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…
In “The Wedding,” by Dorothy West, the major development I saw was in the character of Shelby. From the beginning till the end, the character changes and deals with many changes. Throughout the novel Shelby knows what she wants, knows she never gave a black a chance, and then decides whom she will marry. At…
The wave is about a history teacher whose name is Ben Ross. His class was starting to study the time that Hitler began making all the Jewish people stay in camps. Ben Ross could not find a way to get his class interested in this time period, so he decided to try to make a…
The Vision by Dean Koontz Most people are skeptical about psychics and psychic powers. In the book The Vision by Dean Koontz, there arises a real convincing psychic Mary, who has visions of murders that are yet to happen. But, a new twist to the story causes Mary to see a different kind of vision.…
In the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien the author tells about his experiences in the Vietnam War by telling various war stories. The quote, “It has been said of war that it is a world where the past has a strong grip on the present, where machines seemed sometimes to have more…
The Terminal Man was about the neuropsychiatric section of a hospital doing a breakthrough surgery to help reverse the effects of psycho motor epilepsy. The patient’s name was Harry Benson. Harry had psycho motor epilepsy because he hit his head in a car accident and it resulted in brain damage. Harry was a good subject…
Edgar Allan Poe, whose personal torment so powerfully informed his visionary prose and poetry, is a towering figure in the history of American literature. A Virginia gentleman and the son of itinerant actors, the heir to great fortune and a disinherited outcast, a university man who had failed to graduate, a soldier brought out of…
The Tale of Two Cities has many assorted themes. The themes are interconnected with each other. Theme plays a big part in the plot a book. The opinions formed by the audience, of the characters, are also affected by the themes in a book. Three themes in this book are sacrifice, love and hate, and…
In The Stranger, Albert Camus portrays Meursault, the book’s narrator, and main character, as aloof, detached, and unemotional. He does not think much about events or their consequences, nor does he express much feeling in relationships or during emotional times. He displays impassiveness throughout the book in his reactions to the people and events described…
In Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour,” there is much irony. The first irony detected is in the way that Louise reacts to the news of the death of her husband, Brently Mallard. Before Louise’s reaction is revealed, Chopin alludes to how the widow feels by describing the world according to her…
The Sting is a classic story of revenge for the death of a good friend. Instead of the revenge being an eye for an eye, Hill has the leading characters get their revenge by coning the, man responsible for the death, out of his money. Within the first ten minutes you are grabbed into the…
The story speaks of two girls who are born to be comrades. Annabel and Midge live in the same milieu and like to eat the same kind of foods and sandwiches. The author describes in detail the way of living of these two friends. They like to eat sandwiches full of sugar, chocolate, butter, and…
Stephen King’s The Stand is a thrilling novel that portrays the forces of good against evil. In the year 1991, a plague strikes America, leaving only a few thousand people alive who are “immune” to the epidemic. Of the survivors, those who serve God instinctively join in Boulder, Colorado, while those who worship the “Dark…
In the famous works, “Canterbury Tales,” Geoffrey Chaucer tells of twenty-nine pilgrims that are “en route” to Canterbury. On the way there, the band of pilgrims entertains each other with a series of tall tales in order to shorten the trip. Chaucer, (the host) introduces the each of the pilgrims with honest and wholeheartedly descriptions…
The Lottery In many stories, settings are constructed to help build the mood and to foreshadow things to come. “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a story in which the setting sets up the reader to think of positive outcomes. However, this description of the setting foreshadows exactly the opposite of what is to come.…
“Do not follow where the path may lead… Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” -Robert Frost Everyone is a traveler, choosing the roads to follow on the map of their continuous journey, life. There is never a straight path that leaves one with but a sole direction in which to…