Abstract This paper focuses on the symbolism of the character, Beloved, in the book of the same name by Toni Morrison and looks at how slavery's legacy is represented through Beloved's interactions with Sethe and Paul D. Examples that are discussed include Beloved's affect on Paul D's "rusted tin can" heart and how this is representative of slavery's legacy and Beloved's progressing physical state throughout the novel and how it is symbolic of Sethe's ability to cope with her past.
From the Paper "As Sethe delves further into her past, Beloved's control over her grows stronger. The relationship becomes more parasitic, with Sethe constantly trying to cope with her horrific past and the gruesome crime she committed. She repeatedly tries to justify her actions to Beloved, like when she says, ?I"ll explain to her, even though I don"t have to. Why I did it. How if I hadn"t killed her she would have died and that is something that I could not bear to happen to her" (200). It seems as if the presence of Beloved forces Sethe to fully disclose her past and, consequently, Sethe learns how to accept it."
Abstract This paper is a compare-and-contrast essay that illustrates the main characters in the two stories, "Miss Brill" and "A Rose for Emily". The paper shows the similarities and differences in the personalities and attitude of both characters.
From the Paper ""A Rose For Miss Emily" by William Faulkner and "Miss Brill" by Katherine Mansfield relates the stories of two women who had been through a lot in their past lives and were trying to relive their past in their present. The characters of both Miss Emily and Miss Brill are the same. While Miss Brill relates her past to her present with happy thoughts, Miss Emily considers her present an era that is trying to drift her away from her past. Both the characters of Miss Brill and Miss Emily symbolize loneliness. While Miss Brill tries to communicate with the outer world, Miss Emily on the other hand shuts herself away from her neighbors and town people. Both the characters are the same and yet so different in their attitude and their personality."
Abstract This paper examines how, in "Mama Day", author Gloria Naylor narrates the story of a relationship that takes place between the characters, George and Ophelia. It looks at how both are black and without biological parents, yet carry different cultural backgrounds despite this likeness of race and parentage. George is the son of a prostitute, has no memory of blood relatives, and grows up in a white-run orphanage where his ideals and beliefs are shaped. Ophelia, who is also called Cocoa, is raised by her grandmother, Abigail, and great aunt, Mama Day, who enable her to maintain cultural connections to history through her birthplace, Willow Springs. It shows how Willow Springs is barely influenced by its connection to the United States and how, instead, it is a space shaped by its African relation through the people who inhabit it. It explores how the novel takes place in New York, where life is structured and hectic and juxtaposed against Willow Springs, where time and structure do not hold importance in the lives of its inhabitants.
From the Paper "Beginning in1823 through the legend of Saphira Wade's possession of Willow Springs then her killing of her white husband, white control on the island is never again achieved. The black inhabitants carry on the myth of Saphira Wade as a means of maintaining their power. In this sense, "Mama Day's and Naylor's own attempts to recuperate a cultural legacy reveal the desire for ancestral knowledge as a motivating force behind the ways in which individuals and communities construct myth. For the people of Willow Springs, such myth making becomes an essential tool in the construction of personal and collective identities" (Stave, p.158). As an island with a past of slavery and presently owned by blacks, the culture on Willow Springs is created and maintained by the blacks that live there and the physical nature of the land."
Abstract In the turn-of-the-century era depicted in the novel, "Ragtime", by E.L. Doctorow, racism and oppression of lower social classes dominates social realities in the city of New York. This paper explores racial and social inequality through specific examples from the story. It explores the various characters and their relation to the themes of racism and oppression.
From the Paper "Father also shows his racist mentality when first confronted with Coalhaouse Walker. In contrast to Mother, who believes she is complementing Coalhouse when she sees him as different than other Negroes, Father thinks he has ?no awareness of his race or his place in society.? Father viewed Coalhouse's proud character almost as a form of disrespect towards the white majority and he was perplexed by the idea why a Negro would be proud, "apparently it didn"t occur to him to integrate himself into the fashion of his race.?"
Analyzes how Zora Neale Hurston's character, Janie, in "Their Eyes Were Watching God," is changed by her relationships with three different men over many years.
