English Essays

Ah Are you Diggin on My Grave and When I Have Fears
Ah Are you Diggin on My Grave and When I Have Fears The insignificance of human life compared to the passage of time and continuation of the life cycle are explored in both Thomas Hardy’s “Ah, Are You Digging On My Grave” and John Keats “When I Have Fears”. Hardy uses the relationships between a dead woman and her family, friends and pet to show this insignificance, while Keats uses the grandiosity of nature. Although the poems use different rhymi...

Alice Walker 2
Alice Walker 2 There are many different types of authors in the world of literature, authors of horror, romance, suspense, and the type that Alice Walker writes, through personal experiences. Although most critics categorize her writings as feminist, Walker describes herself as a “womanist”, she defines this as “a woman who loves other woman…Appreciates and prefers woman culture, woman’s emotional flexibility… and woman’s strength…...

Alice Walker
Alice Walker There are many different types of authors in the world of literature, authors of horror, romance, suspense, and the type that Alice Walker writes, through personal experiences. Although most critics categorize her writings as feminist, Walker describes herself as a “womanist”, she defines this as “a woman who loves other woman…Appreciates and prefers woman culture, woman’s emotional flexibility… and woman’s strength…...

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll Did you read and enjoy Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland books as a child? Or better still, did you have someone read them to you? Perhaps you discovered them as an adult or, forbid the thought, maybe you haven’t discovered them at all! Those who have journeyed Through the Looking Glass generally love (or shun) the tales for their unparalleled sense of nonsense . Public interest in the books–from the time they were publish...

All Quiet on the Western Front 1
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 societ...

All Quiet on the Western Front 2
All Quiet On the Western Front All Quiet? World War I was one of the most brutal wars ever, more than 37 million were killed or wounded and it cost an estimated 38 billion dollars, but its wrath only began with the physical damage it caused. For the soldiers that survived the fighting, the true battle had just begun. War negatively effects the individual not only in the physical sense but also in the psychological sense. Erich Maria Remarque�s All Quiet On the Western Front...

All Quiet on the Western Front 3
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, elder...

All Quiet on the Western Front Decline of Morality
All Quiet on the Western Front - Decline of Morality Decline of Morality The novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque shows that war destroys more than just the physical level; the decline of morality has taken place through various circumstances in the novel such as: then incident where Paul Baumer is forced to kill a soldier in a shell hole, when Paul lies to his mother and the mother of his dead friend Kemmerich and when Paul and Kat must beat a recruit u...

All Quiet on the Western Front The Problem of Language
All Quiet on the Western Front - The Problem of Language For it is no easy undertaking, I say, to describe the bottom of the Universe; nor is it for tongues that only babble child’s play. (The Inferno, XXXII, 7-9.) 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 i...

All Quiet on the Western Front and The Tragedy of Julius Caesar
All Quiet on the Western Front and The Tragedy of Julius Caesar Both Paul Baumer of Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front and Brutus of Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar are innocent and trusting when introduced to the reader, but after experiencing indescribable pain, both become realistic stoics without hope for a better life. Both characters’ naiveté leads them to make a fatal error. Because of their mistakes, Paul and Brutus suffer horrifying ...

A Comparison between Ken Keseys One Flew Over the Cukoos Nest and Sylvia Plaths The Bell Jar
A Comparison between Ken Keseys One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest and Sylvia Plaths The Bell Jar What could a convicted rapist possibly have in common with a young aspiring female writer? These characters, depicted by Ken Kesey and Sylvia Plath respectively have a lot more in common than one may think. Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Sylvia Plath’s autobiographical novel The Bell Jar are two radically different stories. These two stories, however ...

A Comparison between One Flew Over the Cukoos Nest and The Bell Jar
A Comparison between One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest and The Bell Jar What could a convicted rapist possibly have in common with a young aspiring female writer? These characters, depicted by Ken Kesey and Sylvia Plath respectively have a lot more in common than one may think. Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Sylvia Plath’s autobiographical novel The Bell Jar are two radically different stories. These two stories, however have striking similaritie...

A Domestic Dilemma by Carson McCullers
A Domestic Dilemma by Carson McCullers Carson McCuller’s story “A Domestic Dilemma” depicts a family torn by both compassion and suffering. Martin, a loving and understanding husband must deal with his family’s problems. Martin’s wife, Emily, distraught by her new environment, initiates her family’s difficulties with her drinking habits. The story examines a family’s severe problems, and yet also illustrates the depth of love and loyalty that allows people to su...

