Despite the three Pulitzer prizes awarded him, Thornton Wilder may very well [have turned] out to be one of the few enduring writers of our time…There have been countless other authors who in his day have been far more “discussed.” That was inevitable for a man who has neither hastened to follow nor troubled to…
At some point in life, we will all experience the loss of innocence. This loss is not a choice but an eventuality. In the novel “They Shall Inherit the Earth”, Michael Aikenhead, Andrew Aikenhead and Dave Choate have all experienced this loss of innocence in different ways, but mainly through the perspective of others. Morley…
Like many writers of his time, Hawthorne emphasized man’s inner reality, and those thoughts and feelings which are not immediately apparent. As he explored this internal nature, he not only found the source of dignity and virtue, but also certain elements of darkness and violence. In The Minister’s Black Veil, these elements are treated as…
The Theater of Dionysus was Europe’s first theater, and stood immediately below the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. It was originally built in the late 5th century B.C. The theater was an outdoor auditorium in the shape of a great semicircle on the slope of the Acropolis, with rows of seats on which about eighteen thousand…
Fanon’s book, “The Wretched of the Earth” like Foucault’s “Discipline and Punish” question the basic assumptions that underlie society. Both books’ writers come from vastly different perspectives and this shapes what both authors see as the technologies that keep the populace in line. Foucault coming out of the French intellectual class sees technologies as prisons,…
Susan Glaspell’s short story, A Jury of Her Peers, was written long before the modern women’s movement began, yet her story reveals, through Glaspell’s use of symbolism, the role that women are expected to play in society. Glaspell illustrates how this highly stereotypical role can create oppression for women and also bring harm to men…
The Trojan War took place in approximately the 13th century. The ancient Greeks defeated the City of Troy. The Trojan War started after an incident at the wedding feast of Peleus, the king of Thessaly, and Thetis, a sea goddess. All the gods and goddesses of Mt. Olympus had been invited except Eris, the goddess…
The remarkable thing about the book was its liberal use of dialogue and how Hemingway used it to carry the reader through the book. There was no plot in the book in the sense that there was no twists, intrigue, or goals for any of the characters and the dialogue was the only thing that…
In Margaret Laurence’s The Stone Angel, the main character Hagar Shipley refused to compromise which shaped the outcome of her life as well as the lives of those around her. “Pride was my wilderness and the demon that led me there was fear… [I was] never free, for I carried my chains within me, and…
In Margaret Laurence’s The Stone Angel, the main character Hagar Shipley refused to compromise which shaped the outcome of her life as well as the lives of those around her. “Pride was my wilderness and the demon that led me there was fear… [I was] never free, for I carried my chains within me, and…
Ernest Hemingway has created a masterpiece of mystery in his story “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”. The mystery does not reveal itself to the reader until the end of the story, yet it leaves a lot to the imagination. At the end of the story Margaret Macomber kills her husband by accident, in…
The Secret Sharer written by Joseph Conrad, centers around a character of a sea captain. Its title and opening paragraphs forecast a story of mystery, isolation, duality, darkness, and silence. The novel proves true these predictions reveling thematic and image patterns directly proportional to them. The opening of the novel further reveals dialectics in the…
The shield of Achilles plays a major part in the Iliad. It portrays the story of the Achaeans and their fight against the Trojans in a microcosm of the larger story. Forged by the god, Hephaestus, who was a crippled smith, it depicts the two cities and the happenings within, as well as Agamemnon’s kingly…
The historical novel entitled The Scarlet Pimpernel is a classic and truly deserves this prestigious title. The author of this enthralling 267-page book is Baroness Emma Orczy and it was published by Dodd, Mead & Company in the year 1964. The scene is set in the terrorized Paris of revolutionary France in the 1800s. During…
In the story “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst a young handicapped by is born with a large head, a small body, and a weak heart. As time goes on, Doodle overcomes many obstacles with the help of his older brother. Doodle, the handicapped boy, is mentally developed slower and is challenged to learn how…
Edward Albee’s play “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolff?” is a drama exploring the anxieties of modern life. By personalizing aspects of the epic Albee has inverted many of its features to create satire. This internalization pits individuals against each other and themselves. M. H. Abrams’s definition of epic, in his book “A Glossary of Literary…
`You are the curse, the corruption of the land!’. With these words, Tiresias, a blind prophet in `Oedipus The King’ set the actions in play that would turn king to beggar within the day. Prophecy and foreshadowing are an important part of playwriting and adds an element of suspense that is not possible any other…
William Shakespeare’s satirical comedy, The Merchant of Venice, believed to have been written in 1596 was an examination of hatred and greed. The premise deals with the antagonistic relationship between Shylock, a Jewish money-lender and Antonio, the Christian merchant, who is as generous as Shylock is greedy, particularly with his friend, Bassanio. The two have…
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam presents an interesting challenge to any reader trying to sort through its heavy symbolism and not-so-obvious theme. Not only does the poem provide us with a compelling surface story, but a second look at the text can reveal a rich collection of separate meanings hidden in the poem’s objective descriptions…
Holden is a complex person with many conflicting characteristics. He has many ambitions and desires for his life but he is faced with the basic conflict in the story, corruption. This corruption is what drives him and at the same time restricts him Holden’s being surrounded by corruption disgusts him. There are a few main…