English Essays

The right to bear arms in todays society
The right to bear arms in today’s society The Right to Bear Arms in Today’s Society The Second amendment of the Bill of Rights has arguably been the subject of a most controversial debate in our government. The Amendment states, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed” (O’Connor 469). In the drafting of the Bill of Rights, memories of British ...

The rime of the Ancient Mariner
The rime of the Ancient Mariner Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” written in 1797, has been widely discussed throughout literary history. Although critics have come up with many different interpretations of this poem, one idea that has remained prevalent throughout these discussions is the apparent religious symbolism present throughout this poem. “The Ancient Mariner” contains natural, gothic, and biblical symbolism;...

The role of Denver in Beloved
The role of Denver in Beloved Beloved by Toni Morrison delivers intense and intriguing themes which create a powerful and rich story line. These themes are intertwined into the story lines within the story line, and the themes are carried within the strength and mystery embodied within each character. Slavery, murder, womanhood, manhood, human nature, death, and love are just a few of the themes that surround this novel to create nothing less than a masterpiece. The plot of B...

The role of angela in angelas ashes
The role of angela in angela’s ashes In Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt’s mother Angela sacrifices her pride and her dignity to help family survive at all costs. Angela does everything she can to help her family survive, no matter how it scars her family or her children. Malachy cannot deal with reality and the poverty that the family is experiencing. At numerous points throughout the story Angela sacrifices the family’s dignity by taking charge of Malachy&...

The story of the English language
The story of the English language Kathleen Hubbard’s answer to the question “How do we know what we know about Proto-Indo-European and other languages that died out before they were written down? [Kathleen is assistant professor of linguistics at the University of California, San Diego. She describes herself as a “recovering Indo-Europeanist.”] I have also appended some bibliography at the end. The hard-core indo-europeanist may be interested in the TITUS...

The struggle for personal identity
The struggle for personal identity The Struggle for Personal Identity The topic I have chosen for my research essay is that of “Personal Identity”. We have come across this topic in many stories that we have done in the course. Different authors have handled this theme in a different way and by taking a look at this we will be able to see what personal identity means to people. “The relationship between self and society is essentially confrontational and the battlegrou...

The taming of a shrew
The taming of a shrew The Taming of the Shrew In Shakespeare’s comedy, “The Taming of the Shrew,” one of the main ways that the theme is shown is by mistaken identity. The main theme of this play is that what a person is really like is more important than how they appear to be. This is shown by Petruchio’s relationship with Katherine; the changing roles of Tranio, Lucentio, and Hortensio; and the true characters of Bianca and Katherine....

The thought of Materialism
The thought of Materialism Materialism is defined as a preoccupation with or stress upon material rather than intellectual or spiritual things. Justice is that which is fair proper, correct, and honest. A sense of what is right or of what should happen. In this way justice is involved with materialism because placing material goods above God and everything else, is not proper and is not what should happen. A girl wrote the article that I found, and in it she explains that, in ge...

The use of Irish Stereotype
The use of Irish Stereotype Sean O’Casey’s plays mark the culmination of the European dramatic movement toward realism. O’Casey, along with his contemporaries William Butler Yeats and John Millington Synge, felt dramas of the time were too intellectualized (Hogan 45). With Juno and the Paycock, O’Casey tried to add local Irish color and preconceptions of the Irish to make his drama individualistic and realistic while ignoring formal dramatic technique (Ayling 89). He dis...

The White Hotel
The White Hotel Wrought with images of death, love, desire and life, D.M. Thomas’ novel, The White Hotel, takes readers on an unexpected historical tour of one of the world’s most horrifying events. Narrated in the first and third person, as well as with an omniscient narrator, Thomas begins in the middle of the story momentarily causing confusion on the reader’s part. Thereafter the story continues at the beginning and gives us an ending that is not an ending but a new ...

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows is a satirical reflection of the English social structure of the late nineteenth century, during a time of rapid industrialization throughout Europe. Also considered a children’s story, this novel conveys Grahame’s belief in the ability of one to live an unrestrained and leisurely life, free of the obligations of the working class, and entitled to this life through high social status and ...

The Woman Warrior
The Woman Warrior In A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway, the novel concerns itself primarily with Hemingway’s philosophy of life: unordered and random. There is no God to watch over man, to dictate codes of morality, or to ensure justice. Hemingway’s hero must accept his place as something insignificant, yet continue to fight endlessly against the meaninglessness of life. The universe is indifferent to man’s plight. In the book, this indifference is best exemp...

