Brother Literature Reviews Samples For Students

Summary and response paper to The Prodigal God Book

Almost everybody has the knowledge and is well conversant with the story in the bible about the prodigal son.it was a parable given out by Jesus. Quite a number of people have got comfort in the parables moral that is about the free forgiveness granted to the repentant prodigals. The prodigals had consumed their lives with misuse living. But, we could ask ourselves if that is the whole point of that story. Keller in his book argues that Jesus’ parable as he sees it is more properly a tale of two sons who are lost, the loving father providing a prodigal grace. The ...

Seamus Heaney’s “Mid-Term Break”

Seamus Heaney’s poem, “Mid-Term Break,” dramatizes the conflict of denial and acceptance, as the speaker, a boy, returns from school for the funeral of his younger brother. The reader witnesses the literal events as the boy waits at school, returns home to the mourning family, and sees the body of his little brother in the coffin. While the events in the poem seem ordinary and there is little question of what happened, Heaney had good reason to tell this story as a poem and not in prose.
A clue to this reason for poetry versus prose comes from literary ...

The play “The Importance of being Earnest” was written by Oscar Wilde, and was first seen in a theater in 1895. The play is a comedy which uses various literary techniques to bring out various themes in the Victorian era. Irony is a major literary technique in the play in which the protagonist named Jack uses the name Earnest as an alibi whenever he wishes to escape from his reality. He has created an imaginary character in his head in which he has a younger brother by the name Earnest (Wilde 15). In his real world, he is however ...

Synopsis

Franny and Zoey were written as two different stories, the first being a short story about Franny, a college student dissatisfied with the pretentious American society as epitomized by her boyfriend, Lane. He even pretends he does not remember the letter he was just reading before the train arrived. The events of the story take place at a French restaurant where Lane takes Franny during their date, and the conversation that ensues is indicative of just how the two are different. Lane talks incessantly about his school work and assumes that Franny does not understand some of the words ...

“The Luck of the Sea and the Luck of the Mountains” is a mythological story comprised in “Kojiki”, which is considered the oldest surviving Japanese book, dating from 712 A.D. In it, prince Fire-Fade uses the help of gods in order to retrieve his brother’s fishhook and punish him for his bad temper. During his quest to retrieve the fishhook, the prince meets and marries the daughter of the Sea God, but he is forced to leave her after being pushed by curiosity to spy on her during childbirth. Prince Fire-Fade’s adventures in this story highlight role ...

Just like anyone else, all characters in a story have their own historical background and information regarding their pasts. This information is usually very important in understanding their traits and their current lives. Therefore such information assist readers understand a specific story. This is what is referred to as exposition. Generally it can be defined as the historical background touching on the characters and setting in a given story usually at the beginning of the story. The major information is usually occurrences that took place before the story was initiated. Therefore it is usually the initial part of the plot. Therefore, in ...

Written by the American author Robert Cormier, the Chocolate War is a novel set in the Trinity High and is an account of the protagonist Jerry Renault as he takes on the revered schools cruel mob rule by the vigil notorious for giving assignments that range from the ridiculous to the absurd. This secret society uses intimidation as a way of enforcing its cultural norms on the school. The novel also gives a sizeable attention to sexuality, one of the major characteristics of young adults’ fiction following the protagonist’s sexual desires.
The novel adopts a third person point of view constantly ...

Introduction: Hamlet is a famous drama written by William Shakespeare, between the year 1599- 1600. Hamlet, the lead character in the play is the prince of Denmark. There are various themes in the play. For example, the difference between appearance and reality. Prince Hamlet was torn between appearance and realities that happened in his life. The following text of Act III, scene iii of the play is analyzed: “A brother’s murder, he says, is the oldest sin and “hath the primal eldest curse upon” (Semper 79; De Grazia 83). Hamlet is the most complex character ever written by ...

