Reviews Tim O'Brien's novel IN THE LAKE OF THE WOODS, in which O'Brien uses the Vietnam War to represent the theme of loss & compounds it by examining the personal losses of one of the War's veterans.
900 words (approx. 3.6 pages), 1 source, 1994, $ 31.95
From the Paper "As in life, loss is represented in several ways in the novel In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien. This novel shows the way the Vietnam War still holds a grip on the American psyche and some of the reasons why this is so. The war itself represents a theme of loss for many, since it was the only war the United States could be said to have "lost," though some have tried to put a different spin on the withdrawal of troops from that country. The primary loss in the book, however, is personal loss, and the war becomes an instance to detail the loss one man experiences when his image of himself is shattered and when he loses his sense of right and wrong, his sense of personal virtue, and is left with a burning need to atone for something for which he does not believe atonement is possible. Because of this unresolved need within him, he loses much more over the years."
From the Paper "One of the world's most enduring legends is the story of King Arthur and the Round Table, a story which in the popular imagination has become lodged somewhere in the fourteenth century when knighthood was in flower, though in fact the story is much older. If there were a historical King Arthur, in fact, he would have existed centuries before the era of knighthood, probably sometime in the sixth century. The historical reality of Arthur is much in doubt and remains a controversy, though Arthur has his champions who believe the stories of his reign began with a real personage and then were turned into myth and legend by various writers.
The Arthurian legends began as a literary form in the twelfth century with traveling minstrels who told stories of heroism, usually built in the exploits of the French king..."
From the Paper "The novel Little Women by Louisa May Alcott stands as an archetype of feminine writing from the nineteenth century, a story emphasizing the choices facing women in terms of home and family, career choice, and aspirations. Much of the sense of choice is placed in the hands of Jo, the strongest female in the novel and the one who becomes the center for her family as well. It is this power of choice and inner strength that has attracted generations of readers and that was the attraction for filmmakers recently when they produced a new version of Little Women and successfully shaped the story for a feminist age.
Little Women is not a complex novel nor a complex study of human nature. It is largely about Jo and her struggle to be good and to improve herself in the world, and as such it is believed to represent Louisa's own struggle with the same issue..."
From the Paper "This study will examine August Wilson's play Joe Turner's Come and Gone, focusing on the characters' search for their "song." The play offers a number of definitions of what this "song" is, but it is roughly equivalent to one's individual spirit or purpose in life. The study will consider in greater depth what this song is, its significance, which characters have found theirs, which are still searching, and which will probably never find it. The thesis of the study will be that those who have found their songs have come to a state of acceptance about life and its difficulties, and have as a result discovered within themselves what the others are seeking in vain outside themselves. Those who have not found their songs are still doing battle with life, with people, and with themselves. The significance of the song, then, is found in the fact that the ..."
Compares roles, motivations and moral corruption of central males in Matthew Lewis' "The Monk", Ann Radcliffe's "The Italian" and Horace Walpole's "The Castle of Otranto".
1,800 words (approx. 7.2 pages), 3 sources, 1995, $ 63.95
From the Paper "This study will compare the role and significance of the evil male character in three Gothic novels, Matthew Lewis' The Monk, Ann Radcliffe's The Italian and Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto. The study will argue that these characters in the three novels are described in different ways, but the similarities among them predominate. In every case, the evil character is shown to be undesirable, and the message sent by the authors is that evil will be eventually punished. The evil male characters all serve the purpose of supporting the moral argument that good in some way will finally triumph.
At the same time, however, there is something contradictory at the heart of this moral use of the evil male character. All of these characters are intensely fascinating, at least as fascinating as the "good" characters, so that the reader finds ..."
Explores the existentialist protagonist Meursault as an absurdist hero searching for an authentic life outside conventional moral and social boundaries.
1,575 words (approx. 6.3 pages), 9 sources, 1995, $ 55.95
From the Paper "CAMUS' THE STRANGER: MEURSAULT AS ABSURDIST HERO
Few novels have explored the difference between exterior reality and interior life as fully and as effectively as has Albert Camus' The Stranger. The story concerns an office clerk named Mersault (the reader is never given his first name), whose refusal to adhere to societal expectations regarding love, friendship and religion eventually leads to his imprisonment under a death sentence. The novel offers Camus an opportunity to exploit his perception of the world as inherently absurd. The absurdist sees the world as basically meaningless. Events, actions and decisions are all of equal value: one choice is as good as another, and, ultimately, none of the choices one makes has any transcendent purpose.
Still, people strive to impose an order on the world. People have an ..."
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 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."
