Short to be brought up short means to suddenly stop doing something often with a surprise so some sort of surprising experience stops you it brings you up short and it can be passive or active. In the book there are parallels with today meaning similarities now the grammar there my mum actually said there's lots of parallels with today that is technically incorrect but everyone does it without even realizing they're wrong. When was the last time you were moved by something like a book or a film I wonder which book or film it was um then uh the next thing is there is this character arc of this guy who starts out innocent and gets seduced by the money  in star wars luke's guy walker starts