Abstract
This paper examines how the Gileadean society assimilates and controls its inhabitants by controlling language in the novel by Canadian author, Margaret Atwood. This paper uses a New Critical theory to examine the text of "A Handmaid's Tale" to explore what makes Gilead so effective, and why Offred is able to survive and escape when others, who seem to be stronger, cannot.

From the Paper
"Another division of communication is the auditory or spoken. The Republic of Gilead, like any other changing society, developed its own specific vocabulary that works effectively to assimilate a people into the culture. The vocabulary ranges from the names of certain events like Prayvaganzas, which are mass weddings, to Salvagings, which are executions, or particutions, which are also executions, but ones in which the Handmaids are able to participate. The vocabulary extends to the names given to the class distinctions within the society: Marthas, Handmaids, Commanders, Guardians, Angels, Aunts and Eyes."

Tags:post, structrualism, tale, Totalitarian, Theocracy

Abstract
This paper provides an introduction to "The Knight's Tale." Points of literary analysis are discussed, as well as mention of previous work that may have influenced Chaucer in his writing of this story. Theories of understanding the intended meaning of the story are offered.

From the Paper
""The Knight's Tale" is one of the most memorable in Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales." It tells the story of two young knights, Palamon and Arcite, who are imprisoned together in a tower, and both fall in love with the same girl, Emelye. Chaucer wrote it in Middle English, which, unlike Old English, is fairly easy to read and understand by modern readers. For example, at the end of the story, Chaucer has the lines, "The Firste Moevere of the cause above,/ Whan he first made the faire cheyne of love,/ Greet was th'effect, and heigh was his entente." For with that faire cheyne of love he bond/ The fyr, the eyr, the water, and the lond/ In certeyn boundes, that they may nat flee (The Knight's Tale, 2987?2993). They show Emelye why she must marry Palamon, and they are extremely poetic in their talk of "air, water, and land, and the fair chain of love." The meaning is not lost, even though the words may look unusual."

Tags:Boccaccio, Teseida, Crusades

Abstract
The writer argues that the Clerk's Tale tells a story with the opposite view than that of the Wife of Bath's Tale. The paper tries to prove that the Clerk is commenting on the way in which a wife should behave towards her husband. The writer brings a passage from the tale to illustrate this theory.

From the Paper
"Petrarch's interpretation of the story, as adopted by Chaucer, is not so much an allegory as an exemplum. In an exemplary story, or a moralized tale, it is customary for the models of human behavior to be presented in extremely unrealistic terms. "Often highly artificial and to a modern reader incredible, these "examples" seem to have appealed very strongly to medieval congregations because of their concreteness and narrative and human interest, as well as their moral implications" (Holman and Harmon 192). In the case of the Clerk's Tale, Griselda's passivity in allowing her children to be, as she is led to believe, slain without a word of protest is, by any standards of genuine behavior, both preposterous and repugnant. However, the usual understanding of the exemplary mode of narrative screens out such irrelevant incidents, while allowing those elements in the story which contribute to its exemplary significance to be fully exploited."

Tags:marriage, poetry, religion, morality, allegory

Abstract
This paper discusses "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens. It discusses whether or not the characters depicted in "A Tale of Two Cities" lean toward rich, detailed individuals or simply caricatures of Dickens' larger goals in the novel. The paper examines the text of the novel, as well as existing critical theory on the subject and suggests that the latter is more likely to be true.

From the Paper
"Dickens' characters in A Tale of Two Cities lack their own lives, instead serving as "mere vessels of transport for the essential elements of genuine behavior" (Davis and Womack 299). Rather than providing characters like Carton, Darnay, Lucie, and Defarge to live "lives" replete with extensive internal contradictions and complications, Dickens imagines these characters as idealized and stylized versions of ideals and values that are central to the story that he is telling. Lucie becomes the caring woman, while Defarge the spiteful one. Carton is identified through his occupation and stability, while Darnay represents the ethical dilemma inherent in the historical events leading up to the French Revolution. Dickens characters, thus, are caricatures whose presences are indicative of a level of understanding Dickens intends to grant his readership about the historical events that took place during the scope of his novel."

Tags:caricature, canonical, synecdoche, archetypical, images

Abstract
This paper examines how although "The Merchant Of Venice" can be considered comic, Harley Granville-Barker claims that the play is a fairy tale because it has a lack of realism. The paper attempts to develop Granville-Barker's claim and extend it by using Vladimir Propp's theory in his "Morphology of the Folktale". It shows how Shakespeare portrays a very complex social condition of the community he lives in by using the fairy tale genre and how the refusal of the society to accept the other is conveyed through the character of Shylock, whose behavior varies according to the situation he is in. Sometimes he is portrayed as evil and sometimes as good.

