Matters and issues of the mind have both intrigued and puzzled writers for about as long as people have been writing. Some such writers have explored the inner workings of the mind of the madman, finding this type of character to be the most effective...
Though often unintentional, individuals can be responsible for their own devastating turn of events. This is best exemplified in Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller and The Stone Angel, by Margaret Laurence. Death of a Salesman follows the life of Willy Loman, a failing...
In America there is a systematic structure that is portrayed by the White Male patriarchy that authorizes black males to transact the way they act, speak, think and live like men. Nonetheless, the actuality of race and the absence of racial diversity hinders a black...
The Lovely Bones is a 2002 novel by American writer Alice Sebold. It is the story of a teenage girl who, after being raped and murdered, watches from her personal Heaven as her family and friends struggle to move on with their lives while she...
Are readers being too idealistic when they favor perfect heroes in stories over flawed ones? Authors August Wilson and Arthur Miller force readers to ponder the likeability of an imperfect protagonist through their characters. In Fences by August Wilson, the main character Troy is a...
Introduction For two stories, The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe and Miriam by Truman Capote, both protagonists are influenced by their powerful thoughts and mental issues, which are caused by different objects from the outward world and inner struggles. In the first case, alcohol...
The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh Linda Colley’s The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh is a detailed narrative of the life Elizabeth Marsh and her historical social influence during the 18th century. Colley captures aspects of the events in Elizabeth Marsh’s time as she continuously travels in...
The Cellist of Sarajevo, a novel written by Steven Galloway is set in the city of Sarajevo, during the Bosnian war in the 1990’s. Galloway chose this setting to recount the stories of eyewitnesses present during the siege of Sarajevo, and to give his reader’s...
Mrs Bentley, wife of a Protestant minister, she wrote journal entries regularly. The couple moved to another small town, called “Horizon”. Mrs. Bentley, was the loss hope for Philip (her husband), who became far more distant. As she notes her feelings, she is clear, as...
Bom Boy by Yewande Omotoso is written in the genre known as Bildungsroman. However, it is in the form of a dissensual Bildungsroman. Peiker (2015) states that “A key plot difference between the dissensual and the traditional Bildungsroman is that a finished Bildung, the essential...
American Pastoral is narrated by Philip Roth’s Nathan Zuckerman, a friend and admirer of the Levovs, in particular of Seymour “The Swede” Levov. Zuckerman tells the story of The Swede’s tragic fall from youthful perfection due to his daughter’s act of terrorism in protest of...
In “Guns, Germs, and Steel” Jared Diamond tries to understand why certain countries and civilizations developed wealth and power and evolved throughout history while other civilizations did not. He also tries to figure out how these certain peoples were the ones capable to expand and...
In the book “Alandra’s Lilacs,” author Tressa Bowers describes her life experience as a young mother. Losing two sons and raising a deaf daughter was not easy as I could imagine. Tressa had dropped out of high school and her marriage, well that wasn’t going...
Significant dialogue from Act 2 of Death and the Maiden reveals how Paulina’s torture in the Chile’s past totalitarian regime has affected her life in the democratic present day. The ambiguity in the meaning of justice is a key theme that is significantly developed because...
The year was 1842 in Glendora, Mississippi; there lived a young boy named Jimmy. At the age of 13 Jimmy was sold and separated from his father. He was sold to William C. Ford. Ever since that day Massa Ford hasn’t let him go. Jimmy...
“If you risk nothing you achieve nothing, for fortune favors the bold.” This is a quote that really intrigued me in the book Kalila and Dimna. I can see how relevant this quote is in everyday life, as boldness allows for opportunity. Dimna stated this...
Educating Rita is a play about change and transformation. Susan White, a working class girl, wants to escape the trappings of the class system and become “educated”, thinking that this will allow her to “sing a better song“. By the end of the play, her...
The Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy is an autobiography of a girl who turns her misfortune into an encouraging story that is engaging and engrossing. At age nine, Lucy Grealy was diagnosed with a potentially terminal cancer. When she returned to school with...
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by Z.Z. Packer is a series of stories that focus on the main character, Dina. Dina is an African American girl who is raised in Baltimore, but who later studies at Yale. Dina doesn’t like most people and has a hard time...
The turn of the eighteenth century is at the cusp of radical shifts in ideology, booming industry and scientific advancement for the Western World. The rapid changes, and growing middle class widens the audience for conduct books. As more people were economically secure and had...
Sheriff Mapes In Ernest Gaines’s novel, A Gathering of Old Men, the character of Sheriff Mapes seems as though he is just like any other stereotypical southern sheriff, and at first, he undoubtedly portrays himself in such a manner. However, as the story goes on...
The book The Lonely Londoner written by Sam Selvon, depict a bittersweet story of a group of West Indian immigrants living in the 1950s London. The book takes an evocative look at the city through the jaded eyes of a black man, Moses Aloetta, a...
In his memoir Hillbilly Elegy, J. D. Vance tells of how he advanced from a hillbilly to a relatively wealthy author. From a family and culture of drug abuse and instability, Vance made his way to one of the country’s most elite law schools and...
People work hard and gain positive things all the time. People who don’t work don’t gain positive things. This is what happens in the book The Treasure of Lemon Brown by Walter Dean Myers. In this story a boy named Greg leaves his house and...
Justice is a universal idea that has existed since human civilization began. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, justice is “the maintenance or administration of what is just especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments.” Because...
Tension between a protagonist and the society in which he lives is an element of storytelling which can be found in many texts across many millennia. The story of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion is a particularly notable example, though the great novels of 19th century realism...
I like to let books choose me, instead of me choosing them. So when The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold came out in 2002 and people couldn’t be quiet about it, I tried to ignore everyone telling me, “You’ve absolutely got to read this book!”...
In the Count of Monte Cristo written by Alexander Dumas, the protagonist, Edmond Dantes, was falsely imprisoned for 14 years until he escaped. Ferdnand, Danglers, and Villefort were his conspirators, writing a letter a denunciation that would denounce him as a Bonapartist. Edmond would later...
The Count of Monte Cristo
Justification
Protagonist
United States Olympic medalist Dara Torres once said, “Setbacks have an upside; they fuel new dreams.” Like Dara, many people believe that while losing hurts, it also does more for people than cause pain and sadness. Losing strengthens one’s sense of resilience, motivates one to...
“When I was Puerto Rican” by Esmeralda Santiago is an autobiography that shows how Negi goes through many changes based on the challenges she endures by moving to new areas where society is different. Whether Negi was living in the Santurce, Macun, or Brooklyn, Santiago...
