English Literature Essays (Examples)

English Literature Death in Venice - Cultural

English Literature

Death in Venice - Cultural Criticism & Reader Response Criticism

Reader-Response Criticism is a legitimate, proven method for readers to use when digging into the deeper meaning of a piece of literature; it's always a good idea to broaden one's understanding of literature by gaining a grasp at how others view the same work. And meantime, employing the use of Cultural Criticism as research into the meaning of literature is an intelligent formula, as well. In this paper, the two, Reader-Response Criticism and Cultural Criticism, will be examined in terms of reaching a fuller understanding of Thomas Mann's Death in Venice.

Cultural Criticism

What is Cultural Criticism and why is it an important tool for comprehension and understanding? One thing it is not, according to author Naomi Ritter (172), is a structured university department established in order to examine "high brow" cultural activities such as ballet, symphony, opera, or art. Indeed, a big part of the misunderstanding novice observers may fall into as regards Cultural Criticism is when they see that loaded word, "culture." The first thing a student needs to do is get it out of his or her head that "culture" only applies to great literature,…… [Read More]

English Literature Danglars Is the

Upon first meeting, Albert is not the most noble of men. However, we begin to see aspects of Albert that are more worthy as the novel progresses. We learn that Albert is quite devoted to his father Fernand. When the Count of Monte Cristo speaks badly about Fernand, Albert reacts in a very noble way, wanting to fight the Monte Cristo for the harsh words he has spoken. Mercedes reveals the truth of Albert's father to Albert and thus he sees that he was wrong to treat the Count of Monte Cristo the way he did. Albert has the humility that his mother possesses and he also has the devotion to his father, even though his father lacks certain moral characteristics. It is this juxtaposition of father and son, two men who though related become totally different men and it shows that men are not the sum of their parents. Monte Cristo thus makes an exception to his idea that all sons carry with them the guilt of their fathers.

The relationship between Albert, Fernand and Mercedes is important to the overall meaning of this work by Dumas. Dumas is showing how greed and lust for power has placed itself…… [Read More]

English Literature - Satire Proposal

First and foremost, the doctrine of separation of powers handicaps the Executive Branch from maintaining the confidentiality and security of decisions during wartime as well as decisions in postwar and pre-wartime planning in connection with subsequent wars initiated, by necessity, in the timely and efficient response to the global War on Terror throughout the next decade, at least. Understood in relation to the magnitude of the threat to this nation posed by the specter of escalating international terrorism, the voluntary ceding of congressional power to the Homeland Security Secretary in 2005 was a necessary but insufficient first step in this regard. To ensure the timely and efficient prosecution of the War on Terror, we must dispense with the limitation of the Secretary's waiver authority to specific projects, such as fence-related matters, and allow the Secretary to apply it, as deemed appropriately necessary for the War on Terror by the Office of Homeland Security, to all conflicting legislation and constitutional principles in that regard. Limiting the necessary application of the Secretary's waiver to specific projects within the scope of homeland security unnecessary undermines efficient wartime, post-wartime, and pre-subsequent-wartime administrative efficiency. In effect, doing so limits the authority of the Secretary to…… [Read More]

English Literature Thin-Is-In Culture Mass Media &

English Literature

Thin-is-in Culture, Mass Media, & Thin Body Ideals

Mass media affects the people who watch it. In the beginnings of mass media, there was no public research about how it affects people. In the late 20th and 21st centuries, there is now substantial research that shows that mass media affects consumers and that there are a variety of affects. Thus, it is not just that mass media affects people, we must consider how mass media affects people. Thin-is-in culture is fairly self explanatory. It is the elements of the culture that represents what is most popular, most trendy, and what is "in," specifically that excessive thinness is the ultimate physical achievement for women. There is a direct relationship or connection between mass media and thin-is-in culture. Mass media is often the vehicle by which thin-is-in culture is transmitted. Mass media is one of the biggest ways that people learn about thin-is-in culture. Mass media shows people what is in a variety of ways. Mass media also affects people deeply. Mass media often makes people feel pressure to participate in thin-is-in culture. The paper will explore the relationship between mass media and thin-is-in culture with respect to images of…… [Read More]

English Literature the Handmaid's Tale

Freibert; "The custom of using the handmaid for progeny permeated Israelite history and custom" (Domville, 2006). Legal documents that date back to the 15th Century BC support biblical records of that practice, Domville continues.

In another scholarly article in the University of Toronto Quarterly (Neuman, 2006), the writer explains that Atwood, and outspoken feminist from Canada, insisted after publishing the book that she, Atwood, "invented nothing" in her descriptions of the fascist state of Gilead. "There is nothing in the book that hasn't already happened...All the things described in the book, people have already done to one another" (Neuman, 2006).

But Neuman is quick to point out that not every critic buys into Atwood's believe that this dystopian is plausible. Critic Dean Flower wrote that Atwood's premises in the Handmaid's Tale is "...so lacking in plausibility or inevitability as to be embarrassing" (Neuman, 2006).

But back to the original thesis: it is the contention of this paper that much of what Atwood has portrayed could, in some way, come to pass (or has already happened). Indeed, power could be grabbed by unorthodox and unscrupulous means. And the U.S. Constitution could indeed be changed, altered in some way, perverted in order…… [Read More]

English Literature - Inanimate Object

Listening to the apparent vents reveals no sound emanating from the object; that, and the apparent lack of any internal source of heat both seem to indicate that the object was powered off only relatively recently. The sides and back area of the object feel like hard plastic to the touch. They also respond to the fingernail tap test in the manner expected of hard plastics, producing a higher audible pitch and less vibration and "give" to slight pressure than the glasslike front panel. The hard plastic does not have any specific taste to it, but use of the tongue seems to confirm the prior observation that the surface was warm to the touch.

