Category Archives: Literature

Character analysis of Emma and Mrs. Elton

April 28, 2008 by aaron
In Emma ((Page Numbers are for the Riverside Edition edited by Lionel Trilling)), Jane Austen presents characters who are uniquely human: each has their own rich personality and storied background. Through these characters, Austen is able to intimately explore the human condition, as she saw it, and highlight some of the issues of society and class in her world. To achieve this, Austen creates a world into which a reader can insert themselves through the gossip and unique perspective that the narrator and Emma provides; the reader’s perspective is not that of an all-seeing observer, but almost a character in its own right who may judge the characters as an equal participant and member of the community.
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Interpretations of a slave in “The Heroic Slave” and “Benito Cereno”

April 14, 2008 by aaron
There are three major interpretations of the slave in literature: the good human being who is forced to live their live as a slave, the slave who’s mind, body and soul are broken because of slavery, and the slave who’s mind is twisted and becomes a monster because of the institution of slavery. These views of slavery are prevalent in abolitionist literature because they focus on the evils of slavery rather than the evils of the men who support slavery.
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Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” and Achebe’s “Civil Peace” as a Call for Succinct Writing

April 30, 2007 by aaron
Chopin’s story expertly takes the average book and succinctly boils it down to two pages of rapid emotions and events. While the average writer would have felt a need to develop events prior to the story to allow the reader a full and developed sense of the personalities of the characters, Chopin instead says this is what you need to know, and you know what to do with it. The reader is given a short snapshot of a person: (wife, weak heart, young, pretty, unhappy, in most likely a semi-arranged marriage) and a range of emotions: (shock, surprise, grief, realization, elation, and triumph).
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Comparison of Cold Mountain and the Odyssey

April 29, 2007 by aaron
“Cold Mountain” is the story of a confederate soldier named Inman and his journey back to his homeland after years of fighting in the civil war, along the way he meets many interesting personalities some benign some malevolent. The second focus of the story is on Inman’s lover Ada and her struggle to learn how to live without her father, Inman and servants. “The Odyssey” is the story of an Ithacan king named Odysseus and his journey back to his homeland after years of fighting in the Trojan War, along the way he meets many interesting personalities some benign and some malevolent.
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“Ktaadn” Thoreau’s Culture Shock

April 14, 2007 by aaron
For anyone who has read Thoreau’s “Life in the Woods” Ktaadn seems to be written by a different person. “Life in the Woods” is written by an author so full of himself he thinks of himself as being better than everyone else around him, he values nature over all things and is extremely philosophical in his musings and above all considers nature as a thing that must be protected from man.
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“The Metamorphosis” representing the Serbians in World War 2

April 10, 2007 by aaron
I would like to propose a new meaning of “The Metamorphosis” quite different from those already stated. “The Metamorphosis” can interpreted to show the effect of the dying on a family but also interpreted to show the effect that an outcast from society can feel. Gregor’s turning into a bug could be construed as a groups sudden repulsiveness to the world as a whole. With each member of the family displaying a different part of the world at large.
Read More ⟶

Character analysis of Emma and Mrs. Elton

April 28, 2008 by aaron
In Emma ((Page Numbers are for the Riverside Edition edited by Lionel Trilling)), Jane Austen presents characters who are uniquely human: each has their own rich personality and storied background. Through these characters, Austen is able to intimately explore the human condition, as she saw it, and highlight some of the issues of society and class in her world. To achieve this, Austen creates a world into which a reader can insert themselves through the gossip and unique perspective that the narrator and Emma provides; the reader’s perspective is not that of an all-seeing observer, but almost a character in its own right who may judge the characters as an equal participant and member of the community.
Read More ⟶

Interpretations of a slave in “The Heroic Slave” and “Benito Cereno”

April 14, 2008 by aaron
There are three major interpretations of the slave in literature: the good human being who is forced to live their live as a slave, the slave who’s mind, body and soul are broken because of slavery, and the slave who’s mind is twisted and becomes a monster because of the institution of slavery. These views of slavery are prevalent in abolitionist literature because they focus on the evils of slavery rather than the evils of the men who support slavery.
Read More ⟶

Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” and Achebe’s “Civil Peace” as a Call for Succinct Writing

April 30, 2007 by aaron
Chopin’s story expertly takes the average book and succinctly boils it down to two pages of rapid emotions and events. While the average writer would have felt a need to develop events prior to the story to allow the reader a full and developed sense of the personalities of the characters, Chopin instead says this is what you need to know, and you know what to do with it. The reader is given a short snapshot of a person: (wife, weak heart, young, pretty, unhappy, in most likely a semi-arranged marriage) and a range of emotions: (shock, surprise, grief, realization, elation, and triumph).
Read More ⟶

Comparison of Cold Mountain and the Odyssey

April 29, 2007 by aaron
“Cold Mountain” is the story of a confederate soldier named Inman and his journey back to his homeland after years of fighting in the civil war, along the way he meets many interesting personalities some benign some malevolent. The second focus of the story is on Inman’s lover Ada and her struggle to learn how to live without her father, Inman and servants. “The Odyssey” is the story of an Ithacan king named Odysseus and his journey back to his homeland after years of fighting in the Trojan War, along the way he meets many interesting personalities some benign and some malevolent.
Read More ⟶

“Ktaadn” Thoreau’s Culture Shock

April 14, 2007 by aaron
For anyone who has read Thoreau’s “Life in the Woods” Ktaadn seems to be written by a different person. “Life in the Woods” is written by an author so full of himself he thinks of himself as being better than everyone else around him, he values nature over all things and is extremely philosophical in his musings and above all considers nature as a thing that must be protected from man.
Read More ⟶

“The Metamorphosis” representing the Serbians in World War 2

April 10, 2007 by aaron
I would like to propose a new meaning of “The Metamorphosis” quite different from those already stated. “The Metamorphosis” can interpreted to show the effect of the dying on a family but also interpreted to show the effect that an outcast from society can feel. Gregor’s turning into a bug could be construed as a groups sudden repulsiveness to the world as a whole. With each member of the family displaying a different part of the world at large.
Read More ⟶