Abstract This paper explains how Toni Morrison uses jazz and histories to explain African American displacement. t also looks at how the characters use jazz and the image of Dorcas to bring their identities full-circle. It examines, in particular, Joe and Violet's deconstruction and reconstruction and how this relates to the larger story of African American history.
From the Paper "The story begins with the outcome of the character's displacement, a murder and an attempt at a dead girl's mutilation. Right away the reader sees the fracture which converges in acts of violence. How it came to this point is where the story lies, found in pieces hoping to be put together, Violet's crack and Joe's traces. Along with the history that could allow these individuals to come such a state; the brutalized body of slavery and post-Civil War oppression. Morrison tries to find a restructured identity in which lies the power to heal. Dorcas and jazz are instruments towards that healing (Jones 481)."
An examination of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Blithedale Romance", which details the lives of several characters who live through the creation and eventual failure of a Utopian commune called Blithedale.
Abstract Based on his own experiences at a utopian farm in the 1840s, Hawthorne wrote "The Blithedale Romance" in order to show the deficiency of much of the Transcendentalist's beliefs. This paper explains how Hawthorne uses the experience of his characters in Blithedale to critique Transcendentalist ideas, such as romantic idealism, ideal communities, the relationship of self to others, the possibility of a communal soul, and the possibility of an idealized pastoral world existing in contemporary society.
From the Paper "While most of the characters begin their stay at Blithedale strongly believing in the romantic ideals that underlie the commune's belief system, at the end of the novel, these beliefs are dramatically shaken. In fact, some of the characters begin to wonder what the worth of such idealistic devotions could be in the first place. Faced with a growing disillusionment with Blithedale, the loss of her family fortunes, and depressed by her unrequited love of Hollingsworth, Zenobia commits suicide by drowning herself. Indeed, while this decision might seem like a romantic, impulsive death, since she drowned herself out of love for another person, Westervelt questions the validity of such an intense romantic action."
Abstract This paper examines the story, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been", a chilling story by Joyce Carol Oates, which tells the story of a young girl obsessed by her own beauty and popular music, who is seduced by an evil being. It discusses the symbolism in the story and how it relates to the Devil vs. God and good vs. evil. It shows how Oates shows, in a chilling way, the power evil has over good, and how evil can wear its victims down in the end, even when they know what they are doing is wrong.
From the Paper "Clearly in this morality play, strength and evil win out, because that is the ultimate point of the story, that evil can wear down a victim in the end, just as Friend wears down Connie, even if the victim knows what they are doing is wrong. "She put out her hand against the screen. She watched herself push the door slowly open as if she were back safe somewhere in the other doorway, watching this body and this head of long hair moving out into the sunlight where Arnold Friend waited" (Where). What is so sad about Connie is not that she is coerced, but that she set herself up for it from the start. She is a shallow and selfish girl, who does not surround herself with anything good, and so she cannot fight the force of evil, because she does not really recognize what goodness is."
Abstract This paper provides an analysis of Sue Monk Kidd's book, "The Secret Life of Bees". Set in the early 1960's, at a time when civil rights were just becoming popular and significant in American culture, the paper shows how important the ideas in the novel are for this time period. The paper includes direct quotes from the book.
From the Paper "Because of where she lives, Lily could easily have slipped into a more regional speech pattern. But there is nothing here to indicated Lily lives in the Deep South. Perhaps her use of the word lack, instead of a phrase to indicate the condition of motherlessness, is a hint. It is certainly not the way most girls would say it. So it may be regional. Or it may be the author's way of pointing out that Lily was bright and thoughtful and could spare herself the pain of talking about or thinking about her dead mother by referring only to a lack, not a death."
Tags: literature, english, black, south, african, american
Abstract This paper examines how irony and satire are at the heart of W. H. Auden's poem, ?The Unknown Citizen,? which is about a man who remains unnamed throughout the entire poem. It discusses how this unnamed citizen, however, represents the society that we live in and the modern men and women who have come to live by society's terms. Through tone and content, it also demonstrates how Auden is able to illustrate the cost of losing one's own identity.
From the Paper "To emphasize the image of a man living a very ordinary life, Auden gives us more details that relate the individual to his or her place in society. For example, we are told he served the "greater Community/except for the War till the day he retired" (6, 7). He was a also factory worker, he pleased his bosses, and paid his dues--all of these facts paint the picture of someone who lived an ordinary life. In addition, Auden includes that the man "wasn"t a scab or odd in his views? (10) and he "added five children to the population, which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation" (27-29). We don?t get the impression that he was unique, for even where there was "peace, he was for peace: when there was war, he went" (25, 26). All of these images depict a man that is formed by the society that surrounds him."
