Study Like a Boss
A master artisan and innovator of the Greek tragedy, Sophocles’s insightful plays have held their value throughout countless time periods and societies. Through the use of common literary techniques, Sophocles was able to express themes and ideas that reflect all of humankind. On particular idea was that Sophocles believed that hubris is destructive and will … Read more
The purpose of this web page is that of introducing you, an interested web user into the religious nature of William Shakespeare’s plays. This page covers three topics surrounding Shakespeare’s work: the of 16th Century England, Shakespeare’s (school, parents, & Stratford itself), and a brief introduction into the impact his society and upbringing had upon … Read more
While reading The Color Purple I was shocked by the development of Celie’s inner-self. Her entire being was defined by those around her. It appeared as if Celie had no hand in creating who she was. I could picture Shug, Mr. , and Her father molding Celie’s body like a piece of clay until Celie … Read more
Authors sometimes use symbols in their novels to represent different objects, people or ideas. One example is the S on Supermans uniform, which symbolizes him being supper. In The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne creates the symbolism of the letter A to have different meanings. As the novel unfolds, the meanings of the letter A on … Read more
At the age of ten, Jim Burden travels by cross-country train to live with his grandparents on the Nebraska frontier. He has just recently lost both his parents, and he is accompanied by a farmhand named Jake. On the same train is a Bohemian family that barely speaks English and that is going to the … Read more
In the literary pieces To Kill a Mocking bird , An Enemy of the People, and Julius Caesar the authors use crowds to develop their themes. The townspeople, majority, and the mobs represented how people go in favor of the more popular side. Most people will go on this side because the benefits will go … Read more
When someone is characterized as a hero they are often someone, who is very selfless, brave and is of distinguished valor. They challenge people to some how or another follow in their footsteps, and are often models to our society. Often inspiring and showing them that no matter what they should reach for the stars. … Read more
Tales of Faustian-like episodes are not limited to the past couple of centuries. Accounts of men signing deals with the devil have been recounted since before the Reformation. Most of the time, the party accused of associating with the devil was forgiven by God and not sentenced to fulfill his contract. It was believed by … Read more
What does phony mean to you? Do you consider it something that is not what it really seems? Or even something or someone that isn’t normal in all ways or just in some? Phony is one of the words in the English literature that can have numerous interpretations. Can be being phony possibly hinder an … Read more
The novel tells of real, diverse characters who experience growth through turmoil and hardship. Jim Casy- a personal favorite character- is an ex-preacher that meets up with a former worshiper, Tom Joad. Casy continues a relationship with Tom and the rest of the Joads as they embark on a journey to California in the hopes … Read more
A tragic hero, according to Aristotelian definitions, is a “highly renowned and prosperous” character. This figure is not perfect and has to be on some level responsible for his or her downfall. The hero’s punishment usually exceeds the crime. By the end of the play, this hero recognizes his or her own error or flaw … Read more
The parallel and inextricable link between the fall of King Richard to the rise of the new and innovative King Henry, present a significant investigation of power and betrayal of those who wield it and those who desire it. (Queensland Theatre Company) Written in the late 15th century, William Shakespeare provides a detailed study of … Read more
Okonkwo, the main character of Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe. And Charles Foster Kane of Orson Welles Citizen Kane, both have value systems that are incongruous with their cultures. Thus allowing them to be defeated by society. These are two men with a great need for recognition. Their need for something that was extinguished … Read more
The character Raskolnikov in the novel Crime and Punishment is among one of the most realistic and believable characters I have ever read about. He is also the most confusing and distraught man I have been introduced to this entire year. Raskolnikov possesses the most varying personality imaginable and this makes the reasoning behind his … Read more
The way people act on the outside and who they really are on the inside may be two totally different things. Some may change because they feel they don’t fit in. Others pretend to be something they truly aren’t. No matter which way you look at it, if you try to act like someone your … Read more
Thomas Sterns Eliot wrote the poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” over a period of six years and published it circa 1917 at the ripe old age of twenty-nine. As his first published poem, ‘Prufrock’ revealed Eliot’s original and highly developed style. Its startling jumps from rhetorical language to clich, its indirect literary … Read more
Childhood experiences seem to be the ones that are recollected most vividly throughout a person’s life. Almost everyone can remember some aspect of his or her childhood experiences, pleasant and unpleasant alike. Theodore Roethke’s poem “My Papa’s Waltz” suggests even further that this concept could be true. The dance described in this poem illustrates an … Read more
