English

 

The Scarlet Letter: Only the Strong Survive

While Hester Prynne is openly humiliated and made an outcast in society, it is her lover, Reverend Dimmesdale who breaks under the burden of their deed. Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter tells the story of the two lovers who have to keep their affair secret in the puritan society of seventeenth century America. >>>

Uncle Tom’s Cabin: What We Say and What We Do

What we say and what we do often opposes one another, as we see in the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Mr. Shelby, a slave owner who is said to treat his properties in a human way is more similar to Haley, the villain and slave trader, than one would imagine. Harriet Beecher Stowe portrays Mr. Shelby as a gentleman who is forced to sell his most valuable slave, Tom, and a young boy, Harry, as a result of a business speculation that’s gone sour. >>>

The Professor’s House: Professor St. Peter and His Cave

The protagonist of the novel, The Professor’s House by Willa Cather, is Professor St. Peter, who has what at firsts seems a happy marriage to his wife of thirty years. The novel confronts the appearances of two worlds that the Professor lives in, one that is devoted to his family and daughters, and one that exists in his solitude and is shared with his only friend, the late Tom Outland. >>>

Arthur Mervyn or Memoirs of the Year 1793

In Part One, the novel’s plot and subplots focus on Arthur’s struggle to make his way in the yellow fever and crime infested city of Philadelphia in 1793. Dr. Stevens relates how he found the afflicted Arthur and nursed him back to health. Arthur’s own tale is a story about his sad boyhood in rural Pennsylvania, his coming to Philadelphia for a better life, and how upon his arrival he falls prey to a swindler, losing his clothing and money, before meeting the apparently rich Thomas Welbeck, a confidence man. >>>

Money as a Mirror in The Tragedy of Pudd‘nhead Wilson and The Professor’s House

Money, even though it is just a piece of paper that is worthless outside of the civilized world, has the ability to bring out inherent characteristics, the good or bad, from people. Money plays an important role in many of the novels we have read this semester, and for the sake of this paper I have chosen two, in which we can find examples of its positive, as well as its negative effects. >>>

The Coquette: The Death of Innocence

There is barely anything more tragic than the death of the two well-known Shakespeare characters, Romeo and Juliet. Their story is widely known and accepted as the ultimate failure of a rigid and insensitive society. Hannah Foster’s heroin, Eliza Wharton is the Julia of her own times. The tragic ending of both stories implies an easily identifiable parallel between the lives of the two women, Eliza and Juliet. >>>

Antigone: Trace the theme of men’s and women’s proper roles through the play

Antigone is one of the greatest tragedies of the ancient Greek literature. It was written by Sophocles in the late 440s BC. As a dramatist and politician, he often compared old and new intellectual and moral standards, customs, and traditions that were affecting his audience. Many of his plays, including Oedipus the King, Electra, Oedipus in Colonus, and certainly Antigone, deal with questions that preoccupied the Athenian citizens of the time. >>>

What role does God play in the stories of Joseph, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and Noah and his generation?

The story of Joseph is one of the most interesting stories of the Old Testament. An important question that is worth discussing is what is God’s role, if any, in the life of Joseph? In this essay I will discuss how Joseph’s faith was determined by God, and not by his brothers as it would first seem. I will then talk about the role of God in the stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and Noah and his family, and see if there could be any comparisons made among them. >>>

Akhenaten’s Hymn to the Sun

I. The first day of all lives began when God took his seat up in the Heavens. God is the Sun itself and it is more beautiful than anything else, rises on the east and floods the Earth with its light.

II. At night, when the Sun rest on the “western horizon” the darkness covers everything, and all the good goes to sleep, only the wild animals come out of their hiding places. >>>

Endless Summer vs. Step Into Liquid: In Pursuit of Happiness

What is surfing all about? Why so many of the finest documentary film makers decide to make a movie about surfers? What was first? The love of film making or the love of surfing? It’s hard to tell. The film Endless Summer was directed by Bruce Brown, and released in 1966. He follows two young men around the globe in search of the endless summer, and in their quest to find the best waves possible. Step Into Liquid is a film directed by Dana Brown, son of Bruce, and is dedicated to uncover the motives of the best and most determined surfers in the world. >>>

Fascist Aesthetics in the Works of Leni Riefenstahl

Was she or was she not? A Nazi, that is. Leni Riefenstahl is best known for her propaganda documentaries for the German Nazi party. After the war ended she was interrogated by the coalition forces and was imprisoned for four years. She was labeled a Nazi, and a Hitler sympathizer, even though she never admitted to neither. Her films about the Nuremberg rally in 1934 and the Olympic Games in 1936 earned her a kind of fame she’d wished she never had. >>>

The Fog of War - Film Report

Robert S. McNamara was the Secretary of Defense between 1961 and 1968. He is considered to be one of the architects of the Vietnam War. When asked, he denies talking about his feeling of guilt, or the lack of it for that matter. After his resignation from his post, he was awarded with the Medal of Freedom and the Distinguished Service Medal. He has no regrets but he admits that every military commander who’s honest admits that they had probably made mistakes when applying military power. >>>

The Theme of Illusion and Reality in the Works of O’Neill in Long Day’s Journey into the Night and A Moon for the Misbegotten.

