Do androids dream of electric sheep: A review
Book review - 2 pages - Literature
Edward James states in his piece, Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century, that, “Because science fiction deals with imaginative alternatives to the real world, [it] also offers criticism of that world.” In Philip K. Dick's novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, that criticism is...
Monster and man: The contrasting enemies of epic heroes
Thesis - 3 pages - Literature
Epic heroes can be defined by the kinds of enemies against which they battle. Odysseus used his intellect while contending with Cyclops, witches, harpies, and other various horrific beasts. As Greece was renowned for its philosophers and mathematicians, it is not a difficult link to make...
The Tale of Genji and the four major plays of Chikamatsu
Thesis - 3 pages - Literature
The Tale of Genji can be used to show how samurai culture varies from the culture of the Heian courts. The samurai culture is honorable, loyal, and respectful, while the Heian courts were polygamous and corrupt in some aspects. Many of the aristocrats of the Heian courts strive only to gain power...
Young Goodman Brown's despair
Essay - 1 pages - Literature
Evil is mankind's nature: How the use of religious symbolism of faith and the devil caused Goodman Brown's despair from within, in the story of Young Goodman Brown, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It's only natural that our curiosity has caused some, to fall victim to form evil and temptation. Goodman...
The myth and legend of King Arthur
Thesis - 2 pages - Literature
There is a mysterious allure and fantasy that is generated when one hears Excalibur, Knights of the Round Table, and the magic of Merlin which are all a part of the Myth and Legend of King Arthur that has created a blueprint for the heroism and honor: How the Legend of King Arthur defined a culture.
Fahrenheit 451, Dandelion Wine and From the Dust Returned
Thesis - 2 pages - Literature
Having been told I had to choose an author and read three of their novels, I chose the strange and unusual author Ray Bradbury. Bradbury writes about science fiction which interests me. For this reason, I have decided to read Bradbury's novels as a basis for my paper. The novels I chose to read...
The grass dancer
Thesis - 2 pages - Literature
During a lifetime, one will always encounter lies. These lies are road blocks along the journey called life, some being very harmful to one's life while others are hardly harmful at all. Susan Power's The Grass Dancer is filled with the type of lies which are life-altering. The three major lies...
Through the ages
Thesis - 3 pages - Literature
The passage of time influences everyone in one way or another. In her novel, Mama Day, Gloria Naylor illustrates the strength and importance of the connection between ancestry and the present. The title character Mama Day (Miranda) finds personal strength and wisdom through her great...
The innocent man by John Grisham: A review
Book review - 2 pages - Literature
John Grisham has been a favorite author of mine since fourth grade when I picked up A Time to Kill for the first of many times. That fictional novel was the start of my love for his exciting, fast paced storytelling and The Firm, The Client, The Pelican Brief, The Chamber and The Testament...
The daydreamer essay
Thesis - 2 pages - Literature
This story focuses on the repetition in Peter's life that could be applicable on several levels to many people. His days a just a series of motions and this may encourage Peter to create a fantasy world in order to escape. A type of fantasy is an escape for Peter but, as shown by McEwan's other...
Book review of Undress me in the temple of heaven
Book review - 1 pages - Literature
The author Susan and her Ivy League friend Claire declare to each other that they want to travel and experience the world as it is after graduation. Their idealism, youth, and naiveté meet head on with a Chinese culture not used to tourists or any Westerners at all. Claire and Susan are...
Shakespeare's King Lear
Thesis - 3 pages - Literature
William Shakespeare's King Lear tragically ends with the death of many characters in the play's final scene. Act V, scene 3 brings about the confrontation of the opposing characters, resulting in disorder and many untimely deaths. Amidst this chaos is the character Kent. Kent is King Lear's...
A write up on Romeo and Juliet
Thesis - 2 pages - Literature
William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is the story of two young teenagers infatuated with each other, but their love is forbidden by their respected families. Romeo, a Montague, and Juliet, a Capulet, must hide their relationship from everyone, for word of their being together would cause havoc...
Lord of the Flies: Leadership and its consequences
Thesis - 3 pages - Literature
While there is vast disagreement over what exactly defines leadership, most agree that it is a response to societal needs. Ultimately, leaders provide consistent assurance and protection from external as well as internal threats. In view of that, the concept purely results from the...
Filicide in Euripides' Bacchae and Toni Morrison's Beloved
Thesis - 2 pages - Literature
The murder of a child, under any circumstance, is an overwhelming and catastrophic incident for any parent. However, when the parent becomes the murderer, it is only normal to question the underlying motives. Simply labeling a parent “crazy” creates no defense against future iniquity...