Likewise, the front panel has no specific taste but feels even cooler to the tongue than to the hand; it also reveals a layer of dust that was not originally perceptible to the hand. A swiping motion of the fingertips against the glasslike panel does detect the presence of dust that was too fine to perceive by a non-moving touch of the hand previously. Nearing the head to the object for the purpose of tasting it discloses that the object is slightly charged electrically, because the…… [Read More]

English Literature Both the Stories

When death finally comes it comes as a respite for Aschenbach who is so far pushed by his infatuation with the young boy that he has no control over his conscious or subconscious behavior. He sheds his dignity completely when he decides to recapture his youth with makeup much like the bumbling old fool he had spotted (and secretly laughed at) on the steamship that brought him to the city. The journey from the derisive observer to the silly old hag is painful and uncompromising. The slow collapse, which drags Aschenbach from the one state to the other, is finally completed once death disintegrates him completely.

Like Aschenbach Gabriel Conroy's collapse begins early on in the story. The initial jolt he receives from the caretaker's daughter, Lily, is furthered at every stage of the text. Many of these he seems to bring upon himself. His hesitation over quoting Browning at the speech he was to deliver at dinner was unfounded and completely avoidable, much like the smart-alec like comment he makes at Lily at the beginning of the text. As the narrative unwinds Conroy gives the impression of being a rather nervy old fellow with a calm facade. However this…… [Read More]

English Literature the Two Short

Likewise, Joyce Carol Oates short story, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? also involves a basic story of violence with a more symbolic meaning. To summarize Oates' style is to say her works typically mix the themes of Gothic estrangement and high social observations with violence being a central theme, often to a sensationalist point. Interestingly, she cites William Faulkner as one of her major influences.

The story Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? is inspired by the Tucson murders of Charles Schmid, a 1960's serial killer who killed between three and four individuals in the Tucson area. Oates' also claims that the story was inspired by Bob Dylan (who she dedicated the anthology by the same name to) song entitled it's All Over Now, Baby Blue. Further, the title of the story is in reference to Judges 19:17 of the Old Testament, which states, "And the old man lifted up his eyes and saw the wayfarer in the street of the city; and the old man said to him, Where are you going? And Whence do you come?"

In the story, the main character, Connie, is a beautiful fifteen-year-old girl. While her parents are away,…… [Read More]

English Literature - Short Stories

That dynamic was so familiar to the boy that he responded, probably automatically, by adopting the correspondingly appropriate demeanor on his part, as clearly evidenced by the following passage:

The woman was sitting on the day-bed. After a while she said, "I were young once and I wanted things I could not get." There was another long pause. The boy's mouth opened. Then he frowned, but not knowing he frowned. The woman said,

Um-hum! You thought I was going to say but, didn't you? You thought I was going to say, but I didn't snatch people's pocketbooks. Well, I wasn't going to say that." Pause. Silence. "I have done things, too, which I would not tell you, son -- neither tell God, if he didn't already know. So you set down while I fix us something to eat. You might run that comb through your hair so you will look presentable."

The natural ability of the woman - even (presumably, from her autobiographical descriptions), an ordinary woman without advanced education or training in adolescent psychology - to understand the importance of allowing the boy to identify with her experiences is also characteristic of a time period when (virtually all) adults…… [Read More]

English Literature -- Reading Response

The fact that 10 of the first 16 of the students who graduated from the first year of the course went on to continue their education at four-year colleges and that the rest were either attending community colleges or working fulltime strongly suggests that the program was beneficial. Even the fact that the one unemployed student was unemployed because she had tried to form a union at work suggests that she benefited from the course with respect to her confidence and her ability to think independently and to act politically.

Conclusion

There seems to be little reason to doubt that a program such as the Clemente Course implemented by Shorris is extremely beneficial in that it encourages poor individuals to appreciate education and to discover intellectual abilities they may not otherwise have the chance to discover. On one hand, the experience recounted by Shorris seems to prove the initial supposition that increased availability of educational opportunities of this type can be instrumental to helping poor students increase their self-esteem and their ability to achieve something of value in their society. On the other hand, the experience does not necessarily prove that studying Humanities in particular is any more important in…… [Read More]

English Literature Space Confinement & Women in

English Literature

Space, Confinement, & Women in "The Yellow Wallpaper"

I sometimes fancy that in my condition if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus -- but John says the very worst thing I can do is to think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad. So I will let it alone and talk about the house.

~The protagonist in "The Yellow Wallpaper"

Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote "The Yellow Wallpaper" in 1899. In the western world, this time was a period of significant change in many areas of society. It was the turn of the 20th century, one of the most historic centuries in modern history. It was the eve of the industrial revolution, an event with consequences that would cascade for decades into the future. In countries such as the United States, this was also a moment in history when women began to organize and express their grievances with the imbalances the experienced as women and because they were women. Gilman writes a female protagonist that is, what we would call now, agoraphobic, but in that time was called nerves. The main character is a woman. Some of the more important men…… [Read More]

English Literature-g Greene & DH

Meanwhile, T. was a different kind of leader. He wants his ideas to be followed and he led the gang to a dangerous and cruel mischief. The story also touches on the choice between good and bad as presented by Blackie's decision of whether or not join the destruction of Old Misery's house. Eventually, Blackie chose a purely egoistic choice basing his decision on the need for distinction.

Ironies are also presented in the story are numerous like how T. And Blackie burned the Old Misery's savings instead of dividing it among themselves during hard times when money is essential. Another example of an irony is how Old Misery takes care of his house not wanting to soil it and yet, in spite of his care, the gang destructed it. And towards the end of the story, it was ironic how the truck driver could laugh at Old Misery's misfortune.

Meanwhile, DH Lawrence's the Rocking-Horse Winner realistically portrays problems in life and communicates a moralistic message. The story is about a mother who feels inadequate and couldn't fully love her children. Contrast to Greene's story, it focuses on the middle class who lives beyond their means. While the young boys…… [Read More]

English Literature There Are Some

I had my hopes up for the exam and I was well aware of the fact that the competition would be tough. Yet I studies as we had been taught in college, in the most academic way possible. Yet now I realize that it was not enough. More than that, I know now that the world of academic studies is a different world from that of the practical world of politics or of the diplomatic practice. Contrary to my own consideration of my qualities, the grade I had for the exam was sufficient for the next step which was the interview. That moment though was crucial for shaking the reality which surrounded me. Although I wrote everything I considered to be suited for answering the exam questions, it was not enough. Now, years later, I know better.

