Abstract The paper shows that in "The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams, symbolism is used to describe the character development of Laura Wingfield. It describes how the use of symbolism in this play reveals deeper aspects of Laura's persona and her relationships with the outside world. The symbols that describe Laura's development through "The Glass Menagerie" include the fire escape, the glass menagerie and the unicorn.
From the Paper "Fire escapes are typically used as a means of escaping danger such as a fire. That is, people use the fire escape as a way out of a dangerous or unwanted situation. In contrast, Laura used the fire escape as a means of connecting to the outside world. Because Laura is an extremely shy girl, she is more comfortable staying at home attentively caring for her glass menagerie and playing her victrola. By staying in her safe world, she is able to deny the realities of the outer world such as marriage or career. For example, Jim, the gentleman caller, symbolizes the outside world. It is symbolic that Laura does not want to open the door when Jim arrives. She does not want the outside world coming into the safe world she created in her apartment. She even becomes sick with the thought of opening the door and allowing Jim into her home."
Abstract This paper questions whether Prince Hamlet in William Shakespeare's famous play, "Hamlet" was really mad or whether his madness was feigned. The paper argues, by bringing evidence from the play, that Hamlet faked his mad behavior towards an end - that of vengeance.
From the Paper "The scenes involving madness have been contrived. Each of the scenes where Hamlet feigns madness is easily "seen through" by the audience or readers of Shakespeare's plays. The German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe described Hamlet as a poet, a sensitive man who is too weak to deal with the political pressures of Denmark. Goethe drew parallels of Hamlet to his own work ?Werther.? (Goethe, n.d.) Sigmund Freud, father of psycho-analysis, viewed Hamlet in terms of his oedipal urges: that Claudius had taken Hamlet's father's place. However, Freud is careful to note that Hamlet represents modern man. He does not kill Claudius in order to sleep with his mother, but rather kills him to revenge his mother's death. (Freud, 1900) Neither however, alludes to any madness."
Abstract This paper introduces and analyzes the novel "Nervous Conditions" by writer Tsitsi Danarembga which tells of Tambu and her struggle with her true identity after she is pressured to take on the values of the English who colonized her country. This paper discusses the major theme of the book - that being true to ones own culture is the only possibility for all people, with anything else resulting in failure. The paper explores the issue of "being English" in relation to the events of the novel.
From the Paper "As well as telling her own story, Tambu also tells the story of her sister Nyasha. Nyasha's story is equally important at showing the problems that occur in attempting to become English. Nyasha can be seen as the opposite of Tambu. Tambu deals with the situation by not letting go of her African culture. In contrast, Nyasha seems to willingly accept the English culture and reject her own African culture. The danger of this is shown by the fact that Nyasha develops anorexia. This becomes an important symbol in the novel, illustrating the major theme. Firstly, Nyasha becoming anorexic can be seen as a symbol of the dangers of ignoring our real identity. It is not only that Nyasha has the disease that shows the dangers, it is also relevant what the disease represents.
Anorexia is a disease associated with body image where the individual attempts to improve their looks on the surface. The reality is though, that this disease has a negative impact on the human body, actually worsening the individual's appearance. This is similar to Nyasha's rejection of her identity. On the surface she chooses to act according to the English culture, but underneath she remains African, simply denying the reality of her culture. Just as anorexia does harm, so does this rejection by Nyasha."
Abstract Analysis of Art Spiegelman's books MAUS I and MAUS II about what it means to be human. Plot. Importance of the family and of people helping each other. Concept of fate. Horrors of Auschwitz & the Holocaust. Book's comic book style and format. Characters of mice who embody the highest human ideals.
From the Paper "Maus is presented by its author, Art Spiegelman, in an unusual comic-book-style format. The form selected has a number of powerful advantages--it is a fresh approach to a much-told story, it humanizes and personalizes the tragedy much more than might a dry narrative, it feeds to the particular understanding of a visual society and a generation more attuned to the image than to the word, it may be a more palatable mode of presentation of such difficult subject matter for some people, and it accomplishes all of this in an ironic fashion, utilizing the methods of the comic book to tell a very un-comic story.
