An analysis of how Arnold, in "Dover Beach," illustrates not only his loss of personal faith, but also offers a vicarious vision of spiritual helplessness with which a great number of people during the 1800's could identify.
921 words (approx. 3.7 pages), 0 sources, 2000, $ 32.95
From the Paper "When looking into the poem ?Dover Beach,? by Matthew Arnold, one can choose not to see the great, white cliffs standing eerily silent in the moonlight, the ancient, icy waves approaching and retreating on the pebbled shore, and even the two figures gazing out the window at the boundless beauty of the scene. However, it is difficult to ignore the human theme of being swept about in the undertow of social change."
Abstract This paper is a discussion and critique of the famous Frost poem, "The Road Not Taken". The author includes quotes from the poem when discussing imagery, tone and the use of symbolism. She also evaluates Frost's awareness of nature in his work as a whole and this poem in general.
From the Paper "Frost's flare for using nature and man's interaction to relate powerful philosophical messages is expressed in his renowned poem, "The Road Not Taken". "The Road Not Taken", by Robert Frost is a very powerful poem with one basic philosophical theme: one should not make a decision because it reflects popular opinion, one should make sound choices because of their benefits to the individual because choosing a unique alternative could make all the difference."
Abstract This is a critical essay on Richard Wright's short story, The Man Who Was Almost a Man. This tale is a twisted parody of the hunt, where a boy becomes a man by learning to take responsibility for his actions and doing what is best for himself. This parody shows the protagonist's desire to become a respected equal among the other adults with whom he feels he has earned the right to belong, through his growing age and hard work in the fields. The paper includes many quotes from the story exploring themes and symbolism.
From the Paper "Wright subverts a typical hunt genre to create a parody of a boy reaching manhood. In ?The Man Who Was Almost a Man,? the protagonist, Dave, tries to reach his potential as an adult and earn respect from other men. However, his position in society as a downtrodden adolescent, who toils like a workhorse, does not allow him the dignity he deserves. By shooting the mule, he is given a chance to become a man in the only avenue available to him; he runs away on the train to find a new future. "Ahead the long rails were glinting in the moonlight, stretching away to somewhere, somewhere where he could be a man"? (1128). This newfound freedom and manhood, which comes from his first ironic kill, satisfies the rite of passage in the hunt and brings him the independence and responsibly he deserves. "
Abstract The paper provides a critical analysis of Christine De Pisan's medieval book, "Treasure of the City of Ladies". Originally composed in 1406. The author describes the emphasis of the book on the treatment, roles and lives of women throughout all classes in medieval society.
From the Paper "By addressing all classes of females in society the text expresses that exploitation and oppression were not just conditions suffered by the peasant class. The author espouses consistent, redundant expressions of women's roles throughout all classes, demonstrating that feminine life was in constant comparison with the image of feminine perfection in medieval society, one of religious virtue and piety. "
Abstract A review of Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle". The author describes Sinclair's account of the misery, pain and poverty of working class Lithuanian immigrants who came to the United States in the late 1890s and analyzes the theme of class inequality and to what extent it has changed today.
From the Paper "Sinclair shows how during that period, the gap was wide between the working class and the few rich. Although the only rich character in the story is introduced very briefly, the striking contrast of his lifestyle is sufficient to paint a very grim picture. Even without that contrast, however, Sinclair's description of the life of the poor working class is very powerful. Starving and cold children, women digging their way through snow to get to work, children eating scraps found in dumpsters, man who are so driven at work they have to eat their food mixed with blood from the butchered animals -- all these are images that show the pain and the misery of the working class."
Abstract A look at Martin Luther King's "Why We Can't Wait". A brief review of the themes in the book of justice, struggle and civil rights and a personal account of the book by the author.
From the Paper "Why We Can?t Wait by Martin Luther King Jr. talks about the civil rights movement in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. He gives a background on some of the issues and events related to the African American population, and explores those issues to show how they influenced the nonviolent ?revolution.? King describes the struggle of African Americans over many years for freedom and for equality. He shows previous efforts of the white people to ?hand down some equality,? which was more of a token action than anything else. He says the government oversimplified the racial discrimination issues and interpreted it as giving blacks better housing and a few important jobs.
Abstract This paper analyzes the poem, "A Supermarket in California", written in 1955 by Allen Ginsberg. The author examines how the poem expresses the anxiety of this key period of change in Western history through Ginsberg's own unique form of socio-political criticism.
From the Paper "The decade of the 1950's was the beginning of a new era. Society was changing. The industrial revolution of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the two World Wars, and the threat of the Cold War had all pushed America to the forefront of change. Television brought ideas to the masses like never before. Progress was the ideal. "
Abstract In this paper, via examination of Virginia Woolf?s, "Mrs. Dalloway", the author looks at societal pressures on people. The author compares the lives of the two main characters in the book, and notes that although they both lead totally different lives, there are many connections between the two of them in terms of how they feel they must conform to what is regarded as the norm in society. The author also compares war with the internal struggles that the characters are fighting. The author contends that Ms. Woolf's novels centered on, "silence"- the things that people don?t say.