The interview proved to be another important step in my life and in my preparation. It marked the moment when I realized that honesty and a free flow of ideas is not always the most important and most appreciated quality. I answered questions in a very relaxed manner because I believed every single work I spoke. I did not try to convince the…… [Read More]

English Literature Science and Religion

This theory essentially states that myths are designed in order to tell a story, or to explain how, through supernatural means, a particular event took place (Eliade, 1998). Using this definition from Eliade himself, it is much easier to discuss the importance of religious ritual and its tie to myths. Because myths perform the task of explaining what may have only been explainable through sheer faith without myths in place, religions are able to build a somewhat solid foundation for the members of that religion. However, no myth could be expected to merely stand on its own within a religion without some symbolic importance of the myth being demonstrated- this is where the element of religious ritual comes into play. The ritual makes it possible for a logical connection between myth and reality to occur in the mind of a faithful individual. As a quick example, for those of the Jewish faith, the lighting of the Menorah during certain expressions of faith is a concrete way to impress upon the faithful that the myth of the lamps that were lit as a means of survival in the classic Hebrew texts is something that is worthy of remembering in the present…… [Read More]

English Literature Women's Issues in Renaissance England

English Literature

Women's issues in Renaissance England

What are activities today that we still consider more appropriate for men than for women or for women more than men? Why do you think this is the case?

Gender equality is something that has been debated for many years. There are two sides to the argument about the equality of men and women. There are those that believe that men are superior to women, while on the other side there are those that believe that women can do anything that men can. In the reading Female Orations by Margaret Cavendish she tries to show both sides of this argument. She points out that women shouldn't do certain things because it is men's work, but that women do some things better than men because that is the way nature is.

There are many activities today that are still considered as things that are better done by men than women. One of these is fighting on the front line during a war. This is still an activity that has been deemed to be something that can only be done by men. There are many women that believe that they should be able to risk…… [Read More]

English Literature -- Physical and

In the Vanderhaeghe story, the old man could have jeopardized his life and that of his horse just because he could not admit that he had injured himself.

The other element of courage illustrated by the story is particularly relevant to the stage of life of high school upperclassmen. By the time we are seventeen or eighteen years old, we are beginning to develop our own ideas about life and personal values. Sometimes, those ideas and values may not necessarily be the same as or even consistent with those of our parents. Joseph refers to the "difficulty of unlearning the things you were taught as a kid" and about his tendency to "backslide" in the "current" of his father's values, even as a middle-aged adult twenty years later. In Joseph's case, he has consciously rejected his father's definition of courage as something that necessarily (and maybe exclusively) relates to toughness, grit, and physical courage. Meanwhile, Joseph apparently agrees with his colleagues that courage is much more about moral values and convictions than it is about physical endurance which he regards as an impulse more appropriate for Neanderthals than for contemporary cerebral human beings.

The story suggests that Joseph might be…… [Read More]

English Literature Compare and Contrast

Where Connell emphasized myriad consumer items like silk pajamas and finely tailored suits, Lawrence highlights two items: the rocking horse that gives the story its title and money. Before the protagonist, Paul, is even introduced Lawrence attests to the significance of money (in reference to Paul's mother): "There must be more money, there must be more money" (1). Shortly thereafter, the protagonist furiously rides his rocking chair, which endows him with great authority; after riding the horse, Paul is endowed with a castrating gaze: in response to his "big, hot, blue eyes," "The uncle stirred and laughed uneasily" (4). Lawrence takes a complex perspective toward the rocking chair; while it supplies Paul with greater authority, it also makes him forceful to the point of eliciting trepidation in the other characters.

After the rocking horse episode, Paul leaves with his uncle to the race horse -- the parallel between the toy horse and the race horse is significant in that it alludes to continuity between the toys that one plays with as a child and the ways in which one "plays" as an adult. Additionally, Lawrence places great emphasis on luck; early in the story, Paul's mother states that luck "is…… [Read More]

English Literature - Flowers for Algernon Though

English Literature - Flowers for Algernon

Though Flowers for Algernon is a fictionalized account, it addresses genuine issues, many of which are universal. Published in 1966, the novel reflects the less sensitive treatment of mentally disabled people during that time period. Allowing a unique perspective through the eyes of a man who lacks, gains, then loses genius, the novel is both tragic and inspirational, making definitive statements about high intelligence's great impact in some areas and lack of impact in other areas of human life.

How Has the Treatment of Individuals with Mental Disabilities Changed since Flowers for Algernon was Written?

Flowers for Algernon (Keyes, 1966) was published in 1966. In the 56 years since that novel's publication, the treatment of individuals with mental disabilities has dramatically changed in several ways. For purposes of this paper, the change regarding the word "retarded" will be considered. The attitude expressed through language has changed significantly. As the assignment pointed out, Charlie often speaks of himself as "retarded." For example, a journal entry about his mother says, "Why is it so important for me to say to her: 'Mom, look at me. I'm not retarded any more. I'm normal'" (Keyes, 1966, p. 156).…… [Read More]

English Literature Gun Control the

No matter which side of this debate that you find yourself on, there is one thing for sure the interpretation will always be up to whoever is reading it at the time.

The same can be said about which side of the gun control argument that you find yourself on; it is truly a matter of who you are talking to at the moment. Both Thompson and Desuka have made good points in making their arguments. I think that the stronger of the arguments was made by Desuka. Even though I can see both sides of the argument, the idea of controlling the amount of handguns that are available for criminals to use is a good one. Thompson's argument that crimes would go down because everyone would have a gun is somewhat logical. But it does not address the issue of the innocent people who get hurt and killed because there are so many guns available.

