Study Like a Boss
As the novel opens we find Dagny Taggart, vide president in charge of operations, struggling against worsening economic conditions to save Taggart Transcontinental’s Rio Norte Line which provides service to Colorado. This is the last place in America that is experiencing economic growth. She is struggling because, as we find out, the most talented entrepreneurs … Read more
Shortly after completing Alice in Wonderland Lewis Carrol (the name Charles Dodgson used for a pseudonym) began writing a sequel. This became Through the Looking Glass. Again inspired by young Alice Liddell, Dodgson crafted another magical world of adventure and adversity for a young heroine who must find her own way amid a world which obeys no conventional … Read more
Published in 1932, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is a dystopian vision set 600 years in the future in which technology has diminished the place of human feeling and human life. The novel envisions a world in which the stability of the state takes precedence over any and all human concerns. This is taken to such and … Read more
Lewis Carroll, or Charles Dodgson, got the beginnings of Alice in Wonderland during an outing with the three young daughters of Henry Liddell, the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University and Dean of Christ Church. As they rowed a boat on the river, Dodgson invented the tale to amuse the young girls, and one of them, Alice Liddell, asked … Read more
Full Title: Tess of the d’Urbervilles Author: Thomas Hardy Time of Writing: 1880’s, England Date of First Publication: 1891 Setting: Wessex, Southwest of England Conflict: Tess is seduced, left pregnant and then abandoned by the son of a wealthy family, making her true love unable to accept her as worthy later in life.
Herman Hesse’s 1927 novel, Steppenwolf¸ in many ways expresses the profound doubts and conflicts Hesse went through at the time that he was writing the novel. The book explores the idea that all people have within them multiple and conflicting aspects of their nature. In Steppenwolf, the protagonist seems to be made of two main character types, … Read more
Themes Identity Harry sees himself as comprised of two exclusive selves. He is the wolf who longs to be alone and free of societal constraints. Yet he is torn by his other half which identifies with tame bourgeois society. While he longs to break free of culture, he is drawn to culture. His drive for … Read more
First published in 1941, the novel went through several editorial changes due in some part to the explosive nature of the times. The looming threat of Nazi censorship impacted everything in Europe during this time. It was eventually published in 1942 in its final form. The 1946 version translated by Stuart Gilbert became the standard … Read more
Albert Camus’s The Stranger was published in France in 1942. Although it is a slender and seemingly simply novel, the underlying philosophical message is quite complex. Camus was one of the leading proponents of existentialist and absurdist philosophy. This was a mode of thinking which arose during and immediately following the Second World War in which philosophers … Read more
Quotations and Analysis “Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil, is rightwise king born of all England.” Obviously the prophecy which foretells the coming of Arthur as the rightful king. The quotations encapsulates the theme of fate which pervades the story. It also demonstrates some of the pre-Christian, pagan dimensions retained in … Read more
The Awakening was the second and last novel written by Kate Chopin who was originally named Katherine O’Flaherty. Chopin was severely criticized for her feminist writing and especially of her portrayal of a woman having extramarital affairs which was considered outrageous at the time. Kate Chopin was brought up in a matriarchal household and was surrounded … Read more
“Tim O’Brien”, the protagonist of The Things They Carried, starts by recalling a specific event that occurred in the midst of his experience in the Vietnam war setting. The novel describes the collection of things that his fellow soldiers in the Alpha Company brought along with them on their many missions. Some, for example, carried with them … Read more
Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe remains a controversial personality of the Renaissance era. Despite having obtained both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from Cambridge University, Marlowe was anything but a reclusive scholar. On the contrary, he was enthusiastically engaged in a number of political, religious and scientific debate. He was also an accomplished lyricist, … Read more
Quotations and Analysis “Prof Nemur said but why did you want to lern to reed and spell in the frist place. I tolld him because all my life I wantid to be smart and not dumb and my mom always tolld me to try and lern just like Miss Kinnian tells me but its very … Read more
Addie Bundren, the wife and matriarch of an impoverished southern family, has fallen deathly ill. Her family believes that she is soon to pass. Her eldest son, Cash, begins to use his impressive carpentry skill to build a coffin for his mother right outside her bedroom window. Despite their mothers declining health, Darl and Jewel … Read more
Complete title: Heart of Darkness Written By: Joseph Conrad Genre: Symbolism, adventure tale, colonial literature Time and Place of writing: England in 1899 Date of first publication: Blackwood’s Magazine, 1899. Later published in the volume Youth: A Narrative; and Two Other Stories in 1902 Major Conflict: Marlow and Kurtz face conflict between their views of themselves as civilized men and the … Read more
