Essays on Throughout The Story

Abstract

This peer review looks at Alex Pierce’s story, The Challenging Two Mile, which is a story about a young man who is running a two mile race at Virginia State Championships. This tale is a self-reflection and personal growth story that follows a chronological plot format, focusing on the character and his pain as the main imagery from the audience’s viewpoint. While the overall image of the two-mile race sets the backdrop, it is the internal and external body struggles that make this story so captivating. Fast-paced and well-written it is an honest, simple and down-to-earth learning ...

In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the typical Victorian marriage is constructed as a prisoner from which a woman is only able to escape when she becomes insane. Her insanity becomes her only way of defying her husband, and gaining freedom. The author’s feminist argument in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is skillfully constructed by creating a protagonist whose growing mental instability is narrated from her own perspective. However, ironically, at the same time with her worsening mental state, she evades the social rules and pressures which had entrapped her in an unhappy marriage. While her mental condition ...

Jack London's ‘To Build a Fire’ takes place within the sub- freezing Yukon of Alaska. The stories protagonist is an unnamed man who, besides the admonition of an experienced old man of Sulphur Creek decides to brave the merciless elements to meet his friends at a camp. Alongside him is his companion a large wolf dog. Readers are introduced to the setting at the beginning of the story as it states “day had dawned cold and gray” he continues with the statement “there seemed to be an indescribable darkness over the face of things” (London 64). This presents as ...

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a contradiction of people who are authentic such as Sybil and Henry and those who are hiding their true selves behind deceptions, like Dorian and Basil. This paper will look at the use of “smoke and mirrors” in The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. “Smoke and Mirrors” is a metaphor that refers to the hiding of truth behind a veil of deception. This is a concept that is popular in Victorian Literature and helps to drive the plot as the conflict is often times essential to the advancement of the storyline. ...

The Canterbury Tales is one of the greatest pieces of literature because of Chaucer’s story-telling techniques. He weaves together various stories and characters to create this memorable tale that continues to be studied and examined throughout the ages. However, some of the pilgrim’s tales are more engaging to the readers than other ones. For instance, the Knight’s Tale is filled with courtly love, jousting and war scenes, as well as the time honored knight’s code. It can be considered a tale of courtly love as well as an epic due to its writing style. Despite ...

Many authors regard their work as being a single standalone piece of art. By this logic, it can be safe to assume that the authors work their literary pieces to stand out against similar genres of works. However, in some cases many different stories end up sharing the same motif and theme. In many cases like this, it is not because of two authors collaborating to come up with a theme, or lesson, to teach society but a stroke of luck. When forming their stories, authors use society around them to develop their characters, settings, and such so in ...

Essay on Borders

Introduction Identity is a strong personal bond created in one’s character. There are several models expressing the nature of identity, and each model is expressed in the characters in this story. The mother would not give up her identity and declare herself American or Canadian. It seems the boy was either not understanding or in denial of what was happening as his focus throughout was on past experiences and food but yet was learning his identity through the interactions of his mother. The daughter in the story had a great desire to leave the reservation, but then reconsidered ...

Some actions, despite their initial good intentions, are hampered by its oftentimes poor executions. Although Victor Frankenstein expressed that his initial reason to cheat the cycle of life and death is to create a better world, his past and state of mind is actually mired with selfish intentions. Curiosity is something inherent in every human being, but there is a line that must never be crossed even by the most insatiable thirst for knowledge. There is a fine line that separates science and knowledge from madness and insanity, regardless of the age and reason. Victor’s desire for knowledge ...

The Storm is a story Written by Kate Chopin. The time at which the story was set is in the 19th century. The story was set in Louisiana and in real sense; Louisiana is a place that is best known for violent storms. The story is about is a confrontation of the theme of femininity and complexities of the married people in the storm. The storm is used throughout the story, and it only ends after the characters, Alcee and Calixta’s sexual encounter, which brings out the theme of femininity, and sexual desires. Kate Chopin opens her story with the ...

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 ...