The big flaw that I see in Thompson's argument is that she is assuming that just because laws are passed that say everyone can carry a handgun does not mean that everyone will go out and buy one. So I'm sure that her logic…… [Read More]

English Literature Achilles & Hector

Achilles is the most prominent character and hero of The Iliad. He is the pride of the Greek army, having nearly god-like capability on the battlefield. His mother was to have been a nymph and his father, a king. Both Hector and Achilles are of notable and prestigious births. Achilles killed a plethora of Trojans over the course of the war, and one of his most notable duels was with Hector, where Achilles, firmly having the upper hand, slices Hector's heels and begins a humiliation of his body that lasts for days after Hector is dead. Ironically, later Paris, Hector's brother, kills Achilles by shooting him in his heel, his only known spot of weakness, which is where the euphemism, "Achilles' heel" comes from. Achilles was capable of great rage and power during battles, and sometimes Achilles could not be adequately calmed by those around him, or even events that might go in his favor. The rage of Achilles is a central aspect to the overall narrative of The Iliad. Hector always fought in the war, despite his fundamental disagreement of Troy's involvement in the war. There are times that Achilles' feelings keep him from participating in the fight, and…… [Read More]

English Literature When Surveying the

To die, to sleep;

To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause: there's the respect

That makes calamity of so long life;

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,

The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,

The insolence of office and the spurns

That patient merit of the unworthy takes,

When he himself might his quietus make

With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,

But that the dread of something after death,

The undiscover'd country from whose bourn

No traveller returns, puzzles the will

And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of?

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;

And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,

And enterprises of great pith and moment

With this regard their currents turn awry,

And lose the name of action. - Soft you now!

The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons…… [Read More]

English Literature Chaucer & Shakespeare

For the poet, Christianity must be devoid of the cultures of corruption and hypocrisy that prevailed during his time. Ideally, a religion, in order to be respected and followed by the people, must maintain a clean image -- that is, an image that reflects the truth of its teachings, wherein its religious principles are embodied by the people who make up the Church.

It is also through "Canterbury" that Chaucer was able to portray the theme of idealism as mirrored in the lives of the people of his times. With the pilgrims representing people from all walks of life in 15th century English society, "Canterbury" acts as a mouthpiece to every member of Chaucer's society, giving the readers a look into the kind of society that existed during that period. Thus, each tale narrated in "Canterbury," like the Pardoner's tale, was Chaucer's way of putting reality (i.e., each tale) against the ideals of what a learned and religious society should be like -- that is, by portraying what a society should not be when governed -- economically, socially, and politically -- by a religious institution like the Church.

While Chaucer's method of illustrating the theme of idealism is through social…… [Read More]

English Literature Martin Luther King

It is also more likely to create a constructive rather than a destructive outcome, it is a process of conflict resolution that may aim to arrive at the truth of a given situation rather than simple victory for one side and it is the only technique of struggle that is consistent with the teachings of the major religions (Weber and Burrowes, n.d.).

Nonviolent action is a method by which people who reject passivity and submission, and who see struggle as necessary, can have their conflict without violence. Nonviolent acts are not seen as an attempt to steer clear of or ignore conflict. They are one reaction to the problem of how to act effectively in politics, particularly how to wield powers effectively. It consists of acts of protest and persuasion, noncooperation and nonviolent intervention designed to undermine the sources of power of the opponent in order to bring about change (Weber and Burrowes, n.d.).

Martin Luther King Jr. knew that there was too much violence in the world and worked very hard to settle the race issues in this country in a non-violent way. He used his mind and his tremendous gift of language to break down the barriers that…… [Read More]

English Literature Playboy in America

The detail that Playboy did grow so far, so fast is the evidence to the Playboy product. it's far easier to generate a product to meet consumers' existing wants than it is to make an apparent need to meet the business objectives of an existing product. Second, it's an instance of the authority of a strong brand champion, Hugh Hefner, playing the role of noticeable brand supporter since the brand's commencement. The remarkable part of the story is not only that Playboy endured the decade but did so with rehabilitated hope for the future. A great deal of Playboy's renovation in the 1980's came from the new CEO, Christie Hefner, and new focal point on what the Playboy brand was initially meant to symbolize when it was first initiated. A rehabilitated focus in the 1980's would breathe new life into the brand in the 1990's and 2000's that no one could have projected (Gunelius, 2009).

At this time augmented attention was being placed on Playboy magazine. The flagship product for the brand was still the number one men's magazine in the world, in spite of circulation declining to less than four million copies per month by the mid-80's. Playboy Enterprises…… [Read More]

English Literature the Short Stories

In this light. Dee represents the most successful fulfillment of the material side of the American Dream (Whitsitt). On the other hand, she is unsuccessful at preserving what is most beautiful about her culture by no longer honoring it in any practical sense. In this, she represents the tragedy of loss in terms of meaning, culture, and heritage in blind pursuit of material gain and social success.

The Red Convertible" by Louise Erdrich

The story by Louise Erdrich similarly demonstrates a dichotomy between the past, the potential of the future, and the scars that cannot be healed as a result of trauma and tragedy. The American Dream and its destruction in this story is represented by two brothers and their initially healthy relationship (Sboosh). As young men, Henry and Lyman are happy-go-lucky and somewhat irresponsible. Their relationship is healthy and close, represented by a red convertible that they buy restore, and subsequently use to travel throughout the country. They are as free as it is possible to be, and appear to live the American Dream in every sense of the word (Sboosh).

The tragedy that separates them is the Vietnam war. The war represents circumstances beyond the control of citizens…… [Read More]

English Literature Today's Society Has

There must a connection between the teacher and the student beyond the traditional system of work. As stated by Ozer, there are several levels for implementation ranging from class/teacher level to the community level (2006); more precisely, a particular system of teaching must be set in place because preventing school crimes is a complex issue which takes into account both the school environment and the community one.

