Childhood barely existed for most British children at the end of the eighteenth century, since they began a lifetime of hard labour as soon as they were capable of simple tasks. By contrast, the fortunate children of the wealthy generally were spoiled and enjoyed special provisions for the need of a lengthy childhood, yet who…
A character’s environment reveals a great deal about his personality. In Chee’s Daughter by Juanita Platero and Siyowin Miller this theory is displayed. In this story, a young Navajo Indian girl is taken from her home by her deceased mother’s parents. Two different environments which reflect values and personalities are conflicting. A young traditional Navajo,…
This characterization of Uncle Henry focuses on the two main ways that he is portrayed in “Luke Baldwin’s Vow.” These two ways are: what Morley Callaghan, the author, reveals through the narrator and what other characters say about Henry. In this short story, Henry is usually referred to as Uncle Henry because he is Luke’s…
In The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe, the dark side of human nature is exemplified through the character of Montressor and his victim, Fortunato. Montressor is a manipulative and vengeful person. These characteristics lead to the death of Fortunato, a man who has wronged him. Through the acts, words, and thoughts of the…
In the book A Separate Peace by John Knowles, one of the main themes is the effects of realism, idealism, and isolationism on Brinker, Phineas, and Gene. Though not everyone can be described using one of these approaches to life, the approaches completely conform to these characters to create one realist, one idealist, and one…
In Charles Dickens’ novel A Tale Of Two Cities, Sydney Carton is a man of several distinct characteristics. Carton is shown originally to be a frustrated alcoholic but then turns out to be a very noble and genuine man. Sydney Carton is also shown in the novel to be somewhat immature in his actions and…
Mr. Pignati is just a big kid at heart. He was very lonely until John and Lorriane came along. He is a closed man and tries to hide his feelings about his wife’s death. He is a very nice and kind hearted man and tries to be nice to Lorriane and John. “Make yourself’s at…
Throughout The Crucible we are introduced to and follow four or five important characters that Arthur Miller elaborated upon. One of those characters is Reverend Samuel Parris, a bitter minister who came to Salem for unclear reasons. That reason may have been he was looking for a small town to control, maybe he was trying…
Anyway Estelle is the only thoroughly developed character in Margaret Atwood’s “Rape Fantasies.” Though she is the narrator and quite thoughtful of the ideas and reactions of the story’s supporting players, it is her almost obsessive preoccupation with a singular topic that actually prompts her to fully illustrate her own ideas and reactions, drawing a…
The Scarlet Letter is a story of characters that have to live and deal with the effects of sin in different ways. Of these characters, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is the character portrayed as the weakest and ennoble. Despite this portrayal, Dimmesdale was a stronger character than given credit for. His unbelievable amount of control in…
The love described in the novel, The Great Gatsby, contains “violence and egoism not tenderness and affection.” The author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, writes on wealth, love, and corruption. Two coupes, Tom and Daisy Buchanan and George and Myrtle Wilson, match perfectly with these categories. Both couples are different in the way they choose to live…
Chaim Potok lives a very full life he has served his country, peoples, and religion very well and with great impact. First, to be discussed is his life birth through the present. He was born at a very early age on February 17, 1929, in New York, New York to Benjamin and Mollie Potok. The…
Ceremony is the story about Tayo, A Native American World War II Veteran, and his struggle to find himself. He struggles to adapt to a world where his people have to fight between the “whites” say is the true path, and what his culture says the right path. Ceremony displays Tayo’s struggle by comparing his…
Have you ever had that eerie feeling in the back of your mind that something just is not right? It is as if there is some unknown reason that a situation has a different meaning than what is obvious. This feeling is the disguised backbone of Raymond Carver’s story, “Boxes”. In this story, the son…
Walter Miller, in the novel A Canticle For Leibowitz, mocks the way we are as humans, particularly in those ways that lead to regressive thinking. The novel pokes fun at the attention to impractical details, such as to the spent copying the Leibowitz blueprints. Miller also mocks humans by describing the inordinate amount of attention…
Throughout the novel The Call of the Wild, we follow a dog named Buck through his journey through the Klondike. We experience a transformation in him, as he adapts to the cold, harsh land where he is forced to toil in the snow, just to help men find a shiny metal. Buck seems to almost…
One writer who has not received nearly enough credit for his works is George Gordon, who later became known as Lord Byron. This is the man who wrote his own poetical version of Don Juan. Don Juan is a man who is known for being able to arouse the desires of women and to love…
Throughout the play of “Julius Caesar” Brutus makes many mistakes or harmatias, which eventually lead to his tragic downfall. Although Brutus makes many harmatiasm these three are the most important. The largest harmatia that Brutus makes is listening to Cassius, in the beginning. Another harmatia Brutus makes is deciding not to kill Antony. Brutus also…
Abraham (Bram) Stoker was born November 8, 1847 at 15 The Crescent, Clontarf, North of Dublin, the third of seven children. For the first 7 years of his life Stoker was bedridden with a myriad of childhood diseases which afforded him much time to reading. By the time he went to college, Stoker had somehow…
Isaac Asimov was born in 1920 in Petrovichi, Russia. When he was three years of age, his family immigrated to the United States and settled in Brooklyn, New York. Asimov turned to full time writing in 1958. This accomplished writer is best known for his novels dealing with science fiction. However, his works extend to…