Theme comparison between ‘the destructors’ and ‘the most dangerous game’

Introduction Authors utilize literature to pass message to the intended audience. While each story/ work of literature focuses on a similar occasion, character or event, the similarity in the themes, motifs and characterization indicate a similarity in the nature of the human condition. Different occasions and experiences when presented through literature, reveal that while the location, characters and motivations might be different, the persevering nature of the themes reveal similarities in the experience of between people in different settings.

Thesis statement

This essay seeks to; Compare the themes between the short stories, ‘the destructors’ and ‘the most dangerous game’ with relation to ...

Ramayana: The Legend of Rama and Sage Vishwamirta

This is one of the greatest Hindu epic stories that have been told for such a long time. It talks about a young prince that leaves behind everything he possessed so as to save the world from demons. It is a good adventure story talking about both love and morality in the world. The story concentrates on Rama a son to the king of Ayodhya, Dasharatha and his wife Queen Kausalya as well as two other wives, Kaikeyi and Sumitra. The king is blessed with three other sons Bharata, Lakshmana and Shatrugha with Rama being the eldest. This narrative shows the meaning of ...

“Compass and Torch”

In Elizabeth Baines’, “Compass and Torch”, an eight year old boy, ready for the camping trip with his father that he has not seen in four months, listens as his mother mocks the idea of camping on a mountain side with an eight year old that his father cannot relate to, to her new boyfriend Jim. As the boy is packing for his trip, he comes into the kitchen with his torch and reluctantly hands it to Jim, who checks it to make sure it is in working order for the boy. Throughout the story’s entirety, the central theme ...

Themes in “Barn Burning” and “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”

William Faulkner and Ambrose Bierce are both extraordinary writers, and they each have many publications that cover a variety of themes. Of interest are William Faulkner’s short story, “Barn Burning,” and Ambrose Bierce’s short story, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.” Although both short stories comment on a variety of values and ideas, they are both connected by the very powerful theme of loyalty versus principle. Both stories share several similarities, but the strongest similarity is how they tackle the theme of loyalty versus morality. In fact, both of these stories tackle this theme through the protagonist of ...

The understanding of this character depends on the insight it holds throughout the story line. The responsibility of the two families comes upon the very character. The vision of the individual that responsibility earns one a respect to live for others and the story line, both beautifully describe how the character’s expression. The relation with her mother house of this character has a deep influence on the way this character evolves this story. The relation with Jamila is really important. The painting that was presented in the end, to the academy, was a classical caption of the characters depiction of the ...

The Portrayal of Adulthood in The Chocolate War by Robert Comier and Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher

The Chocolate War is about the bravery and steadfastness of Jerry, the protagonist, in refusing to engage in a depraved years-long tradition at Trinity High School carried out by The Vigils. The Vigils order students at the high school to complete various challenging tasks often with harrowing outcomes. The Vigils ordered Jerry to refuse helping out at the high school’s yearly chocolate auction despite the fact that they assured Brother Leon, the coordinator of the event, that they, including Jerry, would help sell chocolates. Jerry’s task was supposed to last for ten days, after which he would be ...

The story happens in the home of Louise Mallard in the late nineteenth century; however, the author, Chopin, does not state the precise location. The main character is Louise Mallard while minor characters include Brently Mallard (her husband), Josephine (her sister) and Richards (a friend to her husband). The story is entirely about Louise and presents a negative view about marriage since the news of the husband’s death undoubtfully overjoys the woman. The question here is why the woman is all happy over her husband’s death. Most likely her feeling is psychological since she feels she has received freedom ...

Door and Windows as Barriers and Passageways to Truth in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Hyde” is a story about a successful and respected doctor who has a dual personality. He is Dr. Jekyll, a respected doctor with a stellar reputation. However, when he drinks a potion he created, he becomes an evil murderer. A major motif in the story is doors and windows. Doors and windows lead to new places. Doors are for hiding behind, and they also represent a passage, a geographical point of no return, and a journey into the unknown. Windows expose truth and reality. They ...

