Study Like a Boss
It is a man’s world. It is man who battles in wars and who lead nations. It is man who first ventured into the seas and into space. And it is man who write of these adventures, real and fabled. The master writers of the past comprise a dominantly male club. Homer, Chaucer, Shakespear, and … Read more
“Israfel” is a mesmerizing poem, the beginning of which was first set down by Poe during his days at West Point College. (Allen 233) The poem itself is a direct contrast to Poe’s usual poetry, which usually deal with death and dark thoughts or other melancholy, Gothic ideas. Poe’s idea of the death of beautiful … Read more
The key passage of Aldous Huxleys Brace New World takes place after John has been arrested and is a conversation with Mond. When John and Mond speak of ideal societies, a major part of Brave New World, the aspect of human nature which makes us search continuously for our personal Utopia, becomes apparent. In Monds … Read more
The Catcher in the Rye can be strongly considered as one of the greatest novels of all time and Holden Caufield distinguishes himself as one of the greatest and most diverse characters. His moral system and his sense of justice force him to detect horrifying flaws in the society in which he lives. However, this … Read more
For over a century, and particularly in the past twenty years, a number of interpreters have taken a very different approach to The Tempest, seeing in it the exploration of some particularly relevant political issues. The English critic, William Hazlitt, was the first to point out (in 1818) that Prospero had usurped Caliban from his … Read more
Parenting is an act of being a parent, which means you show love and care towards your offspring. Harper lees book To Kill A Mockingbird, shows the difference in parenting of the characters Bob Ewell and Atticus Finch. Some ways these two characters are different is depicted in this essay by: showing the difference in … 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
King Hamlets spirit, as a tool to master this. However, Shakespeare portrays this inner struggle of reason against faith as Hamlets insanity. Does Hamlet become insane in the play, or is Shakespeare trying too hard to once again make the audience uncertain? There is a lot of evidence that Hamlet does indeed go insane, however … Read more
Women always had to deal with all kinds of situations throughout history. Sex was becoming to be a woman’s way of expressing herself and in a way have control over certain situation Edith Wharton’s “Summer” and John Steinbeck’ s “The Chrysanthemums” show two characters (both of them women) struggling between societys rules and laws and … Read more
In Ernest Hemingways novel, For Whom The Bells Tolls, he develops each character and his attitude towards death in the environment of the Spanish Civil War. First this can be seen through Pablo. He is intensely loyal to his band of guerrillas, however his dedication to the Republic has declined from his greatness at the … Read more
With the coming of the new century America under goes a change led by many different events. The collection of poems written in Lee Masters book Spoon River Anthology portrays the typical small town at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Show the different social, economical, and political … Read more
In the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, the main character, Willy Loman, is a struggling salesman. Toward the end of the play, Willy commits suicide by crashing his car. Willy Loman is a complex character who confuses illusion with reality. In a way, Willy has two personalities in this play. The one … Read more
The Scarlet Letter shows many types of sin. Some is only sin in the Puritan eye, some is internally blamed sin and some is sin only defined back in the time period of pre-Romanticism. Three main characters; Hester Prynne, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth are the ‘sinners’ of the Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. … Read more
In the literal sense, Nathaniel Hawthorn’s Rappaccini’s Daughter is the story about the rivalry between two scientists that ultimately causes the destruction of an innocent young woman. However, when the story is examined on a symbolic level, the reader sees that Rappaccini’s Daughter is an allegorical reenactment of the original fall from innocence and purity … Read more
Victor Frankenstein has always been fascinated by nature. By the time he was in his late teens he was at a school of science. This school sparked his obsession with recreating human life. This was not an easy task because of the minuteness of the organs, etc, which forced him to design an oversized human, … Read more
Antigone and Oedipus, written by Sophocles, are dramatic plays with a tragic ending. The main theme for Antigone is that people sometimes have to learn the hard way from their mistakes. This theme is expressed in the final four lines of the play. They read, There is no happiness where there is no wisdom; No … Read more
A fool can be defined in many meanings according to the Oxford English Dictionary On Historical Principles. The word could mean “a silly person”, or “one who professionally counterfeits folly for the entertainment of others, a jester, clown” or “one who has little or no reason or intellect” or “one who is made to appear … Read more