Antigone is a tragedy written by Greek playwright Sophocles in the year 442 BCE. The play carries on in a series of plays such as Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus as well as Seven Against Thebes, which tell the tale of social classes, family feuds, and civil law in ancient times. The play tells about the reversal of fortunes between people in the high social class who are forced to live very lowly lives and to suffer emotionally and physically due to the operation of the constitution. The play deals with the burial of Antigone’s brother ...

Effect of Work Hours, Homework, and Brothers on High School GPA

Academic performance in high school is the ticket to enter the most prestigious universities. A grade point average (GPA) enables a student to get accepted in his or her chosen university and may also hinder such student to obtain a college degree and a decent occupation. It is important to bank on a good academic performance while still in high school since a student’s reputation may also depend on his or her scholastic achievements. For this particular study, there will be a determination of factors that may affect the academic performance of students and the people and environment ...

It is a fact that jazz music remains a crucial role player in Baldwin’s short-stories evident in most of his essays and novels. In his most anthologized short story “Sony’s Blues” Baldwin uses jazz to depict the struggle of two young brothers as they attempted to live righteously in a world of hatred and oppression. It is a narrative that gives an incisive portrayal of human bonding and tolerance, set against a backdrop of racial turmoil in mid-century within America (Zimmermanbri, p.1).
Sonny’s Blues is a short-story that revolves around two characters: Sonny and His brother, an unnamed School teacher. The ...

Resentment is at the centre of the fiction. Most characters in play are resentful of others. George’s refusal to accept the marriage between Ann and Chris shows resentment. He claims that the family of Chris is responsible for their problem. The keller’s, according to George made their father to be arrested. George opposes the marriage between Ann and Chris because he believes that it is Joe who had destroyed their family. Joe’s father hates Joes according to the story told by George.
Sue is resentful of Chris. She blames Chris of Harming a bad influence on ...

1. Thesis Statement:
Virginia Woolf displays her style in her works A Room of one's own and Professions for Women to expose by example and historical fact the constraints society imposes upon women who write.
2. A Feminist Analysis of A Room of Her Own
The works A Room of one's own and Professions for Women focus on the constraints placed upon women and how a lack of money and the ability to live independently would prevent them from achieving socially recognized success as authors in their own life times.

3, Argument:

Virginia Woolf opens a history book on how ...

Death is the expression of life. It has a double sense and a double meaning in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”. The funeral ceremony, mourning, revenging, talking with ghosts or committing suicidal acts represent passages in the circularity of life, based on various cultural or religious beliefs.
The Christian tradition implies a funeral ceremony for the dead people. Hamlet’s father did not benefit of such a ceremony after he was murdered by his brother, Claudius, who later took his throne and his wife. Nevertheless, prince Hamlet is permanently mourning him through his acts, through his perceived madness, illusory estate, and mixed thoughts: revenging ...

One of the reasons why William Shakespeare’s tragic play Hamlet remains such a popular work of literature, both for dramatic representation in its original form as well as for adaptation into more modern contexts, is that the themes and events in the play reflect truths about humanity than remain accurate in modern times. There are still taboo relationships that should not take place, at least according to the majority opinion among humanity; there are still times when it is difficult to know just when to take drastic action; and try as we may, it is still impossible to separate ...

Modern American fiction often concerns itself with identity; the individual is often at stake in part of a larger group, whether it be a family, village, or the societies of a big city. Perhaps it is the very nature of American fiction to place identity at the core of much of its short fiction; as a relatively young country that evolved quickly through colonial times and the industrial revolution, its population comes from around the world yet still seeks to define itself as a nation. Therefore, it is no surprise that in the diverse fiction of America, the theme of identity is wrestled with ...

Ramayana is a mostly read ancient Indian epic that forms important Hindu norms that are followed up to date. Ramayana means the march (ayana) of Rama in search of human values. It contains 24,000 verses in seven books and 50 cantos. The Ramayana is part of Hindus sacred literature for it speaks about the meaning of life and how one should learn from it and it is used as a guideline by the Hindus. It is a story of friendship and adventure at the same time it is a psychological insight that has spiritual meaning and wisdom .The story tells us about ...