The mice in Maus are if anything more human than human beings because they embody all of the ideals that humans prize. This fact is heightened by these characters being portrayed as mice--the characteristics we see in them are not the..."
Abstract Discussion of H.H. Hickam's book. The dream of Hickam and his friends to build a rocket and have a place in the U.S. Space Program. How their rocket was built. Entry in the National Science Fair. Winning a gold and silver medal. The realization of his dream when he became a NASA engineer.
From the Paper "THE ROCKET BOYS
Boys always dreamed of getting off the ground. Kites, model airplanes, balloons, whatever could me made in their rooms or the garage or the backyard that would soar and lift their imaginations. And then came the Nineteen Sixties, when the Russians were the first to put a man into space. Now, the dreams of boys were not a contest of one boy in one neighborhood against the other, it was Americans against the Russians. When Sonny's mother asked him what that news broadcast and the beeping sound was all about, he knew the answer right away. "I knew exactly what it was. All the science-fiction books and Dad's magazines I'd read over the years put me in good stead to answer. 'It's a space satellite, I explained. 'We were supposed to launch one this year, too. I can't believe the Russians beat us to it'" (Hickam, 1998 ..."
Abstract Analysis of Anton Chechov's play. Plot of courtship of Lomov and neighbor's daughter Natalya. Importance of land and money to the characters. Reasons for their constant fighting. Depiction of the rual social system and its relationship to the characters. The play as a metaphor for marriage as a continuing battle ground.
From the Paper "In the short play "A Marriage Proposal," Anton Chekhov describes the odd courtship of Lomov, who seeks a marriage with his neighbor's daughter. Lomov and the woman he wants to marry fight before he can make his proposal, fight while he proposes, and fight after she agrees to marry him. They tend to fight every time they speak to one another, and while this alarms her father at first, he decides that the two just like to fight with each other. In the end, the father calls this last fight the "beginning of family happiness," though it is doubtful that a couple can fight all the time and achieve anything like bliss.
The meeting between Lomov and Tchubukov suggests one sort of neighborhood arrangement, for Tchubukov could not be friendlier and more delighted to see Lomov, happier being asked about the marriage, and more positive about Lomov's prospects."
An analysis of "The Jungle" written by Upton Sinclair. It shows how, with this book, Sinclair exposes corruption of the times and earns the title of a leading social critic.
Abstract This paper analyzes Sinclair's hidden goal behind the themes presented, which is a push for socialism as a universal cure. The paper includes a short summary of "The Jungle," explains who Sinclair was and what he represented, why Sinclair's novel is remembered, and intricately analyzes the real theme of the novel which is to expose the evils of capitalism while promoting socialism.
From the Paper "The Jungle, regarded at times as propaganda rather than literature, is written by Upton Sinclair, one of the most controversial writers of the Progressive Era. Sinclair was a "muckraker" or a journalist who wrote exposes in attempts to alert the general public of the deception and dishonesty then existent in the United States. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1878, Sinclair composed both essays and fiction on topics such as the coal and oil industry, newspapers, the liquor business, the persecution of radicals and the threat of dictatorship. Although he wrote many pieces to expose corruption, he experienced his first real accomplishment with the printing of The Jungle in 1906, which established him as a leading social critic."
Abstract This paper analyzes the title character Sula, whose multiple identities and outspoken sexuality, the writer suggests, are a result of her lack of father figure and the presence of strong independent eccentric women in Sula's life. The paper discusses Sula's place in Morrison's thematic search for self.
From the Paper "One critic, Patricia McKee, takes what seems to me to be a particularly perceptive view of Sula's character. She describes Sula in terms of her "spacing and placing" of experience. In essence, Sula's ways of "closing down or opening up distances between things and persons" is what makes her so different. We see how she creates her own identity and understand some of what makes her an imperfect model for others. In Sula we watch things that are missing and connections that failed or never took place. Sula misses what never was, "things denied or negated" (McKee 1-3). Sula ?disconnects elements of meaning that other people connect.? (McKee 13) Sula creates her own identity through "distancing. . .like an artist with no art form"(Morrison 121) she doesn?t ?use form to control experience: but rather "realizes the capacity of absence" to "provide definition" McKee (12-13). She destroys what has meaning for others and she does not truly create meaning for herself. "I don"t want to make somebody else (babies) I want to make myself ? (Morrison 92). Sula is an ?experimenter with life. . . an active destructive artist who, in the absence of "paints, or clay" or a knowledge of "dance, or strings" (Morrison 121) makes human beings her adventure in life. Sula is her own art form, but she is destructive to herself and others. In the dream she has just before she dies, Sula sees herself as The Clabber Girl Baking Powder lady disintegrating into powder. This, in the end, is how she sees her life, as a fine uncatchable dust."