Cities of Salt is a rare kind of book, of Arab history, written by Abdurrahman Munif, in which an inanimate concept, a community or culture, tells its own story, a story of hypocrisy of the involved nations, after a poor oasis was discovered as an oil source. The disturbed landscape and the rural oasis towns of the Arab world are sketched in an exemplary way that any one from the region can relate well with the places. The destruction of the community as well as the countryside after the oil mining activities began is explained as “"a breaking off, like death, which nothing and ...

Introduction

Barn Burning by William Faulkner is a very simple plot in which a violent and terrorizing father Abner Snopes compels his young son Sartoris to select between his father’s destructive and unethical demeanor to the own ethical dilemmas that young Sartoris face. Throughout the story, the main theme depicted is a constant conflict the young protagonist had in striving to save his father at the cost of justice. The opening sentence of the story displays inconsistencies like “justice of the Peace’s Court” and “smelled of cheese”. The story has throughout reflected inconsistencies in the form of an imperfect society, a violent ...

F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author of “The Great Gatsby”, develops his characters in such a way that that they seem to contradict each other’s personality traits. Such a set up essentially allows the readers of the novel to notice and understand these characters in an almost equal magnitude. The best depiction in this set up is brought put in the two major characters in the novel, Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway. The two characters’ traits are hugely contradictory of each other. On one hand, Nick Carraway is a character who exhibits great development throughout the story while Jay Gatsby is a man ...

Kathryn Tanner – Christ the Key (2010), 320 pp Kathryn Tanner joined the faculty of Divinity in Yale in 2010. This was after teaching in the Divinity School of the University of Chicago for sixteen years and the department of Religious studies in Yale for ten years. She has engineered a lot of research on the history of Christian thought to current issues of theological concern using cultural, feminist, and social theory. She has written several books such as; God and Creation in Christian Theology: Tyranny or Empowerment? The politics of God: Christian Theologies and Social Justice, Theories of Culture: ...

Introduction

The story discusses three girls who visit A & P grocery store wearing bathing suits, Queenie and her two friends. The narrator is Sammy, a young man working as a clerk at the checkout of the grocery store. The theme relating to the power of desire is prominent throughout the plot, character, and setting of the narrative.

Plot

The theme of desire is apparent from the introductory of the plot. It begins with Sammy providing a description of three girls that have just walked into the grocery store. He describes the outfits and the physical features of each of the three girls. Sammy does ...

The Story of an Hour is an acclaimed literary work by Kate Chopin. Kate is well known for writing story emphasized on freedom or independence of women during the 1890s. Kate’s works were written before any feminist movement was begun. During that time women were considered as property of their husband. This fact impacted author on great way hence she emphasized on liberalization of women in her stories. Throughout the story of an hour, Kate utilizes various literary techniques to display forbidden joy of women’s freedom in male oriented society. Kate’s short story revolves around a ...

Ursula K Le Guin: The Day Before the Revolution

Ursula Le Guin’s short story ‘The Day Before the Revolution’ focuses on the main character’s old age experiences, exploring several important and crucial themes such as ageing, loneliness and grief. It is often seen as a sort of prologue to the more famous story The Dispossessed in which Le Guin explores the rambling themes of racism and political ambivalence. The story follows is about a woman, Laia Asieo Odo, and it follows her throughout a day in her life. Although she is sometimes referred to as Odo, this story is a personal narrative mostly and she is calls her ed ...

‘Instructor’s Name’

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks ‘The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks’ written by Rebecca Skloot is a heartwarming story of an African American woman, whose cells have contributed immensely to medical science. Henrietta was suffering from cervical cancer and while undergoing treatment for this ailment, some cells from her body were extracted and used for medical experiments. These cells were named ‘HeLa’ cells and they went on to become the source of many important discoveries in the medical field. Many pharmaceutical companies reaped millions of profit from the researches based on these cells, and there are over seventeen ...

‘Instructor’s Name’

"Barn burning", by William Faulkner ‘Barn Burning’ is a short story written by William Faulkner, a Nobel Laureate and two times Pulitzer winner, and was first published in the year 1939, in the Harper’s Magazine. As found in all Faulkner stories, this story too deals with the societal issues of the South, and it tells a great deal about the life during the Great depression years. It serves as a window to the reader, to peep into the economic, race and class turmoil of the depression decade. Faulkner stories are known for their grim portrayal of grotesque characters and the explicit ...

