Study Like a Boss
This was the most interesting book I have ever read. It is sort of a cross between Alive and Hatchet. Because the book is extremely addictive and written so superbly, it did not take long for me to get into and finish it. The characters were probably the most interesting element in Lord of the … Read more
One of the most prolific writers of his time, H. G. ( Herbert George) Wells was able to do it all. He was universal, and could write from many different sides. He was one of the most versitile writers, as he could write like a novelist, as in the The History of Mr. Polly. He … Read more
The Tempest, written in 1611, was one of William Shakespeare’s last plays. It has a combination of superb characters, interesting settings, and a good plot lineall held together by the running theme of magic, and its ever- present importance. A closer examination of the magic in The Tempest, and the public’s view of magic at … Read more
Iago is one of the most interesting characters in the tragedy “Othello” by William Shakespeare. Through some carefully thought-out words and actions, Iago is able to manipulate others to do things in a way that benefits him and gets him closer to his goals. He is the driving force in this play, pushing Othello and … Read more
Many of us like to think that humanity as a whole is progressing to a better future where we will live united and in peace with one another. Nevertheless, there are those among us that do not share these beliefs. In A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess, a futuristic world is turned upside down and … Read more
Gregor was the most unselfish person in The Metamorphosis. This characteristic shows with his dedication to his work. He was the only family member with a job, believing he was the only one capable of it. Sacrificing his social life for his work, he had no friends at work, and never went out at night. … Read more
While reading the play The Importance of Being Earnest, one serious theme that I noticed was the consistent act of deception throughout the entire play. However this lack of honesty was not lonesome for insightful comedy and a visible foreshadowing of upcoming events accompanied it. Meaning that the play was cleverly written with humor and … Read more
Upon completion of Kafka’s Metamorphosis I was immediately drawn away from the conclusion of the novel and back into the second section. It seemed to me that the true essence of the novella resided in the thoughts and observations revealed in this portion of the story. After watching the video adaptation I was once again … Read more
John Milton divided the characters in his epic poem Paradise Lost into two sides, one side under God representing good, and the other side under Satan representing evil and sin. Milton first introduced the reader to the character Satan, the representative of all evil, and his allegiance of fallen angels that aided in his revolt … Read more
Talking of Michelangelo, a subject so deep that it begs a discussion more serious than that of the chatter at ladies’ tea parties. But the women just come and go, discussing the great artist only superficially, and Prufrock addresses the ladies with an air almost of biting sarcasm. Prufrock then decides to switch back to … Read more
From a psychoanalytic perspective, both Caliban and Trinculo of Shakespeares The Tempest are interesting characters. Caliban is very sexual and bitter, while Trinculo is at odds with everything: his situation of being washed ashore and wrongly accused of saying things when he did not utter a word, as well as Calibans worship of an unkingly … Read more
Throughout literature, relationships can often be found between the author of a story and the story that he writes. In Geoffrey Chaucer’s frame story, Canterbury Tales, many of the characters make this idea evident with the tales that they tell. A distinct relationship can be made between the character of the Pardoner and the tale … Read more
Short stories, magazine articles, poems, essays, reports and many more forms of literature can be written with informative aspects in ways that are interesting. Authoras often prefer to gain the readers’ attention during the beginning lines of their pieces and to keep that attention throughout their writing. They do this by strategically using interesting and … Read more
“He thought he kept the universe alone,” too most people the thoughts of being alone are very frightening. It is human nature to search for companionship. In the poem “The Most of It,” Robert Frost uses a wealth of strong imagery to tell a story of a person who has lost his loved one to … Read more
The overall tone of the book is much different than that of The Sun Also Rises. The characters in the book are propelled by outside forces, in this case WWI, where the characters in SAR seemed to have no direction. Frederick’s actions are determined by his position until he deserts the army. Floating down the … 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
Miss Emily still represented and stood for the beliefs of the Old South while the New south generation stood back and allowed her to bask in this illusion According to a prominent critic, Elizabeth Sabiston, Emily is a gothic character (142). Sabiston is referring to Emily that way because of the fact that she slept … Read more