In The Odyssey, Odysseus had to face many challenges during his travels; a few of these difficulties were a cannibalistic Cyclops, huge whirlpools, determined suitors, along with many hardships. Odysseus fought constantly to return to his homeland of Ithaca, but to accomplish this Odysseus had to be clever, resourceful, and have great leadership qualities. Odysseus … Read more
In the novel, Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth and Jane both achieve lasting happiness with their respective partners — Darcy and Bingley, after a series of misjudgements, misunderstandings and obstacles. Indeed the heroine’s (Elizabeth’s) tumultuous relationship with Darcy forms the bulk of the novel, and the focal point of interest for the reader while Jane’s relationship … Read more
In literature, insights into characters, places, and events are often communicated to the reader by symbolic references within the text. This is the case in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. In this Medieval romance, the colors and textures of fabrics and jewelry are used heavily by the poet not only as a descriptive tool, … Read more
Dante’s Divine Comedy is a moral comedy that is designed to make the readers think about their own morals. The poem could have been used almost as a guide for what and what not to do to get into Heaven for the medieval people. Dante takes the reader on a journey through the afterlife to … Read more
In both texts, Beowulf and Grendel, the main purpose of the Queen’s are to serve the courts as “weavers of peace”. In Grendel however, Queen Wealththeow is described in much greater detail and serves a further purpose. The reader gains insight to a part Grendel that is not present in Beowulf, his desire for a … Read more
The title of the novel The Catcher In The Rye, by JD Salinger, has a substantial connection to the story. This title greatly explains the main character, Holden Caulfield, and his feelings towards life and human nature. In society he has found enormous corruption, vulgarity, harm and havoc. He knows that the children of the … Read more
I recently attended the play, Brigadoon by loewe and lerner, at my local college theater. Through all of the plays mystical events and songs, I noticed some very important details. I chose to compare the ideas in the play to some specific ideas held by a group of people in Italy. The mounted their ideas … Read more
In the 19th century, mental illness was an uncommon issue to be discussed. The public would treat the illness only by avoiding the matter and forcing the sick to feel helpless. At that time, the medical profession had not yet distinguished between diseases of the mind and diseases of the brain. Neurologists such as Dr. … Read more
Black Like Me is a non-fiction book written by John Howard Griffin about what a black, middle-aged man has to go through every day in the Deep South. To find out what it is like to be a Negro, Griffin changes his skin color to that of a black. During his experiences, Griffin keeps a … Read more
If we compare William Faulkners two short stories, A Rose for Emily and Barn Burning, he structures the plots of these two stories differently. However, both of the stories note the effect of a fathers teaching, and in both the protagonists Miss Emily and Sarty make their own decisions about their lives. The stories present … Read more
Condemned to wear a bright red “A” over her breast wherever she went, Hester Prynne had been convicted of adultery by Boston’s Puritan leaders; a child had been born to her during her husband’s long absence. Emerging from the prisonhouse under the gaze of her neighbors, Hester surprised the townsfolk with her air of aloof … Read more
Steppenwolf opens with a preface by a young businessman, who introduces a sheaf of notes left behind by a lodger in his attic rooms several years before. This young man, the landlady’s nephew, describes the eccentric lodger, Harry Haller, who called himself a Steppenwolf, meaning in German a wolf of the steppes, or plains. The … Read more
The Great Gatsby, a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is set in 1922 in the New York City area. It is about the American Dream and those who attempt to reach its illusionary goals. Jay Gatsby acquires the wealth and the power of his dream but not the happiness. We have to wonder why F. … Read more
When we think of a tragedy, instantaneously the classic Shakespearean tragedy Romeo and Juliet springs into our mind. Thoughts of lost love and torments abound. The most human of emotions, sorrow, overwhelms us. We shudder, a chill creeps up our spine. We agonize over the tragedy, and the tragic figure. We lose sight of reality, … Read more
As time passes many of us will experience an array of trials and tribulations. As we go on our many journeys though out life youll find that you have to be strong to make it though hard times. During Elaines adolescences she is abused physically and mentally by her peers, but later gains self-confidence. Many … Read more
In Brontes novel Wuthering Heights the idea compensation for love lost is discussed. Wuthering Heights is a quiet house in the country where the Earnshaws and Heathcliff live. Heathcliff loves Catherine Earnshaw very much but, she decides to marry another man, Edgar. Heathcliff marries Edgars sister just to make Catherine jealous. At the end Heathcliff … Read more
Jack Kerouac’s exhuberant novel, On the Road, follows a group of restless young friends criss-crossing America in second-hand cars while finding their ‘kicks’ in jazz, girls, drugs, and intense conversations about love, poetry, and serenity. Exposing the underground Beat lifestyle of the 1950’s, Kerouac celebrates the defiance of a generation chasing the freedom promised by … Read more
