Critics usually describe Hemingway’s style as simple, spare, and journalistic. These are all good words; they all apply. Perhaps because of his training as a newspaperman, Hemingway is a master of the declarative, subject-verb-object sentence. His writing has been likened to a boxer’s punches–combinations of lefts and rights coming at us without pause. Take the…
The Call of the Wild has a very interesting plot. It is centered on a St. Bernard and Scotch Shepherd mix, named Buck. At home, which was a large house in the sun, he ruled over all dogs. Buck was Judge Miller’s inseparable companion, until a man named Manuel, who was the one of the…
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World presents a portrait of a society which is superficially a perfect world. At first inspection, it seems perfect in many ways: it is carefree, problem free and depression free. All aspects of the population are controlled: number, social class, and intellectual ability are all carefully regulated. Even history is controlled…
The first reference of blood is one of honor, and occurs when Duncan sees the injured sergeant and says “What bloody man is that?”. This is symbolic of the brave fighter who been injured in a valiant battle for his country. In the next passage, in which the sergeant says “Which smok’d with bloody execution”,…
Black Boy, an autobiography by Richard Wright, is an account of a young African-American boy’s thoughts and outlooks on life in the South while growing up. The novel is 288 pages, and was published by Harper and Row Publishers in (c)1996. The main subject, Richard Wright, who was born in 1908, opens the book with a…
In the Novel Beloved, by Toni Morrison unmasks the horrors of slavery, and depicts its aftermath on African Americans. The story is perfect for all who did not experience nor could imagine how it was to be an African American in America circa the 1860’s. Beloved lends a gateway to understanding the trials and tribulations…
“The beauty that addresses itself to the eyes is only the spell of the moment; the eye of the body is not always that of the soul.” George Sand hit the nail right on the head when he said this in 1872. Appearance versus reality has been a central theme in many American creative works…
Erich Maria Remarque had his novel, Im Westen nichts Neues (In the West Nothing New) serialized in the magazine Vossiche Zeitung in 1928. The pacifist work alienated Remarque from Germany. Ultra-nationalists and Hitler’s propagandists incited the hate of the German people against him. He was burned in effigy in 1933 in the Obernplatz, and his…
Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho has been commended for forming the archetypical basis of all horror films that followed its 1960 release. The mass appeal that Psycho has maintained for over three decades can undoubtedly be attributed to its universality. In Psycho, Hitchcock allows the audience to become a subjective character within the plot to enhance the…
The play “Violet” takes place in the mid-1960’s and focuses on a young woman in search for a miracle, and who bears a horrendous scar on her face from an accident when she was a child. The musical opens with Violet boarding a Greyhound bus that is traveling to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she hopes to…
Alice Walker is an African-American novelist and poet; born in Eatonton, Ga. Her parents, Minnie Lou Grant and Willie Lee Walker, were both sharecroppers. She was raised in a shack minutes from Flannery O’Conner’s house, “Andalusia”. Blinded in one eye from an accidental gunshot wound at the young age of eight, Walker fell into somewhat…
“A Doll’s House” is classified under the “second phase” of Henrik Ibsen’s career. It was during this period which he made the transition from mythical and historical dramas to plays dealing with social problems. It was the first in a series investigating the tensions of family life. Written during the Victorian era, the controversial play…
Shakespeare Insult 1 – The Two Gentlemen of Verona Thou subtle, perjur’d, false, disloyal man! Shakespeare Insult 2 – As You Like It Thou art like a toad; ugly and venemous. Shakespeare Insult 3 – The Tempest Thine forward voice, now, is to speak well of thine friend; thine backward voice is to utter foul…
Colons (:), semicolons (;), and dashes (-) can all be used to join two related ideas. Using these punctuation marks properly will help to add variety to your comparisons. Colon Use a colon to draw attention to the words that come after it. These words may be a list, or a restatement or description of…
Sentences should be grammatically balanced. Allows for clear and understandable words, phrases and clauses. Use similar grammatical structures to balance your writing. Incorrect: A student needs textbooks, notebooks and he needs pens. Correct: A student needs textbooks, notebooks and pens. Incorrect: A student who does well in exams attends class, reads the textbook and reviews…
Obsession an ‘over-focus’ on a goal; the goal takes over your life; it consumes an abnormal amount of your time, energy and attention the novel deals with the dangers of obsession; Victor is so consumed with the idea of creating the monster (life) that he isolates himself; and even becomes ill Mary Shelley’s theme is…
The Chrysalids – Author John Wyndham was born in England in 1903 he became interested in science fiction in the 1920s his work in sci fi is interesting in that he does not concentrate on amusing the reader with strange inventions of technology from a bewildering future Wyndham’s settings in the future are logical, identifiable…
The Chrysalids – Chapter 1 meet the main character, David Strorm the story told in first-person narrative helps us understand his feelings and thoughts Also raises questions for the reader such as Sophie’s six toes are unusual but why such a strong response from her mom? Why does Mary tell David not to share his…
Nature of Evil Human beings constantly look for ways to explain the unpleasant events of life, and often blame the intangible force of ‘evil’ for events. Paranoia sets in as people suspect many possible manifestations of the Devil (evil), such as witches, possessions, serious criminals, or in the case of The Chrysalids, simple genetic deviations.…
The works of Edgar Allan Poe are famous for featuring dark themes, violence, and psychologically unstable characters. The Tell-Tale Heart and The Black Cat are two of his best-known works, both of which involve narrators who are not of sound minds. In The Tell-Tale Heart, the narrator murders the old man he lives with because…