Study Like a Boss
Literature discussion groups play an important role in a whole language classroom. They allow students to actively participate and gives them an opportunity to project their won views to others members of the class. The discussion groups that we participated in generated a lot of thoughtful participating, as well as providing new insights to the … Read more
In the last forty years there have been some key people and events that have shaped history and in turn have influenced the works of some of literature’s most prolific writers. During this time period some of the most powerful speeches, poems, and literary protests were written. These works of literature were sometimes written out … Read more
Mary Stewart is one of the most popular novelists writing today. She is a lecturer at the college where she got her M. A. and B. A. , Durham university. She had 15 books published, and all of them became popular. Although it is accurate, she wrote it merely because she was so fascinated, not … Read more
Maya Angelou has become a national celebrity since she read her poem, “On the Pulse of the Morning,” at the inauguration of President Clinton. Before that, she was probably best known for her autobiographical I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. What is it about Angelou’s writing that is attractive to so many people? In … Read more
“A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, is the tale of the unstoppable love and care of a grandmother for her grandchild. It tells a story of sheer determination as Phoenix Jackson makes a long journey into town to get medicine for her chronically ill grandson. She strives forward despite frequent obstacles in her way that … Read more
I enjoy stories that are long and involved. However, the short story “A & P” by John Updike is a wonderful exception to this rule. Updike writes the story from a viewpoint of what I believe to be a younger, more contemporary person. The story contains many other enjoyable attributes, such as the comments about … Read more
Henry Rider Haggard sets out to create an epic tale of courage, a breathtaking drama that attempts to capture, within its limits, the universal spirit of adventure. He appeals in particular to the proverbial young male that seeks an audacious inspiration in life by which to model his own. He entices his readers because his … Read more
Well, I think that the part that really griped me is when Dr. Rolf van der Berg had discovered that a Monolith (a huge black rectangle made of an unknown material) had just appeared on Europa (one of the moons of Jupiter). Summary: Dr. Heywood Floyd was sitting in the space station Pasture when he … Read more
Cisneros’ Barbie-Q really stood out as a great piece of literature. Barbie-Q is a quick glimpse into the life of a poverty-stricken child and her way of life. Though my life as of yet has been rather short, my earliest childhood memories are overwhelmingly my fondest and her account really struck a chord. Sandra Cisneros’ … Read more
The Eleventh Commandment portrayed the state church as being the supreme dictator. It is through the eleventh commandment that the church held it’s power and control over the masses. Without the church and it’s leaders to guide the masses, their society would have collapsed. However, compared to Brave New World, the whole society is conditioned … Read more
Having majored in literary studies (world literature) as an undergraduate, I would now like to concentrate on English and American literature. I am especially interested in nineteenth-century literature, women’s literature, Anglo-Saxon poetry, and folklore and folk literature. My personal literary projects have involved some combination of these subjects. For the oral section of my comprehensive … Read more
It is clearly evident that many fairy tales of childhood tend to shape the reader. Certain moral codes and ideals are tightly woven into the text of many fairy tales, promoting or denoting a characters actions. In the Grimms fairy tales Cinderella, Brier Rose, and Rapunzel, the heroines of these tales exhibit strong behavioral codes, … Read more
America has been labeled “The land of opportunity,” a place where it is possible to accomplish anything and everything. This state of mind is known as “The American Dream. ” The American Dream provides a sense of hope and faith that looks forward to the fulfillment of human wishes and desires. This dream, however, originates … Read more
Nick Carraway has a special place in The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. He is not just one character among several; it is through his eyes and ears that the story takes place. In this novel, Nick goes to some length to establish his credibility, indeed his moral integrity, in telling this story about … Read more
The Chrysalids, by John Wyndham is a great novel in my opinion. It occurs in the future but it focuses on prejudices, intolerance and torture, issues that exist now and will always exist as long as we do. I believe the novel has a very important message for readers today. In the novel, The Chrysalids, … Read more
There are many different types of people in this world. Apart from physical features, it is the characteristics of a person that makes him/her original. Nick Carraway the narrator of The Great Gatsby, has qualities which are the complete opposite of those of Tom Buchanan, his cousin-in-law. In the novel, the author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, … Read more
If you go back to the Old House, it’s in ruins and the Clock Tower is gone. But remember this place to come back later when you have some items that you don’t have at the moment… At Father’s House, the baby bird is spreading its wings. Unfortunately, it doesn’t say anything with a Relay. … Read more
