that her case has a chance of being heard. A big multitude has gathered along with her veil finally is acquired from her. At the time that Orual returns aiming at reading her book, she unexpectedly finds out that what is in her possession is not the really ‘my grand book’. As she prepares for a protest a different outstanding touch like a dream, before now I was abruptly fixed in reading it’. What Orual reads is for sure her factual book with regard to her factual voice. Orual reads out the fact that he knew what they would say. He would say that the real god sare not similar to Ungit. It was as if it would restore to health his wounds. He asked whether he thought the mortals would find gods easier to bear if they are beautiful. He tells him that in case that was correct they would uncover him a 100 times not as good as. For then, they would lure in addition to entice. They would leave them not anything; nothing which was similar to keeping or their taking, or stolen from them the ceaseless calling, calling, calling from gods (Lewis, 1980, 178-216).

The other evidence that shows that Orual is indeed reading her own book is found in her real voice is clearly indicated in the words of the conversation below; “Taken where we can’t follow… Oh, you’ll say … that I’d signs enough her palace was real; could have known the truth if I’d wanted. But how could I want to know it? Tell me that. The girl was mine.” She keeps on lamenting against the existence of the gods in which she greatly despises and accuses for the one’s debt. “What right had you to steal her away into your dreadful heights…? If you’d gone the other way to work – if it was my eyes you had opened – you’d soon have seen how I would have shown her and told her and taught her and led her up to my level (Lewis, 1978)” She is in fact fighting and demanding for their independence. She is strongly convinced of their liberty from the control of the god. But hearing a chit of a girl who would not have thought in her head that I wont hav put there  “But to hear a chit of a girl who had (or ought to have had) no thought in her head that I’d not put there, setting up for a seer and a prophetess and next thing to a goddess… how anyone could endure it… That there should be gods at all, there’s our misery and bitter wrong. There’s no room for you and us in the same world… “We want to be our own” (Lewis, 1980, 178-216).

This is the epicenter of the novel. This is the reason why orual hasn’t  been able to hear the gods speak. There is a possibility of believing that orual voice was that one indeed. Those gods were unable to listen to ego, but under the condition that it was fed by the ego, there was an actual positivity, the actual pain and loss. This is the ambivalent combination that has been witnessed throughout the narrative. This is similar to the case of refusal that Psyche’s love exists by Henry James in his book ‘The Turn of the Screw’. The negation to accept the event that psyche’s lover was a real god, the decisive taking of the veil which has characterized Orual’s negation to see. The terminus of a negation of this kind is in the speech of Orual, the creed of hell; ‘ the one principle of hell; “I am my own”‘, ‘there was given to me a certainty’, a disclosure – that this ‘was my actual voice. There was stillness in the dark congregation sufficient time for me to have read for an additional time my book out yet again. At last the judge asked them whether they were answered. They replied that they did. The stillness of God is the stillness Ransom witnessed in the deliberate with the Darkness on Perelandra.  Ransom said that their grievance was the answer. To have heard he making it was answered. Lightly men converse of saying what they mean… When the occasion comes to them at whom them will be obligatory at last to unqualified the speech which lay at the centre of your soul for years… they would not talk about joy of words. I saw well why the gods do not verbalize to us candidly, nor let us answer. Till that word can be dug out of them, why should they hear the talk nonsense that we think they meant? He asked how they could meet them face to face till we have faces. it is the end of a lengthy process on the side of the gods; the ‘word’ has to be ‘dug out of us’ before we let off what it is we want to say, prior to the posing of a question which can be answered. Once the inquiry has been put forrad, that is once Orual has a face, the gods can then answer. The vision keeps on as Orual is by the fox though the underworld (James, 1991, 24-56).

At this time he is quite aware of the incapacities that face his own rationalism. She gets to learn in a unforgettable section, entailing much of the real meaning of Christianity:

This is conviction: the conviction that the same gods know that they are doing. It is as well the hope of grace of the salvation that is not deserved. The end of this book is generally an impression of the entire book in which Lewis, just like Henry James, tries to show the interchange sandwiched between Psyche and the personality painstaking as pragmatic characters in a drama involving human occupation, and which is considered as aspects of the similar character involved in a drama of spiritual growth which needs additional examination and analysis predominantly in the circumstance of the closing part.

The two stories are similar in that they both focus on the power of spirits. The turn of the twist by Henry James has clearly indicated spiritual effects on individuals, for example with the case of the governess which seems not knowing what is not going on though she is claiming that she is the one leading. It is until the end of the story that we are informed that the governess wins and the Quinter dies when his ghost is just mentioned. The main reason as to why he dies is just because of the belief. He has some strong beliefs about the spirits, this is witnessed when the housekeeper claims of not seeing the ghost yet they live in the same residential area (James, 1991, 24-56).

The children are also not seeing the ghost and this is a clear indication that what is going on is just a matter of belief. On the other hand, Lewis in his story has the same opinion about the power of spirits in that he argues that some individuals like Orual who believe in spirits are affected by the powers of the spirits while those who are not even aware of spirits are not haunted.

