In literature, what does "loss of innocence" mean?
Loss of innocence in liturature is a character arc where a character presented at the start is naive or extremely idealistic and through the action of the story gains knowledge, understanding and experience that alters behavior at the end. This loss of innocence can be positive in that the character exchanges poorly founded beliefs for better ones. It can also be negative in that a character could abandon beliefs worth fighting for because of despair at their practicality. The positive case is usually called a coming of age story. A couple of popular examples might be Lt. Dan in Forrest Gump whose ideas about war at the start are only glory and honor. His injury and subsequent arc is a loss of innocence. If he remained the drunk that would be pure loss of innocence. His casting his lot with the innocent fool Forrest moves him into a coming of age. He has lost his legs which is the loss of original innocence, but he has gained “magic legs” which show the struggle and loss but also put him on a firm foundation. Politics or politcal books tend to be full of loss of innocence arcs. Take the recent “The Speachwriter” by Barton Swaim. At the start he thinks of himself as literary and engaged in a great endeavor being the speachwriter for a Governor. The reality and banality of the job, and the many little betrayals of his ideals, are the core of the loss of innocence. The fact that the Governor he does this for makes fools of them all adds to the degredation. The Hunger Games is even a loss of innocence in the same way because Katniss thinks that she can escape the horror of her world through various forms of heroism. It is only when she shoots the new Presdident in the presence of Snow that she realizes in her world it is just two forms of tyranny. All her heroism has done is changed the old boss for the new boss.
What is the meaning of literary term “catharsis”?
The term Catharsis has a Greek origin and literally means cleansing. In ancient Greek and Roman theatre which mostly showcased plays written by the great Sophocles et al, people regarded tragedy as the highest form of genre even above poetry. A tragedy would consist of an unassuming and generally naive hero(mostly a king or a Prince) whose drastic and dramatic fall from his grand position due to some flaw in his own character, lead the audience to grieve and empathise with his downfall. This fear and pity experiencd by the audience is called catharsis which was known to purify our emotions by making us cry for the protagonist and thereby learning a moral lesson through his downfall.Hope this helps!
Why is Frankenstein and important part of the English Literary Canon?
Because it is a classic bit of storytelling.
What is your definition of Sufism?
That is such a big question! I have attempted (for many years even before I converted) to figure out just what it is and really there are soooooooo many different "forms" of Sufism. There are ppl who wouldn't even think of themselves as Muslim but claim to be Sufis...and there are people who say they are Muslim and also Sufis...there are people who say they are only Muslim but have "Sufi" practices. There are those that say there are no "Sufi practices" but Sufi "ideas/ways of thinking". If you have saints and are praying at their grave then obviously this is shirk., I could go on but then again not all ppl who are called Sufi do such things. I think it really depends on the individual and what they do or don't do and how they define it. I like the Sufi poet Rumi but that doesn't make me a Sufi. edit: so what then would praying at a saints grave be called? Bi'dah then no?
What does the phrase "eyes are the windows to the soul" mean?
“The eyes are the windows to the soul” a pretty common metaphor. It’s kind of a weird expression for saying that the eyes of a person are supposed to give you insight into their inner world - their feelings, thoughts, etc. So the general idea is that if you look into a person’s eyes you get an idea of who they are. If you ever looked someone in the eyes and thought “he/she looks like he/she/ is happy/sad/mean/nice” then their eyes gave you a lot of information about the person’s emotional state. You can also tell a true smile from a fake one by looking into the persons eyes while they are smiling - faking a smile is pretty easy, we do it all the time. But when someone is truly happy and smiling, the corners of their eyes crinkle - its natural. (x)So generally the phrase means that the eyes simply tell you things about a person their words might not - its just like body language.
What's the difference between faith and knowledge?
Faith is thinking something is real. Knowledge is knowing it's real. Religious people constantly act like faith equals knowledge and that their beliefs are something more than just beliefs.