A Complicated Kindness

reduces its impact. A Complicated Kindness is a novel by Miriam Toews that should be implemented in the English curriculum, as it not only relates to high schoolers in today’s society, but is also deemed one of the best Canadian books through its personal touch and prominent themes that relate to other important novels. Novels in the curriculum have a level of significance in the literature world that evidently shows its importance and authenticity. A Complicated Kindness has been awarded with

Introduction The contemporary North American novels The Virgin Suicides, A Complicated Kindness and The Ice Storm similarly engage with the struggles of growing up in an isolated community in the frame of the coming of age or teenage narrative. This struggle in terms of isolation is significantly influenced by religion. In The Ice Storm religion is not a prevalent issue. However, there is a conflict between religion and sexuality as Paul and Wendy describe their sexual experiences as religious. Furthermore

plight of a willful child in their novels A City in Winter and A Complicated Kindness respectively. Mark Helprin’s A City in Winter is the tale of an extraordinary young girl reclaiming her kingdom. Yet even with her wit, charm and innocence, her progression is ultimately unsuccessful until her surrogate father swoops in - quite literally - to save the day knowing it is at the expense of his life. Likewise, Miriam Toews’ A Complicated Kindness is about a young girl who knows exactly what she wants, but

Miriam Toews’ A Complicated Kindness and J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye are two novels in which characters reflect on their attitudes and experiences as a source of emotional growth and maturity. Salinger and Toews show the importance of this reflection through the evolution of their characters’ – Holden Caulfield and Nomi Nickel – similar attitudes towards their schools, communities, and lives. Though Nomi and Holden both do poorly in school for various reasons, Nomi overcomes her obstacles

All appearances of characters in novels have their different roles developed, even if they are minor. Mr. Quiring in the novel, a complicated kindness, is no exception to this convention. Although Mr. Quiring rarely appears in the novel, he plays a crucial role in making the readers understand more about the protagonist, Naomi. Mr. Quiring’s knowledge and behavior has an impact on the protagonist, Naomi. Mr. Quiring is described as an English teacher who always prepares carefully before his classes

A Means of Existence How do experiences, good or bad, shape the identity of an individual and make them stand apart from others? In the award winning novel A Complicated Kindness, by Miriam Toews and the classic best seller Anne of Green Gables, by L.M Montgomery, the struggle and desire to find personal identity is profound. Through a series of experiences, the main characters in each novel, one a rebellious Mennonite and the other a red headed orphan, are forced to look within themselves and realize

Hamlet, Naomi and Aminata, participate in situations where their courage is tested to its fullest, impacting their fate; for the better and for the worse. Despite bearing cultural and periodic differences, Hamlet by William Shakespeare, A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews and The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill all demonstrate judgements that enrich and destroy the lives of the protagonists and of those around them. Firstly, Hamlet in Hamlet shows dreadful judgement by consuming himself in

Sexual Experimentation, Drug and Alcohol Abuse In The Virgin Suicides and A Complicated Kindness, the restrictions that religion puts in place cause the youth to rebel against that religious system. In A Complicated Kindness, it is made clear from the beginning of the text that there is “a ban on the media, dancing, smoking, temperate climates, movies, drinking, rock ’n’ roll, having sex for fun, swimming, make-up, jewellery, playing pool, going to cities, or staying up past nine o’clock” (Toews

In the novel, A complicated kindness, the protagonist Naomi contemplates on escaping from her fundamentalist hometown. Her melancholic bond with the hometown as for its kindness, even though she’s “homesick at home”, and her problem with progressing towards an actual end, tragically leave her out in the community where she gets deserted. In this regard this story is a tragedy. While the narration breaks the conventional line of storytelling about runaway, it unfolds in irony as to balance or to counter

A Complicated Kindness is an adolescent novel by Miriam Toews, published originally by Knopf Canada in 2004. Inspired by her experience as a Mennonite herself, Toews crafts a story around a teenage girl known informally as Nomi. Nomi experiences the hardships of religious oppression only to let her family give in first. Catcher in the Rye is, too, an adolescent novel written instead by J. D. Salinger. Comparable to A Complicated Kindness, Catcher in the Rye saw some inspiration for the story by Salinger’s