Study Like a Boss
“To Build a Fire” by Jack London is a short story about a man traveling along the Yukon River in the bitter winter weather. While warned against traveling alone in the frigid cold, he ventures out to meet his companions at a remote camp many miles away, with only his dog. Overcome by nature’s power, … Read more
William Shakespeare’s satirical comedy, The Merchant of Venice, believed to have been written in 1596 was an examination of hatred and greed. The premise deals with the antagonistic relationship between Shylock, a Jewish money-lender and Antonio, the Christian merchant, who is as generous as Shylock is greedy, particularly with his friend, Bassanio. The two have … Read more
As readers, we have to make judgments and interpretations of different characters. In the book, Antigone, translated by David Greene, there is a character by the name of Creon. While reading Antigone, some important descriptions about Creon become apparent. He views himself as the perfect leader, believes he is always correct, and wants control over … Read more
Could you ever imagine living your entire life in the same town and if you try to leave something will keep bringing you back. In the novel, Ethan Frome, the main character Ethan Frome lives his life in this way. Through his silence, isolation, and illusions he causes himself to be trapped in Starkfield. In … Read more
The way a person reacts to ordinary situations determines the opinions of others based on their behavior. Yet, when this behavior is abnormal or different from the rest of society, it causes society to form an opinion based totally on a persons behavior not their true personality. In Meursaults case, his strange opinions and unexpected … Read more
Macbeth is the epitome of what the literary world regards as a “tragic hero”. His admirable qualities are supplanted with greed and hate when three witches dupe him. The three witches enter with the first scene from William Shakespeare’s, Macbeth, a tragic tale of one man’s quest for power that leads to his ultimate defeat. … Read more
Voltaire’s Candide is a story about a young man learning about the realities of the world; realities he never could have believed to happen in life because his education heavily involves the idea that this is the “best of all worlds. ” Salter Street Films’ Lexx is a story about a group of misfit adventurers … Read more
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper is a commentary on the male oppression of women in a patriarchal society. However, the story itself presents an interesting look at one woman’s struggle to deal with both physical and mental confinement. This theme is particularly thought-provoking when read in today’s context where individual freedom is one of … Read more
There are many literary works that contain villains who play an essential role in the development of the work as a whole. However, I believe that the ultimate villain of this kind is Iago in Shakespeare’s play, Othello. Through manipulation and scheming, he beguiles the other characters of the novel. In the analysis of Iago’s … Read more
The personalities of the two sisters; Antigone and Ismene, are as different from one another as tempered steel is from a ball of cotton. One is hard and resistant; the other: pliable, absorbing and soft. Antigone would have been a strong, successful 90s type woman with her liberated and strong attitude towards her femininity, while … Read more
Right from the beginning the plot is almost conveniently evident. You find a woman, Edna Pontellier, tired of living her life as a pampered and “owned” wife and mother. She is searching for much more in her life, some sort of meaning for her whole existence. She searches for a long time but in the … Read more
People always listen to music, watch movies or plays, and even read poetry without once even thinking what is could be that helps and artist eventually create a masterpiece. Often times, it is assumed that artists just have a “gift”, and people just do not consider the circumstances and situations that gradually mold a dormant … Read more
Edgar Allan Poe describes in great detail, his poem The Raven, in The Philosophy of Composition. Never before had I been able to read a poet describe in his own philosophy of making a poem. Poe goes in deep context and meaning to how he derives the story line to his poem. He explains what … Read more
This Book has many shady characters, only Gretchen is the one character you can feel sorry for, that is what makes this tragedy so horrifying yet gratifying . Her and Faust running around makes you happy, but you anticipate them to fall desperately into love with one another and finish their lives indulging with Mephisto. … Read more
The late 1800s were a time of repression for women. A woman was expected to conform to her husbands ideals and accept a life of his control. Even today, the relationship between men and women sometimes seems unequal. In her essay “Disappointment is the Lot of Women,” Lucy Stone discusses the different treatment of men … Read more
Shakespeare’s plays incorporate an entire panorama of diverse subject matters. He deals with a lot of social, political and cultural issues in his plays. He has the ability to highlight the different aspects of these various issues through the perspectives of his various characters. On the one hand he seems to foreground a lot of … Read more
It is true that the study of the devil or evil in general as a part of the world has intrigued man for centuries. This is mostly because it is something people don’t have concrete proof of and is also considered taboo in our society. Yet, studies and/or story telling on the devil and his … Read more
In Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha, a classic novel about enlightenment, the main character, Siddhartha, goes on a lifelong journey of self-discovery. Along the way, Siddhartha encounters many who try to teach him enlightenment, undoubtedly the most important being the illustrious Buddha himself. Although Siddhartha rejects the Buddha’s teachings, saying that wisdom cannot be taught, we can … Read more
Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, these amazing plays all originated from the single mind of William Shakespeare. The plays in which Shakespeare wrote, he wrote out of a very small educated mind a distinct love for the bible and of course, an imagination. The plays in which Shakespeare wrote were all written as an adult to, … Read more
Zolas La Debacle, first planned in 1868, was the penultimate chapter in Les Rougon-Macquart. Warfare was something Zola had always meant to give full play in Les Rougon-Macquart, and his 1868 scheme had provided for “a novel that will have the military world as its framework; an episode in [Napoleon IIIs] Italian campaign. ” But … Read more
Shelley deals with the theme of inspiration in much of his work. However it is particularly apparent in Ode to the West Wind where the wind is the source of his creativity. The cycles of death and rebirth are examined in an historical context with reference to The Bible. The word inspiration has several connotations … Read more
Children all over the world are treated differently at different times, during different centuries. Some children are raised by both of their parents in a good environment, with good conditions, and with a good education. Those kids are well taken care of and are happy if love is added to all that. The place that … Read more
In the novel Wuthering Heights, a story about love turned obsession, Emily Bronte manipulates the desolate setting and dynamic characters to examine the self-destructive pain of compulsion. Emily Brontes Wuthering Heights is a novel about lives that cross paths and are intertwined with one another. Healthcliff, a orphan, is taken in by Mr. Earnshaw, the … Read more
In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare extends a humorous exploration of identity that he had begun in The Comedy of Errors. In the Twelfth Night, Viola and Sebastian are not identical twins; it’s not biologically possible. Sebastian is a male and Viola a female, and the comedy in it all is that they cannot be distinguished from … Read more
I picked two short stories that I would like to compare and contrast in this essay. The first story is called “The Yellow WallPaper” and was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The second story I chose is called “A Rose for Emily” and was written by William Faulkner. Both of these stories are about women … Read more
The major characters in The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison were Pecola Breedlove, Cholly Breedlove, Claudia MacTeer, and Frieda MacTeer. Pecola Breedlove is an eleven-year-old black girl around whom the story revolves. Her innermost desire is to have the “bluest” eyes so that others will view her as pretty in the end that desire is … Read more
In “The Odyssey”, Athene helped Odysseus numerous ways physically and mentally by aiding him, Telemachus, and Penelope. In book I, Athene urged Telemachus to give up boyhood, act like a man, present his case to search for his father to the assembly, and take stronger steps to search for his father. After Telemachus presented his … Read more
No discussion of evil in Shakespeares play Macbeth would be satisfactory without considering its most famous symbols of evil: the coven of witches whose interactions with Macbeth play such a vital role in his thinking about his own life. Banquo and Macbeth recognize them as something supernatural, part of the landscape but not fully human … Read more
Edgar Allan Poe was one of Americas famous poets, fiction short-story writers, and literary critics. He is known as the first master of short story form especially in tales of horror, and mystery. The work he produced was considered to be some of the most influential literary criticism of his time. His poems made him … Read more
Throughout the play, “The Merchant of Venice” William Shakespeare portrays anti-Semitism through many of his characters. Audiences today may interpret the play to be offensive, where as people of Shakespeares time would have accepted the play as part of everyday life. The majority of Londons population at the time was anti-Semitic because there were very … Read more
In “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, the author uses the element of time to enhance details of the setting and vice versa. By avoiding the chronological order of events of Miss Emily’s life, Faulkner first gives the reader a finished puzzle, and then allows the reader to examine this puzzle piece by piece, … Read more
The Island of Doctor Moreau, by H. G. Wells, is not an ordinary science fiction novel. It doesn’t deal with aliens or anything from outer space, but with biological science that exists on earth. The novel was about a character, Edmund Prendick that gets involved with an island of experimentation. At first glance, this tropical … Read more
In many plays a character has a misconception of his her self and/or his or her world. When this misconception is destroyed it can be a major turning point in the story. “Oedipus Rex” by Sophocles is one such story. In the story Oedipus has such a misconception where he thinks he has a good … Read more
In Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus, written in the late nineteenth century by Mary Shelley, Shelley proposes that knowledge and its effects can be dangerous to individuals and all of humanity. Frankenstein was one of our first and still is one of our best cautionary tales about scientific research.. Shelley’s novel is a metaphor of … Read more
Never does one go through their life without having to deal with some sort of personal conflict. The manner in which people deal with these conflicts vary as much as the prints on a person’s finger. Some try and solve the problem and get rid of it, while others will try and put it aside … Read more
Alexander III, more commonly known as Alexander the Great, was one of the greatest military leaders in world history. He was born in Pella, Macedonia, then a Greek nation. The exact date of his birth is uncertain, but was probably either July 20 or 26, 356 B. C. Alexander was considered a child from his … Read more
Another day another school… I thought about this new school they placed me in. They said I will like it. Well I’ll be the one to decide that. Next thing I know I’m on a 6:30 train to Windsor, CT. It was a Thursday and I received a call from Mr. Spencer, well it wasn’t … Read more
Julius Caesar was a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. Julius Caesar was a great Roman general and senator born in 100 B. C. He has a wife named Calphurnia but no children. Though he was an illustrious leader, Caesar was a physically weak man; he suffered from epilepsy and was deaf in one ear. In … Read more
How little is the cost I have bestowed in purchasing the semblance of my soul,(3. 5. 19-20) is where the heart of this play is in my eyes. Portia doing what she can for her one true love, Bassanio. Money is of no importance to her especially when it comes to the happiness or unhappiness … Read more
In John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men George and Lennie struggle to achieve their ultimate dream. They want to save up and have a farm of their own. Lennie is as little retarded and George is just a typical guy and they use their friendship to stay together. While spending time on the farm, … Read more
Satan, the once radiant Lucifer, and his angels lay in a formless, sulphurous lake of fire having justbeen driven out of Heaven. Their fall had sent them plummeting through space from their heavenly home down to Hell, leaving them beaten senseless. Only now, after lying unconscious for nine days, did Satan and his demons begin … Read more
Ethan Frome, the main character in the book entitled Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton, has many complex problems going on at the same time. His family has died and he has a wife that is continually sick, and the only form of happiness he has is from his wife’s cousin Mattie. This, however, at times … Read more
Dolls. We are surrounded by dolls. G. I. Joe, Barbie, Polly Pocket, and WWF action figures. Prior to our plasticene friends we had paper dolls, marionettes, and delicately featured porcelain dolls. We are strangely fascinated by these cold, lifeless objects that look so much like ourselves. Children clutch them and create elaborate scenes, while adults … Read more
Orwell’s Animal Farm is a political satire which was written to criticise totalitarian regimes and particularly Stalin’s practices in Russia. In order to provide background information that would reveal causes led Orwell to write Animal Farm, Chapter one is devoted to a brief summary of the progress of author’s life and significant events that had … Read more
Looking for Alibrandi is a novel which mostly deals with the concept of emotional change. Through a number of characters, the author, Melina Marchetta demonstrates clearly the concept of change and changing perspective. A variety of events happen throughout the novel to these characters which influence their lives and change their perspectives. Through these events … Read more
Over the course of the novel Huck’s moral values are altered; the change is shown in the way Huck begins to respect Jim’s humanity. In the beginning of their voyage, Huck feels he shouldn’t be helping Jim to freedom and almost turns him in to slave catchers: “I was paddling off, all in a sweat … Read more
In Elizabethan Age, the sonnets had advanced into a form with new metric and rhyme scheme that was departing from Petrarchan sonnets. Yet, Elizabethan sonnets still carried the tradition of Petrarchan conceit. Petrarchan conceit was a figure used in love poems consisting detailed yet exaggerated comparisons to the lover’s mistress that often emphasized the use … Read more
Shakespeare’s tragic hero, Hamlet, and his sanity can arguably be discussed. Many portions of the play supports his loss of control in his actions, while other parts uphold his ability of dramatic art. The issue can be discussed both ways and altogether provide significant support to either theory. There are indications from Hamlet throughout the … Read more
Alan Massy-Shakespeare’s plays speak “to us today with an extraordinary and an unfailing immediacy. ” There are themes in the play that are relevant to life today such as when mans social, political and ethical worlds are out of balance. This lack of balance is symbolized by a disjunction in his own health and in … Read more
“Nihil ex nihilo, I always say”(Gardner 150). These are the words of the infamous Grendel from the novel, titled that same character, by John Gardner. They represent the phrase “life itself is meaningless” which is taught to Grendel by a few different people throughout this novel. In the following essay, the explanation of this phrase, … Read more