In his story, James is trying to tell as about a story that a young boy had about the ghost “I quite agree in regard to Griffins with the fact that the spirits affected the young boy at his tender age just because of the belief. In contrast to the story by Lewis, the young girls whose parents do not believe with the spirits are not affected since they are not aware. But it’s not the first occurrence of its charming kind that I know to have involved a child. If the child gives the effect another turn of the screw, what do you say about the two children?” from the above statement, I can conclude that James has a strong believe that the boy was affected while he was still young and that it was not something unusual to had happened to the young boy and this is a clear indication that it had occurred to other boys of the same age and hence I can conclude that the power of spirits depend on belief but not age.

At the end of this book of the turn of the screw, James is trying to show the powers of God and the relationship between God and human beings. For example he is arguing that his eyes were preserved, it appeared , at hand a consummation for which it was blasphemes not to show gratitude God. He is arguing that it was, alas, a difficulty about that; he says that he would have shown gratitude him with all his soul had he not be in a balanced measure this assurance of the secret of his pupils. he is trying to explain that people have different views for example he argued that what it was the most impracticable to enthusiastic of was the cruel idea that, whatever I had seen, Miles and Flora saw more things dreadful and ungues sable and that sprang from dreadful passages of interaction in the past.

Towards the end of James’s book he tries explaining the relationship between a woman and a man. For example, he argued that the  beauty of the women was magnificent for the women to be posted; he said he himself  held them and that he has them to this hour. In his last part of the story he said that, His uncle’s tailor turned out on Sunday, pretty waists with free hand notion for his air that is grand. The right to sex and situation, a bit of independence in the event that there is freedom in the sudden causing the writer to say nothing (James, 1991, 24-56).

This is a sign of love and it describes the interrelationships which is also the main focus in the Lewis book till have faces which though focuses on gods can also be related to James work at the first phase which he compares the believe of a young boy with that of an elderly person.

On trying to relate the two books, I realized that both have the same views about the super natural being and that the participants are fighting with the unknown which is the spirit for this case. According to James story, the young governess agrees to look after the two orphans. Their first governess has died and their uncle and the caretaker want and have nothing to do for them. The caretaker is so kind and the children, Flora and Miles, are charming. The mile’s school, on the other hand, has promised to leave. In some three weeks, the ghosts of Quint, who happens to the evil servant? There is the dead of the governess which makes the story to be more complicated though in a more positive way.  Due to this, the caretaker suspected that the children would be wicked. This is what the writer, Lewis thought as the gods were disobeyed.

The leading ghost also appears in the presence of Flora and the caretaker, who confessed that they could not see her. When I compare the end story of James with that of Lewis, I can see that Orual also shares the same characteristics with the caretaker in that they don’t believe in the power of the ghost.

At the end of the story of James, we are told that after flora becomes sick she begins to say frightening things but Mrs (James, 1991, 24-56). Grose come and takes her out of the house. Miles agrees that he is the one who burnt the letter of the governess which was directed to his uncle. Miles was eager to know what the governess had written.

The stories ending  of the two stories is significant in that, there is some presents of some evils all through the story but we don’t see their effects until the last chapter. Both the stories lie between the innocent faces of the children and the surrounding evils spirits. This is a good example to the real life situations in that it shows that the effects of the evils depends on the belief of such since the young who are innocent cannot see them unlike the elderly who claims to be seeing the ghosts in the games story.

It is in the end of the story by James that we come to realize that the victims were passive and active perpetrators however we can not justify this especially as the story begins. This is a clear indication that the last part of the story is very significant for us. In the same way, we are never quite certain weather the governance is really observing what is going on or should she just be imagining them? Anything seems possible until the end of the story that we began to gain some understanding. A physic battle occurs between governess and Quint over the possession of Miles’s soul at the end. Finally it is realized that the governess wins the battle but unfortunately miles dies.  From this incident James is seen to suggest that miles must die having been separated from Quint because of faith they had one to another.        I can argue that we are uncertain of what exactly happened in the two stories and that both of them lie in the purposeful uncertainty with which both James and Lewis veils their stories. The two books have been written by the authors in such a way that the contents and the issues which are discussed are generally revealed in the ending f the books. In each of the books, the concepts and the elements regarding the writing of the authors have much weight and concentration in the last part of the books. This provides a clear generalization as well as summary of the books and the emphasis is put on the key factors, concepts and ideologies of the writers.

The authors of the two pieces of work have employed a strategy in which their points are emphasized as the work moves towards the end or rather in the end of their works. This technique gives the reader the much needed emphatic end and a stressed conclusion in which the aim and the point of concern are clearly and successfully put forth.

References

James, Henry The Turn of the Screw The Modern Library; Unknown Edition edition 1991.

Lewis, Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold. Harcourt Brace & Company 1980.