From the paper:
?The narrative technique of Woolf's book gives us a chronological sense not of real time, but of the way thoughts flow through the mind of the character. This is why Woolf's style is best characterized as "a stream of consciousness" style. (?Stream of Consciousness.? Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary) Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf's stream-of-consciousness narration makes clear, simultaneously feels apart from the average individual, in the sense she is quite aware of her own class.?
Abstract The author reviews Flannery O?Connor's short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find". She states that O"Connor's writing reflects her Southern and Catholic traditions. Although she cannot be read as part of the feminist literary tradition, O"Connor is important to contemporary American fiction.
From the Paper "The words of the grandmother might seem sentimental, were she not speaking to a man who is a homicidal killer, about to blow her away to ?kingdom come.? "A Good Man is Hard to Find" depicts a rather repulsive young family, including June Star who "wouldn"t live in a broken-down place? for a "million bucks" and the rather irritating grandmother. (7) But because the grandmother is able to see some brief snatch of humanity in the "Misfit" who eventually kills her, O?Connor bestows her with a kind of grace in terms of the narrative's judgment."
Abstract This paper examines the text of this poem from a African-American perspective. The analysis uses poetic devices and the background of the literary environment. Line by line analysis is provided to show how the poem uses the everyday ordinary dialect of blacks, and gives insight into the poverty and discrimination that blacks faced during the 1920's.
From the Paper "Between 1919 and 1926 there was a major population shift of African-Americans to the cities of New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C (America Online). In 1921, Langston Hughes was one such African American who had traveled to New York to attend Columbia University. This population shift resulted in an obvious display of creativity among the African-American race. The creativity broadened the scope of African American influence on the American society, culture and primarily literature. The influence was so enormous and collective that it took form of a movement, which began in about 1920 and lasted until about 1930. This period was first known as the ?New Negro Movement,? but it later became known as the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance represented the African American intellect and the consequent intellectuals who celebrated their heritage and background with immense pride and gusto. It was during this movement and into this heady climate that the poem "Mother to Son" was introduced. The politico-literary climate was charged and just ripe and the need for African American contribution was being recognized. One of the critics voiced the urgent need when he cried, "what American literature decidedly needs at the moment is color, music, gust"If the Negroes are not in a position to contribute these items, I do not know what Americans are.? "
Abstract This paper examines the poet Paul Laurence Dunbar's 1903 poem "We Wear the Mask", which is in open defiance of the commonly accepted fallacy of his day that African-Americans were happy in the subservient roles they were forced to assume in the face of white racism. The paper describes Dunbar's uses irony and the religious rhetorical to convey the disparity between the false face African-Americans were forced to wear to earn a living in white society. The author shows how the prose illustrates the theme of the socially assumed mask.
From the Paper "The title of Dunbar's and first lines of the poem may at first suggest a mask that an actor or a performer wears. ?We wear the mask that grins and lies, / It hides our checks and shades our eyes.? (Lines 1-2) However, the next lines of the poem suggest that the nature of the mask that is worn is far more complex than a mask made of paper or plaster. The poem strikes a contrast between African American's exposed social faces and the bleeding hearts within their apparently smiling, happy exteriors."
Abstract This paper shows how John Updike, in his novel "A&P", illustrates an oppressively narrow minded town in a battle between individualism and conformity while showing the consequences of doing what is morally right. The paper focuses on the contrast of dynamic and flat characters, Sammy's epiphany, and the use of symbols throughout the story.
From the Paper "This view is shown generally from the manager Lengel, who represents the entire narrow minded attitude of the small New England town, which is metaphorically present though the entire story, even though it only appears apparent at the end. The narrator Sammy, illustrates unconventionality, change, and individuality through his actions and views on the abnormal situation that transpires at the A&P. Remarkably, the incredibly small grocery story can exemplify, capture, and summarize the entire town, somewhere north of Boston."
From the Paper "Russell Baker's Growing Up should be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for both content and style. Baker has written a work which humanely and vividly portrays the coming-of-age of a young man at in an era crucial to the development of the United States as a modern nation---the era of the Great Depression and the Second World War. Baker's book is valuable for its entertainment value, its humor, its humanity, its poignancy, and for its masterful and seemingly effortless blending of the personal and the historical. We come to know not only this young man and his family, but also the spirit of the nation in this turbulent time.
Baker is a well-respected journalist who in this book looks back over his childhood and young manhood in order to honor that childhood, his family, and the courage and steadfastness of America between the two world wars. It covers not only the urban..."