Abstract A paper focusing on the book "Ain't No Makin' It: Aspirations and Attainment in a Low-Income Neighborhood" by Jay MacLeod and how it pertains to the ideology of the American Dream. The paper shows how MacLeod's book questions the validity of the American Dream and discusses how this theory is seen by social thinkers such as political scientist and author Jennifer L. Hochschild.
From the Paper "Ain't No Makin' It: Aspirations and Attainment in a Low-Income Neighborhood is an ethnological study focusing on two sets of teenage boys living in housing projects in Clarendon Heights. Through observation and interviews, author and sociologist Jay MacLeod attempted to determine why the socioeconomic status of these young men remained stagnant, despite the mobility inherent to the ideology known as the "American Dream." Struck by the seemingly low level of aspirations expressed by the young adolescent boys, MacLeod researched the hopes and dreams of these young men, focusing on two groups: the "Hallway Hangers" and the ?Brothers.?"
Abstract An examination of Randolph Campbell's book, "An Empire for Slavery". The paper discusses the book which looks at the history of slavery in Texas. The author gives an overview of the main points in the book and illustrates how Campbell commands an impressive amount of data to prove his thesis. Campbell's cultural and statistical contributions to this issue are mentioned.
From the Paper "Randolph Campbell's book An Empire for Slavery, details the specific nature of the history of slavery in the state of Texas, the youngest slaveholding state in the Southern part of the Union. It is common to view ?the peculiar institution,? as its practitioners, according to Campbell, often called it, as simply uniquely Southern institution. However, Campbell makes it clear that slavery was not simply a Southern institution, but a specific series of practices that existed within a unique cultural context in every state where it was practiced. Texas is a particularly interesting case, Campbell suggests, because in Texas, there were threatened and ineffectual attempts by both Spanish and later the state government of Texas prohibit the practice of slavery on a mass level. Texas had existed as an independent country and thus had its own history apart from the rest of the more genteel South, supposedly. Texans clearly identified themselves as frontier dwellers, rather than inhabitants of an agricultural, aristocratic elite. However, because of the richness of the Texas soil, the use of slaves proved too tempting to be ignored. Slavery spread rapidly, although contemporary Texans would often wish to forget this."
Abstract "Ragtime" by E.L. Doctorow presents a cast of characters caught up in a frenzied life of liberating themselves from oppression ranging from poverty to the discontent of the soul. By exploring the recurring themes of liberation and oppression in the novel, the paper shows that in fact, the liberation from one state of being only leads to another prison; true liberation seems to beckon as a chimera. Ultimately, what Doctorow depicts powerfully is that oppression affects all humanity, whether he or she is poor or rich, black or white.
From the Paper "The most dramatic example of oppression is illustrated in the episodes involving the racial oppression of Coalhouse Walker. He represented the fundamental injustices committed against African-Americans in the story. Although he was rich, educated and well-cultivated, the color of his skin did not free him for being harassed by Conklin, the Fire Chief (Doctorow 131-133; 145-150). From a superficial perspective, Walker's reaction over his car seemed unduly exaggerated. However, the unnecessary tampering with his car symbolized the unjust oppression of African-Americans. In a reversal of positions, Walker and his followers played the role of oppressors by terrorizing the city with bombing attacks (Doctorow 186-187). It is a tragedy that his "liberation" from being an oppressed person could only take place in such spectacular circumstances, that inevitably resulted in his own death."
Discusses the book, "A Civil Action" by Jonathan Harr which recounts the court case where a chemical and food company were charged with causing cancer in children.