Research analyses have shown that results in these programs vary. On the one hand, several programs which included the development of a violent prevention curricula registered positive results in the sense that there was a clear reduction in the use of violence in hypothetical conflict situations, "frequency of use of violence in the past thirty days, and frequency of physical fights in the past thirty days" (Scheckner, 2002). More importantly however, the research conducted showed that the conflict resolution programs were more effective than conflict prevention in terms of reducing fights (Scheckner, 2002). This comes to show that in the first instance it is important to deal with the immediate manifestations of anger for students who are already prone to violence, before dealing with preventive action.

On the other hand, in terms of…… [Read More]

English Literature - Roller Coaster

I am simultaneously jealous of the people at the front of the line, especially when it is obvious that they realize they will be in the next group to ride.

As I finally make it to the same coveted spot at the end of the line, my heart begins to race once again, only this time, it seems to be twice the rate it was racing on the walk over to the ride. My stomach feels like it has constricted to a fraction of its normal size as though sucked out by a vacuum pump and I wonder whether the obese lady in front of me could possibly be experiencing the same thing considering all the cotton candy she just swallowed. I remind myself to take a seat far enough from her to avoid coming off the ride in shades of pink, just in case. The few seconds between the time I am buckled into my seat and the time the ride begins to move seem to expand into hours, but finally, we are on our way headed up the first incline.… [Read More]

English Literature - Stereotypes Common

In fact, most lawyers practice neither criminal law nor personal injury law; they assist individuals prepare wills, set up their businesses, protect themselves from financial risks, purchase homes, patent inventions, and respond to IRS tax audits. Most lawyers spend long hours working at their desks and never actually see courtrooms or accident victims (Haskell 1998). Certainly, some lawyers are dishonest people without moral scruples or ethics who will do almost anything to make money. But more often than not, that is a function of the type of person they are, just as some schoolteachers, postal carriers, and even members of the clergy are dishonest and immoral.

Telemarketers:

Telemarketers suffer from common stereotyping as being dishonest, rude, inconsiderate liars who care only about making a sales pitch. As with other stereotypes, some telemarketers may fit those negative characterizations, but assuming them to be true about everyone who happens to earn a living as a telemarketer is unfair to that individual.

On the other hand, certain occupations may indeed lend themselves to specific personality types by virtue of which common stereotypes about their class may actually reflect the truth more often than other stereotypes. In some respects, there is a fundamental difference…… [Read More]

English Literature Goodnight Desdemona Good

Looking for the Wise Fool who should have been present to keep these plays comic, Constance must have her interlude with Desdemona to set up the rest of the action of the play. Iago and his buckets of filth are integral to the Act because without him, Constance would not discover Desdemona's warrior side, she would not be able to show Othello that Iago is treacherous and not to be trusted, and she would not ultimately have to fight Desdemona and end up in the next play, "Romeo and Juliet." Thus, Iago portrays the ultimate theme that the plays were comedies, and also portrays the "filth" that muddies much of the academic world. Dramatically he and his buckets serve a vital purpose, and thematically they serve a vital purpose, and without them, Act II, scene ii would not make as much sense or be as funny as it is.… [Read More]

English Literature the Book of

Jacob's Unique Mission / Position/Opponent

Perhaps one of the most useful ways to understand the unique position and mission of Jacob, rather than merely thinking of him as someone who could simply do what they wished without consequence, and to think that he was "wrestling" with a merely human opponent, is to look deeper into why Jacob was indulged by God as he was.

If one thinks about a modern situation, such as the deployment of American troops in Iraq, in comparison to Jacob, the issue becomes much clearer. Like the Iraq soldiers, Jacob is playing by rules that no one else is using, against a sort of invisible enemy that may or may not exist. Also like the Iraq situation, Jacob, it seems, is waging more of a symbolic than concrete type of war; in Jacob's case, it appears that a struggle with faith is taking place, while God is mentoring, guiding, and even indulging him, keeping him alive for a higher purpose (Alter).

Conclusion

In summary, after studying the Book of Genesis itself as well as Alter's theories, it appears that Jacob was not evil, but rather doing the best that he could in light of what was…… [Read More]

English Literature Texts Both Rohinton Mistry's Squatter

English literature texts

Both Rohinton Mistry's "Squatter" and Ngugi Wa Thiong'o's "Decolonizing the Mind" utilize literature to challenge the idea of a uniform national and cultural identity, primarily through the means of depicting situations in which there are clashes of culture. Both are cautionary tales that warn against the forsaking of one's initial, primary heritage in exchange for a Westernized adaptation. The primary difference between the two works lies in the perspectives of both the authors and the events which affect the characters in the stories: Mistry's does so from the perspective of assimilation, while Thiong'o's does so from the perspective of suppression.

That Mistry's short story, definitely farcical in nature, is a warning to those who risk abandoning their culture in favor of willfully assimilating to another, is evident from the subject matter: that of a triumphant Parsi young man settling into Canada to become a fully integrated Westerner. Mistry has the principle character Sarosh recite the moral of his tale -- which is told in the third person by an uncle figure to a group of aspiring youths -- to levy a warning about assimilation, as the following quotation denotes. "Tell them,' said Sarosh, 'that the world can…… [Read More]

Didacticism in English Literature From

Thisclearly implies that this sort of perception was more of a weakness than an advantage.

Samuel Johnson's "The Vanity of Human Wishes"

In this poem, the author demonstrates to the audience the reality of struggle in life. The author, just like, he mentions in the poem's title demonstrates how human wishes are, in many cases egoistic and useless. According to Meyers (p 1), Johnson had his reflection long years of human struggle, unavoidable fates, and theerroneous hopes. The author demonstrates some of the common situations that ordinary human being experience under the authority of certain political powers, which seem to have a hand in the sealing of their destinies. The author, in exploring this demonstrates how cruel, humiliating, and unwarranted such treatments are. The actions that the persona witnesses in the society make life to him more of a tragedy than anything else does. He in fact states that the weight of pain that the society presents to human being surpasses by far, the happiness and pleasure that they may experience as expressed in the line, "Toil, Envy, Want, the Garret and the Jail." (Cunningham 14).

