The Play: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, by William Shakespeare offers a wonderful contrast in human mentality. Shakespeare provides insight into man’s conflict with the rational versus the emotional characteristics of our behavior through his settings. The rational, logical side is represented by Athens, with its flourishing government and society. The wilder emotional side is represented…
In A Lesson Before Dying, Mr. Grant Wiggins’ life crises were the center of the story. At the start of the book, he more or less hated Jefferson, but after a while he became his friend and probably the only person Jefferson felt he could trust. The turning point in their relationship was the one…
Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel, NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND, has held many labels, such as being a case history of neurosis or a specimen of modern tragedy. The most popular label it has obtained however is being the author’s defense of individualism. The novel is written as a performance, part triad, part memoir, by a nameless personage…
In Margaret Laurence’s novel a Jest of God, Mae Cameron plays a critical role in the development of the main character as well as the plot. Mae Cameron’s fear of isolation in turn causes Rachel not to develop as a person. Mae is so worried about being left alone that she will stop at nothing…
The Taming of the Shrew is one of the earliest comedies written by sixteenth and seventeenth-century English bard, William Shakespeare. Some scholars believe it may have been his first work written for the stage as well as his first comedy (Shakespearean 310). The earliest record of it being performed on stage is in 1593 or…
“Barn Burning” is a sad story because it very clearly shows the classical struggle between the “privileged” and the “underprivileged” classes. Time after time emotions of despair surface from both the protagonist and the antagonist involved in the story. This story outlines two distinct protagonists and two distinct antagonists. The first two are Colonel Sartoris…
Firstly, because the sonnet is a very strict form, the author has to be very careful in constructing his poem, to ensure that it fits the design constraints. One of these constraints is that the sonnet is very short, with only 14 lines. This forces the author to distill his thoughts and feelings into as…
Flannery O’Connor’s background influenced her to write the short story “Revelation.” One important influence on the story is her Southern upbringing. During her lifetime, Southerners were very prejudiced towards people of other races and lifestyles. They believed that people who were less fortunate were inferior to them; therefore, people were labeled as different things and…
“Moby Dick is biographic of Melville in the sense that it discloses every nook and cranny of his imagination.” (Humford 41) This paper is a psychological study of Moby Dick. Moby Dick was based on Melville’s personal experiences, based on the adventures of Ishmael. Ishmael is an introverted, lonely, and alienated individual. He wishes to…
Louisa May Alcott was born on November 29, 1832, in Germantown, Pennsylvania. When she was almost 2 years old, Louisa’s family moved to Massachusetts, the state where she lived the bulk of her life. The family moved many times over the years, usually back and forth between Boston and Concord (Mass.). Some notable places Louisa…
Carl Sandburg was a great man. His life was one of fame, once he began writing. He inspired many people. He also became an American Marvel. His works still remain read even today, 30 years after his death. His life was an interesting one. His parents immigrated to the US from Sweden. His parents moved…
Shakespeare’s play Henry IV begins with a king (King Henry) beginning a pilgrimage after killing King Richard II. Henry believes that by gaining the throne of England he has done an honourable deed, yet he admits that the fighting and bloodshed could continue, . . . “ill sheathed knife” . . . (I.1.17). He, also, admits…
Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, written in approximately 1385, is a collection of twenty-four stories ostensibly told by various people who are going on a religious pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral from London, England. Prior to the actual tales, however, Chaucer offers the reader a glimpse of fourteenth century life by way of what he refers to…
The word phoenix had symbolized immortality, but for the people in Fahrenheit 451, their only hope was that the phoenix would be burn out, and be reborn again. The myth of the phoenix gave optimism to the life of Montag, to the books, and to the world of Fahrenheit 451. The world was now dying,…
“The Cuckoo’s Egg” is a story of persistence, love for one’s work and is just plain funny! The story starts out with Clifford Stoll being “recycled” to a computer analyst/webmaster. Cliff, as he is affectionately called, is a long-haired ex-hippie that works at Lawrence Berkeley Lab. He originally was an astronomer, but since his grant…
In May of 1977, Daniel Levinson constructed a model of the seasons of a man’s life. His developmental theory consists of universal stages or phases that extend from the infancy state to the elderly state. Most development theories, such as Freud’s psychosexual development theory or Piaget’s cognitive development theory, end in the adolescent stage of…
Time Setting The Devil’s Shadow by Clifford Lindsey Alderman took place in the late seventeenth century from 1692-1693. This is the time period that the Salem Witch Trials took place. The main plot of the story rested on the events leading up to the Salem Witch Trials, the trials themselves, and the aftermath of the…
“Young Goodman Brown”, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a story that is thick with allegory. “Young Goodman Brown” is a moral story that is told through the perversion of a religious leader. In “Young Goodman Brown”, Goodman Brown is a Puritan minister who lets his excessive pride in himself interferes with his relations with the community…
Mary Higgins Clark does a great job of keeping the reader in suspense. Mary Higgins Clark introduces many characters that all could be suspects in the crimes she describes in this novel. “You Belong to Me” was definitely one of her best works. Dr. Susan Chandler, a clinical psychologist, is researching cases of missing women.…
The purpose of this paper is to assess the novel, “Wuthering Heights,” by Emily Bronte, particularly within the context of the character, Catherine. Catherine plays a prominent role throughout “Wuthering Heights.” For the most part, it is her love of Heathcliff which represents the crutch of the human struggle encountered by Catherine, as well as…