Essays on Protagonist

This paper proposes to delineate the characteristics of Holden Caulfield, the adolescent protagonist hero of J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye and illuminate the reasons as to why this prototype of brooding adolescence, displaying a rather uber-cool style of disaffection, disenchantment and disillusionment became an indispensable figure of interest, in literary circles as well as popular culture. The paper seeks to take issue with the wider dimensions attached to the ‘incapacitation and debilitation’ Holden is often accused of and address Salinger’s vision behind etching Caulfield precisely the way he is. The paper also wishes to foreground Continue reading...

Introduction

Realism is a unique philosophical belief that suggests that a person’s reality (which can be characterized by his perception of life, including the things a person has and the experiences he has encountered), or a certain aspect of such reality is dependent on subjective factors and is ontologically independent from standard conceptual schemes, linguistic practices, beliefs, perceptions, and other established system . Realism is generally the view that entities, which in this are humans, have an objective reality, a reality that is completely and ontologically independent of those entities’ conceptual schemes, linguistic practices, beliefs, and etc. Thus, entities including Continue reading...

- In the essay, I will argue that art house movies are of higher quality that popular ones;
- Another point to show in the essay is that art house movies are worth watching;

Introduction

Consumerism is the way of life of modern society. Consumerism means not only consuming goods, but means of entertainment, as well. Hollywood makes movies that are focused on needs of unthinking society. On the other hand, art house movies make people think not only about the plot of a movie, but about the world around them, as well. I this essay, I will compare two Continue reading...

The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

The Story Of An Hour is a short story that narrates the time that pass by between the moment protagonist, Louise Mallard, leans of the news that her husband died and later discovers that indeed her husband is still alive. Once she hears of her husband’s death, Mallard perceives herself as a liberated woman but her perceived joy is short-lived.

Symbolism

The troubled heart
The heart trouble that Mallard suffers from depicts a woman’s perceived physical weaknesses. It further represents Mallard’s hesitancy regarding her troubled marriage and her need for freedom. Mallard’s heart illness is the Continue reading...

‘Instructor’s name’

‘Subject’
Literary analysis of A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen
As Meyer says, A Doll’s House is a play about, “the need of every individual to find out the kind of person he or she really is and to strive to become that person”. The play revolves around the life of the protagonist Nora, who breaks away from the shackles imposed on her by the gender roles devised by the patriarchal society, and sets out to discover her true potential as an individual. The play fits the genre of a social tragedy, whereby the protagonist falls prey Continue reading...

Thesis

Antigone is a tragedy by Sophocles that begins with the deaths of two brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices; their deaths are caused by their own swords in a struggle for the throne after their father, Oedipus, dies. Creon, the relative who takes up the throne allows for an honourable burial of Eteocles but denies Polyneices the same respect. He issues a decree that Polyneices’ body be dumped in the wild and no respect to be paid for it. Antigone, Polyneices and Eteocles’ sister, learns of the decree but goes ahead to bury her brother, Polyneices, despite the orders given by Continue reading...

The Great Gatsby is a story written by Scott Fitzgerald. It is a story about a twisted love affair among the main characters, daisy and Gatsby. The author through his characters shows how striving for wealth defined individuals’ dreams. Moreover, the story revolves around a pursuit of happiness for the protagonist Gatsby who never wanted to let his past go, but was pursuing it through wealth and material things. This entire story represents characters who fail to learn from their past experiences and mistakes. The characters in this book are static, starting with Jay Gatsby, Tom Buchanan, Daisy Buchanan, Continue reading...

RESEARCH PAPER

- What is your thesis?
(This statement should be only one sentence long and must have three things in it: the name of the primary source author(s), the name of the primary source/story or stories, and the main idea that you are trying to prove. If possible, you may also provide a plan of development and list your 3-4 major points.)
The paper tries to analyze whether the protagonist of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story, Young Goodman Brown, is a hero or a dupe. It will show how Brown’s weaknesses, including conceit, leads to his demise. The analysis Continue reading...

The cannon of human literature is littered with instances of human beings trying to aspire to the level of creators. There are many examples in different cultures of mankind suffering consequences when aspiring to the level of creation that these societies reserves for the gods. Ready examples include the Adam and Eve story in which humankind tastes from a tree of knowledge. Another example is that of Prometheus, the god who brought woes on humankind by given it the gift (or was it the curse?) of fire. In more modern times films and literature reflect this same human concern. Continue reading...

Introduction

“Animal Farm” was written by George Orwell. It is a satire and political literature. The original title of the novel is “Animal Farm: A Fairy Story” that proves it as a fable written with a purpose. However, the author did a wonderful attempt to present the political crisis and tyrannical government through a story of animals in a farm. It is a dystopian and allegorical novel. Orwell’s intention is to reflect Russian Revolution and reign of Stalin in Soviet Union. The novel is about the life of animals in a farm. They wanted to rebel and save themselves Continue reading...