In The Glass Menagerie, the main characters are Laura, Amanda, Tom, Jim, and Father. Each character can be found with symbols that best represent them. Laura ‘s two symbols are Blue Roses and her glass menagerie, Unicorn. Amanda ‘s yellow dress and bathrobe can express her love she has of the past event. Tom ‘s … Read more
In Heart of Darkness it is the white invaders for instance, who are, almost without exception, embodiments of blindness, selfishness, and cruelty; and even in the cognitive domain, where such positive phrases as “to enlighten,” for instance, are conventionally opposed to negative ones such as “to be in the dark,” the traditional expectations are reversed. … Read more
At the time Mercutio makes his famous “Queen Mab” speech in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, he and Romeo, together with a group of their friends and kinsmen, are on the way to a party given by their family’s arch-enemy, Lord Capulet. Their plan is to crash the party so that Romeo may have the opportunity … Read more
Often stories in a particular culture take into account, and capitalize on symbols of that particular culture for thematic effectiveness. Many indigenous stories thus contain generalized patterns of beliefs that serve as the backdrop which enables readers to relate to the stories and the content thereof. Buchi Emecheta’s “Ona” is a powerful love story that … Read more
The combination of the influence of the witches and the influence of Lady Macbeth on Macbeth are what precipitate the tragedy. The witches initial prophecies, where they address Macbeth with titles he doesnt have, influence Macbeth. The apparitions in the play also have an influence on Macbeth because of their ambiguous allure. When Lady Macbeth … Read more
The story of Virgil’s Aeneid was drawn from many sources, the most influential being the work of the Greek poet Homer. Virgil based the first six books of the Aeneid on the Odessey and the last six books on the Iliad both written by Homer. The Aeneid describes the adventures of Aeneas, the legendary Trojan … Read more
Oedipus, ruler of Thebes, murdered his father and married his mother. Such acts are almost always deemed unnatural and criminal; they are not tolerated within traditional society. A person who has committed these illegal acts of murder and incest would be considered a criminal, yet Sophocless character, Oedipus, is not guilty of either crime. Prior … Read more
When Homer wove the characters of The Odyssey into a story, he undoubtedly left room for interpretation of their actions. The characters, most of whom are dynamic, colorful, and three dimensional, are used by Homer to give a fun but truthful commentary on the Ancient Greeks and their way of life. The actions of one … Read more
For more than half a century, science fiction writers have thrilled and challenged readers with visions of the future and future worlds. These authors offered an insight into what they expected man, society, and life to be like at some future time. A society can achieve stability only when everyone is happy, and the brave … Read more
The four main men in Possessing the Secret of Joy have roles that contradict a stereotypical male; they are the cure to Tashi’s happiness. Alice Walker gives Adam, Mzee, Pierre, and Benny roles that show a softer side to men. These four men are very different from each other but they do have some resemblance … Read more
People like to put things into categories. Movie critics do so with films: slasher,buddy,western, war, and more. You can do the same with books: science fiction, gothic romance and so on. Shakespeare’s plays also have categories: tragedies, comedies, and histories. But these terms don’t mean exactly what you may think they mean. Shakespeare’s most famous … Read more
The value of experience plays a major role in the poem The Waking by, Roethke and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by, Kesey. Both portray a similar message, which seems to suggest that in life you must learn to live by gaining different experiences, which contribute to making you the person that you are. … Read more
In Tennessee Williams: A Portrait in Laughter and Lamentation, Harry Rasky uses extensive interviews with Williams to explore the playwright’s intent. Through these interviews, Rasky presents a glimpse of the playwright’s 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
The extremely powerful characterization used in Catch 22 depicts what Heller feels to be the frivolousness and insanity of war, as well as portraying Yossarian, the main character, as the anti-war hero. The two internal changes that shape Yossarian’s character are when he goes from being obedient and brave to being disobedient and afraid, and … Read more
A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen, is a play that was written ahead of its time. In this play Ibsen tackles womens rights as a matter of importance. Throughout this time period it was neglected. A Doll House was written during the movement of Naturalism, which commonly reflected society. Ibsen acknowledges the fact that in … Read more
The theme of The Odyssey is one of homecoming and reunion with loved ones. Though the proem of the epic states that Odysseus own purpose is simply the fight to save his own life and return his shipmates home safely, the gods of Olympus are the unknown captains of this journey. It is an epic … Read more