Structure of the parable
Thesis - 1 pages - Literature
What is the structure of the parable? Someone who is familiar with the bible would be able to tell you that they are allegorical stories in which each part of the parable signifies something. This is not always true. The parable is not an illustration of Jesus' message. The parable is the...
Book review: "The Death of Adam" by Marilynne Robinson
Book review - 1 pages - Literature
Marilynne Robinson's The Death of Adam is an essay collection by the author of the acclaimed novel Giliad. The essays in the book fall into two main categories, as Robinson describes in the preface. Some of them are dedicated to pointing out foolishness and ugliness where modern thought...
Emily Dickinson
Thesis - 4 pages - Literature
The poetess is the most fantastic of implausibilities. She is a bizarre stray onto the wrong pedestal. Emily Dickinson, in the lonely ranks of poetry, has this particular distinction. Only Sappho, Emily Bronte and Elizabeth Browning keep her company in the otherwise fraternal pantheon. One can,...
John Donne and the Baroque
Thesis - 6 pages - Literature
The monstrous beauty of the 17th century, all its aspiring whorls and lopsided rhetoric, its weird configurations and ghastly echoes, and the vast empty spaces evoked by its obsessive detail—all this is apotheosized in the Anglican priest, John Donne. In poetry and person, he embodies the...
Dealin' some justice: Wargrave style
Book review - 2 pages - Literature
Every good mystery has suspense, deception, and plot twists. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie is no different. Published in 1939, the book has sold well even today. The book features high suspense with cold-blooded murders and a mystery killer. All the characters and even the reader...
Gesundheit: On Chiasmus
Thesis - 1 pages - Literature
“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” It just so happens that one of the most immortal phrases of one of the most immortal political speeches in history is a chiasmus. Coincidence? Indeed not. Jack knew what he was doing. Chiasmus, which...
How do you solve a problem like Maria?
Thesis - 2 pages - Literature
Set in the idyllic landscape of far-off Illyria, Shakespeare's Twelfth Night presents a tale of mischief and merriment, marriage and masquerade. It's the stuff great plays are made of: someone dressing in drag, someone donning yellow stockings, blatant homoerotic tendencies flying every which...
Suffraging Shakespeare
Thesis - 2 pages - Literature
Set in the idyllic landscape of far-off Illyria, Shakespeare's Twelfth Night presents a tale of mischief and merriment, marriage and masquerade. It's the stuff great plays are made of: someone dressing in drag, someone donning yellow stockings, blatant homoerotic tendencies flying every which...
A convenient truth
Thesis - 1 pages - Literature
McFate is the term coined ironically by Humbert to address the role of coincidence in his life. McFate; an interesting classification when one considers that Lolita was written before the era of fast food commercialization, and yet the nickname still has the same dilutive effect and connotations...
Struggle for freedom and sanity in one flew over the cuckoo's nest
Thesis - 3 pages - Literature
The struggle for freedom and sanity in society is a constant one. Societal leaders relentlessly place standards and requirements on people, and this produces a detrimental effect in many cases. The unavoidable contradiction between the interest of the whole and the cause of the individual...
Revolt against blandness: Language, sexuality and idealism in The Catcher in the Rye
Thesis - 3 pages - Literature
J.D. Salinger's novel, The Catcher in the Rye, was published in the early 1950's, a time of refinement and standardized ways of living. Salinger experienced firsthand the terrors of World War II, as well as life in America during an uncertain time. Salinger's early influences at school and in...
Water vs. fire
Thesis - 2 pages - Literature
Life is a constant struggle with those around us. In Moby-Dick by Herman Melville, this struggle is the constant desire to overcome the opponent. Despite similarities, two characters in Moby-Dick showcase this constant desire to defeat one another. The wily Captain Ahab and mysterious white...
Irrelevant cynicism
Essay - 1 pages - Literature
In John Gardner's Grendel, the Dragon's most important character trait is his complete and limitless knowledge of the past, present, and future, producing his biting and relentless sarcasm and his ability to understand the complete and utter irrelevance of the daily exploits of Grendel and...
The warmth in life: (Despite the frost)
Thesis - 3 pages - Literature
It is from the ancient Greeks and the Miltonic era that romantic poets have learned to so casually reject their profound place in society. They claim often to be some small part of an awesome whole; the vastness of earth, its circularity (life cycle), the infinitudes of time all decreasing the...
Homeless Mothers: Book review and topic discussion
Book review - 3 pages - Literature
Homeless Mothers: Face to Face with Women and Poverty by Deborah R. Connolly (University of Minnesota Press: Minneapolis, 2000) is an ethnography based on participant observation and extensive interviews and written for the general public. Its main subjects are homeless mothers and their...
