English Essays

Literature - a Mirror of Society
Literature - a Mirror of Society The literature of a country is affected and influenced by how the people of that country live. This paper will prove that The French Revolution greatly influenced 19th Century French Romanticism. First, the cultural values of the revolution will be identified. Then, the different aspects of Romanticism will be presented. The cultural values of The French Revolution and Romanticism will then be linked. Finally, literary examples will be...

Influence of Realism on Literature
Influence of Realism on Literature After World War I, American people and the authors among them were left disillusioned by the effects that war had on their society. America needed a literature that would explain what had happened and what was happening to their society. American writers turned to what is now known as modernism. The influence of 19th Century realism and naturalism and their truthful representation of American life and people was evident in post World W...

All Quiet on the Western Front
All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque�s All Quiet on the Western Front, a novel set in World War I, centers around the changes wrought by the war on one young German soldier. During his time in the war, Remarque�s protagonist, Paul Baumer, changes from a rather innocent Romantic to a hardened and somewhat caustic veteran. More importantly, during the course of this metamorphosis, Baumer disaffiliates himself from those societal icons�parents, elders, school, rel...

Role of Women in Canterbury Tales
Role of Women in Canterbury Tales The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer serves as a moral manual for the 1300�s and years after. Through the faults of both men and woman, he shows in each persons story what is right and wrong and how one should live. Under the surface, however, lies a jaded look and woman and how they cause for the downfall of men. �The Knight�s Tale� is one of chivalry and upstanding moral behavior. However, beneath the surface lies the theme...

Symbolism in The Glass Menagerie
Symbolism in The Glass Menagerie The play The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, Williams uses many symbols which represent many different things. Many of the symbols used in the play try to symbolize some form of escape or difference between reality and illusion. The first symbol, presented in the first scene, is the fire escape. This represents the "bridge" between the illusory world of the Wingfields and the world of reality. This "bridge" seems to be a one w...

The Scarlet Letter - Analysis
The Scarlet Letter - Analysis Nathaniel Hawthorne's background influenced him to write the bold novel The Scarlet Letter. One important influence on the story is money. Hawthorne had never made much money as an author and the birth of his first daughter added to the financial burden ("Biographical Note" VII). He received a job at the Salem Custom House only to lose it three years later and be forced to write again to support his family (IX). Consequently, The Scarlet Letter w...

Richard Preston
Richard Preston In October of l989, Macaque monkeys, housed at the Reston Primate Quarantine Unit in Reston, Virginia, began dying from a mysterious disease at an alarming rate. The monkeys, imported from the Philippines, were to be sold as laboratory animals. Twenty-nine of a shipment of one hundred died within a month. Dan Dalgard, the veterinarian who cared for the monkeys, feared they were dying from Simian Hemorrhagic Fever, a disease lethal to monkeys but harmless to...

Brave New World
Brave New World As man has progressed through the ages, there has been, essentially, one purpose. That purpose is to arrive at a utopian society, where everyone is happy, disease is nonexistent, and strife, anger, or sadness are unheard of. Only happiness exists. But when confronted with Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, we come to realize that this is not, in fact, what the human soul really craves. In fact, Utopian societies are much worse than those of today. In a utopian...

Iaga in Shakespeare's Othello
Iaga in Shakespeare's Othello Perhaps the most interesting and exotic character in the tragic play "Othello," by William Shakespeare, is "Honest" Iago. Through some carefully thought-out words and actions, Iago is able to manipulate others to do things in a way that benefits him and moves him closer toward his goals. He is the main driving force in this play, pushing Othello and everyone else towards their tragic end. Iago is not your ordinary villain. The role...

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel about a young boy's coming of age in the Missouri of the mid-1800's. The main character, Huckleberry Finn, spends much time in the novel floating down the Mississippi River on a raft with a runaway slave named Jim. Before he does so, however, Huck spends some time in the fictional town of St. Petersburg where a number of people attempt to influence him. Before the novel begins,...

Huckleberry Finn - A Racist Novel?
Huckleberry Finn - A Racist Novel? There is a major argument among literary critics whether Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, is or is not a racist novel. The question boils down to the depiction of Jim, the black slave, and to the way he is treated by Huck and other characters. The use of the word "nigger" is also a point raised by some critics, who feel that Twain uses the word too much and too loosely. Mark Twain never presents Jim in a negative light. He does not sh...

Huckleberry Finn - Racism Debate
Huckleberry Finn - Racism Debate In recent years, there has been increasing discussion of the seemingly racist ideas expressed by Mark Twain in Huckleberry Finn. In some extreme cases the novel has even been banned by public school systems and censored by public libraries. The basis for these censorship campaigns has been the depiction of one of the main characters in Huckleberry Finn, Jim, a black slave. Jim, is a "typical" black slave who runs away from his "owner" Miss Wats...

Huck Finn - Mark Twain's Views
Huck Finn - Mark Twain's Views Throughout the Mark Twain (a.k.a. Samuel Clemens) novel, The Adventures of HuckleBerry Finn, a plain and striking point of view is expressed by the author. His point of view is that of a cynic; he looks upon civilized man as a merciless, cowardly, hypocritical savage, without want of change, nor ability to effect such change. Thus, one of Mark Twain's main purposes in producing this work seems clear: he wishes to bring to attention some of man's o...