Every individual has two lives, the life we live, and the life we live after that. Nobody is perfect, but if one works hard enough, he/she can stay away from failure. The Natural is a novel written by Bernard Malamud. It is Bernard Malamud’s first novel that initially received mixed reactions, but afterwards, it was regarded as an outstanding piece of literature. It is a story about Roy Hobbs who, after making mistakes in his life, he returns the bribery money and is left with self-hatred for mistakes he has done. Hobbs was a baseball player who aspired Continue reading...

Other

“The Day After Tomorrow”, a feature US movie of 2004 directed by Roland Emmerich, was undoubtedly a commercial success. There have been many disaster movies before, but quite a few of its predecessors might have been compared to it in terms of computer effects and quasi realism. The general public liked the effect of the new Judgement Day, and the box office of ‘The Day After Tomorrow” has exceeded 550 million dollars worldwide, while the original budget was around 125 million. The filming took place in the total of 17 locations, including New York City (with a hefty amount Continue reading...

Richard Wright

Introduction:
Richard Wright wrote Black Boy in 1944 and published it 1945. Although it follows Native Son in the publishing history, Black Boy is about his life as a child and a young man. At that time, he was still living in the United States. He had been active in the Communist Party but withdrew in 1942. It is clearly autobiographical and used his family names as the character names. It reflects its era by bringing to light how people suffered in the racially intolerant American society of the times. It is important because it clearly shows how these Continue reading...

Synopsis of wit

Wit begins with Vivian speaking to the audience. She is a patient at a major research hospital and has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer (Edson 3). She treats her sickness with the same impartiality as she would research. Before she was hospitalized, she was professor Bearing. She played the role of scholar and teacher specializing in the Holy Sonnets of John Donne. In her play, Margaret takes the audience through the many achievements of professor Bearing by illuminating on the past and the present achievements. Vivian takes the audience through what happens to her when she is treated with Continue reading...

Love is an intrinsic sense of affection between two people. There are different types of love; relationships and affairs love. Relational love involves the affection between people who are related by either blood or culture. On the extreme end, affairs love involves two people from the opposite sex who have affection towards one another. Freud’s argue that; love is not what is given but shared. It is what the man gives to the woman and gets in return. He believes that a woman should be submissive in love affairs. A woman is believed is believed to be the Continue reading...

Rita Dove and Katherine Mansfield were not contemporaries, nor do they write in the same genre. But two works, one from each author, are worth comparing and contrasting since both have a similar underlying theme, which leads the reader to a contrary conclusion.
“DayStar” is a poem by Rita Dove that has to do with the life of a busy mother who is only able to leave her perpetual duties for an hour a day. Katherine Mansfield’s “Miss Brill” is about a woman who is an avid people watcher who uses her avid imagination to find meaning in Continue reading...

Introduction

Raise the red lantern (1991) is a Chinese film whose main theme is sexual enslavement. The protagonist in the film lives life in a closed system where the long established customs that rule demand no escape. The protagonist in the film is a nineteen year old girl who drops out of college in the event of her father’s death. The girl is condemned into a life of a concubine of a wealthy man, alongside four others, because her mother denied her support after the demise of her father. The movie in itself is an anthropological lesson because it Continue reading...

‘Instructor’s name’

‘Subject’
European colonial influences on African culture in Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” and Achebe’s “Civil Peace
Imperial powers employ different methods to control the nations ruled by them. Apart from force, they also use various ideological means as an indirect mode of attaining control over the colonized nation. Sometimes more than military prowess, ideological instruments makes the people of the colonies accept the power of the ruling imperialist nation, and make them receptive to the domination inflicted on them. Some of the ideological instruments include religion, literature, and education, and these instruments were used to create a Continue reading...

Literature gives a reflection of the society we live in, authors are able to get their ideas from the issue that face the society and organize these ideas to come up with plays, novels, poems and even songs. Once one can connect what an author presents to the contemporary society, it is very easy to understand the themes and the ideas that the author reflects.
1. Compare and contrast the depiction of female characters in Oedipus Rex, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Glass Menagerie. What does each author suggest about the role of women in his society Continue reading...

Theater is one of the most ancient forms of art. The beginning of Western civilization, ancient Greece, lived a very important part in the development of this form, with many plays reaching classical status, like Oedipus King and the Oresteia trilogy. Aristotle, one of the most important Greek philosophers, offered six elements of drama in his work Poetics: setting, characters, theme, plot, language and music. These have served as a reference to study these types of works of art from antiquity to this day. The first three will serve as a guide for the analysis and comparison of important Continue reading...