Abstract Jonathan Harr's "A Civil Action" recounts the story of the action taken by attorney Jan Schlichtmann against the W. R. Grace chemical company and Beatrice Foods on behalf of families in Woburn, Massachusetts. The children of these families had contracted leukemia, the suit claimed, from the ingestion of chemicals, dumped illegally by subsidiaries of the two giant corporations, that entered the wells that supplied a portion of the town. The paper discusses the details of this case, including the claimed bias of the ruling Judge Skinner, the difficulty the jury had in reaching a decision and the role of the Environmental Protection Agency in the case.
From the Paper "Even had the case proceeded on equal terms for both parties, however, the problem of convincing a jury to make a considerable reward on the basis of an essentially "unprovable" connection between TCE and leukemia presented a major problem that carries over to many toxic waste cases. Epidemiological studies, which might provide sufficient evidence of connections to direct scientists' attention to problems, are under-utilized and poorly understood by many. Such studies constitute the bulk of the evidence in some cases, but they can be far too easily misrepresented by defendants which leaves plaintiffs such as the Woburn group at a loss for anything the courts and juries will accept as meeting a standard of proof--despite almost everyone's common-sense conviction that the cause and effect have been identified."
Abstract This paper examines how the four sisters in Junichiro Tanizaki's "The Makioka Sisters" are parts of an allegorical account of the decline of Japan's old upper-class merchant families in the face of rising modernism and nationalism. Each of the sisters, largely depending on her age and placement in the family, symbolizes a different aspect of the change in the social order. It looks at how Tanizaki manages to develop these allegorical roles for his principal characters without sacrificing any of their validity or interest as individual beings whose thoughts and actions retain the reader's full attention. It also shows how despite the fact that each sister functions in the allegory in a different way, none of them is a simple character with traditional or modern traits that make it easy to sum up her symbolic meaning in a few words.
From the Paper "The principal allegorical function of the sisters begins long before the novel opens, of course, in the simple fact that their father had only daughters to inherit from him. He had also been somewhat careless with money and had greatly reduced what there was to inherit. But even this attitude, which was responsible for the kind of upbringing his daughters had, has an allegorical function in that he had never believed that things could change. Thus, even though the early signs of change must have been everywhere in the first part of the century, his daughters were brought up believing that the pattern of life they knew so well would last forever."
Abstract This paper examines the works of Langston Hughes, a major poet of the Negro Renaissance. It looks at how he copes with the reality of race in his works and with the social tensions that beset the black community. It shows how his poetry addresses issues of racial inequality and the personal need for confession, using his own life as an example. It discusses how his poetry derives from a different tradition from most American poetry, a tradition of black culture, of jazz and of protest.
From the Paper "Hughes came from what was called the Harlem Renaissance, the term used to refer to the development of artistic expression in the black community beginning in Harlem in New York. Hughes created poetry that represented the spirit of black America at the time. He used his own experience and that of other blacks to accomplish this. He did not concentrate entirely on blacks in America but looked to their African roots for inspiration as well. Jemie writes that Hughes had an image of Africa that was related to his image of America. In his early poems, Africa was a "distant ideal," while America is "a cold, joyless wilderness" (Jemie 98). "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," says Jemie, is one of Hughes' poems about heritage and strength."
Abstract This paper examines James McBride's book "The Color of Water" and how the leaving of home by both Ruth (the author's mother) and James (the author) is an event full of mixed causes, motivations and effects. It analyzes how both are leaving unpleasant home and family environments and how both are frightened and hopeful about finding a new and better life. It evaluates how Ruth's own leaving home and her forcing her children to leave the nest, were vital parts of their success later in life and how the life lessons learned by James were difficult since he easily could have succumbed to a life of crime, but he and her other children proved her right by living independent and successful lives.
From the Paper "In fact, it was one of Ruth's habits to push her children out of the nest as soon as possible, to allow them and/or force them to learn to live independent and self-sufficient lives. Ruth herself had experienced the repression and oppression of a dysfunctional family, and she had fled that family despite the fact that her mother needed her. She had seen for herself that one can be trapped by family obligations and that one can lose one's own life by trying to fulfill those obligations. In addition, she must have sensed in some way that she would not be able to save her mother from her father, and that she would likely lose her own self in the process of trying. She saw that one must save oneself and that the way to save oneself is to get away from the family life which would otherwise drain one's spirit sooner or later."
