Study Like a Boss
This book was published in 1975 but written in the 1930’s. It won the Pulitzer Prize and the author also won the 1962 Nobel Prize for Literature. The book is a story of the Joad family, and their trip to California. It tells of the migration of thousands of homeless families from Oklahoma to California. … Read more
Our society has many ways of manifesting its obsession with physical perfection. In our society people go to extreme lengths to achieve perfection. The ‘Birthmark’;, written more than a century ago, is an early version of our modern obsession with physical perfection. Society manifests its obsession with physical perfection by having surgical procedures done on … Read more
Henrik Ibsens, A Doll House, is about how a family, particularly Nora Helmer, deals with an old secret that is about to become known to her husband Torvald Helmer. At the start of the play Nora is talking with Torvald. Nora begins to acting like Torvald’s “little squirrel” in attempt to get money from him. … Read more
In Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet, there is a dominant and overwhelming theme that is concurrent throughout the play. Throughout the play, all the characters appear as one thing on the outside, yet on the inside they are completely different. The theme of appearance versus reality surrounds Hamlet due to the fact that the characters portray themselves … Read more
In the novel The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Mordecai Richler punishes Duddy for his wrongs against others in several ways. Each punishment fits the crime, and there is an irony about each one. The three punishments inflicted on Duddy at the end of the novel are the loss of Simchas love, the loss of his … Read more
Unequivocally, Iago plays an important and major function in the tragedy of Othello. By the end of the play, Iago has been directly responsible for the deaths of Roderigo, Emilia and the protagonist and his love. Iago’s importance to the play is revealed by his contribution to the plot and his significance relative to other … Read more
Shakespeare wrote many plays during his lifetime. Some of his plays have similar comedic characteristics and then other plays are the exact opposite of comedy. Shakespeare wrote tragedies, romance, history, comedy and problem plays all with great success. During the performance of these plays there was no scenery so great time was taken when developing … Read more
No one has a perfect life. Everyone has conflicts that they must face sooner or later. The ways in which people deal with these personal conflicts can differ as much as the people themselves. Some insist on ignoring the problem as long as possible, while some attack the problem to get it out of the … Read more
A Doll House, by Henrik Ibsen, and A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, both have central themes of search of self-identity within a social system. This is demonstrated by women characters from both plays breaking away from the social standards of their times and acting on their own terms. In most situations women … Read more
Respect for authority plays an important role in The Iliad. Achilles is a major character in it whose views on authority change throughout the book. In Book One, he seems to have no respect for King Agamemnon. Achilles questions his judgment as well as rebelling against his authority. This is shown best when Achilles says, … Read more
Edith Whartons Ethan Frome inspires many different thoughts on the way a person from a rural background lives. Although the beginning and end of the book are told from a narrators point of view, most of the novel concerns Ethan Fromes actions and view on life. Ethan is by far the most round character in … Read more
Guilt should be viewed through the eyes of more than one person, southern or otherwise. William Faulkner filters the story, Absalom, Absalom! , through several minds providing the reader with a dilution of its representation. Miss Rosa, frustrated, lonely, mad, is unable to answer her own questions concerning Sutpen’s motivation. Mr. Compson sees much of … Read more
Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman explores the ever-elusive American Dream. It is something that we all chase after, yet we have different concepts of it. Willy Lomans vision of the American Dream was a rather distorted one. He was obsessed with reaching this goal. He believed that finding it would make him successful, yet … Read more
I think that in A&P the author describes how life was decades ago and how it seems to me how life should be today, with out the arguments over petty situations. I think that the story line of A&P is a typical situation in a small town in which the story is situated. I think … Read more
The novel “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bront consists of the continuous journey through Janes life towards her final happiness and freedom. This is effectively supported by five significant physical journeys she makes, which mirror the four emotional journeys she makes. 10-year-old Jane lives under the custody of her Aunt Reed, who hates her. Jane resents … Read more
Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a time of great change in America. In the mid-nineteenth century, Americans began to experience a shift in focus from the once stringent religious outlook to a more scientific view of the world and its natural wonders. Americans, however, did look at these new scientific discoveries with much hesitation, questioning their long-term … Read more