Without knowing exact details about the life of O’Neill, we can get a fair picture about it by reading his work, Long Days Journey into the Night. This drama in four acts is considered as O’Neill’s semi-autobiography, introducing the reader to his family and their struggles with various substances, with each other, and within themselves. Escaping reality and disillusionment, and living life in an imaginary world, the world of illusion is the central theme. >>>

Comparing the "animal stories" Ngugi wa Thiong’o heard as a child with Rodriguez’s childhood experience of silence.

The animal stories from Decolonizing the Mind were very similar to Rodriguez’s childhood experience of silence. The animals were being very small and weak and the children associated with the animal characters. The struggles of the animals reflected real-life struggles in the human world. Rodriguez was also struggling in his childhood by not believing himself that he belongs in the American society and that he has the right to speak the public language. >>>

Anything for a T-shirt: Fred Lebow and the New York City Marathon, the World’s Greatest Footrace - Book Report

Power is the central idea of political science. Ron Rubin, the author of “Anything for a T-shirt” applies power throughout his story about Fred Lebow and his creation, the New York City Marathon. In my book report I will write about how the New York City Marathon was formed and developed over the years, and I will apply power to Lebow’s role in mass marketing, capturing the keys to the city, squeezing money from sponsors, devising shtick for the marathon, manipulating the media, and assembling an international cast of runners. >>>

Richard Rodriguez’s Aria

Richard Rodriguez’s Aria is a personal memoir about bilingual education. Throughout his essay he represents the power of the individual to defeat the language barrier and he tells how he overcame this particular problem as a child. He is very happy to celebrate his new name because he feels that he is part of the American society as a public individual, he is no longer afraid to express himself in public and by loosing the language of home he began to feel that his childhood started to end. >>>

Balzac and the Little Chinese Mistress by Sijie Dai

It’s not easy to choose a favorite one, because I’ve read so many great books in my life. In this essay however I’m going to write about one that I’ve recently read. The book is called Balzac and the Little Chinese Mistress by Sijie Dai. The novel takes place in China during Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution in the 1960-1970. >>>

Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy

This poem by Marge Piercy is society’s perspective on the perfect woman. The writer brings pretty Barbie into our attention, and that it must be Barbie’s fault that people are criticizing others who look different than this beautiful happy plastic doll. The poem’s character, the “girlchild” doesn’t fit in the “pretty” category with her “great big nose and fat legs.” >>>

Fight Against Racial Segregation in Battle Royale and Letter from Birmingham City Jail

Since the beginning of man racial discrimination has run ramped amongst society. Many people have chosen violence as a response, but Ellison’s character and Martin Luther King have chosen a non violent reaction to fight against it. In Ellison’s “Battle Royale” a speech is given about social responsibility by a narrator who is a young, nameless black male. >>>

How does the chapter from Ellison’s Invisible Man relate to the thesis presented by King?

King gets to work answering his critics and giving his implied thesis at the beginning of his “Letter”: "My Dear Fellow Clergymen: While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities 'unwise and untimely.' Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. >>>

The Theme of Death in Modern Novels: Comparing deaths in War, Eveline, Wine on the Desert and There Will Come Soft Rains

Death is the end of life. Life is given to us when we are born and is taken away naturally or by force. Our actions, behaviors, accomplishments, battles, morals and social graces all define our individual lives. The moment we die, death brings us to nothingness and only people who knew us can remember us and we can live in their memories. >>>

Eveline by James Joyce

The story of Eveline takes place in Dublin, Ireland. Eveline is a nineteen year old girl who is about to leave her home and move to Buenos Ayres with Frank, a sailor. Throughout the story Eveline is hesitating and questioning her decision she made and she is trying to win herself from both sides. >>>

"I hated Tonto (Still Do)," by Sherman Alexie

When I was younger I used to watch Indian movies and as a little girl. Indians were my favorite heroes. I was very sad to read about how blue-eyed warriors provided a more empowering stereotype, how the writer deals with the characters of cinematic Indians, and finally why he hated Tonto. >>>

"Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber"

At the beginning, when I started to read the book, I had the impression that the main character’s, Francis Macomber’s life is a happy life. Then I started to wonder why the author gave the short happy life as a title. As we can see, his thirty-five years old, and thirty-five years is not really a short life to live. The fact that his life is a happy one, is obvious immediately. >>>

“The Lesson" by Toni Cade Bambara

“The Lesson" by Toni Cade Bambara examines the realization of economic inequity in 1960s America through the eyes of a young girl. In Sylvia, Bambara creates a proud, sensitive, tough girl who is far too smart to ignore the realities around her, even though she knows it might be easier to do so.. >>>

“The most Dangerous Game”

The first sign of the story’s possible unfortunate ending is the mentioning of the Ship-Trap Island. Sailors have a bad feeling about it, because it caused so many ships to sink there. The fact that the characters are talking about hunting, might also cause a little suspicion in the reader. >>>

Wine on the Desert By Max Brand

The story took place in the Apache Desert in Arizona. Durante, one of the main characters, killed somebody, and the sheriff and his group was after him. Durante went to Tony’s house; the only place in that part of the desert with water. He was riding a mule and he was very thirsty because he hasn’t had water for a long time and it was a rainless, very dry season. Tony was very happy to see Durante, they were good old friends. >>>