Chaucer presents chivalry as an expression of perfection in character, inspired by the desire to please divine authority. According to Hall, a Knight’s duty in the medieval time was to the King, with the King seen as God’s intermediary (Hall, 16). The author presents chivalry in a militant fashion, probably as a reaction to the prevailing circumstance of chaos that needed a militant hand to defeat the heathens. Chaucer, therefore, presents the Knights as noble images of perfection with chivalry as a mainstay in their duty to man and God, even though it does not bear success ...

The fundamental question that the author of the novel “The Bridge of San Luis Rey”, Thornton Wilder places at the heart of the novel is: “either we live by accident and die by accident, or we live by plan and die by plan” (Wilder 7). In order to try to answer this question, one has to take a deeper look at the sequence of events described in this novel soak oneself in this story.
The novel begins with the description of a terrible tragedy, a bridge destruction that took away lives of 5 people, of which Brother Juniper was ...

Willy Loman and Amanda Wingfield are the main characters in to great American tragedies that both suffer from a tragic flaw. A tragic flaw is a misperception or a lack of insight due to one’s strengths. Both Willy and Amanda cannot see their worlds fully and understand those around them because of their own pride which blinds them. Amanda’s pride keeps her rooted in a past that she can never recreate for her daughter and results in her inability to see her children for who they really are. Willy’s pride in his work prevents him from truly seeing his sons ...

Art & Architecture

The Power of Art: Vincent Van Gogh
Vincent Van Gogh, born in 1853, was the elder of the two sons of the Reverend Theodore Van Gogh, a pastor in a village in South Netherlands. He was different from other children in that, he was philosophical. In order to bring him out of his gloom, his uncle sent him as an art dealer to London, where he went out to save souls. He lived the life of the mind. He didn’t start his career by being a painter, what came first to him was to find the answer to salvation. After ...

Oscar Wilde's 1894 play, The Importance of Being Earnest, explores Victorian era morals with satire and humor as the main character, Jack Worthing, creates an alter-ego in order to relax from his day-to-day duties as a guardian to his friend's daughter, a land-owner and a judge. The themes of morality, the distinction between acceptable and unacceptable behavior, as well as hypocrisy, the disconnect between what Jack believes and how he acts, are central to the development of the play.
The theme of morality is introduced immediately. Jack is introduced as a highly organized and proper man who is a land-owner, guardian and justice ...

Boiled Chicken Feet and Hundred –Year-Old Eggs: Poor Chinese Feasting speaks about a person’s journey to and from places that have made an impact in her life as an adult. The narrative touches on several aspects of the culture of the Malaysian-Chinese. The reader is convinced of the authenticity of the descriptions because the author of this piece is from Malacca, Malaysia. In the narrative, the main character talks about staying in the US and here, the author would again draw from her own experience as she has come to the US for graduate studies and have opted to ...

The aim of this essay is to present you with an analysis and detailed description of Daisy Miller’s character. Who is Daisy Miller? She is a young girl, holding the leading character in the short story ‘Daisy Miller’ written by Henry James. Henry James, though born in America, has been considered more of an English rather than an American writer who has gained wide credibility within the borders of the literary community. He is a writer prominent for his writing style which depicts details of his era, criticizes indirectly the faults of the society and social structure of his time ...

The story “diary of a madman” was written by Lu Xun and was first published in 1918. It is a political allegory that largely criticizes the traditional Chinese system of governance. The story is written from the perspective of an insane man who is of the opinion that everyone is against him and even plots to eat him (Lyell, 35). The story is highly symbolic and was instrumental in the modernization of the Chinese culture. This paper presents an analysis of the madman in the form of his fears, paranoia and obsessions. The madman who is also the dominant character in ...