According to Goethe, “We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe. ” Despite the hyperbolic nature of Goethe’s statement, it holds some truth. Because of this element of truth, society looks to psychoanalysis as an important tool for understanding human nature. Furthermore, … Read more
Oscar Wilde, author of The Picture of Dorian Gray, makes Basil’s life change drastically by having him paint a portrait of Dorian Gray and express too much of himself in it, which, in Wilde’s mind, is a troublesome obstacle to circumvent. Wilde believes that the artist should not portray any of himself in his work, … Read more
The story of Antigone is about Antigones brother whose body has been left unburied because of crimes against the state. The sight of her brother being unburied drives Antigone to go against the law and bury her brother regardless of the consequences. The concept of the Greek afterlife was far more important and sacred than … Read more
Childhood is the foundation of who we become when we’ve grown. In Amy Tan’s novel “The Joy Luck Club” we see the journey to adulthood in the lives of four mothers and their daughters. These women all made sacrifices. Some earlier on in life, and some later. One woman, for the honor of her family, … Read more
The story, Lord of the Flies, has many interesting symbols relating adult society to kids surviving on an island. Many of the characters and items in this novel such as Jack or the conch can be interpreted on a macroscopic scale but the most important being this; a microcosm of children on an island makes … Read more
Mary Shelleys Frankenstein and Robert Louis Stevensons Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are two horrific tales of science gone terribly wrong. Shelleys novel eloquently tells the story of a scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who creates a living monster out of decomposed body parts, while Stevensons novel describes the account of one, Henry Jekyll, who creates a … Read more
Oedipus Rex”, by Socrates, is a play that shows the fault of men and the ultimate power of the gods. Throughout the play, the main character, Oedipus, continually failed to recognize the fault in human condition, and these failures let to his ultimate demise. Oedipus failed to realize that he, himself was the true answer … Read more
Choices are never easy and people face multitudes of them in their lifetime. Some decisions to these choices are clear while others are sometimes more difficult to achieve. The poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost is a first person narrative tale of a monumental moment in the speaker’s life- Frost can be considered … Read more
Everyone is a traveler, choosing the roads to follow on the map of their continuous life. A straight path never leaves speaker with one sole direction on which to travel. Robert Frosts poem “The Road Not Taken” is about how the choices affect speakers life. Frost illustrates speaker to make a difficult decision about choosing … Read more
Macbeth(c. 1607), written by William Shakespeare, is the tragic tale of Macbeth, a virtuous man, corrupted by power and greed. This tragedy could in fact be called “A Tale of Two Theories”. One theory suggests that the tragic hero, Macbeth, is led down an unescapable road of doom by an outside force, namely fate in … Read more
Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness colludes with Western patriarchal gender prescriptions. Women are ominously absent from the bulk of the narrative, and when they do make an appearance they are identified through the powerful narrative viewpoint of the character Marlow, who constructs them in terms of the values of the dominant ideologies of the British … Read more
Jane Eyre tells the story of a woman progressing on the path towards acceptance. Throughout her journey, Jane comes across many obstacles. Male dominance proves to be the biggest obstacle at each stop of Jane’s journey: Gateshead Hall, Lowood Institution, Thornfield Manor, Moor House, and Ferndean Manor. Through the progression of the story, Jane slowly … Read more
In Shakespeare’s time, the ideal wife was subservient to her husband, and it was the husband’s inherent duty to take care of his wife’s money, property, and person, including both physical and moral welfare. If a man’s spouse proved rebellious, he had the right to physically brutalize her into submission. This social phenomenon of domesticating … Read more
In all of Shakespeares great novels there are many experiences, tragic or otherwise that one can learn from. Shakespeares novel Othello is not an exception this rule. Throughout Othello there are many examples of mistakes made by the characters that a reader can learn from. Learning from the flaws of others is one way that … Read more
We all have illusions. We can hardly live without them. Most of the time they are harmless thoughts about things that are usually unattainable. An example would be when a person sees something that they want and then dreams of having it. Whenever someone holds an opinion based on what they think is true, or … Read more
In both Achebe’s and Desai’s novels, tension and conflict between the new and the old, traditional and modern are the strong undercurrents that move the story and the reader into an unconscious emotional uneasiness. In both novels, the backdrop and the story are engrossed in a struggle between two worlds, the new and the old … Read more
1. What are the chief reasons for the mass migration to California? I think that the chief reasons for the mass migration to California where based on a few different reasons. The first reason was because everyone was poor. They didn’t have enough money to have the most basic necessities in life. They would even … Read more
