Abstract Shirley Jackson is a short story writer known for writing disturbing stories that focus not on horrific events, but on normal events that occur in society. The writer shows how her stories add new meaning to common events that everyone can relate to, often also making a comment on our society. Three of her stories which have these features, are examined - "The Witch", "An Ordinary Day, With Peanuts", and "After You, My Dear Alphonse". These stories are compared in terms of theme, style, irony, and characters. The common features of Jackson's work can easily be identified.
From the Paper "In each of the three stories, the theme makes a comment on our society, using everyday events to accomplish this.
"In The Witch, a mother is on the train with her four-year old son. A man enters and noting that the boy needs entertaining, tells him a story. The story, however, is a horrific one and what would be considered an inappropriate one. The mother must then deal with the social situation of reacting to the man's inappropriateness. The aspect of the story that communicates the theme is that the boy is actually entertained by the story, even though it is considered inappropriate. This leads the reader to consider why these types of stories are so entertaining and why the mother is more disturbed by the story than her son. This leads to the questioning of the conventions of society, especially the idea of what is considered inappropriate."
Abstract This paper is an overview of sado-masochism and promotes a positive view of S&M (sadism/masochism) . It presents the history and philosophical thinkings of sadism's founder, the Marquis de Sade. The paper argues that interest in S&M should not label an individual as perverse or abnormal as it can be practiced in many different forms with mutual consent.
From the Paper "All organic elements of nature - humankind, animals and plants alike - have the capability and need to reproduce. This means we are all disposed to appeasing our sexual appetites to further our species certainly, but also for the sake of pure pleasure, love, and a host of other reasons. The forms of expressing sexuality are also as many and as varied as the reasons for being sexual?certain acts, thoughts, fantasies and practices may appeal to some while appearing absolutely revolting to others. One of the most controversial expressions of sexuality, but at the same time also one of the most widely practiced (to various degrees), can be found in sadomasochism: deriving sexual gratification through means of pain (Microsoft bookshelf). The concept and sexual appeal behind S&M, as it is also called, was first truly brought to light by French author the Marquis de Sade and the practice has carried over until the present day."
Abstract "The more things change, the more they stay the same." When Alphonse Karr said this, he could easily have been talking about the themes in Western literature. There is a theme which runs through literature from Homer to our century, like a seam of gold in a rock. No matter what the actual matter is, almost all literature depicts it in this way: it shows human beings, not as they are, but as they should be. All literature is to some extent an idealization, a depiction of a sort of perfect being, beyond the reach of any human. This is not to say that all characters in literature are angels, or perfectly good: that is obviously false. But even flawed or downright evil characters are, in a way, perfect and idealized in their evilness. To prove this thesis, this paper will begin with Homer, the first writer in the Western literary tradition, and continue right up to this century: the idealized depictions are consistent throughout.
This paper discusses Alphonse "Al" Capone, America's best-known gangster and the single greatest symbol of the collapse of law and order in the United States during the 1920s Prohibition era.
Abstract This paper explains that, without Prohibition, the banning of the sale of alcoholic beverages, officially known as the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the criminal career of Al Capone would never have reached the heights of criminality. The author points out that Al Capone, one of the first crime czars in American history, took the feudal Italian criminal society and fashioned it into a modern American criminal enterprise. The paper relates that, by 1929, the Capone gang was credited by the Chicago police with at least 300 murders. It discusses how on February 14, 1929, the struggle for the control of the North Side of Chicago erupted in extreme violence with what is now known as the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. This day saw seven men belonging to Capone's arch-enemy "Bugs" Moran's gang lured into a garage by Capone's men disguised as policemen, lined up against a wall and shot to death with machine guns.
From the Paper "Thus, Prohibition went into effect in 1920 but its passage reflected an effort that had started in the 19th century. Though most of the reform efforts were heavily influenced by the struggle to fix the political and economic inequalities related to industrialism, the ban on alcohol was essentially a religious crusade. With the Women's Christian Temperance Union leading the way against the use, sale or distribution of alcohol in America's bars, restaurants and homes, Andrew Volsted, a U.S. Representative in Congress, soon joined their cause which he saw as a way of regulating morality in the context of the use and abuse of alcohol, "one of America's most devastating habits that leads to corruption, immorality and the destruction of the soul"; thus, the 18th Amendment became known as the Volstead Act."