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie battles to find Individualism within herself. Janie, all her life, had been pushed around and told what to do and how to live her life. She searched and searched high and low to find a peace that makes her whole and makes her feel like a complete person. … Read more
Oedipus was a victime of fate, his futur was foretold by an Oracle, he had no way of knowing that his wife was his mother nor that the stranger he killed was his father. Oedipus could not prevent his own downfall. Oedipus was the king of Thebes, he became king when he cured the city … Read more
Beowulf was written in England sometime in the 8th century. This provides us with an idea that the poem that was written during a time when the society was in the process of converted from paganism to Christianity. The Christian influences were combined with early folklore and heroic legends of German tribes and we try … Read more
In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick Carroway proceeds through two stages of development as the novel unfolds. Beginning with tolerance of the other characters’ actions; ending with full moral responsibility dealing with their conflicts, Nick Carroway found that immoral decisions lead to harmful situations. In the beginning, Nick Carroway was … Read more
“Young Goodman Brown” is universally accepted as one of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s best short stories. It deals with such themes as good versus evil, loss of innocence, and coping with reality. The internal struggle that Brown goes through leads him to an emotional roller coaster. After Goodman’s journey into the forest he will only be a … Read more
The Great Gatsby, a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is about the American Dream, and the downfall of those who attempt to reach its illusionary goals. The attempt to capture the American Dream is central to many novels. This dream is different for different people, but in The Great Gatsby, for Jay, the dream is … Read more
In “Young Goodman Brown,” Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts a 17th century Puritan attempting to reach justification as Brown’s faith required. Upon completing his journey, however, Brown could not confront the terrors of evil in his heart and chose to reject all of society. Puritan justification was a topic Hawthorne was aware of as an internalized journey … Read more
Robinson Crusoe was written by Daniel Defoe. The novel was first published in 1719. It tells the story of a young explorer who becomes marooned on a deserted island. His experiences of the island change his outlook on life. Daniel Defoe was a short story writer that came from an poor family. Defoe was poor … Read more
Edgar Allen Poe’s short story “Ligeia” is a strange and surrealistic tale which relays the disturbing events of the death of a beloved wife, and her possible resurrection by uncertain means. Although the story is of the gothic tradition, complete with dark and mysterious surroundings, ghostly apparitions and multiple deaths, it is Poe’s use of … Read more
Revenge and vengeance are basic tools of human instinct. Whether society chooses to accept or blind itself to this fact, it is an indisputable truth. Francis Bacon examines this truth in “Of Revenge”, a view of society and literary characters that reflects the strive for vengeance. However, “Of Revenge” deeply underestimates the corruption of the … Read more
Lord of the flies is an extremely psychologically involved novel that forces the reader to constantly think. It plays mind games and displays some frankly blunt ideas. It provokes thought by constantly alluding to the thematic side of the novel. Golding uses the island to show the evil in man, that society holds everyone together, … Read more
Richard the III was a horrible tyrant who would stop at nothing to commit the most unthinkable acts to get what he wanted. He was a man that would kill his own family and children to obtain his one goal, which was to become the king. I know what I should be easy on the … Read more
After Jim moves to town with his grandparents, he begins school with other children of his age, yet is never interested in their antics or infatuations. His relationship with the Harling children next door, demonstrates the conventional mode of childhood affection and friendship, but as Jim grows older, his only admiration rests upon the immigrant … Read more
What quality in a novel is it which prompts it to be labelled as “grunge literature”? And why do so many authors of books which fall into this genre object so strenuously to the label? Grunge is the literature and fiction of young people living in inner cities around the world, it is not a … Read more
The Great Gatsby , written by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a portrayal of the withering of the American Dream. The American Dream promises prosperity and self-fulfillment as rewards for hard work and self-reliance. A product of the frontier and the west, the American Dream challenges people to have dreams and strive to make them real. … Read more
Living in a society with limited freedom of expression is not, in any case, enjoyable. A totalitarian system is a good example of such a society, because although it provides control for the people, it can deny them a great deal of freedom to express themselves. The fictional society in George Orwells 1984 also stands … Read more
