Abstract
This paper provides an analysis of the way illusion, disillusion and disillusionment pervade the lives of the characters in three dramas: Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House", Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman", and Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun". How the permeation of these qualities represents the main conflict in each play and the respective authors' critique of society is addressed.

From the Paper
"In each of "A Doll's House", "Death of a Salesman" and "A Raisin in the Sun", the main characters suffer from illusion, become disillusioned and come to a tragic end because of the disillusionment. In Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House", Nora Torvald abandons her family to escape the restrictive confines of patriarchy, marriage and economic control of women typical of her society. In Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman", Willy Loman, after years of maintaining illusions about himself, his family and the American Dream succumbs..."

Tags:patriarchy, capitalism, racism, opportunities, injustice, oppression, upward mobility, American Dream, love, family, suicide, marriage, African Americans

Abstract
The paper highlights Hemingway's theme of disillusionment that is best articulated in his short story "Soldier's Home," but also present in his novels "A Farewell to Arms" and "The Sun Also Rises". The paper shows how in each of these stories, the effects of war play a large part in the main character's inability to assimilate into society, remain happy or pursue a meaningful existence after the war.

From the Paper
"Like contemporaries William Faulkner and John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway was a member of what Gertrude Stein termed "the lost generation"--disillusioned, young men returning from World War I. Pulled out of a 1900s United States populated with patriotic, naive families and young men and women with delusions of heroism, American soldiers came back to the United States haunted by visions of war and unable to reassemble with their contemporaries. Hemingway was no different. Although he was unable to join the United States Army because of vision problems, the young author served in the Red Cross Ambulance core after leaving a short newspaper career. (He served as a journalist again before pursuing fiction after the war.) But the ambulance core was not much milder than active combat. The shocks Hemingway received from seeing the wounds and remains of fallen soldiers never left him."

Tags:trauma, happiness, World, War, I

Abstract
This paper examines the experiences of two youths, Tim O'Brien and Anne Moody, during the 1960s, and the profound affects Vietnam and the civil rights movements had respectively on their lives and outlooks. The author first describes the roots of youthful disillusionment at this time, citing the feeling of disenfranchisement, especially about Vietnam. Then, Tim O'Brien's book "If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home" is described in contrast to his upbringing. Anne Moody's book, "Coming of Age in Mississippi" is also discussed in terms of life in the South for an African-American woman. Both these works exemplify the social upheaval of the time.

From the Paper
"Then, in the summer of 1968, it was "a good time for talking about war and peace," and Minnesota's Eugene McCarthy, and United States Senator, was getting votes; "Lyndon Johnson was almost forgotten," O'Brien writes on page 16. Johnson was "no longer forbidding or feared" and Senator Robert Kennedy was dead "but not quite forgotten" while Nixon "looked like a loser." About that time, O'Brien received an induction notice, and the summer of 1968, prior to his entrance into the military, but while he knew he would indeed be in the military, he and friends would drive around the lake in his hometown, "talking about the war... [covering] all the big questions: justice, tyranny, self-determination, conscience and the state, God and war and love" (17). "

Tags:Anne, Moody, Tim, O'Brien, Vietnam, civil, rights, African-Americans

Abstract
The paper examines how Hemingway's "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place," "The Killers," and "The Sun Also Rises" demonstrate his ability to express his disillusionment and desolation. The paper outlines Hemingway's background and the effects of World War I on him and shows how love, loss and depression eventually caused him to take his life. The paper explores how Hemingway's works reflect these moments of emptiness, despair and the thought that there is no purpose in life.

From the Paper
"Ernest Hemingway is known throughout literature as an author of few words. This technique is Hemingway's trademark for he had the ability to speak volumes in as few words as possible. Hemingway gives the reader room to interpret through a variety of characters, settings, and plots. Many of his stories focus on despair and nothingness and he is notorious for being a member of the "lost" generation. His life experiences and his creative spark worked together to create a lasting impression in literature. Many of Hemingway's stories revolve the idea of despair, nothingness, isolation, and hopelessness. Through very little words, Hemingway allows to see inside the human psyche."

Tags:depression, love, loss, nihilism

Abstract
This paper comparatively analyzes the two poems, "After-Apple Picking" by Robert Frost and "The Fish" by Elizabeth Bishop. This paper reviews the common theme of life struggle in both poems, with Frost demonstrating life struggle through disillusionment and hopelessness, and Bishop speaking of perseverance in pursuing life meaningfully.

From the Paper
"In this paper, discussion and analysis centers on the comparative analysis of two poems, "After-Apple Picking" by Robert Frost and "The Fish" by Elizabeth Bishop. These poems depicted the common theme of life struggle, although each poet focused on the explicating on this theme in its different and opposing dimensions. While Frost demonstrated life struggle through disillusionment and hopelessness, Bishop's poem spoke of perseverance in pursuing life meaningfully. Utilizing the poetical techniques of symbolism and imagery, Frost and Bishop contemplated on this theme through their respective poems. In the texts that follow, the theme of life struggle is demonstrated, highlighting the similarities and differences in the works of both poets."