“The Taming of the Shrew” was a play written by William Shakespeare during the early 1590’s. It combines both comedy and social commentary, which raises questions and ideas regarding the prominence of women in this time in history. Shakespeare draws from other texts of that era to appropriate his understanding of a “shrew”, the integral … Read more
Wealth, material possessions, and power are the core values of The American Dream. Pursuit of a better life led countless numbers of foreign citizens to American soil desiring their chance at the limitless opportunity. Achievement of the American Dream is not always the achievement of true happiness. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay … Read more
The Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf is the most important work of Old English literature, and is well deserved of the distinction. The epic tells the story of a hero, a Scandinavian prince named Beowulf, who rids the Danes of the monster Grendel, a descendent of Cain, and of his exploits fighting Grendel’s mother and a Dragon. … Read more
In the eighteen-fifties, Charles Dickens was concerned that social problems in England, particularly those relating to the condition of the poor, might provoke a mass reaction on the scale of the French Revolution. In a letter written in 1855, for example, he refers to the unrest of the time as follows: I believe the discontent … Read more
The pardoner, in Geoffrey Chaucer’s ‘The Pardoner’s Tale,’; is a devious character. He is a man with a great knowledge of the Catholic Church and a great love of God. However, despite the fact that he is someone whom is looked at with respect at the time, the pardoner is nothing more than an imposter … Read more
Anger was washed away in the river along with any obligation. Although that ceased when the carabiniere put his hands on my collar. I would like to have had the uniform off although I did not care much about the outward forms. I had taken off the stars, but that was for convenience. It was … Read more
“Compressed emotions,” that is the explanation a teacher once gave to the ongoing question, “What is poetry? ” He said it was someone’s deepest emotions, as if you were reading them right out of that person’s mind, which in that case would not consist of any words at all. If someone tells you a story, … Read more
In Moby Dick, by Herman Melville, a recurring theme of death is seen throughout the book. A coffin appears at the beginning of the book and at the end of the book, Ishmael sees a large oil painting that foreshadows and represents many things and events that follow in the book, and Fedallah makes a … Read more
Moby-Dick, like any other novel, is complete with a plot sequence which essentially maps the layout of the story line. In the plot sequence, there are five major groups. Those five groups are the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and finally the resolution. Melville does an outstanding job of describing and conveying these in … Read more
I.Author Information Herman Melville, was born in 1819, in a very “good” neighborhood in New York. Many influences on Melville’s works were European literature, experiences in his travels, and tragedy in his life. Melville was born into the time when inspiring works of American literature began to emerge. Yet, European heritage in literature still had … Read more
Ignorance is seen every day of our lives. Even people in the 1850s were aware of ignorance. Ignorance is defined as being uneducated or resulting from or showing lack of knowledge. Ignorance can be taken to extremes though. There is complete ignorance where the person thinks that even though they do not understand it all … Read more
In Moby Dick, Herman Melville makes use of two climactic scenes of the book to underline a profound and intellectual commentary on human nature. The chapters entitled The Musket and The Symphony are two such climactic scenes in which Starbuck and Ahab reveal a critical attribute of mans temperament. Melville uses these two characters to … Read more
Although Ahab’s insanity appears to be what shuts him off from humanity, in reality it is what makes him human. Ahab desperately wants to be freed from his obsession – to not have to rely upon it to feel. It is because Ahab is no longer in control of his obsession that the reader eventually … Read more
Two distinguished authors, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville, were the only two anti-transcendentalist novelists. They focussed their novels on limitations and the potential destructiveness of the human spirit rather than on its possibilities (The American Experience 301). Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Melville’s Moby Dick, are tales of sin, guilt, obsession and destruction. From out … Read more
Often in great works of literature, symbols are incorporated to add depth. These symbols make it more interesting to the reader by making connections from one idea to another. Herman Melville depicts a great number of characters and symbols in his 19th century novel Moby Dick. Melville uses symbols to develop plot, characters, and to … Read more
In The House of the Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne exhibits the fate of a family due to a curse by analyzing the most “disagreeable” secrets of a man’s soul (Great Lives 1077). Hawthorne shows the decay of an aristocratic family due to the sins of the past. He uses allegory within his character’s personalities and … Read more