Understanding the sublimity of the Romanticist literary movement related to nature's effect on the human psyche considers the method Mary Shelly embodies the concept in her story of the Monster creator, Victor, and the Monster in "Frankenstein". According to Gingold, the sublime seeks elevating human senses through a physical reaction causing shivers and emotionally lifting the soul. At the same time, Gingold cites Edmund Burke who proclaimed subliminal influence on the most profound human emotion was to create fear and thus leave an uncomfortable sense of awareness in humans of their "utter insignificance" (2013). The subliminal effect most prevalent in ...

Speak is a novel is about a girl named Melinda. Melinda an extremely timid and shy throughout the story but then again that is only for the reason that she had gotten raped during a party that took place over the summer. She then called the police because of what had taken place. However, for calling the cops everyone hated her and would not talk to her, not even her best friends would speak. A central part or theme of the story has a lot to do with mirrors. Whenever Melinda looks in a mirror it reminds herself about that part of her life ...

A comparison

The works “The Pomegranate” and the “bamboo leaf boats” are examples of Japanese literature that seeks to communicate a message. Each author approaches their work with a sense of abstract wonder, the ability to assess the value of each method will aid in reaching the next level of literary understanding. Both stories relate an intimate tale of loneliness and longing, the ability to discern the intent and evaluate the context will aid in the capacity to build on the foundation. This study will examine if the experiences of the primary characters credibly translate into experience for the reader.

“bamboo leaf boats”

“bamboo leaf boats” ...

Compare and Contrast

Introduction Marriage is an essential component of many societies, as it involves the union between two people in love with one another who would eventually create a family. As a form of social organization, marriage has become the subject of several controversies, with some outside of the purpose of romantic union. Notable pieces of literature attest to that fact, and this study aims to construct an analysis between two literary works – The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin and A Marriage Proposal by Anton Chekhov, with both literary works establishing that marriage, as a social practice, has found associations with ...

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Introduction

Marriage is an essential component of many societies, as it involves the union between two people in love with one another who would eventually create a family. As a form of social organization, marriage has become the subject of several controversies, with some outside of the purpose of romantic union. Notable pieces of literature attest to that fact, and this study aims to construct an analysis between two literary works – The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin and A Marriage Proposal by Anton Chekhov. This study uses both literary works to establish ...

Blair Waldorf is one of the main characters of the TV series Gossip Girl (Von, 2003). The show revolves around the life of teenagers and the typical issues of that age; love, sex, and conflict. Belonging to an elite family of New York, Blair is known as the Queen Bee of Manhattan's social scene. However, her actions are under the constant scrutiny of an anonymous blogger; Gossip Girl. This person continues to update New York’s youth via the digital world of technology. These posts did not only expose the scandalous life of the elites, but it was also ...

Did emily kill homer?

In “A Rose for Emily,” lonely spinster Emily Grierson kills her discreet and distant lover Homer Barron, a murder that is revealed only long after the fact to the town in which she lives, shocking its residents. The reasons are never explicitly mentioned in the story, but the isolated environment of the town, the townsfolk's poor and judgmental treatment of Emily, and Homer's own ambivalence toward his relationship with Emily all drive her to kill. Death is a persistent symbol throughout the story - tracing the steps back throughout the town to determine just what led to ...

Analysis of Volar by Judith Ortiz Coffer

Introduction Volar embodies a story of freedom from the confinements of human life. The author of the nonfiction story narrates of a life imagined in a dream where she was able to live life devoid of the inhibitions brought about by living life as a human being. Throughout the story, various aspects of the language and emotion employed in narrating the story helps the readers steal glances and sneak previews into the author’s desired life. In the analysis of the tone in the story, the paper will highlight the different ways that the personality of the author manifests in the story ...