Style of J. D. Salinger
Style of J. D. Salinger Many critics consider J.D. Salinger a very controversial writer, for the subject matters that he writes.. J.D. Salinger�s works were generally written during two time periods. The first time period was during World War II, and the second time period was during the 1960�s. Critics feel that the works during the 1960 time period were very inappropriate, because of the problems for which he wrote. The main characters were generally misfits of society. ...

Suffering in Crime and Punishment
Suffering in Crime and Punishment In the novel Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, suffering is an integral part of every character's role. However, the message that Dostoevsky wants to present with the main character, Raskolnikov, is not one of the Christian idea of salvation through suffering. Rather, it appears to me, as if the author never lets his main character suffer mentally throughout the novel, in relation to the crime, that is. His only pain seems to be ...

Cyrano de Bergerac - Book Review
Cyrano de Bergerac - Book Review Cyrano de Bergerac was written by Edmond Rostand and translated by Brian Hooker. It tells the story of a man named Cyrano with a long nose. Cyrano is in love with a woman named Roxane. However, Roxane loves Christian and asks Cyrano to teach Christian how to write about love. Cyrano helps Christian win Roxane. The story takes place in Paris, France. It is during the time of the French war against Spain. It starts at the Hotel de Bougogue. Th...

The Character of MacBeth
The Character of MacBeth Macbeth is presented as a mature man of definitely established character, successful in certain fields of activity and enjoying an enviable reputation. We must not conclude, there, that all his volitions and actions are predictable; Macbeth's character, like any other man's at a given moment, is what is being made out of potentialities plus environment, and no one, not even Macbeth himself, can know all his inordinate self-love whose actions are discovere...

Narrative Voices in Huck Finn
Narrative Voices in Huck Finn Huckleberry Finn provides the narrative voice of Mark Twain�s novel, and his honest voice combined with his personal vulnerabilities reveal the different levels of the Grangerfords� world. Huck is without a family: neither the drunken attention of Pap nor the pious ministrations of Widow Douglas were desirable allegiance. He stumbles upon the Grangerfords in darkness, lost from Jim and the raft. The family, after some initial cross-examina...

The Chosen - Malter's Development
The Chosen - Malter's Development One of the most emotional scenes from Chaim Potok's The Chosen is when Reuven goes with Danny Saunders to talk to his father. Danny has a great mind and wants to use it to study psychology, not become a Hasidic tzaddik. The two go into Reb Saunders' study to explain to him what is going to happen, and before Danny can bring it up, his father does. Reb Saunders explains to the two friends that he already known that Reuven is going to go for...

The Taming of the Shrew
The Taming of the Shrew The Taming Of The Shrew by William Shakespeare is probably one of Shakespeare's earliest comedies. Its plot is derived from the popular 'war of the sexes' theme in which males and females are pitted against one another for dominance in marriage. The play begins with an induction in which a drunkard, Christopher Sly, is fooled into believing he is a king and has a play performed for him. The play he watches is what constitutes the main body of The...

Shakespeare - Man or Myth?
Shakespeare - Man or Myth? Was the man we know as Shakespeare really the author of the "Shakespearean Works"? We know little about the man called Shakespeare, Did he really write the plays, or is he just a man that got confused within history? (Sobran 44) There is not even a correct spelling of this mans name, Some of the spellings include Shakspere, Shakespeare, And Shaxpere. Shakespeare, Is it the man, Or is it another? (Hayes 1D) Shakespeare is both fact and fict...

Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe Many authors have made great contributions to the world of literature. Mark Twain introduced Americans to life on the Mississippi. Thomas Hardy wrote on his pessimistic views of the Victorian Age. Another author that influenced literature is Edgar Allan Poe. Poe is known as the father of the American short story and father of the detective story. To understand the literary contributions of Edgar Allan Poe, one must look at his early life, his literar...

Great Expectations - Mrs. Joe
Great Expectations - Mrs. Joe The importance of Mrs. Joe in Great Expectations has two major parts: the significance of the character, and the symbolism of the character. The signifance of Mrs. Joe is to complete the figure of Joe The symbolism of Mrs. Joe is actually the physical manifestation of Joe's fears in combination with his desire for a commanding father-figure. First, Mrs. Joe's reign of terror is obviously necessary for Joe's existence. In the beginning of Great Ex...

John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck In the novel, East of Eden by John Steinbeck, Catherine Ames is one of the main characters. She is introduced to the reader as a monster and as time goes on, she possesses both monster like and animal qualities. As Catherine she gets older and wiser, she gets more evil and displays her monster and animal like characteristics. She knows she is powerful and indestructible. She has manipulated and tricked many people her life causing them to go to the extreme... death....

Abstractions in Power-Writing
Abstractions in Power-Writing There are many abstractions in the Declaration of Independence. These abstractions such as: rights, freedom, liberty and happiness have become the foundations of American society and have helped to shape the "American Identity." Power, another abstraction that reoccurs in all the major parts of the Declaration of Independence plays an equally important role in shaping "America identity." One forgets the abstraction of power, because it appears ...