From the Paper "Percy Shelley's poem "To a Sky-Lark" and John Keats's poem "Ode to a Nightingale" are both centered on nature in the form of birds. Both poems are classified as Romantic and have certain poetic elements in common, but in addition both poems have differences in style and in theme that differentiate them clearly. Both poets are spurred to react and to write because of their encounter with a bird. Shelley is addressing the bird that excites his interest more directly, while Keats turns to reverie because of the song of the nightingale more than the nightingale itself. In the latter case, the song of the poet has a different tone from the song of the bird--the joy of the bird becomes a contemplative song for the poet. Each poet begins with the reality of the bird or its song and then uses that as a beginning point for aesthetic and philosophic speculation, delving in each..."
From the Paper "Graham Greene was a major British novelist for many decades and was noted for his inclusion of political subject matter and points of view in his works. He often wrote directly about trouble spots in the world--The Comedians was set in Papa Doc's Haiti, for instance, while A Burnt-Out Case is set in the Congo. His novel The Quiet American from 1955 is set in Vietnam, a country few Americans had even heard of in 1955 when the French were engaged in the sort of guerilla war America would face a few years later in the same country. In this novel, he offers an interesting picture of the politics of the region, of the role taken by foreign powers, and of the nature of warfare and revolution in that country. What he says in 1955 casts an interesting light not only on the role of the French in the 1950s but on what would face America in the 1960s."
From the Paper "The motivations of Christopher Columbus and other figures in The Four Voyages of Christopher Columbus, edited by J.M. Cohen, are varied and contradictory. Certainly, those motivations were not purely the result of high religious principles, for the lure of gold, land, slaves, power and prestige also played a major role in driving these men to seek, reach and exploit the New World. The reader must keep in mind that the book is written by men who were likely presenting what they saw as a positive portrait of their activities and intentions. Nevertheless, the full range of their motives comes through. One passage from the account of Columbus's son demonstrates the jumble of motives at work in the hearts and minds of these Europeans in their relations with the natives:
On receiving such kindnesses and such samples of gold from..."
Tags: HISTORY: EUROPEAN, BOOK REVIEWS (NON-FICTION) (ALPHABETIZED)
A critical review of the 1976 work on the origins of slavery in the U.S., the role of capitalism, freedom and authority, as well as the Samboization of blacks.
1,350 words (approx. 5.4 pages), 2 sources, 1999, $ 47.95
Abstract Stanley M. Elkins, in Slavery: A Problem in American Institutional and Intellectual Life, examines the origins of slavery in the United States, related to freedom and authority, and the creation of what he refers to as the "Sambo" as a type of slave personality.
From the Paper "Stanley M. Elkins, in Slavery: A Problem in American Institutional and Intellectual Life, examines the origins of slavery in the United States, related to freedom and authority, and the creation of what he refers to as the "Sambo" as a type of slave personality. The question of the role of "freedom" in the establishment of the brutal system of American slavery must be qualified. The freedom referred has nothing to do with democratic freedom, and everything to do with the unbridled freedom of capitalism to flourish without regard to the rights or even the humanity of the slaves. The rich, white slaveholders were certainly exercised their own democratic freedom, but the fact that slavery accompanied such freedom must call into question any claim that the United States was indeed democratic while slavery endured. Of course, the freedom of the slaves themselves is also ..."
Abstract "Edward Albee's play The Zoo Story is a play about communication, or rather, the lack of communication between people who believe they are communicating.
From the Paper "Edward Albee's play The Zoo Story is a play about communication, or rather, the lack of communication between people who believe they are communicating. The play is both comic and tragic, for the same lack of communication which brings laughter can the next moment bring pathos as the consequences of isolated human beings (human beings who cannot or will not communicate openly and honestly) brings death, even murder, or murder by suicide.
The play features two men, Jerry and Peter. Jerry is either mad or so eccentric and troubled that he might as well be mad, and Peter is conservative and completely ignorant of the world beyond his little married life. On one level, the men appear to be trying to communicate, although there are obvious roadblocks to that end."
From the Paper "In the short story "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" by Raymond Carver, the discussion of love and the nature and relationships of the four characters reflect the same issues, the same ideas, and the same difficulties. The discussion has the aura of something that is repeated over and over, as if these four talk about love often. They clearly know one another very well and know all about each other's loves, past and present, yet they still talk about them and their feelings endlessly, as if doing so enables them to understand those feelings and themselves.
The central question raised is what constitutes love, and this is raised in terms of how certain actions and behaviors might claim to be love but really cannot be. That, at least, is Mel's point of view when Terri talks about the man she lived with..."
Abstract An analysis of the novel's depiction of India at a time of independence, in cultural, historical and literary (story-telling) contexts.
From the Paper "Salman Rushdie's novel Midnight's Children received awards when it was published in 1981 and developed a fictional world that played off the political, social, and cultural history of India. The novel is structured around a religious procession through the subcontinent of India. The novel celebrates a key moment in Indian history, the moment of independence and the 1,001 children who were born just after midnight on the day of independence, August 15, 1947. These are the "midnight's children" of the title, and they are the hope of the new nation, the young people who will control the future and decide the destiny of the millions of people living in India. Rushdie's style mixes illusion and reality, myth and legend with everyday life, Indian history with a fictional tale, and does so through the eyes of the narrator, Saleem, who Scheherezade-like tells his..."
Abstract This paper analyzes John Deemos' "The Unredeemed Captive" about the adoption of Eunice Williams by Indians at a time when the Puritan settlers of New England Colonies did not get on with their neighboring Indians. It discusses the Puritan's stereotype views of the Indians and how the only way to 'redeem' oneself if captured was by escape or by being freed. It tells the story of Eunice's capture and evaluates how this stereotype only increased Eunice's repulsion of how her father viewed the Indians,. making her adopt their way of life and marry an one of them and thus remaining "unredeemed".
