Study Like a Boss
In the story Frankenstein, written by the author Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein decided that wanted to create a being out of people that were already dead. He believed that he could bring people back from the grave. Playing with nature in such a way would make him play the role of God. With Victor Frankenstein … Read more
In Maya Angelou’s autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya’s beautiful, vivacious biological mother, Vivian Baxter, emerges as an important character in her daughter’s life. Vivian endures as a black woman in a white man’s world by displaying strength, honesty, and toughness, which lead to self- preservation. Vivian lives within the St. Louis … Read more
The Catcher in the Rye was an interesting and controversial book. I chose to read the book because of the negative status it has with parents, teachers, and school. I wanted to discover what the roots of this controversy are. The main character who narrates throughout the book, Holden Caulfield, tells about his life before … Read more
Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire was the French author of the novella Candide, also known as “Optimism”(Durant and Durant 724). In Candide, Voltaire sought to point out the fallacy of Gottfried William von Leibniz’s theory of optimism and the hardships brought on by the resulting inaction toward the evils of the world. Voltaire’s use of … Read more
Not many great novels were produced during the post World War II era. Perhaps the greatest novel published was J. D. Salingers The Catcher in the Rye. This book, just like all other great works, was met by scathing criticism and unyielding praise. Many literary critics marveled at Salingers genius use of language to make … Read more
In Ancient Greece, new ideals surfaced as answers to life’s complicated questions. These new beliefs were centered around the expanding field of science. Man was focused on more than the Gods or heavenly concerns. A government that was ruled by the people was suggested as opposed to a monarchy that had existed for many years. … Read more
Throughout literature, many writers have alluded to stories in the Bible. Whether it’s from the Old Testament or the New Testament, writers have paid references to Biblical stories. In literary analysis, this is called an allusion. The Oxford Encyclopedic English Dictionary defines an allusion as a reference, especially a covert, or indirect one (37). In … Read more
There are many common, familiar clichs about illusion versus truth. “All that glitters is not gold” and “Things are seldom what they seem” are the most universal hackneyed phrases, but they do not cover entirely every aspect of appearance versus reality. In Charles Dickens’ novel, Great Expectations, there are several differences between the illusion and … Read more
Voltaire’s Candide is a novel which contains enlightmenet and at the same time is also exaggerated. Voltaire offers disguised by jokes and sarcisam, and the story itself presents a distinctive outlook on life in the 1700’s. The crucial contrast in the story deals with irrational ideas as taught to Candide about being optimistic, versus reality … Read more
The Bluest Eye is a complex book. Substance wise it is a disturbing yet relatively easy read, but Toni Morrison plays with the narrative structure in a way so that complexity is added to the hidden depth of the text. From the beginning to the end of the book, the author takes the reader through … Read more
“Young Goodman Brown”, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a story that is thick with allegory. “Young Goodman Brown” is a moral story which is told through the perversion of a religious leader. In “Young Goodman Brown”, Goodman Brown is a Puritan minister who lets his excessive pride in himself interfere with his relations with the community … Read more
Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is not a novel about the Vietnam War. It is a story about the soldiers and their experiences and emotions that are brought about from the war. O’Brien makes several statements about war through these dynamic characters. He shows the violent nature of soldiers under the pressures of war, … Read more
Critics such as Adrienne Rich argue that Jane Eyre has to choose between the “temptation” of following the rule of passion by marrying Rochester, which would have made her dependent on him and not his equal, or of living a life of complete renunciation of all passions, by marrying St John Rivers. Fire and water … Read more
A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway, is a typical love story. A Romeo and his Juliet placed against the odds. In this novel, Romeo is Frederick Henry and Juliet is Catherine Barkley. Their love affair must survive the obstacles of World War I. The background of war-torn Italy adds to the tragedy of the … Read more
In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald incorporates many different themes, but the most prevalent message is that of the impossibility of the American Dream. Fitzgerald writes of two types of people: those who appear to have the ideal life and those who are still trying to achieve their dreams. Tom and Daisy … Read more
This is a book about a man named Atticus Finch, his children and the people of his town. This story takes place in a place called Maycomb County in the state of Alabama. The time is in the 1940’s and ’50’s. The story starts out with a girl, “Scout” telling the story of something as … Read more
Melancholy, grief, and madness have pervaded the works of a great many playwrights, and Shakespeare is not an exception. The mechanical regularities of such emotional maladies as they are presented within Hamlet, not only allow his audience to sympathize with the tragic prince Hamlet, but to provide the very complexities necessary in understanding the tragedy … Read more
