Study Like a Boss
Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Hamlet, The Prince of Denmark is considered by many to be one of Shakespeare’s greatest works. Written around 1599-1602 (the exact date is unknown), it is certainly one of the most famous of Shakespeare’s plays. The line “To be or not to be,” from the famous soliloquy, is now part of the common language in … Read more
A now famous novel by Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, was first published in 1960. The book won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize immediately, becoming a classical book of modern American literature and a bestseller, and was soon adapted into a film in 1962. Being one of only two books by Harper Lee, it brought her instant … Read more
The novel opens with a preface allegedly written by the nephew. In this he tells us how he hcame to meet Harry Haller, or Steppenwolf, when Harry rented a room in the boarding house owned by his aunt. He tells us that he did not at first like Steppenwolf, but came to like him over time. … Read more
Key Facts According to Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon is a product of 14 years of thought formation. Keyes first published Flowers for Algernon as a short story in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1959 and won a Hugo Award for Best Short Story. The novel only came as an extended and more in depth version of … Read more
Characters and Analysis Alice At 7 and a half years old, Alice is the protagonist of the tale. Her adventures in Looking-Glass World present challenges to all of her perceptions and preconceived notions of the world. Because she approaches everything she sees with a firm sense of order, she unintentionally alienates nearly every character she … Read more
The novel begins as Charlie follows Doctor Strauss and Professor Nemur’s orders as he writes his first ‘Progris riport’. Charlie introduces himself and speaks about his job working for Mr. Donner as well as his night classes with Miss Kinnian who recommended him to Strauss and Nemur due to his hard work and ambition. Burt, … Read more
Beloved, by American writer Toni Morrison, was inspired by the story of an African-American slave who escaped slavery in Kentucky after she fled to Cincinnati, Ohio. Garner later killed one of her own children to prevent them from being returned to slavery. Garner’s story was originally entitled “A Visit to the Slave Mother who Killed … Read more
Shakespeare (William) was the most distinguished dramatic poet the world has had since the decline of Greece. He was the son of a wealthy woolen merchant at Stratford on the Avon, a market spot in the English. County Warwickshire, probably born on Apr. 23, 1564. His mother was a daughter of Robert of Wellington, and … Read more
Characters and Analysis King Arthur Son of Uther and Igraine. Arthur is destined to become the king who unifies all of England. He establishes his destiny by pulling the sword form the stone. Arthur is the embodiment of royal virtue and valor. Though he proves himself in battle and feats the enemies of the throne, … Read more
“In short, Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman. The motherwomen seemed to prevail that summer at Grand Isle. It was easy to know them, fluttering about with extended, protecting wings when any harm, real or imaginary, threatened their precious brood. They were women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy … Read more
The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopian feminist and speculative/science-fiction novel written by the Canadian author Margaret Atwood in 1985. The novel is presented in a disjointed form that shifts from past to present and that allows for most of the events of the story to occur and be pushed forward through the psyche of the narrator and … Read more
“Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men. Now, … Read more
Symbols Hair As is the case in many novels with strong African-American characters, hair plays an important role in Their Eyes Were Watching God. To Janie, her hair is a symbol of power and identity. It is representative of her individuality and strength in three ways. Initially, her hair is representative of her independence and refusal to … Read more
Janie Mae Crawford Janie is the central character of the novel, and she seeks to defy stereotypes. And, while a strong and independent black female, she has strikingly ‘Caucasian-like straight hair’; a trait she has inherited as a result of her mixed ancestry. She further asserts herself by wearing overalls in an era where all … Read more
Written by Zora Neale Hurston, the novel and later turned movie Their Eyes Were Watching God is regarded as an important piece of history. While fictitious in nature, the novel is viewed as one of the first major publications ever written by a black woman. It follows the life of attractive and confident African-American woman Janie Crawford … Read more
“They stretched their beloved lord in his boat, laid out by the mast, amidships, the great ring-giver. Far-fetched treasures were piled on him, and precious gear.” (lines 34-37) From the opening lines of the poem, here is evidence of the declarations of loyalty to the founder of the Danes. As they send him off to a … Read more
The Irrationality of the World It is important to remember that Camus was a philosopher who described the irrational aspect of existence. His belief is that there is no rational meaning or order to life. This tendency to deny order and meaning where there is none is central to Camus’s notion of the absurdity of life. … Read more