Addie Bundren conjures up the central darkness derived from her death and directly or indirectly causes actions in which each Bundren character takes advantage of Addie. With the character’s actions revolving around her death, William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying reveals the truth about the people who surround a person may take advantage of him … Read more
They all return to the house. The fully paid for house. The sight of it brings back a slight sob to Linda’s throat, when she reaches the cement stoop her sobbing once again becomes full. Charley looks to her but is at a loss for words. Happy puts his arms around his mother and holds … Read more
For my summer reading, I chose to read Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger. I decided to do my essay on the themes of the story. The only problem was, I couldn’t think of any. After reading the book twice, and still coming up without any, I decided to do some research on … Read more
A lot has been made of the suggested subtexts present in High Noon and On the Waterfront, that they reflect the experiences of Carl Foreman (the writer of High Noon) and Elia Kazan with the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Foreman has openly assented to this, and Kazan has admitted that there are parallels. However, … Read more
During the 1940’s Jewish Europeans experienced an unthinkable and atrocious collective trauma. In her work “Survivor-Parents and Their Children” taken from the anthology Generations of the Holocaust, Judith S. Kestenberg has argued that regardless of location, the effects of the Holocaust are felt on survivors parenting. The children of survivors receive a secondary traumatic impact … Read more
“When he lifted his head a little, he saw his vaulted brown belly, sectioned by arch-shaped ribs, to whose dome the cover, about to slide off completely, could barely cling. His many legs, pitifully thin compared with the size of the rest of him, were waving helplessly before his eyes. ” Gregor Samsa is the … Read more
World War II marked a wide dividing line between the old and the new in American society and the nations literature (The World Book Encyclopedia 427) . When world War II ended there was a pent up desire that had been postponed due to the war. Post war America brought about a time when it … Read more
Wallace’s fictional narrative Infinite Jest is an epic approach to the solicitous and addictive nature of humanity. The novel’s diverse characters demonstrate both individually and collectively the fixations and obsessions that bind humanity to the pitfalls of reality and provide a fertile groundwork for the semiotic explanation of addictive behavior. Although Wallace may have actualized … Read more
“Jane Eyre” is set during the Victorian period, at a time where a women’s role in society was restrictive and repressive and class differences distinct. A job as a governess was one of the only few respectable positions available to the educated but impoverished single women. Not only is “Jane Eyre” a novel about one … Read more
The Matchmaker has four main characters Mrs. Dolly Levi, Mr. Horace Vandergelder, Cornelius Hackl, and Mrs. Irene Molloy. Each character has his or her own personality, but one thing that each character has in common is that they want some type of adventure or change in their life. How they go about these changes they … Read more
We humans are all storytellers, or story-listeners, or both. That’s a crucial element of our humanity. Passing down the generations, constantly changing under the pressure of altering circumstances, stories link humanity together in chains of narrative. Odysseus sets out on the wine-dark sea, fights ferocious monsters, endures endless hardships, and eventually finds his way home; … Read more
William Shakespeare writes the Tragedy of Julius Caesar. This tragic play is based on historical facts of the life of Julius Caesar. It displays the events before his death such as his conquest over Pompey’s armies and his coronation to be king and after his death. Furthermore, this play describes the minds and motives of … Read more
For young people, the Vietnam War is a thing of the past and they can only learn about it from second hand sources. In Tim O’brien’s The Things They Carried, it becomes very apparent that the Vietnam conflict has proved to be one that many of the participants have not been able move away from, … Read more
The plot of “The Yellow Wallpaper” comes from a moderation of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s personal experience. In 1887, just two years after the birth of her first child, Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell diagnosed Gilman with neurasthenia, an emotional disorder characterized by fatigue and depression. Mitchell decided that the best prescription would be a “rest cure”. … Read more
Wuthering Heights, published in 1847, is the only prose work written by Emily Bronte, middle of the three famous Bronte sisters. She was 29 at the time and her life should have only been beginning, but sadly it would end a year later (Gaskill 433). The one and only novel that she wrote was a … Read more
In Nathaniel Hawthorn’s torrid tale of The Scarlet Letter, Arthur Dimmesdale, a main character, is confronted with a number of circumstances, both in and out of his control, that lead to his ultimate demise. Dimmsedale is a weak cowardly man. Arthur Dimmesdale, a minister, lives his life under the watchful yet admiring eye of the … Read more