Bruton comes across as caring throughout the story. Not only is he willing to stay at home and take care of his grandchildren, but he actually seems to be making an effort to ensure that things change for the better. The story starts with Bruton musing over the fate of all his children, demonstrating knowledge of what is currently occurring in their lives, only made possible through continued involvement. Further, Bruton agrees to weld his oldest daughter’s bed, despite the fact that he is already burdened with four children he has to take care of. Bruton also ...

In “A Rose for Emily,” lonely spinster Emily Grierson kills her discreet and distant lover Homer Barron, a murder that is revealed only long after the fact to the town in which she lives, shocking its residents. The reasons are never explicitly mentioned in the story, but the isolated environment of the town, the townsfolk's poor and judgmental treatment of Emily, and Homer's own ambivalence toward his relationship with Emily all drive her to kill. Death is a persistent symbol throughout the story - tracing the steps back throughout the town to determine just what led to Emily's death. The reason ...

The two texts used for our comparative analysis are “Piggybook” by Anthony Browne and “Guinea Pigs”. Both texts are extremely different in terms of their genre, language, content and grammar. Piggybook is a fictional text whereas Guinea Pigs is an information report and purely non-fictional.

Piggybook is a short fictional story about a family, their daily mundane routine and behaviour. There are four everyday human characters in it, a setting, a problem and a resolution. It has all the elements which are present in any fictional story.

The author Anthony Browne has used very simple descriptive language to describe the characters and events that are ...

Culture and identity has been enormously portrayed by authors in a number of literary works. This paper intends to discuss the culture and identity in three different literatures, The Raisin in the Sun, The Yellow Wallpaper, and I'm nobody! Who are you along with further discussion about several other related aspects of the subject matter. The Raisin in the Sun is a brilliant piece of literary work by Lorraine Hansberry. The author is well known for his portrayal of cultural and identical issues. In the play, raisin in the sun, the author widely discusses the African American culture. The story ...

“Emergency” is set in the emergency department of a hospital. In this interesting and unique tale, readers are introduced to an unreliable narrator and his equally questionable friend. Both in reality and as a result of drug induced hallucination, Johnson exploits the use of place in both setting up and accentuating the themes of the story. The narrator has been working in the hospital as a clerk for the last few weeks. He had his friend, Georgie, abuse drugs, and Georgie takes them illegally from the medical supplies in the hospital. The nature of the story lends itself to being set ...

The world of Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” is an amalgamation of black and white, where the readers are not privileged to an easy “handle” on the affair that befalls the young and impressionable Connie. The story is a powerful fixture of numerous interpretations and almost mythic strata of a susceptible youth’s conscious and unconscious desires and fears. Throughout the story, the author conveys copious indications that Connie’s encounter with Arnold Friend is not reality, but a nightmare the intention of which is to frighten her into delving deeper into her conscience and making ...

“Saint Helene” by Alice Hoffman is a fascinating, moving and sad story. Through a variety of literary techniques such as characterisation, viewpoint and language, Hoffman shows us the effects that tragedy can have on a person and on the people around them. More importantly, however, is the way in which the author has explored the unpredictable nature of grief and of how people handle it in different ways.

“Saint Helene” is written in third person narrative and the view point switches several times throughout the story. This is fairly unusual in a short story as authors tend to stick to the point of ...

Author

The author was born in 1916(she actually claimed she was born in 1919, to appear younger than her husband), in San Francisco, California. Her childhood was one of low self-esteem and a fragile sense of identity, because of her mother who verbally abused her.

Jackson attended Brighton High School in Rochester, NY, and graduated in 1934. Then, she graduated in 1940 from Syracuse University, where she studied English.

During her adult life, she was not what the society expected a “faculty wife” (she was married to a critic) should be: she drank, smoked, was interested in witchcraft and magic, was ...

In his book Dubliners, James Joyce included fifteen short stories, which were originally aimed to depict the reality and naturalism of the Irish middle class life in Dublin and its suburbs in the beginning of the 20th century. Not only did James manage to depict the actual life of its protagonists, but he also managed to show the variety of colours of that life, catching reader’s attention, at the same time shocking him. The stories were actually written when Irish nationalism was in full swing. These were the days when people were searching for national ...