The other characters in the novel are also used very effectively to illustrate the growing self-awareness of each of these characters. In Emma, the characters of Mr. Knightley and Harriet Smith are especially important in this regard. Emma's misguided attempts to find a "suitable" husband for Harriet make her own prejudices and weaknesses of mind and spirit very clear (Austen, 1815). The great irony of the novel occurs when Emma, who has considered herself outside the possibility of marriage, learns that Harriet has set her eyes on Mr. Knightley, and realizes that she herself is in love with him (Austen, 1815). In Huckleberry Finn, Huck's transformation would be almost impossible to observe without the appearance of many famous characters, including the King and Duke, the Widow Douglas, Aunt Sally, and of course Tom Sawyer, just to name a few.

Tom especially reveals the extent of Huck's character change from the beginning….

protagonist antagonist short story called "Killings" Andre Dubus
It is difficult to defend the position that the protagonist and antagonist of Adre Dubus' short story "Killings," Matt and Strout, are alike in any sort of way. Virtually the only similarity they have is their mutual admiration and appreciation for the way that Strout's ex-wife, Mary Ann, looks. Nonetheless, both of these men are fathers and they are both murderers. Still, a prolonged analysis of Dubus' tale reveals the fact that there are significantly greater differences between these two than there are similarities.

One of the more pronounced differences between the two is the way that they go about carrying out their respective murders. Strout is much more reckless in doing so. He kills Matt's son Frank in broad daylight, in front of a plethora of witnesses (including his children and his ex-wife), almost as though he has no disdain for the….

protagonist is portrayed as a victim of circumstance andsomeone who has the ability to control his or her own life.
The character of Santiago Nasar in Gabriel Garcia Marquez' "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" is provided with little attention when considering the fact that he is unable to express his perspective regarding the circumstances of his death. It is difficult to determine whether or not he has a say in this because the narrator is unclear concerning the man's relationship with Angela Vicario. One might be inclined to consider that he is, in fact responsible for his death because he took Angela's virginity even though he was familiar with traditions in his town.

The fact that the narrator provides no information concerning the moment when Santiago deflowered Angela makes it difficult for readers to assess the man's condition and his culpability. In spite of the fact that he is a successful….

protagonist of the book "The Scarlet letter," by Nathaniel Hawthorne, in one of the most painful but meaningful moments of her life. The woman we get acquainted with is "characterized by a certain state and dignity, rather than by the delicate evanescent and indescribable grace which is now recognized as its indication" (Chapter 2).
Hester Prynne is in an ignominious state, after having been proved to have committed adultery and is waiting for the sentence, standing before the crowd, holding her four-month-old baby in her arms. We are told that she was married to an elderly scholar who sent her to America two years ago and did not come to join her since.

At the beginning of the book we meet her going through one of the most horrible experiences a woman could go through: being exposed in the public with the living proof of her adultery in her arms, waiting….

This is a point that many critics miss. One cannot decide if Prospero is a protagonist or antagonistic based on his actions. Neither can we determine whether Caliban is a victim or a foe. Shakespeare raises a very important social question for people of the enaissance, one that is still valid today, "Should we forgive the actions of those less fortunate than ourselves, simply due to their handicap?" As the play progresses, the audience shifts their opinions back and forth about Caliban as a foe or a victim of Prospero's harassment. They must constantly struggle with whether Prospero is only protecting himself and his daughter from an evil villain, or whether he is himself a "bully" picking on one who is less fortunate.
Shakespeare wished to make the audience uncomfortable and create an inner struggle in them. He engaged that audience as a participant in the play, rather than as….

Likewise, the Nazis also employed state agents and encouraged citizens to inform on one another to the authorities for speaking out against the Nazi regime. Obviously, the author wrote the work as a caution about the intrusion of the state into the psychological autonomy of the individual. In the West, that type of state domination is not an issue in contemporary society. On the other hand, there are very recent reports of North Korean citizens being arrested and sent to re-education camps for failing to mourn the death of Kim Jong-Il "sincerely enough" suggests that Orwell's concerns are still legitimate in other parts of the world. Even in Western society, there are questions about the objectivity of news media and the degree of influence that business entities have on government.
The main issue in All Quiet on the Western Front is still a problem in contemporary society. Throughout the second….

