The Catcher in the Rye, the main character

The Catcher in the Rye, starts off with the main character, Holden Caulfield being expelled from school once again. Holden is a sixteen year old boy who has been expelled on numerous occasions from other schools. This time he is being expelled from Pency Prep. Before Holden goes home to his parents, he plans to … Read more

The Notebook Nicholas Sparks

Just after Graduation 1932, the opening night of the Neuse River Festival, Noah met his friends Fin and Sarah there. Fin and Sarah were talking to a girl that Noah thought was beautiful, her name was Allie. They hung out at the festival and drank some cherry Cokes until it closed. After that Noah and … Read more

Snow Falling On Cedars

I have to admit, when I first started reading this book, I had a problem with trying to stay awake: I found the writing dry. Then slowly as characters were introduced, a mystery started to unfold, and tension between neighbors rose, I could not put the novel down. Whether it was the vivid descriptions of … Read more

The Road Not Taken

The Road Not Taken – an analysis “Do not follow where the path may lead… Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. ” -Robert Frost Everyone is a traveler, choosing the roads to follow on the map of their continuous journey, life. There is never a straight path that leaves one … Read more

Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot on Modernism

On Ezra Pounds quote on modernism, he claims that “the modern age wants a literature that reflects an image of itself: “accelerated” and mass produced (“a mould in plaster/Made with no loss of time) as well as superficial. ” This means that todays society wants a literature that resembles itself, fast paced and shallow. Society … Read more

A Tale of Two Cities

My favorite scene in A Tale of Two Cities is one of the last scenes, when Sydney Carton is about to go to the guillotine. It takes place in Paris, near a prison, and many people have gathered to watch french aristocrats be beheaded. The atmosphere is tense and chaotic; Sydney, however, remains calm, even … Read more

Struggling Dreams

Several poems attempt to address social and political issues. In several of Langston Hughess poems, he expresses sociopolitical protests. He portrayed people whose lives were impacted by racism and sexual conflicts, he wrote about southern violence, Harlem street life, poverty, prejudice, hunger, hopelessness. Hughess poem a Dream Deferred was published in 1951. The poem speculated … Read more

The Time Machine Herbert George Wells

Herbert George Wells was born in 1866 in Bromley, Kent, a few miles from London, the son of a house-maid and gardener. Wells died in 1946, a wealthy and famous author, having seen science fiction become a recognized literary form and having seen the world realize some of science fiction’s fondest dreams and worst fears. … Read more

The story “A&P” by John Updike

The story “A & P” by John Updike is a tale of a young man who lets his desires and his anger get a little to far ahead of him and in the end winds up quitting his job. The main character of the story is Sammy. An eighteen year old boy from a small … Read more

The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot

The Mill on the Floss is a book written by George Eliot, whose real name is Mary Anne (later Marian) Evans. There is a great deal of autobiography in this book. The facts of Mary Anne’s life do not match Maggie Tulliver, but there is an obvious reflection of her own life. Book One: Chapter1-13 … Read more

A Crime of Fate

In Paradise Lost, Adam and Eve commit the first sin, and from this point on, all other sins are mere copies of this. Alexander Pope uses this to his benefit when he depicts the crime in The Rape of the Lock. By alluding to Milton’s work, Pope is able to comically refer to the cutting … Read more

Surrealism and T. S. Eliot

Surrealism is a dangerous word to use about the poet, playwright and critic T. S. Eliot, and certainly with his first major work, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock “. Eliot wrote the poem, after all, years before Andre Breton and his compatriots began defining and practicing “surrealism” proper. Andre Breton published his first … Read more

Home is where the heart is

This is an interesting concept to apply to The Seafarer, whose narrator seems to feel a sense of belonging whilst travelling the sea despite the fact that he is obviously disillusioned with its hardships . The main character undergoes a transformation in what he considers home and this dramatically affects his life and lifestyle. Towards … Read more

Personality Development

The idea that one can understand and comprehend the development of an individual is profound and abstruse, but very few people have actually had success dealing with such a topic. From obstacles such as proper test subjects to the whole stigma of taboo attached in trying to understand the human mind, researchers and psychologists have … Read more

The Grapes of Wrath: Symbols

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

Apocalypse Now vs Heart of Darkness

Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now lacks the impact of its inspiration, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. While the basic elements of imperialism and human nature remain intact, the characters of the film bare little resemblance to their literary counterparts. The film serves as a re-interpretation of Conrad’s novella, updated from 19th-century British imperialism in the … Read more

The story Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 19 concerns Mr Collins’s proposal to Elizabeth. Read carefully the exchange between Elizabeth and Mr Collins beginning ‘Believe me, my dear Miss Elizabeth’ to ‘not fail of being acceptable’. Discuss the passage in detail, commenting on its comic aspects, and what the chapter reveals about the characters and the social environment or world of … Read more

Native Son by Richard Wright

Native Son is the story of Bigger Thomas. A young has personality traits spanning various aspect of human nature including actions motivated by fear, quick temper, and a high degree of intelligence. Bigger, whom the novel revolves around, portrays various personality elements through his actions. Many of his action suggest an overriding response to fear, … Read more

