Essay

Alice Munro’s short story, “Boys and Girls,” has a very interesting detail written into it. The narrator’s brother is named Laird, which was carefully chosen by the author. Laird is a synonym for lord, which plays a important role in a story where a young girl has society’s unwritten rules forced upon her. At the … Read more

Voltaire was born in Paris in 1694. He had a very troubled childhood, but he managed to attend the Jesuit college of Louis le Grand in Paris where he studied literature and theater. He spent several years as a member of the royal court of Louis XV at Versailles, and was appointed as court biographer. … Read more

Chapter 7 was another important chapter in this book, it started off with Gatsby deciding to call off his parties, which he had held primarily to lure Daisy. He has also fired his servants to prevent gossip, and replaced them with connections of Meyer Wolfsheim. On the hottest day of the summer, Nick drives to … Read more

It is reasonable to wonder what Shakespeare had in mind while writing Hamlet. After all, Shakespeare wasn’t a philosopher or historian, or even a literary critic. He was a playwright. He didn’t leave critical essays examining his work. It is left to us to examine his work and decide for ourselves, if we care to, … Read more

Native Son, by Richard Wright, was hailed by reviewers as an instant classic upon its release in 1940. The novel was an instant bestseller, having been included in the book-of-the-month-club. Due to its proto revolutionary themes it was the subject of many reviews. Two such reviewers are Clifton Fadiman and Malcolm Cowley. Clifton Fadiman, writer … Read more

This reflects how both Grendel and Frankenstein must have felt during their lonely lives. The monsters simply wanted to live as the rest of society does. However, in our prejudice of their kind, we banish them from our elite society. Who gave society the right to judge who is acceptable and who is not? A … Read more

William Faulkners A Rose for Emily tells a story of a young woman who is violated by her fathers strict mentality. After being the only man in her life Emilys father dies and she finds it hard to let go. Like her father Emily possesses a stubborn outlook towards life, and she refused to change. … Read more

There appears to be an unnatural and unfounded fascination with the alleged “works” of Socrates. Perhaps that it is simply that the absolutist ideals of philosophers such as Plato and Socrates do not appeal to the post-modern, politically correct, wishy washy, materialistic reader. It is more likely, however, that the problems posed by the philosophy … Read more

The story begins in a village near the marshes where a young boy named Pip lives. Because his parents are dead, he lives with his sister, Mrs. Joe Gargery and her husband Joe who’s a blacksmith and Pip’s trusted friend. Pip doesn’t have much of a future, he’s destined to become Joe’s apprentice and eventually … Read more

‘A Streetcar Named Desire’; and ‘The Glass Menageries were written by Tennessee William in the late Thirties, where the depression made countless of people struggled in poverty. Both of the plays used the typical American family during the Thirties as the background setting. There were many similarities between the plays: including characters and events. Did … Read more

When adapting a play for the screen, a directors primary responsibility is to visualize an enactment that remains true to the original works perception. In addition to this task, the director must also build upon the foundations laid by the script; without this goal, (s)he would have no reason to have undertaken the project in … Read more

In the play of Julius Caesar, we see a brief picture of Roman life during the time of the First Triumvirate. In this snap shot, we see many unfortunate things. Shakespeare gives us the idea that many people try to circumvent what the future holds, such as unfortunate things, by being superstitious. Superstition seems to … Read more

The Grapes of Wrath is a novel by John Steinbeck that exposes the desperate conditions under which the migratory farm families of America during the 1930’s live under. The novel tells of one families migration west to California through the great economic depression of the 1930’s. The Joad family had to abandon their home and … Read more

Barn Burning is about the struggle of a boy to do what is right during the Post Civil War era. The main character, Sartoris Snopes, is a poor son of a migrant tenant farmer. In the opening scene he is being asked by a circuit judge about the burning of a farmers barn by his … Read more

Their homeland has the second largest population in the world, yet in America they form one of our smallest minorities. Americans were influenced by their beliefs long before the first immigrants arrived, and an important interchange of ideas has continued to the present day. Although many came to America as early as the turn of … Read more

Sexually transmitted diseases infect millions of people a year. Some of the commonly known sexually transmitted diseases are herpes, syphillis, HIV, AIDS, genital warts, and gonorrhea. Some of these diseases are fatal, others can be cured with antibiotics. All of these are dangerous, but the most common sexually transmitted disease is a disease that isn’t … Read more

Orwell describes doublethink as “the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. ” In 1984, doublethink is the normal way of thought, and as a result everyone understands it and practices it. Doublethink is different from changing ones mind, lying, and self-deception in many ways. Doublethink involves … Read more

Pride is not a bad attribute to have, it is actually very important. One definition for pride is: A sense of one’s own proper dignity or value; self-respect. Self respect is a very good quality to have, however, there’s such thing as too much of a good thing. This is especially the case if you … Read more

Trainspotting is a captivating story of the random events that occur during a critical time in a group of Scottish junkies lives. Irvine Welsh illustrates the confusion, anger and turmoil many heroin addicts are subjected to and what happens once they try to quit. The story is centered around Mark Renton, an ordinary twenty-two year … 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

There is still a great debate on who is, in fact, the true hero in Sophocles’ Antigone. Many hold that it must be Antigone, herself; after all, the play does bear her name. But in actuality, Creon, not Antigone, is the true tragic hero. In order to determine whether of not Creon is the true … Read more

Our freedom is under attack! Censorship is clearly an attack on our freedom. There are a number of books that are banned or challenged that are great books, such as The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. These books are classics. Banning these books robs students … Read more

A Separate Peace by John Knowls Is a classic struggle of man vs. himself and man vs. society. Taking place as a flashback, the narrator Gene Forrester tells of his struggles as a prep school student in the years of his life between age 16, and 17 during the period of WWII. Although Gene Forester … Read more

William Shakespeare was a great English playwright, dramatist and poet who lived during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Shakespeare is considered to be the greatest playwright of all time. No other writer’s plays have been produced or read as much as his. Shakespeare was born to a middle class family. His father, John, … Read more