The Catcher in the Rye, a contemporary novel by J. D. Salinger, is a thought-provoking, fascinating look at society’s values and issues in the 1950’s. This book would make an excellent transition to film because it is full of both action and implication. It focuses on a four-day period of time in the life of … Read more
I began my Hawthorne reading task with The Birth-Mark. I picked this story because I am familiar with the Maypole of Merrymount and Young Goodman Brown, and I wanted to try something different. I was pleasantly surprised with The Birth-Mark, in my mind it far surpasses the latter two stories. I think one of the … Read more
Homers epic poem The Odyssey a tale of Odysseus journey home. This is a story of a warrior named Odysseus and his 20 year expedition to his home Ithaca. A dominant theme in The Odyssey is vengeance; It is exemplified through Poseidon and his son, Polyphemus and through Odysseus and his son Telemachus battle with … Read more
The epic poem Beowulf, whose author is unknown, not only captures a readers attention and opens up new doors to his imagination, it gives an extensive background to a significant period in history. Being one of the first major works of England, Beowul introduced British Literature. The epic tells the adventures of a courageous hero … Read more
Holden Caufield is a hostile, negatively charged character that suffers from depression which stems from a desire not to grow up and a lack of closure in his brothers death. “If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy … Read more
Throughout history people have always seemed to follow what notions that were considered cool. Though I doubt that cool was the word used to describe these notions they were still there in some form or another. One of the greatest farces ever committed in the name of these popular perceptions was medicine. At that time, … Read more
Integrated into the story of The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath is a “case history” of a depression patient, from it’s subtle beginnings to it’s terrifying consequences to it’s shaky resolution. On the subject of this depression, there is an article written by William Styron which, in the course of describing his own dealings with … Read more
Poe’s first collection, Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, appeared in 1840. It contained one of his most famous work, ‘The Fall of the House of Usher. ‘ In the story the narrator visits the crumbling mansion of his friend, Roderick Usher, and tries to dispel Roderick’s gloom. Although his twin sister, Madeline, has been … Read more
In the play of Antigone there are two choices of tragic heroes or figures. By many of Antigones actions I feel that she is the one who fits this description perfectly. A tragedy is a play in which a central character, called a tragic hero or protagonist suffers some serious misfortune which isnt accidental and … Read more
In Tennessee Williams: A Portrait in Laughter and Lamentation, Harry Rasky uses extensive interviews with Williams to explore the playwrights intent. Through these interviews, Rasky presents a glimpse of the playwrights life-world and the driving force behind his creations. Rasky reports Williams as saying: I have always been more interested in creating a character that … Read more
By analyzing John Milton’s Paradise Lost, it is plain to see it is a fine example of epic poetry. For the most part, John Milton follows the three main guidelines that construct an epic poem. By beginning in a formal way, having supernatural warfare, and engaging a character in a dark voyage, John Milton clearly … Read more
Tennessee Williams’ play, The Glass Menagerie, originated in the memory of Williams. Williams’ family embodied his father, Cornelius Williams, his mother, Edwina Dakin Williams, his sister, Rose Williams, and his younger brother, Dakin Williams. Cornelius was an alcoholic, always away from home; Tennessee and Cornelius did not have a strong relationship, “By the late 1920s, … Read more
Faustus died a death that few could bear to imagine, much less experience. After knowing for many years when exactly he would die, he reached the stroke of the hour of his destiny in a cowardly, horrid demeanor. Finally, when the devils appeared at the stroke of midnight, tearing at his flesh as they draw … Read more
There has always been a great debate over who is the true tragic hero in Sophocles Antigone. Many scholars would stake claim to Antigone possessing all the necessary characteristics of a true tragic hero, but many others would argue that Creon holds many qualities as well. It is hard to discount Antigone as a tragic … Read more
An individual’s right to be happy and its conflict with an individual’s responsibilities is a common personal problem. Many people must make the choice between the two daily. Most people have a set opinion of whether responsibility or happiness should prevail. Sometimes people have exceptions to this opinion. Some people would judge Tom, in The … Read more
In the novel “A Raisin in the Sun” an African American family suffers the loss of one of their family members. He was the oldest person in the family and had always had dreams of his family having a better life. When he died the life insurance company sent the rest of the family a … Read more
The most interesting and round character in the tragic play Othello, by William Shakespeare, is “honest” Iago. Through carefully though-out words and actions, Iago manipulates others to do things in which he benefits. Iago is the main driving force in “Othello,” pushing several characters towards their tragic end. Iago is not a traditional villain for … Read more