"There is nothing heavier than compassion. Even one's own pain is not as heavy as the pain one feels with someone, for someone, a pain intensified by imagination and prolonged by a hundred echoes."Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being To be a master of the art of fiction is to be a master of the art of manipulation. I am referring not only to the manipulation of the reader's mind, but also to the manipulation of characters, setting, plot, and perhaps most importantly, the manipulation of language. In order to successfully engage their audience, an author must establish an air of familiarity. When a reader is confronted with characters, situations, or places that he or she understands personally, the purpose of the author's words becomes increasingly obvious. One of the most effective manifestations of this idea of ​​“familiarity” between novelist and reader is the family element. First, it should be noted that the two novels discussed in this essay are remarkably different. Although both novels are set in the mid-to-late 18th century in the northeastern United States, they differ radically in style and form. Charles Brockden Brown is often described as the grandfather of American Gothic literature and is credited with influencing Mary Shelley and Truman Capote. However, the works of James Fenimore Cooper (and particularly the five installments of his "Leatherstocking Tales") are widely considered the foundations of later "frontier novels" and modern Western films. Although radically different in almost every other way, both authors use the effects of family in the same way. At the beginning of Wieland, we receive a brief summary of the life and death of Theodore and Clara's father Wieland (the narrator of the novel). . While it may seem like this summary could serve as a tool for the reader to better understand the Wielands, it actually reveals very little about our characters. What is revealed in the summary, however, is a deep sense of isolation in the lives of Clara and Theodore Wieland resulting from the early loss of their parents. It soon becomes clear that the isolation experienced by the orphans has given rise to an ignorance that will torment their thinking for the rest of their lives. This is particularly evident in the language Clara uses when describing the years following her parents' deaths: The years that followed were quiet and happy. Our lives have been troubled by few of these worries inherent in childhood. By accident more than by intention, our aunt's indulgence and yielding character were mixed with resolution and firmness. She rarely deviated from the extremes of rigor or clemency. Our social pleasures were not subject to any unreasonable restrictions. We have been educated in most branches of useful knowledge and have been saved from the corruption and tyranny of colleges and boarding schools. (22)The second biological family presented to us in Wieland is that of Pleyel, Catharine and Henry. The family dynamics of the novel are made all the more complex when Théodore Wieland marries Catharine Pleyel. This detail brings these two families together into a small, isolated group of friends. Interestingly, with Henry Pleyel's introduction on page 27, Clara begins to refer to their group as a "society." A group of four individuals could hardly be considered a society, but Clara, unaware of the depth of friendships that exist in the outside world, considers the term "society" to be a title...