Melancholy, grief, and madness have pervaded the works of a great many playwrights, and Shakespeare is not an exception. The mechanical regularities of such emotional maladies as they are presented within Hamlet, not only allow his audience to sympathize with the tragic prince Hamlet, but to provide the very complexities necessary in understanding the tragedy … Read more
For young people, the Vietnam War is a thing of the past and they can only learn about it from second hand sources. In Tim O’brien’s The Things They Carried, it becomes very apparent that the Vietnam conflict has proved to be one that many of the participants have not been able move away from, … Read more
Trinculo and Stephano though not major characters in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, serve a large role in the story itself. They mainly serve as the story’s comic relief and they also contribute to demonstrating to the audience how evil has no boundaries. Much of the play revolves around Prospero’s contempt for everyone who betrayed him, … Read more
Beowulf was written in England sometime in the 18th century. “This provides us with an idea of a poem that was written during a time when the society had converted from paganism to Christianity”(Cohen 138). “We know that paganism did exist alongside Christianity during the approximate era that Beowulf was composed”(Hall 61). “The Christian influences … Read more
In 1726, the Anglo-Irish satirist Jonathan Swift wrote Gulliver’s Travels. Gulliver’s Travels was originally intended as an attack on the hypocrisy of the establishment, including the government, the courts, and the clergy, but it was so well written that it immediately became a children’s favorite. Swift wrote Gulliver’s Travels at a time of political change … Read more
A Clockwork Orange received critical acclaim, made more than thirty million dollars at the box office, and was nominated for various awards; however, this esteemed film was outlawed from the nation of Great Britain in order to curb its immoral content from permeating society. Before all the controversy began, A Clockwork Orange was a novel, … Read more
In Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, one topic that has been debated, interpreted, discussed, reinterpreted and adapted has been the character of Katharine, the shrew, and whether she was tamed, liberated, or just a good enough actress to make everyone think she was in fact, tamed. There are many arguments for and against each of … Read more
This is an English book report on “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley Frankenstein The story of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is about a man who created something that messes with nature, and nature came back to mess with him because nature is more powerful than man. Victor Frankenstein was very interested in natural philosophy and chemistry … Read more
“Ah Creon! Is there no man left in the world-” Teirsesias Greek theatre played a large role in Greece. The citizens were supposed to learn from the mistakes made in tragedies. The citizens should have learned what not to be like as a citizen or person. In a Greek trilogy written by Sophocles there are … Read more
Welcome to Nebraska, the land of plentiful plains and endless adventure. or in Willa Cathers case, the setting in which she introduces her readers to the two main characters of her novel, My Antonia. The compelling relationship between Jim Burden and Antonia Shimerda makes it impossible for their similarities and differences to go unnoticed. Both … Read more
The play The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, Williams uses many symbols which represent many different things. Many of the symbols used in the play try to symbolize some form of escape or difference between reality and illusion. The first symbol, presented in the first scene, is the fire escape. This represents the “bridge” between … Read more
Arguably the best piece of writing ever done by William Shakespeare, Hamlet the is the classic example of a tragedy. In all tragedies the hero suffers, and usually dies at the end. Othello stabs himself, Romeo and Juliet commit suicide, Brutis falls on his sword, and like them Hamlet dies by getting cut with a … Read more
Edgar Allen Poe’s story “A Tell Tale Heart,” has the protagonist obsessed with an old man’s eye. This obsession causes a conflict between the protagonist and his sanity. This eye eventually drove him t commit murder to rid the eye. The narrator’s conflict increases as he plots the murder, commits the murder and finally after … Read more
My favorite character at this time in the novel, is Jane Eyre. A new chapter in her life was about to begin when she was accepted for the position as a governess, for a small child at Thornfield Hall. She has come a long way from her days abandoned by her cruel aunt and treated … Read more
Wuthering Heights is a novel of revenge and romantic love. It tells the stories of two families: the Earnshaws who live at the Heights, at the edge of the moors, and the genteel and refined Lintons who live at Thrushcross Grange. When Mr. Earnshaw brings home a foundling to live in the family, complex feelings … Read more
In the Classic novel The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck displays in his writing many different and interconnected themes. The main idea of the novel can be interpreted many different ways through many of the different actions and characters throughout the novel. In the first chapter of the novel, Steinbeck describes the dust bowl and … Read more
Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, written in approximately 1385, is a collection of twenty-four stories ostensibly told by various people who are going on a religious pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral from London, England. Prior to the actual tales, however, Chaucer offers the reader a glimpse of fourteenth century life by way of what he refers to … Read more
One of the most complex and elaborate characters in The Scarlet Letter is Pearl, the misbegotten offspring of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. Throughout the story Pearl, becomes quite the dynamic little individual, as well as an extremely important symbol- one who is constantly changing. Pearls involvement in the complex history of her parents inadvertently … Read more
In Shakespeare’s “” the mortal teenage characters fall in love foolishly, and the character Bottom states, “O what fools these mortals be”. They are foolish because they act like children. Although Lysander, Hermia, Demetrius, and Helena appear grown-up, when they are in love they act foolishly. The four teenage lovers are fools. Demetrius is a … Read more
In William Shakespeare’s Othello, the use of imagery and metaphors is significant in conveying meaning as it helps to establish the dramatic atmosphere of the play and reinforce the main themes. Through this, the audience is able to grasp a better understanding of the play. Throughout Othello, images relating to poison frequently occur. These references … Read more
Duddy’s obsession with land lies within his grandfather, Simcha. When Duddy was small, he spoke those unforgettable words to him, “A man without land is nobody. ” When it seemed as if nobody cared or respected him, Simcha did. Duddy did not receive the same kind of love from his father or uncle as Lennie … Read more
In the story Frankenstein, written by the author Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein decided that wanted to create a being out of people that were already dead. He believed that he could bring people back from the grave. Playing with nature in such a way would make him play the role of God. With Victor Frankenstein … Read more
The book “Cry, the Beloved Country” by Alan Paton is a book about agitation and turmoil of both whites and blacks over the white segregation policy called apartheid. The book describes how understanding between whites and blacks can end mutual fear and aggresion, and bring reform and hope to a small community of Ndotcheni as … Read more
Caliban, a savage and deformed slave to Prospero, plays a very important role in The Tempest. Caliban represents a being of “pure nature. ” He is referred to as a monster by the other characters on the island. He is a very complex character and he mirrors other characters in the play. Throughout the play … Read more
Death of a Salesman was a powerful play, written by Arthur Miller, which was produced in 1949. He establishes a serious tone towards his subject. Also, Miller sets an ambiguous attitude towards the audience. Miller established a very serious tone about the relationship between the father, Willy, and his son, Biff. Miller feels that a … Read more
The play “Death Of A Salesman” , the brainchild of Arthur Miller was transformed and fitted to the movie screen in the year 1986. The play itself is set in the house of Willy Loman, and tells the melancholy story of a salesman whom is in deep financial trouble, and the only remedy for the … Read more
Tragedy is a description of an event that evokes a sympathetic feeling of emotion by the audience. The events involve people emotionally who were not involved in the situation physically. In the story of Antigone, Sophecles forces the audience to take pity on the poor girl’s situation. This story impacts the audience in such a … Read more
The passing of works from generation to generation is not an uncommon thing, nor is it a new practice. For centuries, even since the beginning of time, scholars have recorded and passed on historical accounts, works of art, poetry, and great literary works as a means of transcending the culture from one generation to the … Read more
Certain parallels can be drawn between William Shakespeare’s plays, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, and “Romeo and Juliet”. These parallels concern themes and prototypical Shakespearian character types. Both plays have a distinct pair of ‘lovers’, Hermia and Lysander, and Romeo and Juliet, respectively. Both plays could have also easily been tragedy or comedy with a few … Read more
In the play, Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Linda Lomans character is viewed differently by many people. Some critics have seen Linda as a controlling mother figure who is actually the one to blame for this failure of both her sons and her husband. In this report I will defend this view citing … Read more
Although society has advanced dramatically technologically, I feel that we still have a long way to go when it comes to how we view one another. It amazes me that in a society such as ours, that bases its existence on the equality of all people, that misogyny (as it occurred in medieval times) still … Read more
Alice Munro’s “Boys and Girls” is a story about a girl that struggles against society’s ideas of how a girl should be, only to find her trapped in the ways of the world. The story starts out on a farm in the 1940’s. The narrator is a woman who is telling the first person point … Read more
Victor Frankenstein and John Faustus are two characters that are alienated because of their intellectual curiosity. Faustuss and Frankensteins pursuits of knowledge begin with an inexorable journey to their downfalls as they become alienated. Both characters attempt to exceed human ability and are alienated from God because of their attempts. These men are concerned with … Read more