Themes Ignorance Is Bliss Charlie is shown to be an ambitious man with the mental capabilities of a child. Charlie seems to live blissfully in ignorance before his intelligence as he believes his bullies at work are his friends and he thinks highly of them. He also seems to have suppressed his painful childhood memories … Read more
As the story opens, we are introduced to Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, unmarried siblings who live on their ancestral farm in the rural town of Avonlea, Prince Edward Island in Canada. Matthew is now 60 years old and unable to properly work the farm, Green Gables. Matthew and Marilla decide to adopt and orphan boy … Read more
Written just two years after being driven from office as a diplomat, The Prince was originally intended to be part of a larger work entitled “On Principalities.” This short book is the only extent part of that original text, first published in 1532. Chapters 1-11 examine the various types of principalities or principates. The text offers examples … Read more
The Little Prince is a fantasy science-fiction novel written by the French author, poet and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and was first published in 1943. The novel is presented in the form of a parable or fable in which many creatures and animals are given the power and wisdom to speak and reveal important messages regarding society and … Read more
Alex The protagonist and narrator, Alex is a violent and antisocial teenager. He derives satisfaction from brutalizing others. He leads his gang on nightly outings of robbery, rape, and other forms of ultra-violence. He seems to enjoy only one decent thing and that is classical music. Eventually brainwashed by the government into being sickened by … Read more
Anthony Burgess’s novel A Clockwork Orange may be best known for the movie adaptation which came afterward. The novel has seen massive critical praise since its publication in 1962. This is a dystopian novel that imagines a future in which people are generally numbed by boredom and the general tedium of life under a repressive government, which … Read more
In a dystopian future city, the main character and narrator, Alex, and his gang of “Droogs” (friends), run wild through a society which has fallen into a complacent stupor. The city is governed by a repressive government which operates as a totalitarian state. Alex and his droogs speak in a slang dialect called “nadsat” which … Read more
Author, S.E. Hinton forever changed the direction of literature written for young adults when she penned her premier novel, the Outsiders. Remarkably, Hinton was just 17 years old when the book was published, the Outsiders, she has stated, was written as her response to the fluffy and feminine high school dramas about dating and proms and … Read more
Complete title: The Odyssey Written by: Homer (although some believe that there were multiple authors) Classification: Poetry Language of Origin: Ancient Greek Time and Place of Original Text: Presumed to be 700 BCE, Greece Point of View: Narrated in third person. The narrator regularly offers insights into the thoughts and emotions of minor characters, gods and mortals. Protagonist: Odysseus Rising Conflict: Odysseus has … Read more
Quotes That’s what they mean by the love that passeth understanding: that pride, that furious desire to hide that abject nakedness which we bring here with us, . . . carry stubbornly and furiously with us into the earth again. At the end of Section 11, these are the thoughts that Peabody has about the soon to pass, … Read more
The Mind over Labor The “Strike of the mind” is one of the main issues in the novel. Rand’s belief that great minds are the engines of social progress is contained in this theme. It is the work of great minds which create and fuel progress and not labor. The idea that society is driven … Read more
Quotations and Analysis “124 was spiteful. Full of a baby’s venom.” 124 serves as a central image in the novel and all three part begin with an observation of this type. This begins Part One. The problem of haunting will pervade the novel, both literally and figuratively. Beloved is a character who can be read … Read more
Short biography of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is probably the most famous German poet of all times and is considered a universal genius. He has gained recognition with important works not only in literature, but also in art theory and natural sciences. Goethe, for example, developed his own theory of color … Read more
Quotations and Analysis “Robert Cohn was once middleweight boxing champion of Princeton. Do not think I am very much impressed by that as a boxing title, but it meant a lot to Cohn. He cared nothing for boxing, in fact he disliked it, but he learned it painfully and thoroughly to counteract the feeling of … Read more
Quotes and Analysis Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallowed heights of Troy.Many cities of men he saw and learned their minds, many pains he suffered, heartsick on the open sea, fighting to save his life and … Read more
“Turning and turning in the widening gyreThe falcon cannot hear the falconer;Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.” Interestingly, Achebe uses a quotation form Yeats’s poem “The Second Coming” to open the novel. This sets the tone for what will unfold. That the center cannot hold is foreshadowing of … Read more
