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…
Pages 1-85 In the beginning, Lovey and her best friend, Jerry, are watching the Shirley Temple movie before they go to church. They never get to see the end because they have to go and leave. They make up the endings and cry in the middle of the pastor’s sermon. On Lovey’s birthday, Jerry would…
Viva la Liberta! – Politics in Opera by Anthony Arblaster is published by Verso in 1992 in London, Great Britain. It was the book’s first edition and publication. The book contains 340 pages of text, no illustrations, and includes a tables of contents, nine main chapters, conclusion, notes and and an index. The chapters start…
The novel takes place about 1970-1988, in Aunt Cordelia and her brother Haskell’s neighborhood. The neighborhood, which is out in the country, is usually very quiet and orderly since the population is so few. All the children attend a one-room schoolhouse. Aunt Cordelia runs the schoolhouse and she teaches students from preschool through jr. high.…
Under the Iron Curtain Imagine what the world would be like if we were all “under the iron curtain.” In his foreword to the novel Brave New World, Aldous Huxley envisioned this statement when he wrote: “To make them love it is the task assigned, in present- day totalitarian states, to ministries of propaganda….” Thus,…
Harriet Beecher Stowe was born June 14, 1811 in Litchfield, Connecticut. She was the daughter of a Calvinist minister and she and her family was all devout Christians, her father being a preacher and her siblings following. Her Christian attitude much reflected her attitude towards slavery. She was for abolishing it, because it was, to…
This book was published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons in New York, USA. The copyright date is 1998. There are 740 pages in this book. Thomas L. Clancy, Jr. was born on the 12th of April 1947, he is married and lives in Maryland, USA. Clancy’s novels can be classified as Military-Techno-Thrillers. He has written fiction…
Tinkering with Eden by Kim Todd was more history-oriented than biology-oriented but interesting and educational nonetheless. Ms. Todd received a Bachelor’s Degree from Yale University and went on to receive her Master’s Degree from the University of Montana. She remains living in Montana today. Giving the background of how various outlandish species found their way…
In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, women of the Igbo tribe are terribly mistreated, and viewed as weak and receive little or no respect outside of their role as a mother. Tradition dictates their role in life. These women are courageous and obedient. These women are nurturers above all and they are anything but…
In everyone’s life there comes a point in time when you assess your life, not just look back in time, but see the progression, the triumphs and the failures…..Eleanor Smith had reached this point. She sees that things aren’t as they seem, the passion and desire is gone from her marriage, she is unable to…
In the beginning of Zora Neale Hurston’s book, Their Eye Were Watching God, Janie had an adolescent view on love until she learns many lessons through her three marriages. She learned from her marriage to Logan Killicks that she could not learn to love someone. After her marriage to Jody Starks, Janie realized that equality…
The Witch-Hunt in Modern Europe by Brian Levack proved to be an interesting as well as insightful look at the intriguing world of the European practice of witchcraft and witch-hunts. The book offers a solid, reasonable interpretation of the accusation, prosecution, and execution for witchcraft in Europe between 1450 and 1750. Levack focuses mainly on…