The History of American Literature

The same stories, fables, or belief structures were told repeatedly, each time Identical to the last, and were memorized by the listeners so they would be able to pass these on to the next generation. They also used pictures, carvings, or special mementos such as bones, teeth, feathers, or skins as reminders of great hunts … Read more

History and Literature: Key to Passing the Let

Passing the LET and becoming a competent education graduate require a great deal of at least everything. It is known to many that teachers are jacks-of-all- trades and basic knowledge of mathematics, science, politics and current events is a determiner to becoming a teacher. Also, these determiners are not worth mentioning without emphasizing the importance … Read more

The History of American Literature

The same stories, fables, or belief structures were told repeatedly, each time Identical to the last, and were memorized by the listeners so they would be able to pass these on to the next generation. They also used pictures, carvings, or special mementos such as bones, teeth, feathers, or skins as reminders of great hunts … Read more

Comparison Poems Essay

In all poems there is a theme, whether the theme be obvious from the start or it be one that is difficult to find. No matter how long or short a poem or how complicated or simple every poem that you read will have a theme. In “Beale Street Love” by Langston Hughes, the poem … Read more

Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

Brave New World Sometimes very advanced societies overlook the necessities of the individual. In the book Brave New World, Aldous Huxley creates two distinct societies: the Savages and the Fordians. The Fordians are technologically sophisticated, unlike the Savages. However, it is obvious that, overall, the Savages have more practical abilities, have more, complicated, ideals, and … Read more

Life Experiences in Farewell to Manzanar

The book, Farewell to Manzanar was the story of a young Japanese girl coming of age in the interment camp located in Owens Valley, California. Less than two months after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which stated that the War Department had the right to declare which people were … Read more

The Messiah Stones

The main character in The Messiah Stones is John McGowan. He has a wife names Sarah, a son names Joshua who is eight years old, and Oliver who is six years old. His Dad left him when he was nine years old because he went to Jerusalem for an archeological dig and never saw him … Read more

Epic of Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh is an epic that has been passed down for thousands of years. The epic narrates the legendary deeds of the main character Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh is two-thirds immortal and one-third mortal; however, he cannot accept his fate that one day he too will die. The entire epic tells the story of Gilgamesh’s life and searche … Read more

Flowers For Algernon And Other Stories

The most obvious contrast between Flowers for Algernon and other short stories, such as “A & P” and “Miss Brill” is the length. But length is not the topic for this short essay. The predominant difference, besides length, is the number of fully realized characters in the story. In “A & P” and “Miss Brill” … Read more

Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path”

Novelist Eudora Welty is often studied and adored by many readers; her much deserved recognition comes from her brilliant, deeply compassionate, and lively stories and novels (Ford 36). Like many of her stories, Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path” is set in Mississippi. In “A Worn Path,” Welty focuses on an old woman’s journey to Natchez … Read more

The Bluest Eye

The Bluest Eye is a complex book. Substance wise it is a disturbing yet relatively easy read, but Toni Morrison plays with the narrative structure in a way so that complexity is added to the hidden depth of the text. From the beginning to the end of the book, the author takes the reader through … Read more

Macbeth – tyrant or tragic hero

A tragic hero is said to be doomed from his beginning. Though courage and loyalty dwell in him, the temptation of superior life can be unsurpassable, and a civil person can display vicious, primitive attitudes and carry out evil deeds. Macbeth was an unfortunate man, who seemed insatiable, pitiless, and power-hungry, but really just attempted … Read more

Themes and Voices in Frankenstein

There are many different narrative voices that take place in the novel Frankenstein. These narrative voices not only help the reader appeal to different characters, but they develop characters personality as well. The monster’s character evolves in many ways throughout the novel, depending on the point of view it’s coming from. When the monster himself … Read more

If We Must Die – Claude McKay

Claude McKay “If We Must Die” One of the most influential writers of the Harlem Renaissance was Jamaican born Claude McKay, who was a political activist, a novelist, an essayist and a poet. Claude McKay was aware of how to keep his name consistently in mainstream culture by writing for that audience. Although in McKay’s … Read more

The novel Wuthering Heights

In the novel Wuthering Heights, a story about love turned obsession, Emily Bronte manipulates the desolate setting and dynamic characters to examine the self-destructive pain of compulsion. Emily Brontes Wuthering Heights is a novel about lives that cross paths and are intertwined with one another. Healthcliff, a orphan, is taken in by Mr. Earnshaw, the … Read more

Kate Chopin, of The Awakening

I believe that Kate Chopin, author of The Awakening, uses the plot, characters, setting, and the themes in order to get your point of view across to the reader. Each one of these elements makes the story easier to understand through Chopin’s use of them. The plot is needed in order for it just to … Read more

Analysis of Early Civilizations Through Literature

A culture that evolves and changes through time is a healthy culture indeed. From the early pagan warriors to the artisans of the Renaissance, the European world dramatically reformed. The literature of each era indicates the profound cultural innovations. The Anglo-Saxons arguably most important literary piece, Beowulf, is a story of a brave warrior who … Read more