I read the novel Rising Sun by Michael Crichton. The story is about the grand opening of the Nakamoto Tower in Los Angeles, the new American headquarters of a Japanese corporation. On the night of the opening a young girl was killed on the forty-sixth floor, one story above the floor of the party. The … Read more
On a chilly April day in 1864, Henrik Ibsen arrived at the docks in the Norwegian capital of Oslo (then called Christiania). The young man was a failure. The theater he’d run had closed, and none of his own plays were successful. He had a wife and a young son to support, but all his … Read more
I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. (Frost 1-5) On the surface, Robert Frosts poem is a story about a walk on a wooded road, but it … Read more
Jerome David Salinger was a very famous American author who wrote several books. One of his most successful books was The Catcher in the Rye. Other works by Salinger include the short story collection Nine Stories, Franny and Zooey, and Raise High The Beam, Carpenter and Seymour. In the book The Catcher in the Rye … Read more
I thought that the book A Lesson Before Dying was all right overall. I think Ernest Gaines did a good job with the plot but the idea of the book was not to interesting to me. A book about a black man becoming a man on his way to the electric chair is a very … Read more
In the novel, The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan, it tells of four Chinese women drawn together in San Francisco to play mah jong, and tell stories of the past. These four women and their families all lived in Chinatown and belong to the First Chinese Baptist Church. They were not necessarily religious, but … Read more
Herman Melville’s short story “Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street” depicts the final days of a law writer or scrivener and the metamorphosis that takes place within his last employer. The story begins with the lawyer/narrator giving a description of himself, his office, and his three employees: Turkey, Nipper, and Ginger-Nut the errand … Read more
In the book Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer, gives us a stunning tale about a rooster named Chaunticleer. Chaunticleer, who is the King of his domain in his farmland kingdom. Like a King, he quotes passages from intellectuals, dreams vivid dreams, has a libido that runs like a bat out of hell, and is described as … Read more
The histories have traditionally been interpreted against a background of Tudor moral and political philosophy. They have been arranged in chronological order of the reigns of the kings, and by this plan the full significance of the relationship of the plays becomes apparent. Although the precise date of many of Shakespeare’s plays is in doubt, … Read more
In John Knowles book A Separate Peace he communicates how the war in him was taking its toll on him. He uses the characters in a complicated plot to show the destructive forces of war. The characters, Gene and Finny, are the opposing forces in a struggle between the reality of war (World War II) … Read more
In Shakespeares “Macbeth” supernatural forces create a suspenseful atmosphere. The use of the supernatural in the witches, the visions, the ghost and the apparitions provides the backbone of the climax and “excuses” for Macbeths change of character. Because conscience plays such a central role in Macbeths tragic struggle, many critics use spiritual and supernatural theories … Read more
Throughout all of his adventures, Jim shows compassion as his most important trait. He makes the reader aware of his many superstitions and Jim exhibits gullibility in the sense that he, Jim, always assumes the other characters in the book will not take advantage of him. One incident proving that Jim acts naive occurs halfway … Read more
The Great Gatsby, a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, depicts life in the 1920s. The Roaring Twenties, a nickname given to the decade laden with flippancy, is a time where the rich people in society have little to do, and a lot of money to spend in many ways. Jay Gatsby, one of the newly … Read more
Horror and suspense-filled movies, books, and stories are Americas favorite form of entertainment. One of the most famous American writers is Edgar Allen Poe who wrote the two famous stories The Tell- Tale Heart and The Black Cat. In the The Tell- Tale Heart and The Black Cat narrative and imagery is used to express … Read more
It has been questioned by people, honored by people and cherished since the beginning of time. Yet even today not one person can say what is morally right. It is a matter of opinion. It was Dr. Victor Frankenstein’s opinion that it was alright to create a creature. Frankenstein’s creation needed a companion. Knowing that … Read more
Reading a work of literature often makes a reader experience certain feelings. These feeling differ with the content of the work, and are usually needed to perceive the author’s ideas in the work. For example, Samuel Beckett augments a reader’s understanding of Waiting For Godot by conveying a mood, (one which the characters in the … Read more
It is easy for the reader who enters the enchanted realm of Tolkien’s own work to be lost in the magic of the Middle-Earth and to forbear to ask questions. Surrounded by elves, hobbits, dragons and orcs, wandering the pristine fields and woods, described with such loving care they seem almost real, it is easy … Read more