Tags:struggle, hope, meaning, symbolism, voice, dimension

Abstract
This paper discusses how the theme of disillusionment and disorientation in American society prevailed in the works of American artists, particularly in the realm of visual arts and literature. This paper studies and analyzes, comparatively, the work of the poet, e. e. cummings, and the painter, Mark Rothko. It explains through their works how individualism and expressionism became the ideologies that helped illustrate the state of human suffering in the painting, "Gethsemane," by Mark Rothko, and the poem, "pity this monster, man-unkind," by e. e. cummings.

From the Paper
"At the turn of the 20th century, American culture has flourished significantly, especially with the emergence of important fields of discipline that evoke individualism and free expression in works of art created by American artists. This phenomenon is especially evident after World War II, where the conflict among the world's nations had affected the psyche of American society and nation, one of the major players in the recently concluded war. After WWII, different lifestyles have emerged in the American society: consumerism, urbanism, and hedonism. These lifestyles gave birth to individualism and freedom of expression among people, especially now that the mass media made it possible for the society to exchange and extend messages and information to people located in different areas. However, despite these developments in American life, people have initially become disillusioned and disoriented about life, mainly due to the adverse effects of the war, which resulted to millions of deaths of people's lives and destruction of the physical environment of societies from all over the world."

Tags:society, individualism, expressionism, poetry, painting

Abstract
The paper discusses how, beyond the mirth and liveliness of Swift's characters in "Gulliver's Travels", there are themes of gravity, anger, anxiety, and frustration that Swift meant us to experience fully. The paper goes through the story and shows how Swift, as a master of shock, with perfect control of tone and pace and perfect timing, startles us into an awareness of the abyss of corrupt human natures and its implications.

From the Paper
"The most serious charge leveled against Swift has been his negativism: as a person and as a satirist. The first count is easily dismissed if the admonition of almost every twentieth century critic is kept in mind: Swift is not Gulliver; Swift writes his satire, Gulliver at times becomes misanthropic. As far as the second charge is concerned, it may be sufficient to say that all of Swift's satire was written in anger, contempt, or disgust, but it was written to promote self-knowledge in the faith that self-knowledge will lead to right action."

Tags:human, nature, corruption, anger, anxiety, frustration

Abstract
Though both of these novels center on the theme of men in battle, the authors adopt entirely distinctive approaches to relaying their protagonists' stories. In Crane's novel the reader is introduced to the hero through a third person, in a distant manner while in O'Brien's novel, the hero is presented in a semi-autobiographical manner.

From the Paper
"In both The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane and The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, the main character is a noble soldier who is disillusioned by the harsh realities of war. While Crane s novel takes place during the Civil War and O Brien s is set during the Vietnam War, both works capture the agonizing distress involved in fighting a war through two very different approaches. "

Tags:battle, character, comparison, narrative, novels, soldier, style, war

Abstract
The mechanization of war, which began tentatively in the 19th century, has been its dominant feature in the 20th. This mechanization is most obvious, and most often thought of, in terms of weapons: machine-gun, aircraft, missiles.

From the Paper
"The Dream Palace of the Arabs
The mechanization of war, which began tentatively in the 19th century, has been its dominant feature in the 20th. This mechanization is most obvious, and most often thought of, in terms of weapons: machine-gun, aircraft, missiles. . The main focus of the essay is Chapter One, The Suicide of Khalil Hawi: Requiem for a Generation, with reference to excerpts from other chapters and other sources with respect to the period leading up to Hawi's death on June 6, 1982.


Intellectual Origins of Arab Nationalism
Hawi was a Christian Arab of Greek Orthodox origins who was born in December 1919 and grew up in mountainous areas east of Beirut, Lebanon. He was exposed at an early age to the ravages of..."

Abstract
This paper examines the hardship of an entire generation of young men who grew up and experienced the First World War personally. It provides this analysis through Robert Grave's autobiography in which he describes the horrors of the war and the consequences thereof on the youth of that time.

From the Paper
"It was the end of history. That's perhaps the best way to describe the viewpoint shared by Robert Graves and members of his generation who had fought and survived the First World War. What Robert Graves spoke about in his autobiography was a disillusionment of what had occurred on the battlefield: a massacre of young men, willing to serve the honor of their country, sent into a slaughter based on poorly laid strategies and tactics a slaughter that lasted four years and cost the lives of millions. In fact, the French lost an entire generation of young men in that war. And those soldiers who survived had no idea that such a horror could be inflicted and engaged upon them and upon others. And when the soldiers returned home, they found the world had changed. Many old European empires had fallen. Losing monarchies and countries were divided up and the populace left in m?l?e of confusion and poverty. There was a certain order to the world. There was a great naivety in the world, amongst the people, and were shattered. "

Tags:war, autobiography, literature, first, world, europe