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is a story written to promote awareness of the tragedies that occurred in France during the French revolution. The two themes of the book are interconnected with each other. The themes are those of sacrifice, and hate. The themes are portrayed through out the book and are … Read more
In the Stories of Achilles, Gilgamesh, and Job As opposites, relationship and alienation reveal much about character. In Homers The Iliad, Achilles tragic flaw, anger, and his petty pursuit of honor cause his alienation from society. His reconnection comes only after his friend Patroclus dies and he sees that the he has focused his life … Read more
Struggling through such things as the depression, the Dust Bowl summers, and trying to provide for their own families, which included finding somewhere to travel to where life would be safe. Such is the story of the Joads. The Joads were the main family in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, a book which was … Read more
Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost exemplifies the loss of innocence. The poem displays how you are pure and innocent when you are a child but as you mature, it is impossible to remain this way. In The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, Holden will soon realize that nothing Holdens main … Read more
Both Hester and Dimmesdale, are characters in the Scarlet Letter. They suffer with the guilt of the sin of adultery that they committed. At the time, the Puritans looked down on this type of sin. Hester and Dimmesdale can be compared and contrast in the way they handled their scarlet letter, their cowardliness, and their … Read more
Without honor, life is meaningless. According to the folktale, Green Willow, honor is essential to an individual of Japanese decent. This tale explains what the people of this country value and how they function. As the story unfolds, so do the components that form what Japan is. The background contains the codes and classes in … Read more
Victor Frankenstein and John Faustus are two characters that are alienated because of their intellectual curiosity. Faustus’s and Frankenstein’s pursuits of knowledge begin with an inexorable journey to their downfalls as they become alienated. Both characters attempt to exceed human ability and are alienated from God because of their attempts. These men are concerned with … Read more
Oedipus the king written by sophecles when read for the first time the reader will realize that the audience already knows what is going to happen its just the way that the characters deal will with it. There is an oracle that says that Oedipus will kill his father and marry his mother. Sophecles examines … Read more
Literature that children are exposed to often gives them ideas and provokes them to think and draw their own conclusions about things, it also provides a necessary escape from reality for them. This is why censoring children’s books can be rather destructive to their developing minds. If the tools with which kids are given to … Read more
Probably the most complex female character in the novel, Ophelia deserves special attention from the reader because she is treated as a surrogate for Stowe’s intended audience. Its as if Stowe conceived an imaginary picture of her intended reader, then brought that reader into the book as a character. Ophelia embodies what Stowe considered a … Read more
Ethan Frome, the main character in the book entitled Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton, has many complex problems going on at the same time. His family has died and he has a wife that is continually sick, and the only form of happiness he has is from his wife’s cousin Mattie. This, however, at times … Read more
The Harlem Renaissance is the vast migration of African-Americans to northern cities during the 1920s and 1930s. During this time African-Americans felt that they were finally able to freely express themselves as proud Black individuals. This period of time held some very important landmark occasions, but also came with its share of racial prejudice and … Read more
Banned for social reasons in many conditions and in many school systems, Anthony Burgesss A Clockwork Orange first seems to pierce the mind with its bizarre linguistic orgy of debauchery, brutality, and sex, and for some, refuses to affect them above the level of pure voyeurism and bloodlust (either for reveling in it or despising … Read more
Through the years there has been much debate as to whether Shakespeare’s The Tempest is an Allegory to European colonization and colonial life, or if it is his “farewell to the stage” with a complete overview of the stage and a compilation of all of his characters into a few, in which the playwright himself … Read more
Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, considers a very delicate situation experienced by a Scandinavian family in 1879. Nora Helmer, the main character and adored wife of Torvald faces a life-altering dilemma. She has to decide whether to remain with her obsessive husband in his sheltered home, playing the part of a doll, or take the … Read more
The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, is a collection of stories in a frame story, between 1387 and 1400. It is the story of a group of thirty people who travel as pilgrims to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Thomas Beckett. The pilgrims, who come from all classes of society, tell stories to each … Read more
The play “Death of a Salesman” shows the final demise of Willy Loman, a sixty- year-old salesman in the America of the 1940’s, who has deluded himself all his life about being a big success in the business world. It also portrays his wife Linda, who “plays along” nicely with his lies and tells him … Read more