There are many symbols is the short story by Leo Tolstoy The death of Ivan Ilyich. The most significant symbols are the black sack and the border around the death notice. In this essay, I will try to outline several other symbols in the short story and analyze them.
The border is the first symbol that appears when reading the story. Ivan Ilyich’s friends notice an obituary in the newspaper, which was framed with a black border. The border symbolizes how small and insignificant a person’s life may be. Everything that a correspondent need was a black Continue reading...

Introduction

Education plays an important role in teaching children valuable lessons that will help them change or become agents of change. This idea materializes in Mildred Taylor’s Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Told from the perspective of 9 year old Cassie, the girl leans valuable lessons, especially from bitter experiences of racism and injustice, which allowed her to grow and become an instrument or vehicle of change. The following discussion focuses on the lessons that Cassie learned, these lessons’ influences on Cassie’s point of view, behavior, and role in the story.

Coming of Age in Roll of Thunder, Hear Me Cry

Taylor’s Roll of Thunder, Hear Continue reading...

- Characterization: Characterization is defined as a literary device that the writer uses to highlight and explain step by step a character’s details in a story.
- Flat character: A flat character in a work of fiction is a character with little development. The character does not change or undergo significant change as the story progresses.
- Round Character: A round character is a term coined by E. M. Foster. It is opposite to a flat character, and is defined as a complex character that changes and is developed by the writer during the course of the story.
- Continue reading...

Book review (The Quiet American Dream)

Ethnic Stereotypes: Americans vs. Europeans.
Greene in his Quiet American Dream is vivid about the disparity between the Americans and the British in terms of their conduct. In this case, Pyle is one character that is used by Greene to establish the unruly conduct of the Americans. They are expressed to be untimely. That is; they are not time observant. On the other hand, they are different from the British people who are stern and concerned about what they do. For instance, Fowler, who represents the British, states that he, is not willing to wait upon a policeman to Continue reading...

- Thesis Statement
This paper is a comprehensive analysis of the production of the play Measure to Measure by Shakespeare that I watched on Thursday 27th February, 2014 at 2230 hours at The New 42nd Street Studios which belongs to The New Victory Theatre Company.
- Overview
The play that forms subject for this report is entitled Measure for Measure. The theatre company that presents the production of this play was The New Victory Theatre Company which has numerous theatre rooms across the streets of New York including, The Duke on 42nd street and The New 42nd Street Studio. Continue reading...

Introduction 3

Background of the Movie 3

Conclusion 7

Reference 7

Unknown (2011): Movie Review
Introduction
When it comes to the idea of losing one’s identity comes into mind, the challenges could be daunting. Identity, as it is, is a very important factor that defines one’s capacity to live by his being; a characteristic that people will know of and identify him along with such personal marks. Along with one’s identities are his rights; hence, when such identity is taken, one might feel to be at a loss. This particular theme is presented on the plot of the story Continue reading...

Heart of Darkness is a novel written by Joseph Conrad. The setting of the book is in Belgian Congo, which was the most infamous European colony in Africa. This is a story about the protagonist Marlow’s journey to self-discovery, and his experiences in Congo. Conrad’s story explores the colonialism period in Africa to demonstrate Marlow’s struggles. Along the way, he faces insanity, death, his fear of failure, and cultural contamination as he makes his way to the inner station. Conrad through the protagonist and antagonist life explores European imperialism and its effects to Africans.
Marlow is Continue reading...

Aliens Films (1979-1997)

What is the significance of events in films? Are all the bits and pieces in films intentionally included by directors? These are some of the questions I asked myself as I set out on a comprehensive analysis of the audience message in the Aliens Films (1979-1997). According to film analyst Greg Smith, different events in films are not to be treated as accidental encounters of random occurrence and spontaneity. They are instead purposefully planned series of events with cause and effect and with nothing left to chance (Greg 128). Greg explains that Hollywood films are inadvertently one of the Continue reading...

The Awakening is a novel written by Kate Chopin. The story takes place in the 19th century in a Victorian society. The Awakening focuses on Edna who is the protagonist in the story, and she is the wife to Mr. Pontellier. It is a story about a woman who tried to transform herself from a housewife and mother into an independent woman, but she was not successful. Edna was just a normal wife like the other women in the nineteenth century who played the full role of an ideal woman who obeyed her husband, and cared for her kids. Continue reading...

The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poetry that originates from Mesopotamia. It is among the earliest known literature in Mesopotamia. Many scholars believe that it originated from a series of Sumerian poems, and legends about Gilgamesh who is the protagonist. It is known to be the oldest recorded story in the human history that is over 4000 years old.
The story portrays Mesopotamia’s society in the third millennium B.C.E vision of after life. In addition, the story tells shows the reader how the people in Mesopotamia believed in the gods, and offered sacrifices for their prayers to Continue reading...