“One Hundred Years of Solitude” (Cien Añosde Soledad) is a magical realist novel created by Gabriel García Márquez in 1967. This novel is referred to as the Don Quixote of Latin America because of its overwhelming popularity (Jay Corwin, 4). The novel does not have any clear and obvious philosophy that is why the perception of this novel is very individualistic. The tragic and mystique ending pushes to the idea that multiple aspects of life that are described in the novel are heavily criticized by García Márquez (Jay Corwin, 4). And one of these ...

Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White, Hana’s Suitcase by K. Levine, Why Me? By L. Allen and The Paper Bag Princess by R. Munsch present a wide range of conflicts and themes that are aimed at teaching children something about the world that surrounds them. All of the books are under the great influence of the ideology of the times they were written, so it is easy to spot different attitudes towards the same question, as for example, the classic emotional and empathic women in Charlotte’s Web and strong and brave Elizabeth in The Paper Bag Princess. ...

While Machiavelli wrote many different works, ranging from plays and biographies to histories, and was deeply involved in Florentine politics, he is certainly best known for his greatest work, The Prince. In fact, it is from this work and this author that we get the term "Machiavelli and," which describes a person or situation that is cunning, deceitful and (most of all) expedient. This essay will examine the relationship between the concepts expressed in The Prince and the character of Tony Soprano in television's The Sopranos. It will be demonstrated below that on some occasions Tony Soprano (as a ...

Benjamin Franklin is one of greatest Americans who played very significant role in making of modern United States of America. Benjamin was one of brightest brains of America and is known as first American. Benjamin Franklin was a successful politician, author, diplomat, civic activist, scientist and a statesman. This paper intends to discuss life of Benjamin Franklin and further delves into his autobiography in order to know several other related aspects of his life.
As per the information, provided in his biography, Benjamin was born in a very humble family on 17th January, 1706 in Boston. Benjamin was eighth son of ...

Literature Review: Henry James's Daisy Miller

Daisy Miller is a novella written by Henry James, first published in the Cornhill Magazine in the summer of 1878 and reprinted as a novella (James). The book serves as an allegory in which James contrasts the young American culture with the sophisticated European lifestyle he was well acquainted with (D. M. Biography). The question arises whether Daisy, Annie P. ‘Daisy’ Miller is an innocent victim, involved in societal expectations far above her understanding or whether she is as contemptible as her actions seem to suggest. James uses symbolism (D.M. Symbolism, Imagery & Allegory) in this carefully constructed novella to portray Daisy’ ...

What Hamlet Has Changed and What We Learn From Hamlet and Hamlet the Play by William Shakespeare

Information Hamlet Learns Concerning Events in Denmark
Hamlet learns about various events in Denmark and finds out more information concerning his family, friends, reality, and appearances, balancing thoughts, loyalty, polities, and love. The new information that Hamlet learns becomes essential in his life and influences his perception and conception about various aspects in life. Hamlet realizes that Denmark is filled with corruption and is on the verge of destruction. He finds out that ruthless scheming by many people starting with the palace, and royal treason troubles Denmark.

Family

Hamlet learns significant information concerning his family. First, he finds out ...

The national ethos of Americans everywhere is no better represented than by the ever-present, American Dream that has captivated a worldwide imagination since its inception along with the beginning of the Unites States’ existence as a country. For many years, the American Dream has described a world of opportunity in which people of varying cultures and backgrounds enjoy equality in their pursuit of richer, fuller lives. It was this dream that brought the first immigrants to America in the first place, and it was again this dream that gave them the necessary impetus to stay and to improve the conditions of their ...

The play, ‘The Importance of Being Earnest' by Oscar Wilde which is a ludicrous comedy where we are shown people running away from their community commitments. There is a lot of satire that has been brought out by the writer in most marriages. In some marriages, people are concerned about the name and advantages that come with it. Some look for wealth while the others aim is nobility that is associated with their counterparts (Hörz, Stefanie 94). Jack opted to propose to Gwendolen at the absence of her mother and her cousin, Algernon. However, Gwendolen is not ready to accept ...

