Study Like a Boss
Comedy, Courtly Love, Drama, Fiction, Novel, Poetry, Protagonist, Short Story, Tragedy, 1984, A Raisin in The Sun, Animal Farm, Beowulf, Fahrenheit 451, Frankenstein, George Orwell, Hamlet, Into The Wild, Lord of The Flies, Macbeth, A Modest Proposal, All Quiet on The Western Front, Allegory, Antigone, Between The World and Me.
Many science fiction stories feature aliens, especially the interaction between humans and the extraterrestrials. These interactions from range from one-on-one encounters to merely experiencing the aliens’ culture from afar. No matter the nature of said encounter, the human nearly always leaves changed in some way. Usually this change occurs in how the human perceives the … Read more
In Ursula Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness, protagonists Estraven and Genly Ai embark on a bleak journey across the Gobrin Glacier only to discover that they will fail without the balance of light and shadows. In response to Estraven falling into a crevasse neither character could see, Genly Ai draws a yin-yang sign … Read more
This paper is about the postmodern IR theory with the ideas of Michael Foucault and the movie The Matrix (1999). In first place postmodernism explained as a critical IR theory and its assumptions discussed. Secondly The Matrix (1999) will be summarized. After that the movie will be analyzed with a postmodern perspective. And finally there … Read more
The landscape in The Dispossessed contributes a great deal in shaping the cultures and characters of both Urras and Anarres. Although meant to be contrasting civilizations, Urras and Anarres are alike in the sense that they both possess highly complex and highly organized ways of life. Complete with their own values of government, geography, and … Read more
The Female Arab: Physical and mental lust were eating out my body at the same time I knew there was only loneliness. The CIA had treated loneliness in that city and made the sun into a piece of ice. I decided either I can die or I have to refind emotion. . . I left … Read more
In Russell Hoban’s Riddley Walker, Hoban portrays a post-apocalyptic society ravaged by a nuclear war. While he masterfully crafts the story to warn readers about the dangers of technology, the real achievement is in the strange language, called Riddleyspeak, in which the book is written in. As Ferdinand de Saussure asserts, language is the mechanism … Read more
Divergent Divergent is a science fiction-adventure, drama and thriller film created the year 2014. This film was originally a book created by Veronica Roth, the book received good feedback, because of that Summit Entertainment bought the rights to the film Divergent. Budget wise the film had $80 million that they could spend and that’s a … Read more
Fritz Lang’s 1927 science fiction epic, Metropolis, recalls the Christian creation and apotheosis narrative through a dystopian lens. The main characters in Metropolis personify Jesus and his apostles and close associates in a postmodern society. The city of Metropolis itself represents the relationship between humanity as God as evidenced in the Christian tradition. The film … Read more
The cinematic adaptation of Phillip K Dick’s thrilling science-fiction story Minority Report captures perfectly the futuristic noir feel of the original. However, the movie’s plotline, characters and central themes contain major dissimilarities. Its characters have different names, younger ages and greater free will. Its plot diverges, and results in a dramatically different, typically Spielbergian happy … Read more
Across generations, language barriers, and cultures, there is one question that has stood the test of time: does the intent of our actions really matter if our actions have the impact of furthering the marginalization or oppression of those around us? Jamie Utt addresses this question and the arguments surrounding it in her article “Intentions … Read more
Annotations/Journal – Setting and Background Information: The novel is set in Berne, Switzerland in the spring of 1905. Einstein is twenty-six years old, working on his theory of relativity in his extra time. The novels portrays Einstein’s dreams on physics, time and relativity. The year 1905 has been referred to as Einstein’s “miracle year”, for … Read more
Intertextual perspectives of personal and political ideals are often shared by composers, regardless of forms and contexts, due to controversial periods of history causing the historical paradigms to resonate with audiences. Fritz Lang’s film Metropolis released in 1927 and George Orwell’s satiric novel ‘1984’ composed in 1948, address concerning ideas such as totalitarian power and … Read more
Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land is heralded as a science fiction classic. The winner of several science fiction awards, Heinlein’s novel explores the spiritual journey of Valentine Michael Smith, a Martian who is brought to Earth and taught the ways of humans. Through his journey, Mike, as he is endearingly called, learns about … Read more
Vivisection, an issue explored by many different scholars, including religious, scientific, and literary, has engendered a fierce debate since its inception. Philosophers early as Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas began addressing issues concerning mankind’s relation to animal, which had great implications in shaping societal views on vivisection during later years. Such views were shaken, however, … Read more