1,274 words (approx. 5.1 pages), 1 source, 2005, $ 43.95
Abstract The character of Janie in "Their Eyes Were Watching God" is a celebrated female character in both African-American and non-African-American literature. Her search for affection and her slightly feminist views at a time when women were not even allowed to vote is inspirational and beautiful. This essay shows how her two unsuccessful marriages and her final affair with Tea Cake changed her for the better and for the worse and how all of her relationships helped her on her quest for what we all so desperately desire: love.
From the Paper "However, Tea Cake makes her no promises and has nothing to offer her except his love, differentiating himself from his predecessors who pledged to meet her every desire. Janie does not expect much of the relationship, and is therefore amply rewarded. Tea Cake's devotion and simplistic adoration for her, which may have been partially due to the gap in their ages, is a breath of fresh air to Janie after her previous marital imprisonments. She feels infinitely free to do as she wishes without losing her much-valued feelings of affection."
Abstract This paper examines how, through the novel "Mrs Dalloway", Virginia Woolf captures the character of a whole society. In comparison, it looks at how, through Clarissa Vaughan in "The Hours", Michael Cunningham takes the reader through a literary time-travel and a coming to terms with change, ageing and societal restrictions.
From the Paper "After having alienated herself, Clarissa returns to the party, and having conquered a feeling of loneliness, she is now filled with a sense of life. She needs to be with the people who have been important to her: Peter and Sally. And the reader, just like Peter, becomes filled with 'extraordinary excitement' because Clarissa is there. It is not so much what Clarissa does that makes her important enough to carry the title of the novel. In fact her actions and the sequence of her day are rather superficial: she buys flowers, prepares for a party and hosts that party perfectly well. She represents a shallow upper-class woman with a very singular outlook on life. However, it is her omnipresence that is of considerable significance."
Abstract This paper argues that any text is a source of endless speculation, argument and debate in relation to three poems by William Butler Yeats: "Sailing to Byzantium", "Easter 1916" and "Wild Swans at Coole". Each poem is analysed through two critical approaches, namely New Critical, which focuses on the specific devices used by the poet in the actual poems and Marxist, which looks at the context of the poet and poem to extract meaning.
From the Paper ""Sailing to Byzantium" is not an exception to the fact that any text is a source of endless speculation, argument and debate. The debate in this poem arises over the interpretation of the golden bird that is "set upon a bough to sing". A New Critical reading of the golden bird holds that it is a symbol of the "artifice of eternity" and the ideal world of art. The golden bird defies all change and, as apart of art, comments on life and the natural world which is subject to mutability and transformation. A Marxism, however, argues that the golden bird along with the "holy city of Byzantium" represent aristocratic values, and the stability and immutability of the aristocracy is what Yeats yearns for. To a Marxist, nature symbolizes a society that changes."
Abstract In her 1797 novel, "The Coquette," Hannah Foster presents her critical analysis of female freedom and the politics of courtship and marriage within the restrictive confines of a conventional seduction novel. The paper shows that through her protagonist, Eliza Wharton, Foster creates a woman who goes against the social conformity of a virtuous life, questioning the restrictions that marriage placed on women.
From the Paper "The real, final decline of Eliza's physical and mental stability occurs when she learns that she is pregnant, "At the first discovery, absolute distraction seized the soul of Eliza, which has since terminated in a fixed melancholy" (Foster, 140). Eliza's moral redemption rests on her acceptance of the ethics of female self-sacrifice. Paradoxically, it is only by losing her fife that Eliza regains part of the power she relinquished from her seduction. On the other hand, her death finally puts her beyond the reach of the libertine who has pursued her, physically as well as psychologically, throughout the novel."
Abstract This paper analyzes Ehrenreich's book which deals with the issues of poverty in America, the ignorance of most citizens to the problem and the fight for the minimum wage law. The paper shows how the author's counterfeit foray into the world of the working poor offers a lingering glimpse of the true asperity of poverty to a deliberately ignorant audience.
From the Paper "As a culture, we shelter ourselves from the consummate implications of a society that necessitates a substandard manner of both wage earning and living for a substantial portion of its members. However, Enrenreich's over-the-counter delivery forces a cognizance of those forgotten, those so easily banished, literally, to their hands and knees. She carefully whittles precarious images of broken people, awkwardly perched on the edge of existence."
