Abstract This paper discusses the ideals of symbolism and analogies in comparison to Modern day America that are found in Nathanial Hawthorne's novel, ?The Birthmark.? The author examines some of these different themes including feminism, discrimination, physical and spiritual imperfection, decay and duplicity. The author feels that this is a very well-written commentary on society at the time.
From the Paper "From this perspective we may argue that the birthmark is used as a symbol of the inability of men to accept women on equal terms for themselves. Instead they need an idealistic visions of what they believe a woman should be, complete with all of the relevant social and societal trappings. A woman here is not a person, but an object or worship, and as such she is no longer a real person, but a non person that is the creation of the man's mind. This is a feminist perspective, but a valid notion on the way that men of the time sought to perceive women and reduce them to objects rather then accept them as equals."
Abstract This paper presents an analysis of the novel by Mario Puzo, "The Godfather" on which the 1972 film of the same name was based. Parallels are drawn between Mafia life and aspects of family life and politics in the non-Mafia world through an examination of character, setting and themes in the novel.
From the Paper "Today, with the popularity of "The Sopranos" on HBO and the widespread regard given to the film version of ?The Godfather,? it is important to go back and review the actual text the film "The Godfather" was based on. The 1969 book The Godfather, by Mario Puzo, illustrates persuasively to the reader that the Mafia is not simply about crime, murder, and corruption. Rather the Mafia is an organization that has parallels with other aspects of family and political life. By understanding these parallels and the complexities of the characters described in the novel, the reader gradually comes to an uncomfortable awareness about the tensions and the difficulties in his or her own, non-Mafia family and political world."
Tags: Corleone, power, money, Mafioso, drugs, gambling, corruption, gang
Abstract This paper examines arguments by many religious leaders why they consider the Harry Potter series to be anti-Christian and pro-Pagan. It looks at different articles and opinions from religious leaders as to why they think this is the case. It also takes examples from the various books in the series on which their arguments are based.
From the Paper "The Harry Potter Series by British author J.K. Rowling and the recently released film have introduced youngsters everywhere to the fantastical world of the occult. Whereas some parents and educators praise the series for renewing children's weaning interest in reading, other critics, especially those from the Christian sector, fear that this book is introducing children to paginated ideals. The Bible tells us, that "There shall not be found among you anyone who... practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord..." Harry Potter and his cohorts practice these condemned activities with no mention of the Christian blasphemies they are committing, and have resultantly enraged critics everywhere. "
Abstract This paper discusses Martin Luther King Jr.'s letter written in response to a public statement composed by eight Alabama clergyman that questioned and denounced the recent human rights demonstrations by Negro citizens. It discusses how his writing, blended with logic and theory and with passion and force, rebuts the clergymen's statement, informs the public and motivates the white moderates to act.
From the Paper "The letter begins with an introduction to Martin Luther King, Jr., to his task, and to his motivation. The first several paragraphs contain most of Kings ethos appeals, though he does scatter others throughout the letter. Ethos appeals help King establish his character and credibility, upon which he builds his argument. Such a foundation is essential for any effective argument. For example, King refers to his primary audience - the clergymen - as Afellow clergymen@ and Amen of genuine good will@ to establish a relationship of respect. Then, to bolster his own character, King mentions some of his credentials while he explains his presence in Birmingham - he is president of the Southern Leadership Conference, he works with over eighty-five affiliated organizations throughout the south, etc."
From the Paper "In A Streetcar Named Desire, the playwright has crafted a well-designed play in which the characters reflect different altitudes toward dreams and reality, and these characters are differentiated by the degree of illusion they require to function in this world. This clash represents the theme, which is that people often need illusion in order to survive. Stanley Kowalski is the character seen as most realistic, and his directness conflicts with the need for illusion of someone like Blanche DuBois. His friend Mitch is something of a romantic, while Stanley's wife also takes a realistic position to counter her own romantic nature, though in the end, she also accepts an illusion in order not to destroy her marriage. In this world, those who require the most illusion are also the most easily destroyed when reality intrudes, and Blanche is destroyed by Stanley's version..."
Abstract The paper analyzes the book "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien about the Vietnam War and explores how O'Brien potrays it as a "true" war through his use of language and style. The paper also focuses on O'Brien's personal interpretation of the war.
From the Paper "The Things They Carried is written from the perspective of the author, Tim O'Brien. The book is a compilation of his stories and experiences relating to the Vietnam War. It encompasses the events and lives of himself, the other members of his company, and the war as a whole. Many stories, written as second-hand experience of O'Brien, take place before many soldiers are placed in or called to the war. They also reflect on how O'Brien interprets them. No war story is told without a twist or turn of the truth. Details are imagined, and dreamed up to how the teller finds most appropriate. "Vietnam was full of strange stories, some improbable, some well beyond that, but the stories that will last forever are those that swirl back and forth across the border between trivia and bedlam, the mad and the mundane." (O'Brien, pg. 89) This bias is the basis to a "true" war story."
From the Paper "Milan Kundera, in The Unbearable Lightness of Being, offers a philosophy of love and sex which appears to be very pessimistic, but at the same time offers a shred of hope that some measure of happiness, or at least acceptance, can be won in a world in which there is no longer any unassailable truth or faith holding the individual to life. This is the meaning of the title. Without any of the religious, psychological, philosophical, political or romantic beliefs of the past to cling to, the individual must suffer "the unbearable lightness of being." He or she must look for love in a world which seems to be created precisely to keep human beings from finding the love they so desperately seek. It is not a surprise, then, to find that the physical act of sex is generally shown to be an exciting, if temporary, substitute for true love and intimacy. It is also not..."