A Farewell to Arms Love and Role Playing
A Farewell to Arms - Love and Role Playing John Stubbs’ essay is an examination of the defense which he believes Henry and Catherine use to protect themselves from the discovery of their insignificance and “powerlessness…in a world indifferent to their well being…” He asserts that “role-playing” by the two main characters, and several others in the book, is a way to escape the realization of human mortality which is unveiled by war. Stub...

A Farewell to Arms Response
A Farewell to Arms - Response A Farewell to Arms [If The Sun Also Rises was one of the best books I have ever read, then A Farewell to Arms is Truth. I simply cannot believe that these books existed so long without my knowledge of how grand they are. I consider myself to read constantly, more than almost anyone I know, literature and simple, and here in less than a month I read two books that are undoubtedly among the best I have encountered. How many other good books exist that...

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemmingway
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemmingway The overall tone of the book is much different than that of The Sun Also Rises. The characters in the book are propelled by outside forces, in this case WWI, where the characters in SAR seemed to have no direction. Frederick’s actions are determined by his position until he deserts the army. Floating down the river with barely a hold on a piece of wood his life, he abandons everything except Catherine and lets the river take him to a...

A Journey to the Center of the Earth
A Journey to the Center of the Earth In the novel, A Journey to the Center of the Earth, author Jules Verne tells the fictitious story of three men and their adventures as they descend into the depths of the earth. The leading character in this expedition is a fifty-year-old German professor named Hardwigg. He is an uncle to the narrator, Henry (Harry), a simple Englishman. The other man is Hans, a serene Icelandic guide. Professor Hardwigg finds a piece of parchment that...

A Lesson Before Dying
A Lesson Before Dying A Lesson before Dying Journal Response: Discrimination of the Colored people Within this second section of readings, I have observed the extreme amounts of discrimination presented toward the people of a colored nature. The respect in which the white people show is clearly unacceptable. The blacks are not even given a chance to show who they are and what they can be. Discrimination is evident throughout the novel, and I feel that is clearly is a m...

A Midsummer Nights Dream with a critics views
A Midsummer Nights Dream with a critics views COMEDY OF SHAKESPEARE Webster dictionary defines comedy to be “a drama of light and amusing character with typically a happy ending.” Melvin Helitzer, the author of Comedy Writing Secrets, contends that contrary to tragedy that seeks to engage the emotions, comedy strives “to entertain through ridicule of characters, customs, and institutions or through a resolution of contretemps thrown up by the plot.” Helitzer’s theory ...

A Modest Proposal Contextualizing
A Modest Proposal - Contextualizing Reading by contextualizing would be effective in understanding the argument in the essay “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathon Swift. When the reader recognizes the time and place of the essay’s writing and the unique attitudes and values of that time and place, he or she is contextualizing. Before and while reading “A Modest Proposal” the reader must consider the occasion for writing. The reader should recall any experiences that revea...

A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift
A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift Chapter 1 It doesn’t take long to summarize the short “pamphlet” that is Swift’s Modest Proposal. To remedy the problem of the poverty-stricken, oppressed and uneducated population of Catholics in Ireland, Swift’s projector calmly and rationally proposes that thousands of the children should be killed and eaten. This will help both the overpopulated poor, who can’t afford to care for their children anyway, and the rich, who will ...

A New England Nun by Mary E WIlkins
A New England Nun by Mary E WIlkins In “A New England Nun”, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman depicts the life of the classic New England spinster. The image of a spinster is of an old maid; a woman never married waiting for a man. The woman waiting to be married is restricted in her life. She does chores and receives education to make her more desirable as a wife. This leads to the allegories used in this short story. The protagonist life paralleled both of her pets’ ...

A Passage to India
A Passage to India Cultural Misunderstanding in Forster’s A Passage to India In his novel A Passage to India, Forster uses a series of repeated misunderstandings between cultures, which become hardened into social stereotypes, to justify the uselessness of attempts to bridge cultural gulfs. In many instances, the way in which language is used plays a great role in the miscommunication between the English and the Indians, as well as among people of the same culture. This is exe...

A Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
A Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Oscar Wilde, author of The Picture of Dorian Gray, makes Basil’s life change drastically by having him paint a portrait of Dorian Gray and express too much of himself in it, which, in Wilde’s mind, is a troublesome obstacle to circumvent. Wilde believes that the artist should not portray any of himself in his work, so when Basil does this, it is he who creates his own downfall, not Dorian. Wilde introduces Basil to Dorian whe...

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Religion and Its Effect on Stephen Dedalus
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - Religion and Its Effect on Stephen Dedalus Religion is an important and recurring theme in James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Through his experiences with religion, Stephen Dedalus both matures and progressively becomes more individualistic as he grows. Though reared in a Catholic school, several key events lead Stephen to throw off the yoke of conformity and choose his own life, the life of an artist. Religio...