Abstract Shows how the author's intent to destroy myths surrounding Indians is simplistic and incorrect. Discusses the impact of the over-generalizations of white society on modern Native Americans and the failure of the reservation system and Bureau of Indian Affairs.
From the Paper "The major purpose of Vine Deloria's 1969 book Custer Died For Your Sins is to destroy the myths surrounding Indians (as Native Americans were called at that time). Deloria particularly attacks the myth of Indians as "noble savages" as not only incorrect ..."
Abstract The paper examines Nella Larsen's novel as a complex response to U.S. racial and class segregation in the 1920s. It discusses black feminist criticism's concept of social marginalization and the politics of sex and race.
From the Paper "Nella Larsen's Passing is a complex response to and critique of the patterns of racial and class segregation that characterized the US in the 1920s. However, the critique has resonance for the modern period because, despite the demise of legalized ..."
Abstract This paper examines the book, "King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa". It explains how it is an account of what befell the nation now known as Congo during the years of Belgian colonial rule in the early years of the 20th century.
From the Paper "At the beginning of the twentieth century, it was becoming a commonly accepted belief among the European powers that colonial possessions enhanced the prestige of the nations that held them. King Leopold II, wishing to elevate Belgium to a higher status in the European community of nations, had his eyes upon Africa. Of course, there were also more practical reasons to play the imperial game, namely to build personal wealth and to accumulate personal power. With the major colonial states more interested in the coastal African states, Leopold managed to colonize the Congo, using public statements about his humanitarian concerns for the slave trade in the Congo and the drive to spread Christianity in the area to disguise his real intentions."
Abstract This paper analyzes Min's book, which describes life for a young woman in Communist China during the Cultural Revolution in the late 1960s. The paper comments on the degree of independence and choice enjoyed by women in the book. It shows how the women living in China during the Cultural Revolution did not enjoy independence or choice; they lived in fear and under the constant scrutiny of the Communist Party.
From the Paper "Anchee Min's book "Red Azalea" is a touching story of a young girl growing up under Communist rule in China. She had a difficult life, and although women took part in the Cultural Revolution and were an important part of it, women ? and all Chinese were not independent or free during this time, they lived under the watchful eye of the Communist Party. Most of what they did was not of their own free will, but chosen for them by the Party. Min says she was a grownup by the age of five, and she certainly had no choice about it ? it was expected of all the children, as she writes here: "I was an adult since the age of five. That was nothing unusual" (Min 4). She has to act as an adult because her parents, and everyone's parents, were busy working for the Revolution, and they had no choice either, because they would have been sent away, or even killed if they did not support the Communist Party and their Revolution."
Abstract Emily Dickinson is often thought of as "America's Poet" and during her short life, she created an enormous amount of poetry. One of the most important literary devices Dickinson used in her work was imagery, and she used it in a variety of unique ways to make her poetry more enduring, more meaningful, and extremely compelling. This paper discusses the use of many different forms of imagery in her poetry. It quotes from Dickinson's poetry to provide examples.
From the Paper "However, circles are not the only imagery Dickinson employed in her works. Nature was a common theme for her poetry, and she used many diverse images of nature to convey her meanings and thoughts. Flowers form a large part of this natural imagery, and one expert notes there are over 400 references to flowers or their parts in her poetry (Eberwein 115-116). She used flower imagery as she used other imagery in her works, to denote a wide variety of themes, from God to bliss, women, and some even believe female genitalia. Poem 137 shows a bit of this erotic and sensual imagery conjured up by the daisies in the verse. "Flowers -- Well -- if anybody / Can the ecstasy define -- / Half a transport -- half a trouble -- / With which flowers humble men: / Anybody find the fountain / From which floods so contra flow -- / I will give him all the Daisies / Which upon the hillside blow" (Dickinson)."
Abstract This paper discusses how the three main narrators of Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein" are utterly isolated. It looks at how Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and the Creature are all victims of loneliness and rejection. It discusses how Victor and Walton choose to be detached from the outside world. Walton, looking for a passage through the North Pole, and Victor's dedication to a science revelation, leaves them both alone and surrounded by controversy. It also explores how the Creature is abandoned and forced to be on his own and how this isolation from Victor and the family in the cottage is the fuel for his murderous nature. It shows how Walton, Frankenstein, and the Creature are three characters that are removed from society and loved ones throughout the novel and, ironically, end together in each other's company at the North Pole.