The lessons that this poem extends to the audience is the reality of the…… [Read More]

Moonstone a Cornerstone in English Literature That

Moonstone," a cornerstone in English literature that marks the birth of detective novels

Wilkie Collins published his novel "The Moonstone" in 1868, after a series of novels that had already consecrated him as a genius in the art of sensational fiction. The genre became popular, at that time, in England and abroad, thorough the translations of Collins' novels. "The Moonstone" is written in a narrative form of a detective novel that leads thorough the complicated but well constructed plot built around the theft of a diamond of Indian origin from "a quiet English house" (The Moonstone, p. 46).

In the preface to his novel, Collins emphasizes the fact that the narrative form took over in the construction of The Moonstone, as compared to his previous works: "In some of my former novels, the object proposed had been to trace the influence of circumstances upon character. In the present story I have reversed the process. The attempt made, here, is to trace the influence of characters on circumstances" (The Moonstone, p.3).

The focus on the characters who are defining the atmosphere and bringing their own versions of the truth, passing their own judgments on the other characters involved in the story,…… [Read More]

Thematic Bridges in English Literature

In "After Apple-picking," the speaker reflects explicitly only on the feel of picking apples, and the lingering feelings and thoughts that this work leaves in the mind and body. The commonality in theme that this bears to the epilogue Shakespeare wrote for The Tempest might not be immediately apparent, but again the language and diction of the poem provide clues as to what Frost was really getting at in this poem. The speaker mentions sleep and dreams or dreaming several times in the poem, both of which are commonly used as euphemisms for death (including by Shakespeare himself, in several famous speeches). Winter, too, is generally symbolic of old age, making the speaker's mention of "winter sleep" doubly evocative of increasing age and the awareness of mortality. The autumn scene of the apple picking itself is also, of course, indicative of change in the seasons; the ripeness of the fruit and their impending usefulness also spells out their demise, and there is a definite sense of melancholy in the poem that seems aware of this fact. The purpose of this poem is similar to that of the epilogue, but has a different perspective; rather than looking ahead at the afterlife…… [Read More]

Jew English Literature The Reflection Anti-Semitism Racism

Jew English literature. The reflection Anti-Semitism racism in novels plays Jew Malta, Oliver Twist, Shakespeare's works e.g The Merchant venice. With elaboration end racism anti-semitism.

Anti-Semitism in English literature

Anti-Semitism has been present in English culture for centuries, this being particularly obvious through studying literature and how it was influenced as a result of biased thinking. The British society put across its unwillingness to accept Jewish individuals as equals ever since the early second millennium. Lasting from that time and until the late nineteenth century English writers did not hesitate to express their anti-Semite convictions in their field of work. Influential English writers like Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare were actively involved in damaging the image of Jews through the way they presented them in their writings.

Europe has a long history in discriminating Jewish individuals, given that people in the territory came up with a series of false claims meant to hurt the ethnicity. The general public in thirteenth century's Europe compared Jewish men to women and actually believed that they menstruate. "As the fourteen-century Italian astrologer Cecci d'Ascoli writes: "After the death of Christ all Jewish men, like women, suffer menstruation" (Biberman 7).

This can largely be attributed…… [Read More]

English Lit an Analysis of

Even physical relationships are prone to dissolution -- as Webster shows: the lovers are murdered one by one. Webster and the other Jacobeans appear to pine for an era of old world spirituality -- for the new modern world, while full of scientific inquiry and triumph (see Bacon), lacks that sensitivity of soul that could effect true and real humility.

3. For, however, a complete and masterful representation of the many facets of human nature in all its strengths and failings, one need look no further than to the works of Shakespeare, which span both Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. For the folly of kingly pride, there is Lear. For the bitterness of ambition on the murdered conscience, there is Macbeth. For the nature of love and the relationship between man and woman there are the marvelous sonnets 116, 129, and 138: all three of which tackle the subject from a different angle. In 116, we find the definition of true love: "Love is not love / Which alters when it alteration finds, / Or bends with the remover to remove. / Oh no! It is an ever fixed mark / That looks on tempests and is never shaken" (1072). In…… [Read More]

English Literature and Psychoanalysis in General

Psychoanalysis and Literature

Narrative and Psychoanalytic Approaches to Mother Daughter Relationships in Literature

There are several different types of narrative forms utilized by authors in texts and short stories to describe mother daughter relationships. Traditional forms include personal experience narratives where characters are traditionally well defined with personalities and unique identities.

The extent to which modern authors have employed narrative techniques to create true to life characters has been well researched throughout history. The aim of this study is to examine mother daughter relationships from not only a narrative perspective but also a psychoanalytic approach, to determine the extent to which psychoanalytic perspectives and theories may be applied to the mother daughter bond presented in many well-known literary works. The study aims to fill a gap in the research regarding mother daughter relationships currently available.

To that extent, the short stories of Katherine Mansfield will be compared to two novels created by Jamaica Kincaid, in order to offer a wide understanding of narrative technique employed in shorter and longer works.

Background/Purpose of Study

This study aims to examine mother daughter relationships from a narrative and psychoanalytic perspective in the works of two noted authors. I feel this examination will be…… [Read More]

English Literature Feminism Humanities

Doom in the Bluest Eye and the Voyage Out Doomed From the Beginning:

The Inevitability of Death in the Bluest Eye and the Voyage Out Commonality is a funny thing. Who would suppose that a young, white twenty-four-year-old, turn of the twenty-first century, English lady might have a great deal in common with a young, adolescent, black American girl? This is exactly the case, however, between Virginia Woolf's main character, Rachel in The Voyage Out, and Toni Morrison's Pecola, in her work, The Bluest Eye.