The Call of the Wild

After reading “The Call of the Wild”, I’ve come to realize that it would be difficult living on the Klondike in the Yukon. The weather is very cold and life is very hard there. You’ll understand better as I explain the story of the book to you. In this book Mercedes, Hal, and Charles, a … Read more

Othello – Battle of Good vs Evil

In Shakespeare’s, Othello, the reader is presented the classic battle between the deceitful forces of evil and the innocence of good. It are these forces of evil that ultimately lead to the breakdown of Othello, a noble venetian moor, well-known by the people of Venice as a honourable soldier and a worthy leader. Othello’s breakdown … Read more

Home Burial by Robert Frost

Robert Frost wrote the poem Home Burial after he and his wife suffered the tragic loss of their 4-year-old son. Home Burial shows the emotions people feel after such a loss, and how they face those emotions. Through Frost’s experience he shows that men and women grieve in different ways. In Home Burial Frost demonstrates, … Read more

The Cherry Orchard The Misunderstood Comedy

When the first production of The Cherry Orchard was performed on stage in Moscow, there was a significant difference of opinion between the author and directors. Chekhov strongly faulted the directors interpretation that the play should be preformed as a tragedy and insisted that what he had written was a comedy. The famous philosopher Aristotle … Read more

The Downfall of Macbeth

Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, is the tragic tale of Macbeth, a virtuous man, corrupted by power and greed. This tragedy can be classified by one of two theories. One theory suggests that the tragic hero, Macbeth, is led down an unescapable road of doom by an outside force; namely the three witches. The second … Read more

Beowulf and His Pride

One of Beowulf’s main characteristics is his ever present pride. To most protagonists their pride is usually explained by a friend or narrator. However, Beowulf is one who likes to show the whole world how important and valuable he is to them. Through out the chapters which we have read it seems as though the … Read more

The Mark of Ugliness

In Nathaniel Hawthornes The Birthmark, there is indeed a representation of a submerged personality in Aylmer. Although the other underlying personality is not represented within himself, it is rather portrayed through his assistant Aminadab. Since Aylmer is lacking so much within himself, he is unable to appreciate his wife even she was dying. Basically if … Read more

Odysseus Isn’t a Hero

The Odyssey is an epic poem about a Greek warrior named Odysseus, who just finished fighting in the Trojan War. He journeys home only to find his house overtaken by suitors trying to marry his wife, and kill his son. During his journey he comes face to face with deadly creatures, and has mind-boggling experiences … Read more

Shakespeare and Prospero

There can be no doubt that The Tempest contains numerous references to the theater, and while many of Shakespeare’s plays make reference to the dramatic arts and their analogy to real life (e. g. , “all the world’s a * stage”), it is in this, his last play, that the Bard most explicitly acknowledges that … Read more

Iagos Justice Essay

In William Shakespeares play Othello, there lurks an evil that far is surpasses the darkness of the devil, it lies in the antagonist Iago. Othello who passes Iago up for a promotion simply because Iago is not a arithmetician, swears to take his revenge and destroy the moor and every thing Othello holds dear. Through … Read more

The Age of Chivalry

A chivalrous knight was a very different sort of man from the proud, unruly, land-grabbing, brutal warriors who seemed to have been only too common in the Middle Ages. Warriors could or could not turn into chivalrous knights. Chivalry was a game of make-believe, a fashionable game that the ruling classes played when they were … Read more

An Analysis of Hawthorne’s Style

Although many readers may say Hawthorne’s writing is difficult to understand, the descriptions of the characters and settings are vividly depicted through the use of allegory, and his many instances of symbolism throughout his stories. “Young Goodman Brown” is an excellent example how allegory is shown through the writing of Nathanial Hawthorne. The story’s beginning … Read more

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Gilman

The Yellow Wallpaper written by Charlotte Gilman is a chilling portrayal of a womans downward spiral towards madness after undergoing treatment for postpartum depression in the 1800s. The narrator, whose name remains nameless, represents the hundreds of middle to upper- class women who were diagnosed with hysteria and prescribed a rest treatment. Although Gilmans story … Read more

The Comic Scenes Of Dr. Faustus

When I first began reading Dr. Faustus I did not even realize that there were comic scenes. Only after being told and after watching the movie did I realize that there were comic scenes. Many critics say that Christopher Marlowe did not even write these scenes, but instead say that they were written later by … Read more

Literature In Modern Times

Literature In Modern Times CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.0 Presentation From the very beginning of human species, literature existed side by side.  Human life, in the form of human passions, feelings, loves, sufferings, and human history existed in the literatures.  Human legends started with the very stone age, recorded in the stone scripts.  It was a … Read more

18th Century Literature

The 18th century is a period of great literary works.  The styles are different throughout the period, but the unity of the work is still present. Much of this period focused on public and general themes, until the Pre- Romantic era when literary works began to focus upon personal expression.  18th century literature can be … Read more

Fate in Literature

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