Introducing
Your new presentation assistant.
Refine, enhance, and tailor your content, source relevant images, and edit visuals quicker than ever before.
Trending searches
The general vision and viewpoint is mixed right from the opening of Foster, a long short story written by Claire Keegan. The unnamed child narrator is being fostered for the summer by relatives, who are essentially strangers to her, and the confusion she feels as a result makes parts of the opening bleak.
It is clear from the start that the child received little to no explanation about what is happening and it is depressing to think that she overheard her parents remark, "Can't they keep her as long as they like?". We also feel pity for the child when we read her inner thoughts:
"Why did he leave without so much as a good-bye, without ever mentioning that he would come back for me.
The opening is not however without some hope. It is clear from her appearance and her father's comment, "It's the feeding them that's the trouble", that the little girl has not been looked after. The reader hopes that this may improve as the Kinsella's, while not rich, are clearly better off. The little girl also comments that, "Part of me wants my father to leave me here". This suggests how tough life has been for her and that maybe things will improve, now that she is living with the Kinsellas.
Society or the world the text is set in can influence the general vision and viewpoint. In Foster, the society presented is rural Ireland in the 1980's. This world and its values add to the mixed vision and viewpoint in the text.
The fact that she conceals and lies about something as simple as "macaroons", also hints that things may not be as perfect as they seems in the Helmer's marriage. These subtle hints effectively foreshadow the darkness that is to come later in the text and show that in all three texts there are notes of pessimism right from the opening scenes.
The viewer, especially in modern times, is slightly uncomfortable with Torvald's condescending references to his wife as "little squirrel", "little skylark" and "little girl".
However, there are notes of caution in the plays opening, and while it is nowhere near as bleak as INS, or even Foster, there is some darkness hinted at right from the beginning.
At first glance the general vision and viewpoint of ADH, seems to reflect a very positive general vision and viewpoint. Nora, the play's central character seems upbeat as she prepares for a family Christmas. Her relationship with her husband Torvald seems loving and the family circumstances are improving as her husband "has been made manager of the bank".
Despite the natural beauty of the scenery, with its endless fields of golden corn, the mood does not lighten. The children's play, depicted in the opening sequence, quickly turns to bullying, as Skull tries to humiliate Barbara, when she loses the race. The bleak, hostile opening effectively foreshadows the horror we are about to witness as the film progresses and we watch the inhumane treatment of Filippo in this world of greed and cruelty.
The opening of I'm Not Scared is even more bleak, as it contains none of the hope that was evident in Foster. The opening shots reveal a dark, underground pit with the words "I'm Not Scared", scrawled on the wall. Above the pit is a raven, a bird associated with death and combined, the opening imagery creates a gloomy, threatening mood.