Abstract - Final - Molly Harrell

My paper delves into the different tools which are used to create the genre of “apocalyptic literature.” Diction and imagery are the more important ways of getting a novel’s tone across, especially in this particular genre of literature. The structure of Parable of the Sower reads as a diary or a handbook, with symbols and an entirely different world described, which envelopes the reader into the apocalyptic and unknown nature of the subject of the book. The succinct diction used in The Road, causes in the reader a melancholic attitude towards the text, and hopelessness resonates throughout the novel’s plot. Zeitoun reads more like a story, but relies on imagery that actually happened and describes Katrina and his experiences to be apocalyptic. Common themes intertwine themselves throughout apocalyptic texts, which can alert the reader to the fact that a novel belongs to this genre. Despair pitted against hope in a seemingly hopeless world, the internal struggles that arise when disasters occur, the endless search for familiarity in a world which is anything but, are all themes that authors of apocalyptic literature strive to convey.