From the Paper "The Mohawk Indians attacked the frontier village of Deerfield in 1704, taking a number of Puritans captive. The whole Puritan ? Indian cross-cultural encounter brought out the Puritan's view of other societies and how their lack of Puritanical beliefs made them savages, uncivilized and wild. On release, some captives decided to remain behind with the Indians, one of them being Eunice Williams, daughter of the Puritan minister John Williams. This horrified the other Puritans, as they could not understand how one would be willing to turn away from God and adopt heathenic ways ensuring their souls would never attain salvation."
Abstract This paper plots out how Walter's views on manhood develop and change, including many quotes. Also, a comparison between Mama's definition of a man and Walter's definition - citing the generational gap between the two and how their life experiences effect their perspective about a man's role in the world.
From the Paper "How does one define what it means to be a man? Is there one single step or moment in which a boy moves into manhood, leaving behind his childish ways and moving forward into the maturity of manhood? Many cultures have formal initiations or festivals celebrating a boy's entrance into manhood."
From the Paper "The Tyger is undoubtedly William Blake's best known and most quoted poem. Even in his own time, when most of his work received no attention, The Tyger had a wide circulation. There are several reasons for its immediate and its lasting popularity. One of the major ones is William Blake's use of imagery, specifically the images of the lamb and of the tiger. The Lamb, a lesser known poem, echoes The Tyger's imagery--or at least foreshadows it. The two poems come from two separate collections, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience; these collections were meant to contrast and offset each other. In Blake's words they were meant to show "the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul" (Weathers 4). Accordingly the image of the lamb and of the tiger are meant to offset each other.
The Lamb has a single imagery. The lamb, an animal who ... "
From the Paper "Ignazio Silone's novel Bread and Wine is a story about politics, religion and, simply put, life. Silone gives the reader a view of life in a changing society overwhelmed with political struggle and personal choice. The author personally identifies with this period in Italian history, which makes the novel even more dramatic and meaningful. The tone is light, but the characters express the deep philosophical thoughts of the author.
Silone sets the novel in the mid-1930s, when Mussolini was at his political height. He was about to go to war against Ethiopia, and the Fascist and Communist movements were ripping the country apart. The reader is not introduced to any battle scenes, nor the revolutionary action and the turmoil that comes from it. However, the reader can imagine the struggle, the moral (...)"
From the Paper "This paper will argue in favor of the pro-choice point of view in the current abortion issue. A movement has recently developed in America in which members of various fundamentalist Christian and right-wing conservative groups are seeking to outlaw the practice of abortion. One such group, known as "Operation Rescue," has sought to dramatize this issue by blockading women's health and family-planning clinics. At the same time, pro-choice rallies across the United States have begun to attract hundreds of thousands of participants who want to protect women's rights to legal abortion. Indeed, the right to choose whether or not to have an abortion has been a constitutional right for women in the United States since the 1973 Supreme Court decision in the Roe v. Wade case "extended the protection of the Constitution to women's right to an abortion."."
From the Paper "Justice is a concept we believe we understand even if we have difficulty putting the concept into words. Justice is defined by the relationship that exists between the individual and the state. Justice means that the state treats every person equally and seeks to resolve disputes on the basis of the facts and compared to objective criteria rather than a subjective determination. Justice in the broadest sense is fairness. Justice cannot assure that every dispute comes out "correctly" or that no mistakes are made, but it should be such as to assure that the process by which decisions are made and goods allocated is fair and produces an acceptable result in the aggregate, even if an individual case justice might fail. Justice occurs when the distribution of political power and economic opportunity is as uniform as possible or when the social and political system is such..."
From the Paper "Langston Hughes was an important writer during the period known as the Harlem Renaissance (1920-1930). During that time, several black writers rose to prominence while expressing their views on the African-American experience. Those writers wanted to show the pain and suffering of their experience while at the same time showing the hopes and strengths of the black culture as a whole. Langston Hughes' "Not Without Laughter", published in 1930, was quickly acknowledged as a representative novel of the Harlem Renaissance. Although he had published some poetry before, Not Without Laughter was Hughes' first novel. Critics hailed the book as an important work because it accurately expresses the life of rural Negroes during the early twentieth century; furthermore, it was praised for being a great work of fiction, with a meaningful plot and memorable characters. "
Abstract The paper analyzes the book, which looks at the U.S. government's involvement in the tobacco industry. It discusses shifts in policy making with regard to tobacco and the influence and power of the tobacco industry to fight anti-smoking policies. The effect of federalism on product regulation is discussed, as is the release of the report by the Surgeon General, Luther Terry, in 1964; claiming smoking as a health risk. The Federal Trade Commission's role in regulating cigarettes is looked at and the interference of politics in neutral, scientific, and impartial regulation is raised. The paper concludes with recommendations for the future, such as the rationalization of public policy and the monitoring of policy changes.
From the Paper "The tobacco issue has been a difficult one in the American political system from the beginning of tobacco as a cash crop. The issue has become even more complex in recent years, with one arm of the government offering subsidies and other support to tobacco growers while another is challenging the health risks involved and still another is seeking legal redress. The government has for some time in effect been on both sides of the issue at the same time. Many of the reasons for this can be found in the book Smoking and Politics: Policy Making and the Federal Bureaucracy by A. Lee Fritschler and James M. Hoefler, most recently in its 5th Edition as the authors update their analysis every few years."