Lean on Me
The protagonist of Lean on Me is Joe Clark, an African-American male in his early forties. The film, based on a true story, shows how Clark, played by actor Morgan Freeman, used unorthodox methods to bring about much-needed change at Eastside High School in Paterson, New Jersey. Although Clark is in almost every scene in the film, the audience sees only the professional side of this character. We learn nothing about his religion, marital status, or living situation. With respect to educational level, we know he must have at least a bachelor's degree to teach in the public school system and at least a master's to be a principal. Clark is extremely articulate and speaks formally at times, using vocabulary designed to emphasize his status as both educated and an educator.

The film opening is set at Eastside High in 1967. Clark is in front of a classroom full….

elty and Hughes
The protagonists of both Eudora elty's short story "A orn Path" and Langston Hughes "The Negro oman" are elderly African-American woman who sacrifice themselves in order that their offspring will have better lives. elty writes a touching story about a woman who everyone rebuffs because of how she looks and dresses, but who is so much stronger than all those who would ridicule her. Even with all the odds stacked against her, Phoenix Jackson holds out hope that her efforts will eventually pay off and her grandson will be well again. Hughes's narrator, on the other hand, is angry at her suffering and warning those who live freely now not to forget her and her misery. On the surface, the stories are about an old woman making a very long journey on foot through the south in order to get medicine for her ailing grandson and one reflecting….

In prison, Malcolm X learned how to direct his will, his human agency, towards personal empowerment. Personal empowerment and self-education led to his forging ties with powerful Black leaders. Therefore, Malcolm X presents human agency as being instrumental to creating positive social change. As the author points out, genuine anger was transmuted into the ultimate goal of achieving universal human rights.
Universal human rights was also the main concern of .E.B. DuBois, as Garth E. Pauley points out. .E.B. DuBois was keenly aware of the devastating fact that many who supported the 14th and 15th Amendments were also willing to denigrate women. It was as if Americans felt the need to distinguish between racism and sexism. Supporters of the 14th and 15th Amendments held backwards views about women, and were willing to accept the outlandish notion that women were incapable of voting. Excluding fifty percent of the population from political….

sympathy toward Skeeter as the protagonist of the story, because she is caught between two worlds. She is desperately and earnestly attempting to understand the world of the African-American maids that have helped her. Her loe of Constantine drives her to understand, and to possibly help by writing her book. Her sincerity is what makes me most sympathetic toward her. At the same time, it is easy to relate to Minny. Minny's anger and resentment is understandable given her situation and what her family and friends have been through, and therefore necessary for engendering the reader's sympathy for the underclass African-Americans.
Hilly is a character who is easy to dislike but she is also a fairly one-dimensional character. There is no sense that Hilly has a conscience at all, and maybe she does not. She has an abrasive personality that represents the worst of American culture. There is no other….

Elisa Allen is the protagonist of John Steinbeck's short story “The Chrysanthemums,” and Louise Mallard is the protagonist of Kate Chopin's “The Story of An Hour.” Both Elisa and Louise are products of their social and historical contexts, particularly when it comes to gender norms. Elisa and Louise are passive protagonists, because patriarchy has stripped them of political agency. By creating passive protagonists in their respective short stories, Steinbeck and Chopin make powerful social commentary about the role of women in their private and public lives.
Both Elisa and Louise feel stuck in their marriage, but perceive liberation as impossible within the confines of their culture. In both short stories, nature symbolizes wasted potential. For example, Elisa is capable of so much more than gardening: "The chrysanthemum stems seemed too small and easy for her energy," (Steinbeck). Similarly, Louise realizes that she has wasted her life when she sees nature through….

..I ask you, isn't that fate meant to be?" Now, Pearl realizes that Winnie's fatalism is not all negative. That, too, she has not understood about her mother and what keeps her going. Pearl recognizes the strength never left her mother. For the sake of her daughter, she kept on going. Her greatest fault: becoming disillusioned with life. But now, she can perhaps work on those feelings, because she will not be bearing them alone. She will also have Pearl's strength to help her as she becomes older.
As she tells Pearl her life story, Winnie feels so much weight being lifted off her shoulders. She first apologizes for not having told Pearl about how her grandmother abandoned her six-year-old daughter. This has to be the most difficult thing for Winnie to talk about, since she, like Pearl, did not want to admit things to herself that were too hurtful.

