Shakespeare uses many motifs to expand on the themes of the story. His most-used motif revolves around filial responsibility. Each of the two plots contains characters who betray their fathers. Goneril and Regan flatter their father, King Lear, and then betray him. The drastic change that occurred in their attitude towards their father is clearly…
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair” (1.1.12) is the infamous line that begins Shakespeare’s Macbeth. This line highlights the relationship between one’s appearance and the reality of their nature. In this play the connection between appearance and reality is paradoxical; what appears in one a way in reality may not be that way. Throughout…
The character Ralph is realistic, independent and civil in this novel. In The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding. Ralph must do many things for his own survival and the survival of the other boys on the island. I think the obstacles he has to overcome make up his character throughout the book. A…
This is a massive question – one which affects every character in The God of Small Things. That is to say, every character in some way crosses, or transgresses, a boundary of some sort. This, of course, is necessarily a cursory glance at the “forbidden transgressions” of most of the novel’s dominant figures. The God…
The tragedy Long Day’s Journey Into Night, a play written by Eugene O’Neill, tells the story of a small middle class family in the early nineteenth century. All of the characters have numerous tragic flaws that eventually lead to the family’s collapse. The man of the family, James Tyrone, is an extremely frugal individual that…
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…
In Hardy’s Jude the Obscure, Hardy shows his views on religion and commitment to the Church which were said to have declined in the latter years of his life. (Ingham, xxvii) Throughout the book Hardy displays his feeling that religion is something that people use in order to satisfy themselves by giving their lives’ meaning.…
In Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre Bertha Mason and Jane Eyre share various attributes in their characters: passion, restlessness, and a will to follow their nature. Later in the novel Jane sees Bertha’s burning passionate nature and it warns her that she will only become the maniac that Bertha has if she follows her passion and…
Finding her Voice Janie Crawford, the main character of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, strives to find her own voice throughout the novel and, in my opinion, she succeeds even though it takes her over thirty years to do it. Each one of her husband’s has a different effect on her ability…
John Grisham is one of America’s best-selling author, he said one day, “I started thinking that it would be nice to have a novel sitting on my desk, something I could point to and say, ‘Yeah, I wrote that’” (Authors 97). Grisham’s life has influenced his fourteen back-to-back best-sellers (Authors 96). His books have been…
The play “Tartuffe”, by Moliere, is a work that was created to show people a flaw in their human nature. There are two characters who portray the main flaw presented in the play. Both Madame Pernelle and Orgon are blinded to the farces of Tartuffe and must be coaxed into believing the truth. The fact…
Jane Eyre tells the story of a woman progressing on the path towards acceptance. Throughout her journey, Jane comes across many obstacles. Male dominance proves to be the biggest obstacle at each stop of Jane’s journey: Gateshead Hall, Lowood Institution, Thornfield Manor, Moor House, and Ferndean Manor. Through the progression of the story, Jane slowly…
Grendel is an unhappy soul in John Gardner’s book “Grendel”, because he feels useless in society and doesn’t want to accept his given role. Throughout this whole book Grendel feels he has no friend in the outside word and no one to except him besides his own mother. He doesn’t want to accept his role…
Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck portrayed the awakening of a man’s conscience dealing with his troubling trials throughout the novel. The character that goes through this monumental change is Tom Joad, son of two tenant farmers from Oklahoma. Tom’s conscience was changed from a loner who cared nothing about the people to a hardy…
On important theme within The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the struggle between good and evil as experienced when Huck’s personal sense of truth and justice come in conflict with the values of society around him. These occurrences happen often within the novel, and usually Huck chooses the truly moral deed. One such instance occurs…
Eric Arthur Blair aka “George Orwell” was born in 1903 at Motihari in British-occupied India. While growing up, he attended private schools in Sussex, Wellington and Eton. He worked at the Imperial Indian Police until 1927 when he went to London to study the poverty stricken. He then moved to Paris where he wrote two…
For thousands of years, people have farmed cultivated land, and domesticated animals to survive. Although, the human species was not always capable of such a feat, and it was not until 8500 BCE this manufacturing of resources began. For a long period, hunters and gatherers were the only form of food production in the world.…
The story “Who’s Irish” by Gish Jen is a story of an elderly Chinese woman , living in America, trying to help her daughter and her family raise her granddaughter Sophie. She struggles while watching Sophie grow up in this culture and wishes to discipline her the way a proper Chinese girl is raised. This…
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…
The poem “Ah! Sun-Flower” by William Blake is both beautiful to the eyes and pleasant to the ears. However, its content entails much more than the name suggests. After closely reading the poem, one learns that Blake’s intentions lie far into the depths of human thought of the afterlife. Specifically, Blake addresses who reaches the…