The Women in Hamlets Life
The Women in Hamlets Life The Women in Hamlets Life “I have loved to the point of madness” (F.Sagan). Emotions are a powerful force which can shape a persons entire being and even drive them to madness. In Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, Hamlet is driven to act on his feelings. Through their impact on his emotions, Gertrude and Ophelia, the two main women in his life influence his every thought, word and action. Hamlet feels great anger towards his mother becau...

The World Without Books
The World Without Books The World Without Books The year is 2000A.D. The New World leader, Oliver Closeoff, has demolished books from the earth because of his belief that books bring rebellion, turmoil, memories of the chaotic past, and also contain the blue prints for a chaotic world with expressed views and tempers. Now, because of the destruction of all literature, the past has soon been forgotten, the religions have fallen and ceased to exist, the thinkers’ thoughts are e...

The Yellow Wallpaper Charlotte Perkins Gilman was it insanity or a cry for freedom
The Yellow Wallpaper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman was it insanity or a cry for freedom “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, tells the story of a women trapped in her own life. The woman in the story reveals her desire to break free from the confines of her marriage and her life. The story then goes on to reveal her relationship with the wallpaper in her room and the feelings she has that causes her to go insane. Although this is the story of “The Yellow Wal...

The Yellow Wallpaper Journey into Insanity
The Yellow Wallpaper - Journey into Insanity In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the dominant/submissive relationship between an oppressive husband and his submissive wife pushes her from depression into insanity. Flawed human nature seems to play a great role in her breakdown. Her husband, a noted physician, is unwilling to admit that there might really be something wrong with his wife. This same attitude is seen in her brother, who is also a p...

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” explores the restricted societal roles of both Jane and John. Gilman, a strong supporter of women’s rights, focuses on her account with depression through this story (Hill 150). Traditionally, the man must take care of the woman both financially and emotionally while the woman’s role remains at home. Society tends to trap man and woman and prevent them from dev...

The call of the wild
The call of the wild The Call of the Wild John Griffith London, the illegitimate son of Professor of Astrology father and an emotionally distant mother, was born January 12, 1876, in San Francisco, California. Jack spent much of his childhood working odd jobs to help support his family. After living abroad on a seal-hunting ship and traping across much of the United States, Jack briefly attended the University of California at Berkeley. When news of the gold rush in the Yukon r...

The chrysalids
The chrysalids Prejudice and discrimination are the key conflicts in The Chrysalids. Critical theme is the one implied by the title of the novel. Chrysalid is a term taken from biology. It describes the state through which a larva must pass before becoming an insect. In this state, the larva is wrapped in a hard case or shell, takes on food and is totally inactive. This is precisely the state that Joseph Strorm and his kind are trying to maintain and force on humanity. I think w...

The core of the matter
The core of the matter This poem was inspired on an article published by the New York Times, which reflected the injustice that blacks received from the whites during the apartheid years. From the very first line we can see the implications of racism since we are told what gender and ex-job the policeman had while we not given any information about the black discriminated woman. The ex-policeman is set on a higher category as if he was superior. “A pregnant Black was...

The cruciable
The cruciable John Proctor had a “sharp and biting way with hypocrites.” A hypocrite represents a person who pretends to be what he or she is not (Webster’s New World Collegiate Dictionary). Proctor tries his hardest to keep his wife’s innocence safe. He may seem to be a nice man, but he does a lot that changes his appearance making people realize that he is a fraud. John Proctor’s hidden transgression of hating hypocrisy causes him a great deal of madness. Thus, ...

The crucible as a tragedy
The crucible as a tragedy The Crucible can be seen to be a tragedy in a number of ways, mainly because the main character is faced with, in the words of the author, Arthur Miller, himself, a tragic dilemma. John Proctor is the main character in the play of The Crucible. At the outset of the play, he does not appear to be a central character, but as the story develops, one can see that the importance of his existence and the reason behind his presence are soon made known. John Pr...

The glass menagerie Lauras state of mind
The glass menagerie Laura’s state of mind Laura, Amanda, Tom, and Jim resort to various escape mechanisms to avoid reality. Laura, fearful of being denigrated as inferior by virtue of her innate inability to walk, is shy and detaches herself from the unfeeling modern world. Amanda tries every means to integrate her into society, but to no avail. She sends her to business school and invites a gentleman caller to dinner. She is both unable to cope with the contemporary world...

The glass menagerie symbolism
The glass menagerie symbolism 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 reali...

The glasses
The glasses “The Glass Menagerie” is set in the apartment of the Wingfield family. By description, it is a cramped, dinghy place, not unlike a jail cell. It is one of many such apartments in the neighbourhood. Of The Wingfield family members, none of them want to live there. Poverty is what traps them in their humble abode. The escape from this lifestyle, this apartment and these relationships is a significant theme throughout the play. These escapes may be related t...