Abstract This paper discusses Kurt Vonnegut's motivation behind writing his novel as well as the aspects of war. The paper also directly links the main character of Slaughterhouse-Five to Vonnegut himself. It shows how Vonnegut uses the protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, as a mask for himself. From behind this mask, Vonnegut discusses the destructiveness, inevitability, and absurdity of war and also reveals that people should accept the events in their lives and concentrate solely on the positive moments.
From the Paper "The themes of Slaughterhouse-Five do not revolve solely around the institution of war, however. In addition to its war-related themes, acceptance is another major theme that emerges from his novel. Vonnegut reveals this theme in a number of ways. When he twice includes the Serenity prayer in his novel, for example, "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom always to tell the difference" (209). According to William Bly, Billy Pilgrim finds comfort in the Tralfamadorian belief that people who are dead in one moment are alive and well in many other moments and, Bly further states, that this concept of life can be interpreted as Vonnegut telling his readers that they, too, should be consoled when someone dies, because the dead live on in people's memories (27). The theme of acceptance is further evidenced when Vonnegut writes, after every mention of death in the novel, the phrase, "So it goes" (214). This phrase appears one hundred and six times throughout the novel and gives it a cyclical quality that implies that life goes on. Reflect on the happy moments in life, Vonnegut teaches, and all will be well. "
The paper analyzes the book "Miguel Street" by V. S. Naipaul, a story of the poor people of Trinidad, and how they deal with their poverty with humor and pathos.
Abstract The paper summarizes the content of the book and examines the random and haphazard nature in which the narration is presented. The paper discusses the main thesis of the novel and looks at how the different characters' stories are portrayed in separate sections for each one. It also mentions the humor used in the book, despite the tragic nature of the narrative.
From the Paper ""Miguel Street" is more than just a story about the poor people of Trinidad. It is a story of hope, despair, poverty, and laughter, and one that I enjoyed reading very much. It is the story of distinct individuals who live in destitution, but still have hope for the future. It celebrates the uniqueness of people, along with their daily courage and stubbornness. The narrator escapes from the neighborhood, but as the story reveals, he can never escape his background, and his love for the people of Miguel Street."
Abstract This paper introduces the short story "Barn Burning" by William Faulkner, the story of the Snopes family, poor sharecroppers who struggle along while envying the rich de Spains. Specifically, it contains an analysis of the themes, characters, imagery/symbolism, influence of setting and the author's style. It shows how William Faulkner creates a compelling and moving tale of growth, moral character and southern life.
From the Paper "This is not only the story of a child transforming into a man, it is a classic tale of good and evil, and how difficult it is to choose between the two. Faulkner makes Sarty's choice more difficult by adding the ties of family and "blood," which are clearly so important to Abner. "You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain't going to have any blood to stick to you," he tells Sarty at one point in the story (Faulkner), but Sarty must live with himself and his actions. Faulkner's intent here is clear, sometimes a child must leave the family and strike out on his own. Sometimes a child finds he or she is more moral than their parents are. This is a difficult lesson to learn, but Sarty represents the wisdom of learning it early ? turning his back on what he knows in his own heart is wrong. If Sarty represents good and decent moral behavior, then his father surely represents evil. "
Abstract This paper discusses whether F. Scott Fitzgerald is found to be accurate in his fictional portrayal of prohibition, gangsters, the American Dream and new women of the 1920s. By examining various aspects in the novel, this paper compares the reality of the 1920's, to the way it is described in "The Great Gatsby" and examines its accuracy.
From the Paper "F. Scott Fitzgerald was accurate in his portrayal of the aristocratic flamboyancy and indifference of the 1920s. In his novel, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald explores many aspects of indifference and flamboyancy. A large influence on this society was the pursuit of the American Dream. Gangsters played a heavily influential role in the new money aristocracy of the 1920s. The indifference was mainly due to the advent of Prohibition in 1920. One major societal revolution in this period was that of the ?new women,? who expressed new actions and beliefs. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald accurately portrayed his characters Nick Carraway, Daisy and Tom Buchanan, and the novel's eponym, Jay Gatsby, as a part of the society of the 1920s."
Abstract This paper reviews the novel ?Tracks" by Louise Erdich, which chronicles the lives of Ojibwa people living in North Dakota between the winter of 1912 and the spring of 1924. The challenges of becoming a member of a mixed society are many and within the novel "Tracks" can be seen the assumed realities of the changing world of the Chippewa people. The paper focuses on the lives of the Chippewa people and their interaction with mainstream America at the time.
From the Paper "Rather early in the post-colonial phase, ?Tracks chronicles the lives of Ojibwa people living in North Dakota between the winter of 1912 and the spring of 1924.? (Stookey 1999) Scholarship on the issue of colonial native America has recently headed toward the interdisciplinary approach and has learned to embrace narrative fiction. ?The elements of a sound Native American history would include an interdisciplinary perspective, reconstruction of the American Indian experience, and a more complete description of how Native societies adapted to changing conditions."
Abstract In his memoir of the Vietnam War entitled "A Rumor of War", Phillip Caputo his experience as an ordinary soldier in Vietnam in explicit and vivid terms. He does so without any romanticism or any sense of higher purpose about the United States' goals in the conflict. The paper shows that, rather, Caputo writes to deflate those who might feel such romanticism about war. The paper discusses his use of dividing the book into three sections to portray his evolvement from naive, idealistic soldier to one who returns home feeling as if he has aged sixteen years.
From the Paper "During the second section, however, Caputo says he did try feeling some dignity in what he did, but a philosophical intelligence had intruded upon his consciousness that caused him to question things, even while he was committing misjudgments. "Whatever the rights and wrongs of the war, nothing can diminish the rightness of what you tried to do,? he reminded himself after his friend died. However, the gross reality of the battlefield inevitably intruded."