From the Paper "The medieval poem Beowulf and the modern fairy tale The Lord of the Rings were written centuries apart under very different circumstances, and yet they have many elements in common based on certain human needs and attitudes toward how human beings relate to the world. The unknown writer of Beowulf was part of an oral tradition that generated and handed down heroic tales that appealed directly to their society, that infused these tales with what we would now identify as romantic elements, and that based the appeal of the stories on a worship of heroism and heroic action. J.R.R. Tolkien was a student of ancient literature who transferred ideas about virtue and heroism into a romantic structure that appealed to modern sensibilities.
There is some question about the origin of the heroic poem of Beowulf, but it is believed to have been an Anglian poem..."
Poet's fascination with death, spirituality, God, nature, the soul, religion in "I Taste a Liquor," "Because I Stopped for Death" & "There's a Certain Slant of Light."
1,575 words (approx. 6.3 pages), 7 sources, 1996, $ 55.95
From the Paper "Emily Dickinson's poem, ?There's No Frigate Like A Book,? is concerned with the theme of the self-discovery. The poet used the vehicle of books to explore other worlds than her own protected, isolated one. In her poetry, the power of words carry the reader into worlds of fantasy and imagination.
To assist in analyzing the poem, it is important to understand Dickinson's life history. During the latter period of her life, she became a recluse and her only means of diversion were books. She completely ?withdrew from society.? (Capps 21) Books were a risk-free way to explore the world without leaving the seclusion of her home.
In this poem, she uses many metaphors for travel such as: ?frigate, chariots, and coursers.? Yet one questions why she would use such fanciful words to describe such commonplace forms..."
From the Paper "The two major characters (the Grandmother and the Misfit) in Flannery O'Connor's short story "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" present two of the possible responses to Jesus Christ. Their meeting brings no change in the response of the Misfit, but it does bring about a radical change in the Grandmother, a change which awakens her, for probably the first time in her life to her intimate spiritual connection to another human being. Her transformation, coming a moment before her death, is the heart and soul of the story.
The Grandmother is the epitome of the self-described Christian who professes faith and spouts platitudes, but in fact has no idea of the meaning of the faith she claims to live by. The Misfit, on the other hand, has thought long and hard about the meaning of the life of Jesus with respect to salvation, and..."
From the Paper " Biography is an art rather than a science, and it is influenced by the attitudes of the historian writing the biography, the limits of his or her knowledge of the subject, the evidence that has been amassed, and often by political considerations which might shape how a figure is depicted. Different pictures of a figure can emerge from different biographies for these and other reasons. Two biographies of Julius Caesar from the classical era show different views of the Roman leader, that of Plutarch in his Lives and of Suetonius in The Lives of the Twelve Caesars.
In the Roman era, much of Greek literature and culture was either adopted or held up as an example even though the Romans had a different worldview in many ways. The gods of Greece were carried over into the Roman pantheon, though the names and some.."
From the Paper "This paper is an examination of Caroline Knapp's Drinking: A Love Story, an account of her passionate love affair with alcohol and the events, thoughts, and realizations that eventually led her to renounce her "lover." The book is a brutally honest glimpse inside the mind of an alcoholic, as she battles the denials and rationalizations that lead her to seek solace in a bottle. Occasionally, she also has brief realizations that her drinking has become a problem, and she seeks out others whose alcoholism seems worse as a way of comforting herself. She examines her family background, especially the psychiatrist father whose own problems with drink and peculiar relationship with his daughter may have helped her use alcohol as a crutch. She also chronicles some of the effort and self-realization required for recovery from this addiction.."
From the Paper " This study will analyze the concepts of justice and vengeance, and their relationship to love and desire, in the story of Cupid and Psyche in Apuleius' The Golden Ass, or Metamorphoses. The perspective of this study will be that the story as presented by Apuleius is designed to portray the evolution of the spirit. In that context, the story of Cupid and Psyche uses the forces and concepts of justice and vengeance, in opposition to love and desire, to develop the view that the purpose of life is, indeed, the advancement of the spirit or the soul.
This context allows the reader to see that vengeance is not a necessarily negative force, and justice can be a force which benefits even the one against whom that justice is levied. The point to keep in mind in understanding the story of Cupid and.."
From the Paper "Bernal Diaz, in The Conquest of New Spain, tells the story of the conquering of Mexico by the Spaniards under Hernan Cortes. The book is more than merely about Cortes, although he is certainly the center of the book. Diaz accompanied Cortes on his exploits and offers a thoroughly positive view of the Spanish conqueror and of the entire Spanish enterprise in the Mexico. As translator J.M. Cohen writes in his Introduction, Diaz's book is a report on the overthrow of a great empire by a company of adventurers, inspired partly by a sense of mission and partly by a crude greed for gold. Their success, even their survival, could in his belief be accounted for only by the miraculous intervention of God and the Saints, who wished New Spain to be added to the realm of Christ and the Emperor ..."
From the Paper "The purpose of this research is to examine the short story "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner, as a story of conflict between values of the old South and a woman's desperation for love. The plan of the research will be to set forth the personal and career context for the story and its salient points of the story, and then to discuss the manner in which psychological factors appear to influence the conflict of the story.
Born in Mississippi in 1897, Faulkner was largely confined to the small town of Oxford until a Yale Law School graduate from the Oxford area guided his reading habits and encouraged his writing (Millgate 54; Blotner 105-6). Thus he "grew up in the provincial milieu of North Mississippi but transformed himself to a citizen of the larger world beyond it" (Blotner 105). Faulkner's work is distinguished by his Yoknapatawpha County ..."