From the Paper "Victor Frankenstein appears to have been unattached through out his life. During his childhood he was always reading, his thirst for knowledge then is the same obsession that would eventually damn him. While he was creating the monster, he was cut of from the rest of the world while he concentrated on his own ego and scientific development. He, like Walton, did not notice that he was alone. He could only see the success and contributions that he was insistent on completing. Once the creature is finished and alive, Victor immediately regrets his action from the sight of this monster before him. He runs out into the streets, leaving behind the only body that he had been with for months."
Abstract This paper explains that, on its surface, John Okada's "No-No Boy" explores the relations between Japanese and white Americans, with an emphasis on Japanese-America's self-perceptions. More specifically, one of the main themes of the novel involves free will and determinism. The author points out that the world that Okada describes is certainly an ugly one that is full of hostility between and among races; however, one gets a sense that he maintains faith in humanity. The paper relates that the novel begs to question whether the story's characters are responsible for their own attitudes and conduct or if they are powerless victims of social circumstance.
From the Paper "Ichiro's initial reluctance to engage in the fight with Bull along side Freddie also serves to show a point. When asked to stay out of the fight by another bar patron, Ichiro answers, "I haven"t got much choice? (246). By offering this statement, he seems to imply that he has no free will when it comes to if he should join in the fight. He has no choice because to put himself in front of Bull will mean that he would be in harms way. This seems to echo his reason for not fighting in the war. In the war against Freddie however, Ichiro knows that the choice he wants to make isn"t the most beneficial towards the situation. He wouldn"t have anticipated that he could manage to take on an opponent like Bull, but it attempting so he surprises himself."
Abstract This paper analyzes Oedipus and Loman as two tragic characters and attempts to establish which tragic hero fits best the profile as defined by Aristotle. This is done by comparing the background of Oedipus and Willie Loman, their personalities, their stories, and, in the end, by comparing their tragedy.
From the Paper "Oedipus Rex is a classic tragic hero. As defined by Aristotle, Oedipus is a classic tragic hero because he is a king whose life falls apart when he finds out his life story. According to Aristotle, there are certain elements, which a tragic hero must fulfill. These elements include the fact that whatever happens in that hero's life is not really well deserved; that the tragic hero himself is somehow the cause of his downfall and that the extent of the tragedy is always worse than the hero deserves. As per Aristotle's definition all tragic heroes usually have the stories revolving around them. For instance, in Sophocles Oedipus Rex and in Miller's "Death of a Salesman", the story does revolve around Oedipus and Loman. They are the primary characters and the entire story basically revolves around them."
Abstract This paper examines how, first published in 1903, W.E.B. Du Bois's groundbreaking book, "The Souls of Black Folk", is a compendium of wisdom on the subject of race in America. It looks at how, with deft prose and insightful sociological and spiritual wisdom, Du Bois criticizes the failure of American democracy in delivering true equality to blacks. In particular, it shows how his bold assessment of the mainstream, white-supported views of Booker T. Washington in Chapter Three has challenged the very core of black identity and forced a more thorough, holistic, and realistic vision of race relations in America.
From the Paper "The Souls of Black Folk is designed to steer African-Americans toward a healthy self-consciousness and self-conception. It is also written to illustrate the myth of emancipation, which might have ended the southern plantation aristocracy but did nothing to end the underlying beliefs in the inferiority of blacks. Furthermore, since slavery was officially abolished, blacks continue to dwell in poverty in a land of plenty; they continue to be violently and subtly persecuted wherever they walk; they suffer from inequality in almost every arena of American life."
Abstract This paper examines this story, which is about the lives, loves, and dreams of two sisters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. The plot of the story centers on the possibility that both sisters may have to put up with the banality of country life, which is full of gossip and superficiality, rather than being loved by the men of their dreams.
From the Paper "The distinction between "sense" and "sensibility" is one of the main themes of this novel, and is best seen in the psychological contrast between the novel's two main characters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. Elinor, the older sister, epitomizes the word sense, as she is reserved, socially responsible and concerned with the well-being of others. Her younger sister, Marianne, epitomizes the word sensibility, as she is ruled by emotion, spontaneity, impulsiveness, and devotion. According to Austen, men "came to look at Marianne and talk to Elinor (p. 142).? "
Tags: dashwood, elinor, marianne, victorian, country
