Blake Doan 100403624 1/21/2014

Essay Analysis Exercise With Pens Drawn by Mario Vargas Llosa

1. What is the thesis of this essay? (1 mark)

The thesis that Mario provides in this essay is Hardly anybody I come across believes any longer that literature serves any great purpose alleviating boredom or has any higher ambition beyond being transformed into television or movie scripts..

2. What does the author develop in paragraph 2? How does he support it? Do you agree with him? Explain. (3 marks)

The point that Mario develops in paragraph 2 is that although book sales is at an all-time high, hardly anybody believes that literature today serves any purpose beyond alleviating boredom, or becoming a television or movie script. Mario supports this belief by stating that Critics such as George Steiner have come to believe that literature is already dead, and Novelists such as V.S. Naipaul have come to proclaim that they will not write another novel because the genre now fills them with disgust I would have to agree with Mario belief that literature is dead due to the fact that any quality novels have now been dissected and reassembled into less then entertaining Hollywood movies, and I have yet to come across a fictional novel written in the past decade that does not contain teenage characters that are also vampires. It really is sickening!

3. What contrast does Vargas Llosa draw in paragraph 6? Do you agree with him? Explain. (2 marks)

Mario states that If the only point of literature is to entertain, then it cannot compete with the fictions pouring out of screens. I would be inclined to agree with Mario when concerning the general public, but due to a small amount of people still in ownership of an imagination I cannot agree fully with Mario. Personally I have always preferred to imagine my own Middle Earth and feel as though I am being cheated when I am forced to watch a subpar Hollywood interpretation.

4. Vargas Llosa seemingly projects a pessimistic view of modern literature in its current flimsy state. What does he suggest is the function of literature in our lives and in the social and political realms? Do you agree or disagree with these options? Explain.

Mario suggests that the function of literature in our lives and in the social and political realms is to help others become more free, sensitive, and clear-sighted. I agree with Mario if he was only referring to non-fictional literature, but I believe that fictional books have nothing to do with changing opinions of peoples social and political views.

5. Vargas Llosa maintains that the written word is better at telling the truth than audiovisual media. Do you agree with him? Do you agree with his predictions if literature is regulated to nothing more than an escape from reality? Explain.

I would have to agree with Mario on the topic that audiovisual media is less effective at telling the truth; Although, I believe that regardless of how you are receiving information there will always be a bias due to the author, reporter, or journalists int erpretation of the subject, as well as their agenda and the agenda of the person or company backing their financing. I couldnt agree more with Mario on his views about the future if literature is regulated to only an escape from reality. In my own research I have found that literature is usually less

corrupted by financial gains over audiovisual forms of media; that being said, if we lose the ability to report or share information through literature we will find ourselves in Stephen Harpers dictatorship utopia. Due to the deep roots of conservative government censorship of mainstream media, independent research and reporting is all we have left to provide truth to the general public.