Despite their differences in time, location, culture, and circumstance, the characters in the two novels share a common fate based on a common cause. Both characters begin life in unfortunate circumstances that foreshadow the inevitable doom that results from their respective positions in life.

Morrison's The Bluest Eye, opens with the words, "Here is the house."

It starts out innocently enough -- yet, even before the reader finishes the second page, he or she will notice that "all is not well in that house."

Indeed, the very sound of those words; "Here is house..." clear, simple, oh so white in tone, soon begin to turn dark, muddled, and finally, quite mad.

So, too, is the…… [Read More]

English by Time to Borrow

(60)

The Norman conquest had forever altered the face of history and the face of the English language.

Middle English

The period thought of as the Middle English period roughly from 1150-1500 is a period that is demonstrative of the massive changes associated with the Norman conquest. Though there is some evidence that French did not completely overtake English in common or official use the language had a great influence upon English via the Normans and the elasticity of the language at its source.

The Middle English period (1150-1500) was marked by momentous changes in the English language, changes more extensive and fundamental than those that have taken place at any time before or since. Some of them were the result of the Norman Conquest and the conditions which followed in the wake of that event. Others were a continuation of tendencies that had begun to manifest themselves in Old English. These would have gone on even without the Conquest, but took place more rapidly because the Norman invasion removed from English those conservative influences that are always felt when a language is extensively used in books and is spoken by an influential educated class. The changes of this period…… [Read More]

18th Century Literature

English Literature

John Dryden, English poet and critics who was is well-known for his political and religious poetry, explicates on the nature of good writing in his essay, "An essay of dramatic poesy." In this discourse, Dryden looks into the qualities that best defines good writing in literature as a literary work created through three important elements: the work must have a purpose, has a well-conveyed message comprehensible to the reader, and is expressed with wit and intelligence in the simplest and easiest language to understand.

For Dryden, works of literature must be created for a purpose, an honest purpose with strong effectiveness, not a literary works written for the writer's benefit only. This kind of writer, which Dryden identifies as the 'first sort of poetry' -- that is, good poetry -- is synonymous with the writer who is "...so much a well-willer to the satire that he spares no man ... And ... ought to be punished for his action ... " The strong influence of the good writer's work is readily compared with the uninspiring work of the bad writer, who is characterized as one who " ... affects plainless, to cover his want of imagination ... The…… [Read More]

Critique of Marriage in 19th Century English Literature

Her blooming full-pulsed youth stood there in a moral imprisonment which made itself one with the chill, colorless, narrowed landscape, with the shrunken furniture, the never-read books, and the ghostly stag in a pale fantastic world that seemed to be vanishing from the daylight. (Eliot, XXVIII)

However it is worth noting the implicit paradox expressed here in the notion of a married woman's "oppressive liberty." Dorothea Brooke marries sufficiently well that she is not condemned to a life of constantly cooking and washing underwear for Casaubon -- instead, she finds herself without anything to do, and this "freedom" from labor is actually what is most oppressive here. In some sense, then, Eliot's analysis of the problems of marriage is subsidiary to a larger point about women's social role and even educational status (an issue that obsessed Victorians in works ranging from the serious, in Tennyson's The Princess, to the silly, in Gilbert and Sullivan's travesty of Tennyson, Princess Ida).

Works… [Read More]

English Romanticism in the 1790s

"O Sylvan Wye! thou wanderer thro' the woods, / How often has my spirit turned to thee!" (http://www.uoregon.edu/~rbear/ballads.html) Now, the poet wishes to "transfer" the healing powers of nature that he himself has experienced to his sister. By stating."..Nature never did betray / the heart that loved her" (http://www.uoregon.edu/~rbear/ballads.html) Wordsworth assures his sister that she will also find peace in the middle of nature if she believes in the communion with nature. This prediction is an artifice of the poem and is not simple. "Wordsworth's ability to look to the future to predict memories of events that are happening in the present is ingenious and complicated. But Wordsworth beautifully clarifies this concept by using nature as the ideal link between recollection, foresight, and his relationship with another."(Eilenberg, Susan. Strange power of Speech: Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Literary Possession. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992).

Moreover, by imagining the future of his sister, Wordsworth feels that only by a common connection with nature, he and his sister can be tied together even after death, because nature makes them one soul that can read the same book of nature. "My dear, dear Friend; and in thy voice I catch / the language of…… [Read More]

English in Your Opinion Which

" (Frankel, 1963, pg. 122) This is important, because it show how studying Holocaust literature can teach everyone something about themselves that they may not have been fully aware of.

Choose one of the short stories you've read during this lesson and explain how it meets or does not meet the requirements of a modern short story, as explained in your text. Your response should be at least three paragraphs long, explain the criteria you used to evaluate the story, and explain whether or not the story meets the criteria

The story that was evaluated was Mans Search for Meaning. Technically, this fits the definition of short story by: talking about events that actually occurred (in an investigative format). This is important, because it show how this piece of literature would follow pattern of many authors, by discussing various events that had an impact on their lives. (Frankel, 1963)

The way that this was determined was through examining the way the story was told and the time frame that it took place. In Mans Search for Meaning, Frankel limits the overall scope of the literature to the point that he was focused on the how the events would have an…… [Read More]

English Litreture Responsibility Obligation Suffering and Sacrifice

English Litreture

Responsibility, Obligation, Suffering and Sacrifice in James Joyce's Eveline

Eveline, by James Joyce, tells the story of a young woman with an unhappy life due to the responsibilities placed on her by others, as well as those she has placed on herself. Eveline's life is controlled and constrained by the responsibilities which have created obligations and suffering. Eveline's life has become inescapable, even when she has the chance to run away to Buenos Aires with the man she loves, she finds herself unable to run away from her responsibilities, accepting a life of obligation and suffering. Joyce appears to be showing the reader that responsibility causes suffering, and that despite the feeling of obligations, the suffering is eventually meaningless, bringing nothing but more misery.

