In the novel, Obasan, Kogawa uses Naomi’s character development to convey that early life racism, internment and abandonment from loved ones can lead to one feeling confused about their identity. The narrator of the novel, Naomi, goes through a series of traumatic events as a...
The Catcher in the Rye takes place during the late 1940s to early 1950s, in a post World War II era. This also took place during the Cold War. The book begins at Pencey Prep, an exclusive boarding school in New Jersey. Later Holden returns...
Marcus Tullius Cicero once said, “A room without books is like a body without a soul.” This is true to Liesel, the main character in The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak, because her body is as if it does not have a soul since she...
William Shakespeare’s play, Othello, takes place during the Renaissance period in Venice, Italy. The tragedy is about a man who uses his skill of manipulation to get revenge and causes chaos along with death. Iago manages to trick Othello into thinking that his wife, Desdemona,...
Balancing Individualism, Community, and the Divine Many people balance the individual, community, and divine differently according to their values. In the tragedy Antigone by Sophocles, Creon is the King of Thebes. Creon balances individualism his own way based on his own morals instead of what...
In The Hobbit written by J. R. R. Tolkien, Bilbo Baggins was a timid, kind-hearted hobbit that lived in a luxurious hole in the ground. He was always ready for company, but never expected to get a guest that asked for his presence. After Gandalf,...
Biddy is introduced early in Great Expectations and is mentioned regularly throughout, though she is not one of the major characters. She does, however, serve as a constant reminder to Pip of what he is leaving behind and, as she is more of a peer...
In William Shakespeare’s final play, “The Tempest,” the playwright spins a magical web of a story that, although being comedic and light-hearted, subtly addresses the issues of absolutism, power and the monarchy. The main character in “The Tempest” is a man named Prospero. Formerly the...
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, presents the theme that even the most despicable people are capable of changing for the better. The main character of the story, Ebenezer Scrooge, is known as a very selfish, stingy and cruel man. Scrooge runs his own business...
Throughout the course of The Year of the Flood we see how Toby’s character has developed into the level-headed and capable adult surviving after the waterless flood. What is particular to Toby’s character is the presence of these valuable traits before the onset of the...
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, a film directed by Gore Verbinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer back in 2003, is an action adventure film in which two civilians get twisted into the cruel world of piracy. It has the exact...
The Crucible is a play about vengeance and power. Abigail Williams manipulates an entire town to do her bidding, stemming from her want to save her reputation and to be able to finally have the man she lusts over. Abigail becomes one of the main...
Roger’s Transformation: Learning Through Compassion In “Thank You, M’am” by Langston Hughes, a boy named Roger tries to steal a purse, but things don’t go how he expects. Instead of getting in trouble, he learns a life lesson from Mrs. Jones, the woman he tried...
Many people come in many different shapes, forms and styles. Each person has a mental habit that can utterly impact their life, which is when people can stay quiet and make themselves feel sad and miserable. While other are willing to bringing themselves joy and...
Introduction There are thousands if not millions of people constantly fighting for their beliefs every single day; however, they have commonly been considered as godless people or sinners by others. This is the case for the one and only Henry Drummond, the best lawyer in...
In the novel Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer goes on to explain that as he has done extensive research and investigated more of Chris’s Life he shares a similar lifestyle to Chris, because of these similarities his opinion of Chris is understandable which justifies and...
Throughout scenes 1 and 2 of A Streetcar Named Desire, playwright Tennessee Williams presents Stanley as extremely powerful and authoritative through the use of dialogue as well as stage directions. The audience immediately learns how strong Stanley is in a physical sense; however, we soon...
Octavia E. Butler’s novel Kindred details the harrowing journey of 26-year-old Dana Franklin. A modern black woman from 1970s Los Angeles, Dana is continuously jerked back through time to the land of her ancestors: early 1800s Maryland. Her task? Save her white ancestor, Rufus Weylin,...
Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea comes to a tragic end where the protagonist, Antoinette, is left as a mad woman in an attic. Rochester asks “Have all beautiful things sad destinies?”(Rhys 51). It is clear that Antoinette is a beautiful thing with a sad destiny,...
In Thomas Hardy’s tendentious Victorian novel, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Hardy uses a format akin to that of a tragic hero to critique the double standards of Victorian society. His heroine, Tess, challenges Victorian standards by maintaining her innate purity and refusing to be defined...
Daniel Woodrell creates a protagonist in his novel, Winter’s Bone, who is prideful, resilient and would do anything to preserve her own kin and blood. Woodrell also allows the reader to see her weaknesses, making identification with her character easily done. Ree Dolly faces challenges...
Using the first three scenes of “A Streetcar Named Desire”, it is safe to use certain words to describe Stanley Kowalski: animalistic, dominance-driven, and hotheaded. Stanley has grown up as a city-boy who developed a behavior that would drive most people into the opposite direction....
In the many stories, tales, and adventures that we have read so far, there have been multitudes of borders crossed by a variety of characters. All of these characters thus far crossing said borders have had a different intention, goal, or motive that theyare trying...
Inception is a 2010 film made by Christopher Nolan and produced by Emma Thomas. The main character is one of the most popular film stars – Leonardo Dicaprio. In the story he acted as a professional thief who steals the information by infiltrating the targets...
Introduction to “Johnny Got His Gun” The novel Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo explores the life of a young man named Joe Bonham as he navigates through challenging times. From a young age, Joe’s life was a constant struggle. Despite having many friends...
Introduction Throughout the play Othello, Shakespeare has managed to portray most of the female characters, including Emilia, Desdemona, and Bianca, as bold, forthcoming, and strong, paving the way for the representation of women in literature. Women’s advocate Elizabeth Cady Stanton once said, “I would have...
In Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved, there is a certain ambiguity surrounding the nature of the titular character. On the surface, she appears to be a reborn and grown up version of the child who was murdered by Sethe in an intended act of merciful infanticide....
Most modern children grow up listening to their mothers tell fairytales and other fictional stories, but what did they do before the time of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White? In earlier centuries, it was not uncommon for care of small children to be delegated to...
An Inspector Calls is a play with lots of political messages as well as social messages. J.B. Priestley believed in socialism and he used large amounts of his plays to try and convince people to his way of thinking. The Inspectors name is Goole which...
In today’s society, almost anything is possible to achieve, a fact that makes it so that nothing is ever as it appears. Things change constantly, whether we agree with such changes or not. This idea is especially notable in the people of the modern world,...