This paper discusses Benjamin Barber's views on "thin democracy" and "strong democracy" as expresses in his book "Strong Democracy: Participatory Politics for a New Age".
Abstract This paper explains that Benjamin Barber in his book "Strong Democracy: Participatory Politics for a New Age" defines 'thin democracy" as a democracy in which leaders are elected but they are left to their own devices concerning the majority of issues; people have the powers, which democracy provides, but the demonstration of these powers is primarily manifested in the form of elections. The author points out that Barber is convincing in making his point that "thin democracy" has a tendency to strip citizens of their sense of purpose as manifested by the voter participation rate stagnating in the U.S. at about half of those eligible. The paper stress that Barber loves the thought of a "strong democracy" in which it is not the leaders who make a democracy great but rather an active, informed citizenry.
From the Paper ""Thin democracy" takes the stance that average citizens are not interested in political matters and are not capable or adequate enough to directly participate in the political process themselves, beyond electing officials. Benjamin Barber feels that the United States democracy is thin and poorly represents the entire population at large. Significant portions of citizens are unable to vote due to restrictions or simply choose to be complacent and abstain from voting. Citizens under the age of eighteen are restricted from voting, as are prisoners, and persons living within the borders who are not nationalized. Citizens who are active in a thin democracy mainly participate in it by electing persons and then monitoring their political decisions (if they choose to do so), allowing the elected (those seen by the majority to have the most expertise and capability to discern what best represents the will of the majority) to do the actual work."
Abstract This paper considers the role of fate in "Oedipus the King" by Sophocles and suggests that fate is ultimately a force that cannot be defeated. It looks at Sophocles' depiction of fate as an unalterable force in the lives of the characters of the play.
From the Paper "In Sophocles' play Oedipus The King the title character has been given a glimpse of the bleak future that Fate has in store for him. Oedipus refused to accept that this prophecy must become a reality and fought to ensure that he would not murder his father .."
Abstract This paper explains that Assata Shakur's "Assata: An Autobiography" relates her experiences as an activist with the Black Panthers. The author points out her imprisonment as an accomplice to murder. The paper recounts the racism of police officers and cites Assata Shakur's courage.
From the Paper "In Assata Shakur's "Assata: An Autobiography"-- African American activist and Blank Panther member-- Assata Shakur reveals her involvement with Black nationalist organizers and their leaders. Her experiences leading an activist's life demonstrates courage and determination."
Tags: African Americans, racism, prejudice, Black Panthers, activism, violence, prison
How, in the story of "Gimpel The Fool", Isaac Bashevis Singer develops his characters in such a way that Gimpel is portrayed as a symbol of a stereotype.
870 words (approx. 3.5 pages), 1 source, 2001, $ 30.95
From the Paper "In the story of Gimpel The Fool, Isaac Bashevis Singer develops his characters in such a way that Gimpel is portrayed as a symbol of a stereotype. Throughout the story Gimpel gives nothing but honesty and trust to everyone. Gimpel is in turn stereotyped and plagued by his society as a senseless fool. If he indeed is a real fool, then he would lack the insight of realizing the motives behind all the people that function in his life. "I don"t think of myself as a fool (68),? and ?What was I to do, I believed them (69)? were remarks that Gimpel made that fell into his two reasons for his gullibility. The first was that ?everything is possible (69),? and his second was ?I had to believe when the whole town came down on me (69). "
Abstract This paper is an analysis of the cultural influences that young Maya and Bailey Junior are subjected to as children. The book "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" depicts a number of these influences, and this paper names and analyzes a select number of them. The paper format is a thesis introduction, three main points with paragraphs on each, and a conclusion.
Tags: and, bailey, cultural, influences, junior, maya, on, young
From the Paper " The creature in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein commits several evil acts, and at times creates the impression that he possesses an evil heart and soul. However, when he and his actions are fully observed, one can see that he is not truly demonic, but simply a being who is the result of great physical and emotional hardships. He is a product of different strong underlying factors, which together make him appear to be one of true evil. His reasons for killing, the remorse he feels for his horrible actions, the hope he has of having a female companion, and the reasons which lead him to the far north in the end, all, unprejudicedly examined, show that though he may act in sinful ways, deep down he is not a true evil being. "