Finally, Winnie….

Minister's Black Veil" and "The Birth-mark:" Hubris
Many of Nathaniel Hawthorne's works are seen as a critique of Puritan ideology and the dangers of having a judgmental attitude. "The Minister's Black Veil" illustrates the Reverend Hooper's vindictive and narrow-minded attitude not to others but to himself. He punishes himself in perpetuity for some unnamed sin although at the end of his life, right before his death, he proclaims that all human beings wear a black veil of sin, not just himself. "The Birth-mark," in contrast, depicts the dangerous overconfidence of a scientist who is certain that he can render God's creation better than God himself in his attempts to change his wife's appearance. But while Aylmer's actions are more obviously arrogant, both men are essentially acting as judge and jury over others on earth, rather than leaving that judgment to God himself.

At the beginning of "The Birthmark," Aylmer's quest to….

Extra-Credit Questions
Questions on Readings

There are different kinds of peril that a person can find himself (in this case) in, and Macready and Macon Detornay find themselves embedded in several of them, in large measure because of their own actions, including their own attitudes about the position that they hold in the world in which they spend their lives. Detornay is more clearly culpable for the problems in which he finds himself because these are dangers into which he places himself. Lacking what he perceives to be an authentic life, he casts off the superficial markers of the community in which he has been raised and to which his life has accommodated him, he pretends that he can live a more authentic life by becoming what he sees as an urban black. Not only does this place him at occasional physical risk but on a consistent basis in moral and psychological….

Indeed, the trajectory of the narrative involves exacting revenge on those who prevented her marriage from taking place.
Although the Bride's marital aspirations might suggest that she holds a conservative sensibility, this is far from the case and she is ultimately more aggressive than Jen. While Jen also exhibits physical prowess, her sacrificial gesture at the film's conclusion signifies how she maintains a strong reverence for the Confucian moral code, assimilating her within the wuxia genre. Physically, the Bride resembles a dominatrix; she is taller than many of the characters and fights in a relentlessly savage manner (even going so far as to bite her adversary in one scene.) in contrast, Jen is more diminutive and her face and eyes are softer and less predatory. Where the Bride looks much more imposing than an average person, Jen has an average size that is not dissimilar from the other characters. Indeed,….

In the book Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese, the author describes a Native American child and his family who retreat into the woods in order to avoid the child being taken from them and raised away from the family, which was happening not just to members of their Ojibway nation, but to Native Americans across the country.  The book is a fictional novel, but is based in the historical fact that not only were Native Americans forcibly removed from their ancestral lands throughout North America, but were also subjected to having their children stolen from....

Shakespeare may be the most popular broad topic for essays in English classes.  He wrote some of the most well-known works in the English language and, while he is known for his plays, he is also known for poetry.  English essays may focus on his works, but it is also possible to write compelling essays about Shakespeare’s life, including the enduring popular topic of whether Shakespeare was the true author of the works credited to him. 

Here are some essay title suggestions:   

1. Bringing Home the Bacon: Questions About the Authorship of Shakespeare’s Plays
2. The Real Tragedy of....
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Three iconic high school dance movies helped shape popular culture from the late 1970s to the late 1980s: Dirty Dancing, Grease, and Footloose.  While the movies all focused on high school aged teens, they also had other similarities that are worth exploring.  They all feature relationships with a boy from the “wrong side of the tracks” in some way.  This is reminiscent of West Side Story, the original teen dance epic.  Of course, West Side Story derives its story from Romeo and Juliet.  Your thesis could focus on those similarities or you could....

An escape story refers to a story where a person is getting away from some type of negative situation.  The escape story can be a literal escape from something or an imagined escape.  Kate Chopin’s Story of an Hour is a famous escape story, because the protagonist imagines all of the freedoms that she has now that her husband has been declared dead, only to discover he is not really dead.  The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is another popular escape story, even though his escapism is in his head.  However, escape stories....