English

Poe’s ‘The Tell-Tale Heart can be described as a short story that hovers around the theme of crime and murder, and the short movie also justifies the duration of the story. The movie is more of a narrative; the protagonist is seen continuously describing his mind and moves directly to the camera. The movie can be categorized as being quantitative because of the attitude of the protagonist right through the movie. He says that he has no personal hatred for the old man, but it’s his vulture’s eyes that seem to make him go cold inside. Continue reading...

Introduction

The literature and art of a given era often portray the beliefs and views of the societies. Homer’s poems, the Odyssey and Iliad, as well as an epic poem from Mesopotamia, the Epic of Gilgamesh, give the historians and scholars a notion how the ancient Greeks lived their day-to-day lives. By the reader reading the three poems, he/she will be in a position to experience Homer’s three thousand years old society. Admired through the ages by many as the ultimate epic, Homer’s Odyssey, along with its companion piece of work, the Iliad, was accepted by the Continue reading...

Homer, the stalwart figure in the history of literature of the world, made his mark in his seminal work, The Odyssey, which has passed the test of time and has got engraved in the verses of immortality all over the globe for its literary excellence and quintessence. The cinematic adaptation of the epic was directed by Andrei Konchalovsky and it released in the year 1997. Odysseus is a man of paramount strength, but relies on his brains than his brawns. The perseverance of the human soul and loyalty are all the various facets of human emotions which the epic Continue reading...

Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 is arguably one of the most influential books of its time. Written during a very difficult period in Heller’s life, the novel captures what was to be a pivotal moment for American culture, as well as American history. Catch-22 follows Captain John Yossarian as he peels back the traditional heroism of war to reveal sheer madness. With heavy notes of satire, Heller presents several different themes throughout the novel as we see Yossarian thrust into the insane trappings of a real catch-22, sometimes masking the symbolism of what the book really stands for, which Continue reading...

When a person reads a lot, favorite writers and characters become a small family. Moreover, a person gets to know author’s style. Hence, in future, it will be easy for the reader to recognize the author. For this assignment, I had to compare two short stories of Stewart Edward White: The girl who got rattled and The two cartridges. In this comparison essay, I will suggest that the both short stories have a lot in common not only in the style of writing but in protagonists’ characters and actions.

The protagonist of both stories is Alfred. In the first story, Alfred is described as

“He was a little man, and he was bashful.” ( Continue reading...

Lusus Naturae or the freak of nature was a story written by Margaret Atwood. It was a dark, scary, and at times, evil story about how a young half-human and half-monster female, which was also the protagonist in the story, was being treated by the people around her. She was so unwanted to the point that her parents just wanted her to die. She was described in the story as someone who has red fingernails, yellow eyes, and thick hair everywhere in the body . The protagonist in the story once said that “our family has always been respected, and Continue reading...

Literature

QUESTION ONE: Love in LA
The setting of this story is located at the Freeway in Los Angeles. The protagonist is Jake, an irresponsible, lazy and self-absorbed person. The other character is Mariana, an innocent and naïve woman. Jake caused a careless accident by hitting Mariana’s car. Jake being a dishonest person, he cheated Mariana by giving her fake insurance and phone numbers. The freeway in the story symbolized freedom of Jake to daydream leading to an accident (Perrine, 2002). The themes of this story are deception, lies and fantasy. The irony is indicated by the fact Continue reading...

Introduction

Man is no match to the extreme cold, especially when he travels alone. His skills on how to build a fire are not enough to assure his survival against the harsh weather. It takes more than skills and fitness to conquer the challenges of life. In the succeeding paragraphs, the experiences of the protagonist in To Build a Fire are discussed. Jack London, through this story, is emphasizing the qualities that a man should have to survive the difficulties he encounters in life. His use of the extreme cold as the setting and only the man and the dog Continue reading...

- What is the Topic?
The objective of this paper is to discuss a selected topic in the field of ethics. The selected topic to be discussed was the ethical validity of the principle that suggests that the good of many outweighs the good of one. This paper will revolve around this ethical dilemma and its applicability in Henrietta Lacks’ case, perhaps even in the case of her family.
- How is Henrietta and her family involved?
The bottom line that makes this paper relevant to the principle that suggests that the good of the many outweighs the good Continue reading...

Lynd Ward developed his masterpiece in the depths of the great depression with his pictorial narrative the Wild Pilgrimage. Wild Pilgrimage is a narrative that portrays a laborer in this case referred to as a protagonist who is fleeing from the frustrations of the countryside to the city. In the narrative the countryside is far from being ideal and the laborer ends up with enemies of his own class whom he has to deal with in the city. The narrative implies individual escape and its rejection and a hint of what might be referred to as a lifestyle of Continue reading...