Study Like a Boss
“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
“Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules.”“Yes, sir. I know it is. I know it.”Game, my ass. Some game. If you get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then it’s a game, all right—I’ll admit that. But if you get on the other side, … Read more
Holden Caulfield The narrator and protagonist of the novel. At 16 years old, Holden is facing expulsion from Pencey Prep school for failing his studies. He is obviously extremely cynical about nearly every aspect of life and this comes through not just in what he says but also in his tone. He sees nothing but … Read more
The protagonist of the novel is seventeen-year-old Holden Caulfield. Directly addressing the reader, Holden lets us know that he is currently in a mental hospital or sanitarium somewhere in Southern California. He explains that he wants to tell us of the events which took place the previous December over two days. At this point he … Read more
The Things They Carried is a powerful look into the lives and experiences of foot soldiers during and after the Vietnam war. Written by Tim O’Brien, the work is concurrently an autobiographical account of the war, a memoir, and a collection of short, fictional stories. O’Brien chose to subtitle the book, “A Work of Fiction”, and … Read more
Themes and Symbols The Ephemerality of Existence and Identity: Addie Bundren’s death prompts several characters to explore existence and identity. Vardaman is confused and horrified by the transformation of a fish he has caught and cleaned into pieces of what is no longer a fish, and associates that image with the transformation of his mother from … Read more
Quotes and Analysis Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke … Read more
Ponyboy Curtis associates himself with a group of lower-class Oklahoma teens known as ‘greaser’; a named they’ve earned on account of their greasy, long hair. While walking home one evening after a movie, Ponyboy is confronted by members of the ‘Socs’, adversaries of the greasers who are teenagers from wealthy, upper-class families on the cities … Read more
“Mother, monogamy, romance. High spurts the fountain; fierce and foamy the wild jet. The urge has but a single outlet. My love, my baby. No wonder those poor pre-moderns were mad and wicked and miserable. Their world didn’t allow them to take things easily, didn’t allow them to be sane, virtuous, happy.” This quotation is … Read more
First published in 1603, in a pirated quarto edition titled The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet and then in 1604 in a superior quarto edition. Hamlet is probably the most famous of Shakespeare’s tragedies. The source of the story of Hamlet is actually quite old. Some scholars date the tale of a hero-as-fool tale to classical antiquity. The most likely … Read more
Quotations and Analysis “And when I saw that, I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could want. ’Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of eighty-four, into twenty or thirty different cities, and pick up a phone, and be remembered and loved and helped … Read more
Heorot The mead hall of Hrothgar is much more than a place to live, eat, and sleep. The expanse and safety of the mead-hall represent the power and wisdom of the king. That the Danes are able to find a place of solace and comfort under the roof of Hrothgar’s mead-hall is a symbol of … Read more
Quotations and Analysis “At this point one may note that men must be either pampered or annihilated. They avenge light offenses; they cannot avenge severe ones; hence, the harm one does to a man must be such as to obviate any fear of revenge.” This quote is from Chapter 3 and it demonstrates the emphasis on … Read more
“Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know. I got a telegram from the home: “Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.” That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday.” These are the opening lines of the novel. Spoken, or perhaps thought, by Meursault, these lines indicate the tremendous indifference he shows toward everything. That … Read more
Important Themes Words and Things One of the main ideas that comes forward in Through the Looking-Glass is the gulf between words and the thing they are alleges to mean. Alice’s conversation with Humpty Dumpty on the meaning of the poem the Jabberwocky is a central moment. Although the poem is made up of nonsense words, Humpty … Read more
Characters and Analysis Jake Barnes Jake is a veteran of World War I. The protagonist working as a journalist in Paris. He and his friends live a life of drinking and parties. Jake is more stable than most of his friends. His weakness is his love for Lady Brett Ashley that is complicated by his own … Read more
Characters Edna Pontellier The young wife and mother who loses herself to the pressures of societal conventions. Edna is treated as a mere object by her husband and expected to sacrifice herself for the sake of her children. She decides to rebel against the conventions that bind her and begins her path to self-discovery. However, … Read more