From the Paper
"In this book Propp discusses the structure of the fairy tale and defines some of features common to all known fairy tales. Propp reveals thirty one functions which pertain to a fairy tale text. Moreover, Propp claims that it is not obligatory for all the thirty one functions to be in each fairy tale, but the order of these functions remains the same in each of them:" As for grouping, it is necessary to say first of all that by no means do all fairy tales give evidence of all functions. But this in no way changes the law of sequence. The absence of certain functions does not change the order of the rest. "(22). The Merchant of Venice has some of the functions that are defined in the Morphology of The Folktale, and it is the order of those functions in the plot that leads to the conclusion that the play is a fairy tale. "

Tags:shylock, comedy, jew, morphology, of, folktale

Abstract
This paper examines how in theory, all citizens do conform to the rules and regulations of Gilead and are "true believers" in such things as "traditional values" of society. However many citizens do not follow the rules or at least try to get around them, including so-called supporters. It contends that Gilead is destined to collapse because not only do the victims and so-called supporters of Gilead's ideology try to get around or break rules that they do not like, but the rules themselves are based on an ideology that does not have a strong foundation.

From the Paper
"The ideology of the Gilead's society is based on false ideals and goes against basic human nature. They take away basic freedoms of expression and went against values that we consider important today, such as love and freedom. They did believe in and create the concept of a handmaid and sanctioned adultery and rape, such as the one between Offred and the Commander. This is shown when Offred says " I do not say making love, because this is not what he's doing" (Pg. 94) They did abolish the right for women to own property, have jobs, and be educated, and other fundamental freedoms, such as not being able to read and write. "

Tags:feminist, women, ideology, citizens

Abstract
In this paper, issues of translation are discussed with reference to women who are not ordinarily privileged with the authority to speak of their experience. This paper also considers the dominant Western perspective in anthropological methods and raises questions about international perspectives from women in relation to ethnicity, race and class. This paper is primarily concerned with oral histories and the feminist theories that are relevant to this methodological approach.

Abstract
This literature essay compares two stories written by Caribbean women authors, and discusses these in relation to women's oral histories and traditions in Caribbean cultural contexts. Referring to the post-colonial and feminist theory, the author of this paper analyzes women's writing as a reflection of traditions with story-telling, women's "voice," and histories that are particular to women and Caribbean culture.

Tags:LITERATURE / CARIBBEAN, tradition of women

Abstract
This is an argumentative essay that favors evolution over Creationism. Evidence is taken from eight different sources regarding human evolution. The paper is divided into five different arguments that the author feels Genesis can not substantiate.

Outline:
Reliability
Testability
Consistency with Scientific Theory
Other Explanations
Characteristics
Conclusions

From the Paper
"Every human has to wonder how the world and all of its species came to exist. Many have turned to the ideas presented in the Bible for answers. This has formed into Creation science or biblical science. ''By Creation we mean the bringing into being of the basic kinds of plants and animals by the process of sudden, or fiat, creation described in the first two chapters of Genesis'' (5). Creationists believe that the writings of Genesis provide an explanation of how the universe was made. God's superior powers constructed the reality we know today. The following is the order in which God constructed the universe. ''In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth'' (Gen. 1:1). On the second day He created the sky and water. On the third day dry land appeared out of water. Next, he put stars in the sky and made the changing seasons. On the fifth day birds and water creatures were created. Lastly, man was put on earth and God took one of man's ribs to produce a woman."

Tags:religion, evolution, philosophy

Abstract
This paper examines the semiotics at work within Lynch's film and how they construct a portrait of the protagonist's fractured and fragmented mind. It also traces the development of the light/dark female dichotomy at work in many of Lynch's films, including "Blue Velvet".

From the Paper
"David Lynch's cinematic vision generally consists of a carefully constructed labyrinth laden with enigmatic characters and bizarre imagery all of which reflect a Manichean division between good and evil. Within this illusory realm of antithesis, the contrast between "light" and "dark" female characters (denoted by hair color, et. al.) is often at the narrative's core. Lynch establishes this rift in his 1986 masterpiece Blue Velvet, a film that exposes the disturbing, depraved criminal underworld that exists beneath a suburban town's banal facade. He then expounds upon the idea in his more recent work, Mulholland Drive. While the "light girl" and "dark girl" both play integral roles each film, their depictions differ drastically. Blue Velvet portrays these two female archetypes vying for the affection of Jeffrey Beaumont, a young man as curious as he is naive. In Mulholland Drive, conversely, Lynch eliminates the male character from this equation. The light girl and dark girl are lovers engaged in a same sex relationship on the outskirts of Hollywood."

Tags:aesthetics, film, noir, semiotics, theory