Deon Meyer Dead Before Dying Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Deon Meyer Dead Before Dying - Essay Example Whereas it cannot be argued that Death Before Dying should be understood as a pinnacle achievement of literature, it nonetheless engages the reader in several levels of understanding concerning violence and its role within the culture and expectations of Africa. Within such an understanding, the following analysis will seek to perform a literary analysis upon Death Before Dying as a means of highlighting and underscoring the level of prejudice and implied expectations that the author conveys within this particular book.... ever having been there, he/she will most likely leverage a prior level of understanding and/or stereotypes that are somewhat universal and exist in the minds of the majority of readers. By utilizing such a tactic, it is possible for the author to convey deep shades of meaning in only a few words.5 Such is very much the case in the novel in question. Rather than spending the first half of the book describing the cultural elements and unique levels of understanding that help to define violence within Africa, the author instead leverages this expectation of violence as a means of cementing the existing prejudices that are evident with regards to Africa.6 Although this is not the author’s main criteria, it nonetheless functions as a powerful means of securing a vivid and profound image in the mind of the reader and reinforcing that image as the storyline progresses.7 Though it might seem as somewhat silly for the reader to expect a simple novel as a possible opportunity to become further informed concerning the realities that define life and understandings of violence within Africa, the ultimate fact of the matter is that this form of media is precisely the type of information that serves to either crush or reinforce existing stereotypes within the minds of the reader.8 As such, the author begins the novel with a terse presentation of the current state of South Africa. From the very opening lines, the reader can infer that something of a powerful expectation for violence is instilled not only within the main characters but also within the media and general population of the nation as well. As a means of even further reinforcing such an understanding, the author tacitly alludes to violence serving the media and the populace as something of a means of interest. Although