Written by Kate Chopin, The Awakening was the second and final novel to be published by the feminist, controversial writer. Published in 1899 during the first wave of feminism, the novel was extremely ahead of its time in its criticism of the patriarchal society and prevailing gender roles in the late 19th and early 20th century. The novel is … Read more
The narrator and protagonist of Camus’s novel is named Meursault, a young man living in Algiers. The novel opens as he receives news that his mother has died. He goes to Marengo to the old persons’ home where his mother lived. After sleeping through nearly the entire bus ride, Meursault speaks to the director of … Read more
The novel is based on Hemingway’s trip to Spain in 1925 in which he experienced European café life and the running of the bulls in Pamplona. He wrote the novel in about two months, spending just a few months on revisions. It was published in 1926. The novel is an example of the Roman a clef, … Read more
Quotations and Analysis “Who in the world am I?” Ah, that’s the great puzzle.” In Chapter 2, Alice asks herself this question after she has grown to an enormous size. In this quotation we see how Alice is attempting to not only understand Wonderland, but also herself. As she is plunged into a world in … Read more
The origins and authorship of Le Morte d’Arthur are murky. There were numerous people who went by the name of Thomas Mallory around the time of the publication of the book. Scholars generally agree the author was one “Knyght presoner Thomas Malleorre” (“Sir Thomas Maleore” according to Caxton), born in 1416, who was the actual author of … Read more
The story is set in the times of the Great Depression, during 1933-1935, in the fictional little town of Maycomb, Alabama. The protagonist of the story is a girl aged six, Jean Louise Finch (also called Scout), living with her family, who are Scout’s elder brother Jeremy (Jem) and their father, Atticus, a widowed lawyer. … Read more
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman seemed to take its place in the canon of great American literature almost as soon as it deputed on Broadway in 1949. The play hits upon themes which have proved to resonate the world over but also has particular meaning for American audiences. Miller’s play ostensibly presents an idea American family, … Read more
Key Facts John Steinbeck wrote and published The Pearl in 1947 as his 11th novel. The novel was adapted from a folk tale that the author had heard while on a trip to Mexico in 1940. The author did not intend to create a novel and was actually meaning to write a film script instead. With the direction … Read more
The novel begins in Cincinnati in 1873 as Sethe, a former slave, is living with her 18 year old daughter, Denver. Sethe’s mother-in-law, Baby Suggs, lived with her until her death 8 years prior to the opening of the novel and we learn that his Sethe’s two sons, Howard and Buglar ran away just prior to … Read more
Full Title: The Things They Carried Written by: Tim O’Brien Type of Literary Work: A collection of short stories Genre: War stories, memory stories Date of first publication: 1990 Narrator: Tim O’Brien Tone: The Things They Carried is an meditative depiction of the methods and reasons for storytelling. The narrator is often unreliable, speaking of the necessity of crossing the lines between … Read more
Symbols The Theatre: The theatre is symbolic of artistry and artifice. Humbert blames Lolita’s newly learned ability to lie on her participation in a school play. Quilty uses that same school play to convince Lolita to come with him. Lolita is drawn to the theatre because of Quilty. This is particularly upsetting for Humbert, as he … Read more
The Power of Language: Nabokov had a strong love for language, it was his belief that proper language could enhance anything the same level as fine art. In his novel, Lolita, the use of language overpowers the shocking subject matter and perhaps even gives it a beautiful quality that it is not deserving of. Lolita is … Read more
Humbert Humbert: Humbert is the main character and narrator of Lolita. Humbert is European, smart, and has an obsession for children whom he refers to as nymphets. He has a long history of mental illness. Somehow Humbert manages to seduce the audience with the way he speaks, he is, however, capable of rape and murder. Despite his … Read more
Summary of Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov The foreword of the novel Lolita, written by Russian-American literary great, Vladimir Nabokov, follows a fictional character, John Ray, Jr., Ph.D, as he prefaces the peculiar tale that is set to come. According to Ray, he came to have in his possession a manuscript, entitled the Confession of a White Widowed … Read more
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry used his love for doodling to create his own watercolor illustrations for The Little Prince. The Little Prince was first published in the U.S in English and French but would be later translated into over 250 languages. The French version of the novel was titled Le Petit Prince. It is said that the … Read more
Quotations and Analysis “It’s a great huge game of chess that’s being played—all over the world—if this is the world at all, you know.” Alice says this in Chapter 2 as she looks out on a landscape which appears to be a large chess board. She deduces that Looking-Glass World is like a great chess game, … Read more
Key facts Margaret Atwood’s novel was originally titled Offred. The atmosphere of paranoia in Atwood’s novel was inspired by Orwell’s 1984 as well as her experience of feeling as if she was being spied on when she was writing the novel in 1984 in West Berlin before the fall of the Berlin wall. The novel won the … Read more