Charles Dickens being anti-Semitic when portraying the character Fagin as “the Jew”, in his classic story Oliver Twist, or was he merely painting an accurate portrait of the 19th Century Jew in England? Some critics seem to believe so. Though there are no indications of neither anti-Semitic nor racist slurs throughout the story, Dickens’ image … Read more
When Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote his novel, The Scarlet Letter, he was praised as being the father of the psychological novel. Since the completion of his landmark story, many other authors have taken their work in similar directions and have tried to reveal human psychology through their writing. Authors have been trying to convey truths about … Read more
“So they got mad. An’ one kid grabbed her Cracker Jack box…. So Ruthie got mad an’ chase ’em, an’ she fit one, an’ then she fit another, an’ then one big girl up an’ licked her… So then Ruthie cried, an’ she said she’d git her big brother, an’ he’d kill that big girl….. … Read more
Any man who tries to argue Jane Austen’s ability to draw characters would be undoubtedly a fool, for the author’s talent in that area of prose is hard to match. However even the most ardent fans of Austen will have to agree with the fact that the personages she creates are not appealing to every … Read more
In the world that we live in, rhetoric always affects and is a part of everything that happens. Rhetoric, in its broadest sense, is communication, and how people relate to each other. The movie The Color Purple is about relationships. Therefore rhetoric plays a very important role in this movie. Throughout The Color Purple the … Read more
If this paper were going to be written like Slaughterhouse- Five, there would be two narratives, one personal, one impersonal. The structure would also be similar to Tralfamadorian books and Slaughterhouse- Five. I would present no beginning, no middle, and no end. In the words of Kurt Vonnegut, “There isn’t any particular relationship between all … Read more
The main male characters in Shakespeares play Othello kill their wives in order to defend their own honor. In the period setting of the play, to show honor, women are expected to be subservient to their husbands. The characters Iago and Othello reflect this attitude toward their respective wives, giving them reason to feel just … Read more
In Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, Milkman Dead becomes a man by learning to respect and to listen to women. In the first part of the novel, he emulates his father, by being deaf to women’s wisdom and women’s needs, and casually disrespecting the women he should most respect. He chooses to stray from his … Read more
The use of erotica can be seen very clearly in the “Song of Solomon”. First of all, one must keep in mind that it comes from the bible so one will not here vulgar things or even words that you know are directly talking about sex. However, if you read closely, you can here the … Read more
The book that I am currently reading is called Red Sails to Capri, written by Ann Weil. This book was awarded the Newberry Honor. The main character in this book is named Michele Pagano (Mee-shell) (Pa-gan-o). Michele is fourteen years old. He lives at home with his parents, Signor Pagano and Signora Pagano, on the … Read more
Within the various forms of literature, many notable authors have emerged as experts in their particular field. Shakespeare is viewed by many as one of the most profound and dramatic playwrights. He is generally noted for his complex dramas, tragedies, and comedies, all of which were written in a most eloquent and glorified manner. In … Read more
John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California, on February 27, 1902. He studied marine biology at Stanford University and then traveled east on a freighter through the Panama Canal. Steinbeck went to New York to work as a newspaper reporter but soon returned to California and held a variety of jobs while he wrote. Steinbeck … Read more
In Henrik Ibsens, A Dolls House, the character of Nora Helmer goes through the dramatic transformation of a kind and loving house wife, to a desperate and bewildered woman, whom will ultimately leave her husband and everything she has known. Ibsen uses both the characters of Torvald and Nora to represent the tones and beliefs … Read more
Shakespeares revenge tragedy, Hamlet, critiques the society of Denmark using powerful mononlogues and dramatic action. On the other hand, Wildes comic drama pokes fun at the high morality of Victorian Society. One serious theme that I noticed in The Importance of being Ernest was the consistent act of deception throughout the entire play. However this … Read more
The Romantic Period introduced a variety of writing styles. The authors of the early eighteenth century altered many of the earlier romantic pieces. The early writers primary area of concern was nature. It was not until the ladder part of the eighteenth century that authors began to focus on the supernatural as well as nature. … Read more
Shakespeare lived and wrote in the Elizabethan age, a time when his society was branching out and making itself known throughout the world by colonizing other cultures. Great Britain was reaching for new heights of power. In the play Shakespeare questions the value of this new concept of British imperialism. The Tempest is called Shakespeare’s … Read more
When John Steinbeck mocks feminism he is trying to show how woman in the story are dominated by a male or by a male society in general. The work is introduced by finding the fault against all women. In the times when John Steinbeck wrote the story, The Chrysanthemums, women were seen as inferior. Many … Read more