Major Themes Honor and Chivalry The Knights of the Round Table must renew their oath of Chivalry every year in order to assure the king of their honor. This includes mercy, fighting for good, and protecting ladies. Each knight in his own way is an example of these virtues. However, they all seem to succumb … Read more
The bulk of the novel is set in a fictional village based on Achebe’s birthplace of Ogidi. His actual village comprised an Igbo-speaking people. This was a society of independent villages united under the legal authority of a counsel of elders. Set in the 1890s, the events in the novel mirror the rapid transformation of … Read more
Heart of Darkness, a novella written by Joseph Conrad, was first published in Blackwood’s magazine in 1899. It wasn’t printed in book form until 1942 in Youth: A Narrative, and Two Other Stories. Joseph Conrad set sail for the Belgian Congo in 1890, and wrote of his experiences in his novella, Heart of Darkness. On the surface, the story … Read more
Important Quotes “Don’t you really know, Durbeyfield, that you are the lineal representative of the ancient and knightly family of the d’Urbervilles, who derive their descent from Sir Pagan d’Urberville, that renowned knight who came from Normandy with William the Conqueror, as appears by Battle Abbey Roll?” “Never heard it before, sir!” Taken from Chapter … Read more
Important Themes The Aimlessness of the Lost Generation The generation of people who lived through World War I are often referred to as the Lost Generation. Lives were devastated and old values were revealed as pointless in the wake of the war. The characters in the novel cannot relate to the values and beliefs which … Read more
Full title: A Doll’s House Written By: Henrik Ibsen Type of Work: Play Original Language: Norwegian Time and Place Written: Rome, Italy 1879 Major Conflict: Nora’s continued struggle with Krogstad, who threatens to out her to her husband, provokes her path to self discovery and creates most of the dramatic suspense of the play. Nora’s main conflict, though, is with the … Read more
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, published in 1949, won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play the same year. It premiered on Broadway in February of 1949 and ran for almost 800 performances. It is still considered one of the best examples of 20th Central American Drama. Death of a Salesman has been … Read more
Important Quotes “Valjean strained his eyes in the distance and called out…”Petit Gervais!…” His cries died away into the mist, without even awakening an echo…[H]is knees suddenly bent under him, as if an invisible power suddenly overwhelmed him with the weight of his bad conscience; he fell exhausted…and cried out, “I’m such a miserable man!” … Read more
Jean Valjean Jean Valjean is the pseudo-father figure to Cosette. Valjean received a nineteen year prison sentence for stealing a load of bread. After experiencing the kindness of a bishop, Valjean renounces his life of crime and vows to lead a prosperous life. He develops a manufacturing process that nets him a comfortable lifestyle. He … Read more
After serving a nineteen year sentence for stealing a loaf of bread, criminal Jean Valjean is released from a French prison. Upon arriving to the small town of Digne, Valjean learns that none of the townspeople are willing to offer him shelter because of his criminal past. Seeking refuge, Valjean comes across the home of … Read more
Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most recognized French writers, Victor Hugo was the son of a general in Napoleon’s army. As such, he spent a significant portion of his childhood travelling Italy and Spain before joining his mother in Paris at the age of eleven. It was there that he developed his … Read more
Symbolism of the Book Prospero’s Cloak and BooksProspero’s cloak and books are revealed as the authentic source of his magical ability. Only twice does he remove his cloak; when he is explaining to Miranda their history and her true identity and again, at the end of the play, when he chooses to give up his … Read more
“You taught me language, and my profit on’t is I know how to curse. The red plague rid you for learning me your language! (I.ii366-368) Dictated by Caliban to Miranda and Prospero, this statement clearly illustrates the tumultuous relationship between the slave and master (or the colonized and the colonizer). Caliban is regarded as a ‘savage’ … Read more
ProsperoThe true Duke of Milan, who has been stripped of his rule and exiled to sea by Antonio, his brother, and Alonso, the King of Naples. Prospero, along with his daughter, Miranda, have lived for twelve years on an island inhabited by them and a group of spirits. Prospero has become the powerful leader and … Read more
Book Summary The Tempest begins on the deck of a navigator’s vessel that is being ravaged at sea by a violent tempest in Act I, Scene I. The seamen fight with all of their might to lower the ship’s sails in a bid to control the ship. Passengers, Antonio, Alonso, Ferdinand and Sebastian, worried by the growing noise … Read more
Symbolism Prep School The image of the prep school embodies all of Holden’s attitudes. The prep school veneer of perfection that conceals a world of inconsistency and hypocrisy is the primary symbol of all of Holden’s attitudes. Even the way the schools are advertised are a lie to Holden. Holden explains that Pencey Prep shows … Read more
Innocence If anything drives Holden’s cynicism it is what he sees as the loss of innocence. He idealizes this state over all others. His dream is to be “the catcher in the rye” in which children play in a state of protected innocence and he has the role of catching them should they wander too … Read more