Saturday, March 3, 2012

What would be some examples of 'deus ex machina' in classic or modern literature?

In The Lord of the Flies, just as the protagonist Ralph is about to be killed by the band of "hunters" at the end of the story, a ship appears from nowhere onto the island.


In The Pit and the Pendulum, the unnamed narrator has just been pushed over the edge of the bottomless pit when he reaches up and grabs the arm of the French general who has seized the fortress where the narrator has been imprisoned.


In Watership Down, after freeing the local farm dog to attack the Efrafans, Hazel is pinned by the farm cat and about to be killed until a young girl from the farm intervenes by ordering the cat to back away.

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