Nearly three thousand years ago, sometime between 800 and 600 BCE, the inhabitants of what is now known as Greece passed the time by relaying tales about a war of tremendous proportions. The individual credited for collecting all of these stories and sharing them as one unified collection was a man known only as Homer, … Read more
Much of Huxley’s novel was directly inspired by places and things that really existed. Huxley visited San Francisco in 1920s and was struck by what he saw as rampant consumerism and unrestricted promiscuity in American youth culture. He saw this type of mass behavior as indicative of the world to come, a world driven entirely … Read more
The novel is the tragic story of Okonkwo, the protagonist, and the Igbo culture of Nigeria. We learn from the outset that Okonkwo is a respected leader among the Igbo community in Umuofia, in eastern Nigeria. Though he grew up under the perceived weakness of his father, he his determined from an early age to distinguish … Read more
Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland tells the tale of a young girl as she falls asleep in a meadow one summer day only to find herself trapped in a world of fantastic animals and people, and engaged in a series of adventures. Alice is led by a White Rabbit down the rabbit hole where she meets talking … Read more
Characters and Analysis Harry Haller, or The Steppenwolf A reclusive middle-aged man. He resents all things bourgeois but nevertheless lives in a distinctly bourgeois boarding house. He refers to himself as Steppenwolf because he believes he is a man of two distinct natures: the lone wolf who rejects society and lives a life of solitary … Read more
The novel was written between 1845 and 1846 and was published by Emily Brontë herself, after being rejected by many publishers. Brontë, aware of the patriarchal society at the time, wrote under the male pseudonym Ellis Bell. Wuthering Heights was inspired by the surroundings of the author as she lived on the moors and also by the … Read more
Quotations and Analysis O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, / Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, / Or that the Everlasting had not fixed / His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter. O God, God, / How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable / Seem to me all the uses of this world! Act One … Read more
Full working title: The Tragicall History of D. Faustus and later, The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus. Author: Christopher Marlowe Type of Work: Play Narrator: None, however, the Chorus appears between scenes to offer background information and to provide commentary Point of View: Dr. Faustus is the central figure of the play, there are multiple long soliloquies … Read more
The word ivory rang in the air, was whispered, was sighed. You would think they were praying to it. A taint of imbecile rapacity blew through it all, like a whiff from some corpse. By Jove! I’ve never seen anything so unreal in my life. And outside, the silent wilderness surrounding this cleared speck on … Read more
Making note of his fear of foreign journalists and their questions, Francois Mauriac tells of his chance meeting with a reporter from Tel Aviv, who is later revealed to be Elie Wiesel, the author of Night. As the two begin to converse, Mauriac’s apprehensions are dispelled by the unjudgmental nature of the interview. The men spoke about … Read more
Wuthering Heights is Emily Brontë’s only novel. Brontë wrote the gothic yet tragic novel in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell and received a great deal of criticism for the violent nature of the character of Heathcliff that she created. Wuthering Heights is still known today as one of the most tragic romantic, gothic novels in … Read more
The story begins as Edna Pontellier, her husband Léonce and their children are vacationing at one of the Lebrun’s Grand Isle cottages. Edna’s husband spends most of his time away for business and when he isn’t working he prefers the company of his friends at nearby hotel called Klein’s. Edna as a result spends most … Read more
Title: The Outsiders. Author: S.E. Hinton. Genre: Coming of age, struggle between socio-economic classes. Time written: Tulsa, 1960. Point of View: First-person narrative by Ponybo. Major conflict: The clash between the lower-class greasers and the upper-class Socs (or Socials), Ponyboy’s own struggle to grow and mature. Rising action: Johnny murders a Soc, He and Ponyboy go into hiding, The tension between the … Read more
Loyalty Beowulf celebrates a warrior culture. For this reason, loyalty is of paramount importance. One of the central points, which demonstrates this, is the conflict between Beowulf and Unferth. Beowulf is from another place and another tribe. His allegiance to Hrothgar is through a family debt, yet he proves himself more loyal to Hrothgar than Unferth … Read more
Beowulf is written in Old English. Though this is English in the most technical sense, it would be unrecognizable to a modern reader. We can read Chaucer’s Middle English with a little help from a glossary of terms, but Old English resembles a completely foreign language. Here is a sample from the opening lines of the … Read more
Key Facts Complete title: Night Written by: Elie Wiesel Genre: WW2 and Holocaust memoir Language: The book was originally 800 pages long, and written in Yiddish. It’s original title was Un di Velt Hot Geshvign (And the World Remained Silent) Time of Writing: Night was written in Paris in 1950. The author had previously taken a ten year vow of silence, … Read more
Dagny Taggart As vice president of operations for Taggart Transcontinental, Dagny is the central character. She is a brilliant manager and she is committed to saving the railroad against the “looters” who would seize property from capitalists. Amid the growing chaos in the nation, Dagny mainstains the system which allows the looters to disrupt the … Read more