Horatio: "Before my God, I might not this believe without the sensible and true avouch of mine own eyes.

For they are the actions that a man might play,
But I have that within which passes show,
These but the trappings and the suits of woe. (I.ii)
This passage gives information that makes Hamlet more complex and not simply seem crazy. No one believes that he has seen the ghost of his dead father, and considering that his father’s ghost asks him to get revenge for him by killing the King, he reacts with emotional distress. His emotional outbursts and strange comments have everyone around him believing he has gone crazy and that the ghost ...

Family, Identity and the “American Dream” in Death of a Salesman

Arthur Miller's 1949 play, Death of a Salesman tackles the issues of identity, family dynamics and the pursuit of the “American Dream” using the Loman family as a model to illustrate these concepts. The play starts with Willy Loman, a traveling salesman, returning from a botched business trip. Willy expresses disgust towards his oldest son, Biff, who has failed to do anything substantial with his life. Biff and his younger brother Happy take their father out to dinner where Biff has a flashback to the time he visited his father in Boston and discovered Willy was having an affair with a receptionist. He confronts his ...

Joseph Conrad and William Faulkner are two of the most prominent writers of the modern literary era. In fact in an event held in the year 1957 at the Virginia University, Faulkner openly stated that his works were influenced by Conrad’s writing style. Faulkner have rated ‘ A Heart of Darkness’ as one of his favorite books, and reportedly when he travelled through Kent he remarked to his mother about the serenity of the place, and commented that ‘ no wonder Conrad writes such fine books from here’. Such was the admiration he carried for Conrad. Both of them wrote ...

Introduction

Marilynne Robinson brings us a story of women in her novel, Housekeeping. Most of the characters on the novel are women. Men are not featured in this novel. Robinson sets the novel so that only women are left alone. We are told of the tedious tasks that these women had. We are introduced of Ruth and Lucille, her younger sister. They were brought up by many caretakers. Many questions sprout regarding the mystery of the many caretakers of these girls. Could it be their behavior that made them move from one caretaker to another? All these questions abound, there comes ...

Hamlet, written by the legendary William Shakespeare, is a play which tells of the tragedy of the Prince of Denmark. In the play, the Prince attempts to exact revenge on Claudius, his uncle, for murdering his father, King Hamlet. Set in the Danish Kingdom, the play explores the themes of incest, moral corruption and revenge. As odd as it may appear, it is quite ironical that Claudius decides to kill his own brother, King Hamlet, and take his wife, Queen Gertrude. When the Prince realizes the real cause of his father’s death, he is overcome with seething rage, and ...

If we truly are masters of our own fates, then the actions that we take guide the course of our lives; in contrast, if we fail to take action, then our lives do not move forward. In order for a human being’s life to be harmonious, there must always be a delicate balance of thought and action that allows that person to make decisions wisely while at the same time keeping the urge to act on impulse too often at bay. However, if the scales tip to far in one way or another, then the results can be disastrous for ...

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet tells the story of the prince of Denmark, who is much troubled by an encounter with his dead father, former king of Denmark, claiming he (the father) was murdered by his brother, the current king of Denmark. Because of the revelation, Hamlet became bothered. The event with his father’s “heavenly body” allowed Hamlet to think about and make a stand about certain dilemmas of life.
The story as previously mentioned is filled different topics and ideas that usually plague an individual or a nation at their time and age. Ideas of the fear of the ...

Below is a discussion between three characters from the play Antigone by Sophocles as they are hosted in a talk show. The discussion below follows after the death of Etocles and Polynices.
Host: good evening everyone and thank you for coming out tonight. The topic of our discussion tonight is about the value of family and religious beliefs and values as opposed to following the law to the letter. There exists a thin line between the two concerning which we go for first while making a decision for an action. Ladies and gentlemen tonight , please welcome the three main characters in the ...