Abstract This paper reports that the book is about the moral heroism of this small town called Chambon-sur-Lignon during the German occupation of France"when Jews were being extinguished by the Nazi genocide machine. The author describes that the people in this town saved the lives of thousands of Jewish refugees. The paperr expresses that even in the midst of such human cruelty, Hallie shows that there was still the light of goodness in many humans' hearts; but, throughout the book, he struggles with the dilemma over whether good can prevail over such tremendous evil.
Abstract This paper analyzes the place of women in Rudyard Kipling's novel "Kim". It will start off with a brief introduction about Kipling himself and will then move on to identify the role that women have according to the novel.
Abstract This paper analyzes the book by Ginzburg. The writer offers a critique of the fact that Ginzburg wrote a book with great insight but in actuality the book is based on more assumptions than fact.
Abstract This paper will discuss the book "Waterlily" by Ella Deloria and compare and contrast the lives of the men and women of South Dakota in the tale. By analyzing the differing gender roles that arise in the story, we can see a clear view of how people lived in this state of the United States. By analyzing the ways that Deloria worked to make a clear representation of the Indian way of life for her native Lakotas, we can see how her acute observation made a solid study.
Abstract This paper will discuss the nature of the book "The Train to Pakistan" by Khushwant Singh and seek to understand the motivations of violence that are so apart of the novel he has written. By clearly seeing the violence that as committed in the paper as communal, we can understand that violence never happens in a vacuum, and that, even in this tale, it takes a chain of events that bring violence at the scale that Singh has made in his novel.
Abstract This paper will discuss the way that Hamlet is more loosely held in control by his mother Gertrude, and will compare this relationship to Amanda and her son in the "Glass Managerie". By understanding the similarities of these two mother-son behaviors we can see how they are somewhat similar, even though they seem different from each other.
Abstract This paper offers a complete analysis of Benjamin Franklin's "Way to Wealth" and Ralph Waldo Emerson's "On Self Reliance" and compares the similar messages they conveyed about wealth, even though the authors were separated by a century in time. Each author, in his attempt to redefine the meaning of wealth, chose to shun religious autonomy in favor of a greater emphasis on the individual.
From the Paper "With the birth of the first truly American generation, i.e. those having been born the New World, came a revolution in thought and ideology. Men no longer allowed their pursuit of happiness to be dictated by the callous sermons and chastising admonitions of Puritan stalwarts, namely Winthrop and Edwards. Passionate writers began to shun religious autonomy in favor of the self, challenging the status quo, and dawning the American spirit. Perhaps the most prominent of these writers were Benjamin Franklin and Ralph Waldo Emerson who, despite being separated by nearly a century in time and the Revolutionary War, conveyed comparable messages. Franklin's "The Way to Wealth" and Emerson's "Self-Reliance" each succeed in modernizing the definition of wealth in the mind of the American by focusing on the individual, re-defining the role of the religion, and creating New World virtues which reverberate into my generation."
Abstract Rudolph Giuliani's book, "Leadership", is the personal account of the former mayor of New York's journey to becoming an effective leader. This paper explains how the book opens with an account of the minutes and days that followed the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Though he had landed a contract and was close to finishing the book prior to September 11, 2001, the attacks provide a backdrop for his illustrating the leadership and management techniques that he used, not only as mayor, but as a corporate lawyer and U.S. attorney. It shows how the book focuses mainly on what leadership skills worked for him as Mayor of New York City. The book is about leadership skills that can be applied to any type of business, whether government, private, or publicly held.
From the Paper "In the book, Guiliani illustrates through personal experiences many issues that a manager comes face to face with. He advocates a delicate balance between hands-on leadership and micromanagement. While Guiliani's time spent in New York City's City Hall, was not without controversy, both political and personal. He does recount his struggle with prostrate cancer, but he steers away from the personal and tabloid-like aspects of his life, while citing facts and figures to back up the controversial moves he made as mayor. The issues he covers are many, including his process of combating crime, making sweeping social changes and making New York City a place where citizens want to stay and tourist want to visit."
Abstract This paper performs a close reading of Christina Rossetti's poem, "Goblin Market," arguing that the the two central characters of the poem, sisters Lizzie and Laura, represent the dichotomy of Victorian female sexuality. Ultimately, the poem is deeply ambivalent about the demands of society upon expressions of gender and sexuality.
From the Paper "Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market" is ostensibly a poem about two sisters who are nightly tempted to buy fruits from the goblin-merchants; it is on one level a simple moralistic tale about the near-deadly consequences of yielding to temptation and the virtues of resisting it, and, in the end, about the importance of loving one's sister. Yet reading the poem it is impossible not to be struck not only by the obvious and jolting sexual imagery but by the overwhelming sense of sensuality merged with horror that pervades the entire work. Laura and Lizzie come to be not just two sisters with different reactions to the "Come buy" cries of the goblins, but representatives of the two prevailing models of Victorian femininity. Lizzie is the "proper" feminine ideal: modest, domestic, and possessing enormous amounts of self-restraint. Laura is the illicit woman: lustful, rebellious, and wantonly unrestrained. But though Rossetti does ultimately advocate Lizzie's model, she does not condemn Laura so much as sympathize with her, and her dichotomy is not as clear-cut as it might appear at first. Rossetti probes deeply into the nature of desire in a repressive Victorian context, in a society where female desire is both hidden and exploited. It is a system which forces conformity and sublimation of desire in order to ensure survival and enable some kind of contentment; by the end of the poem Laura has essentially become Lizzie. However, in examining this repression of desire and the constructed sexuality and gender roles that necessitate it, the poem questions these institutions and concludes that they are ultimately destructive for all involved."
Tags: 19th, century, laura, lizzie, poetry, repression, victorian, female