Symbols The Fog Machine As part of his delusion, Bromden regularly sees a haze of fog. Fog is a natural phenomenon that clouds the way the world is seen, and in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest fog is used to symbolize lack of awareness and to offer an escape from reality. As Bromden slips further and … Read more
Woman as Evil Tormentors: The exception being Candy and Sandy, the prostitutes, the other females in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest are regarded as uniformly menacing and chilling beasts. Chief Bromden, the novel’s narrator, and McMurphy, the protagonist, are often heard referring to the suffering endured by the mental patients as being akin to emasculation or castration … Read more
Chief Bromden: Chief Bromden is the narrator of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. It is stated that he is the half-bred son of the Chief of the Columbia Indians. He suffers from hallucinations and intense paranoia; ailments that he has received many electroshock therapy treatments for. He has resided in the hospital for over a decade – … Read more
The part Native American narrator of the novel, Chief Bromden, has been a patient living in one of Oregon’s psychiatric facilities for nearly a decade. From the opening paragraph on it is evident that he is a paranoid man, one suffering from delusions and seeing things. The Chief’s outlook on the world around him is controlled … Read more
Symbolism of Frankenstein The book uses some Christian imagery, referring to Victor Frankenstein as the “Creator”, thus comparing him to God, and comparing the Creature to Adam, the first man whom God created. Victor is also compared to Prometheus, a rebellious Titan from Ancient Greek mythology, and Prometheus, in his turn, shares many common features with Satan … Read more
There is a number of spot-on quotes dealing with various important subjects of the book. Quotes about science and what price can be paid for it “One man’s life or death were but a small price to pay for the acquirement of the knowledge which I sought, for the dominion I should acquire and transmit … Read more
Conflicts in Frankenstein The book’s conflicts center around the controversial relations between the creator and his creation, responsibility, and revenge. It also questions the idea if a man has a right to follow his ambition and create living creatures in an unnatural way, or will he be punished for this. The first trouble arises when Victor … Read more
The events of the book are taking place in some time during the 18th century. The novel includes a frame story, where Captain Walton exchanges letters with his sister, Mrs. Margaret Walton Saville. Captain Walton and his crew are exploring the North Pole. At first they see a figure of a gigantic man in the … Read more
John Steinbeck published The Pearl in 1947 as his 11th novel. The American writer’s best asset is that he writes only after experiencing his subject matter firsthand. The novel is a parable inspired by a Mexican folk tale of a young Indian pearl diver that Steinbeck had heard on his trip to Mexico. Steinbeck increases the depth of the folk tale … Read more
The novel begins with a prologue that brings forward a novel narrated in a form of a folk tale told by the towns people, a relatable parable of all good and all evil. As the story begins we are introduced to the peaceful and serine life of Kino, Juana and their son Coyotito. As they go … Read more
The image of Boo Radley can at first seem strange and even disturbing, according to the overall tone of the story. The mysterious man – or even creature – who never leaves the Radleys” house is an embodiment of all the childish horrors about the haunted houses and their inhabitants. Atticus Finch is one of the main … Read more
“I got thinkin’ how we was holy when we was one thing, an’ mankin’ was holy when it was one thing. An’ it on’y got unholy when one mis’able little fella got the bit in his teeth an’ run off his own way, kickin’ an’draggin’ an’ fightin’. Fella like that bust the holi-ness. But when … Read more
Tom Joad It is widely believed that Jim Casy embodies the authors true philosophical belief system, and that Tom Joad is flawed and completely human. As the novel’s primary character, Tom has the most character development, and goes through what is known as an ‘education of the heart.’ This learning, experience, foresight, and the teaching … Read more
From its original publication date, the unusual way The Grapes of Wrath was structured has been questioned by many of those who have read the novel in its entirety. The author uses an unconventional method of interjecting chapters of random information – or commentary – between narrative chapters and this jumbling of information is found by many … Read more
In the throes of the Great Depression, Tom Joad hitchhikes through Oklahoma after having recently been paroled from the local penitentiary. During his travels he meets Jim Casy. Tom remembers the man from his childhood, he was a preacher. However, as Jim explains to Tom, that while he is still a God-fearing man, he no … Read more
Important Themes Statesmanship and War Machiavelli firmly believes that the soundness of the state is derived from a powerful military. He is not an advocate of democracy. The ruler derives his authority and power entirely from his ability to conquer and destroy all enemies—even potential enemies. He sums this up when he says that “the … Read more