Eveline is the story of a women reminiscing and reconsidering her decision to leave Dublin for a new life. Her life has not been happy, even in her childhood her father is portrayed as brutish, hunting his children down with a blackthorn stick when they played in the fields (Joyce 1). This is the past and the melancholy feeling the narrative provides is emphasized by with the accounting of those who have been lost,…… [Read More]

English - Skepticism Cynicism Skepticism vs

Without some degree of academic skepticism, one would be influenced by whichever analysis or interpretation happened to be presented first, even though it might be incorrect. In ordinary non- academic life as well, skepticism is an appropriate perspective because the beliefs and claims of others are often ignorant, biased, or questionable in their motivation. The old adage "if it seems too good to be true it probably is" is an example of prudence in ordinary life that is an expression of healthy skepticism..

SKEPTICISM vs. CYNICISM: OUTLINE and NOTES

Skepticism:

Definition

Examples

Negative Connotations:

Difference between Skepticism & Cynicism

Skepticism is more objective

Open-mindedness vs. preexisting negative expectations Cynicism:

Cynicism is subjective

Bias vs. Blank Slate Concept

Skepticism and Literature Analysis:

Appropriate academic perspective

Alternative would mean accepting first analysis of everything

Skepticism in Ordinary Life:

If it seems too good to be true it probably is… [Read More]

English I Agree With the Statement That

English

I agree with the statement that English is the world's most important language. The importance lies in the breadth of English spoken, rather than the depth. In addition, English is already understood to be the world's de facto second language. Removing English from dominance would require the emergence of another language whose prominence could match it. Lastly, English is the most important language and will continue to be because of its flexibility. There are no other languages in the world that meet these criteria and as such there are no serious threats to the use of English today. This paper will outline these arguments in explaining why English is the most important language in the world today, and refute some of the counterarguments in support of other languages.

The first advantage that English has over all other languages is the breadth of its spread. Languages like Hindi or Mandarin have more speakers, but those speakers are concentrated geographically and culturally. There are other languages that have some geographic breadth -- Spanish, Russian and Arabic are all spoken in over a dozen countries by hundreds of millions of people. However, English combines these factors as exceeds them. Part of this…… [Read More]

English Looking Critically at The

Similarly central to Woolf's aesthetic is the tension between the individual's public personae and his or her 'private' self. Through a range of biographical, autobiographical, and fictional strategies, Woolf explore the extent to which the private self can be conceptualised as a fixed, unitary, and bounded identity. ("Reflections on the Self," Page 44)

The looking-glass or mirror represents, in a way, the self, and it also is a device by which the self can be explored and articulated. The voice of the narrator is one that is blended. The narrator is both the narrator and the character that is being described. The narrator is also the voice of the author. The blending of these voices into one voice, not always necessarily coherent and smooth, is a technique that underscores the content and the themes of "The Lady in the Looking-Glass: A Reflection." Reflection upon one's life is not always positive, which might be the overall point of the story. Once the character/narrator/author reflects upon Tyson's life because of the looking-glass, the truth of her life is plain and inescapable. She is a lonely person with little or no meaningful human contact. The opening and closing line of the story is…… [Read More]

English II Teacher to Kill

Scout and Jem are likewise tormented by their classmates because of their father's courageous decision to defend an obviously innocent man. Scout already hates school and feels like a persecuted mockingbird in its controlled, conformist environment. She would rather be playing with her brother and her best friend Dill. School is yet another example of the ways in which society can be cruel and persecutory of people who are 'different.'

Scout is not above hurting other people, however. When she is humiliated by her teacher because she explains why a poor boy named Walter cannot afford even to borrow money for lunch and her teacher reprimands her, Scout turns against Walter by beating him up during lunchtime. Before she is saved by Boo, she is frightened of him and she and her friends make up stories about him, because they fear what they do not understand. It is this misunderstanding and fear that creates 'mockingbirds' -- both at school, and also in the hateful behavior of people like the Ewells, who attempt to keep African-Americans in their place, to bolster their own social reputation.

A final question that must be asked is if poor, ostracized 'white trash' like the Ewells…… [Read More]

English Have Learned Valuable Communication

A appreciate the fact that this English course also included sections on writing effective narrative papers. I found narrative papers to be fun to write because they involve storytelling and rich descriptive language. I feel more creative writing narrative papers, which is why I prefer writing them, as opposed to research papers. When we write narrative papers, I can draw from personal experience, which makes the writing process easier than it is during the process of writing a research paper. Also, the techniques of writing narrative papers differ from the techniques of writing research and persuasive papers. Organization and focus is important, but the paper can be less formal in a narrative essay.

A found literary analysis papers to be among the most difficult to write. I found it very helpful to encounter some of the common techniques for approaching literary criticism. Learning about the different formats such as MLA was helpful, and I do feel that I have improved in my writing skills after learning some of the proper techniques of writing literary analysis papers. Because I do enjoy reading, I feel that my writing will improve as I write more about literature in the future.

Some of the…… [Read More]

English Literature Feminism Humanities

Feminism/Humanities

Love and the Developing and Unstable Female Sense of Self

Lord Byron, in his epic poem "Don Juan," famously noted that although love may be an all-consuming passion for men and women, only for women does it provide the reason for their existence, only for women does love constitute their reason for the self's existence alone. Although this point-of-view may be said to be that of a misogynist, both Marguerite Duras' The Lover and Love in a Small Town provide the same textual narrative for the reader, as did Byron's 19th century version of the young, dashing Don Juan. Both author's works suggest that, only by being exposed to a new, sexually awakened sense of body and self, does a woman gains her full identity as a human being.

Marguerite Duras presents a vision of forbidden love that on its surface may seem to challenge the reader's conventional assumptions of identity. Her heroine becomes involved with a man of another race and ethnic identity. Yet her novel is still fundamentally guided by the principle that the nature of what is a mature, adult 'woman' is a physical and societal absence, or a 'lacking,' as the philosopher Jacques Lacan might…… [Read More]