Shaken by the effects of World War I and forever changed by the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century, 1920s Germany found itself in a dilemma: how to cope with increasingly pervasive technology and the rapid evolution present in every segment of society? With technology offering humans the ability to kill more people in less … Read more
“Neither man nor woman, neither and both, cyclic, lunar, metamorphosing under the hand’s touch, changelings in the human cradle, they were no flesh of mine, no friends; no love between us” (229). Genly Ai doesn’t think that he will ever be friends with the alien named Estraven because Genly Ai has firm personal prejudices acquired … Read more
Aye and Gomorrah is a short science-fiction written by Samuel R. Delany that dives into the themes of sexuality and social norms. The story highlights the abnormal relationships between two marginalized communities and the struggles they undergo trying to understand their situations. Although the novel was written a while ago, the author and reader can … Read more
The full title of Le Guin’s 1974 novel reads “The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia” and proves to be just what the title suggests. This science fiction novel is also a utopia, but not one which serves as “a hopeful prescription for a near perfect future” but one which serves as a “critique of the inadequacies … Read more
The mind can only be controlled if at some point, the person starts to believe what is being told to them as truth. It is at that point they will question their own opinions. In the novel, The Circle by Dave Eggers, the protagonist, Mae Holland, allows herself to be manipulated by The Circle company. … Read more
From the beginning of Metropolis, there is a stark divide between the upper class and the working people. We see working people walk like soldier into huge elevators, heads hanging in clear misery, descending into what we can only assume is their version of hell, deep below the earth’s surface. Their clothes are black and … Read more
Can an equivalent society really exist? The story, “Harrison Bergeron” gives one point of view reply to this inquiry all through the story. The story depicts one fundamental clash between Harrison Bergeron, a virtuoso kid who is extremely capable, against a “government” that makes the whole society break even with by disabling the more talented, … Read more
Societies attempt to create a world which is beneficial for all, in which all individuals are happy and content. A world like this, however, is hard to attain: People have various conceptions of how a perfect world operates, and how to achieve a society that makes every individual satisfied. This type of world is called … Read more
Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness, published in 1969, describes a utopian world in which there is an absence of gender. The novel takes place in Karhide, where winter is the nation’s only season and its inhabitants are Gethenian’s — androgynous beings. Although Le Guin sought to create a genderless world, she … Read more
Did you know Mae Jemison was the first black women to play a role in the movie Star Trek? Question is who is Mae Jemison? Dr. Mae Carol Jemison was born on October 17, 1956, in Decatur, Alabama. For Education, she went to Beethoven Elementary School and went to Cornell University and Stanford University she … Read more
When the Overlords in Arthur C. Clarke’s novel Childhood’s End descend over mankind, humanity is immediately awestruck and completely humbled by their scientific and technological prowess. As the Overlords become more active in human society and affairs, their intelligence and pure ability to easily accomplish every human goal completely humbles humanity. Humans no longer consider … Read more
“Science fiction is one of the more secluded parade grounds where private fantasy and public event meet. They call it entertainment”. (Aldiss Billion 1) This quote is interpreted to mean that, in the genre of science fiction there is a fusion of fantasy and reality. It is this combination of two opposites that produces the … Read more
The title of the novel, Around the World in Eighty Days, is pretty much self explanatory. An Englishman, Phileas Fogg, places a wager that he can circumnavigate the world in 80 days. The events that occur throughout the novel describe his journey around the world. Phileas Fogg, the protagonist, was a lonesome person who lived … Read more
Anthem, a science fiction novel, deals with a future primitive society in which the forbidden word “I”, which is punishable, has been replaced by “We”. Anthem’s theme seems to be about the meaning and glory of man’s ego. In this novel, Rand shows that the individualism needed for building a complex technological civilization has been … Read more
The two novels, The Handmaid’s Tale and Anthem, are both haunting, first person tales of personal hardship in a closed and controlled society. In this essay I will point out many important similarities and differences between the two books, mainly the setting and the similarities between the two societies in which the stories take place, … Read more
