In Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken,” the speaker discusses two paths in life. He “took the one less traveled by,” and this decision made all the difference in his life. This poem is a great example of Robert Frost’s use of imagery to set scenes, create moods, and describe scenes in his poems. … Read more
“The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell is a short story about a man named Sanger Rainsford, who went to hunt on Ship-Trap island. The count Zaroff hunts humans for the sport of the hunt. The short story takes place on an unnamed island near Constanza in southeast Europe. Sanger Rainsford was travelling to his … Read more
Utopia is a book by Utopian Philosopher Sir Thomas Moore. Utopia was written as a novel but has become an important work in philosophy and political theory. Utopia is set up as a frame story, where the narrator Raphael Hythlodaeus (most likely not his real name) describes the discovery of Utopia through conversations with Prince … Read more
My name is Jack, and I am 19 years old. Ever since my early childhood years, I have developed an interest in psychology and how the brain operates. Because of this interest, I decided to research the development of the brain throughout life. Here are some key points that were found by researchers on how … Read more
Fences is a Pulitzer Prize-winning play written by August Wilson. Fences takes place in the 1950s, in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Fences not only earned August Wilson acclaim as an amazing writer but it also earned him two Tony Awards for Best Play and Best Actor. Fence’s protagonist Troy Maxson is vividly portrayed … Read more
The Canterbury Tales are a group of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer. The tales are told by various people, who recount them to each other on the way to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket in Canterbury. The main characters in The Canterbury Tales are both historical and fictional. Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales is … Read more
It is a well known fact that reading before bedtime helps put children to sleep. Goodnight Moon is a book that has been around since the 1940s, and it remains highly popular today due to its easy text and lovely pictures. Goodnight Moon contains just 123 words, each no more than 2 syllables long, so … Read more
The Last of The Mohicans is a 1992 film directed by Michael Mann , starring Daniel Day-Lewis as Hawkeye, Eric Schweig as Chingachgook, and Madeleine Stowe as Cora Munro. The movie was well received at the time it came out. The writers for The Last Of The Mohicans are credited to Michael Mann and Christopher … Read more
Symbolism is the act of using symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense. Symbolism can be found in many forms, with art being one of the most common carriers of symbolism. This article will go over some examples of symbolism found in F. Scott … Read more
Animal captivity is a hot topic among both supporters and opponents. Animal lovers argue that keeping an animal in a zoo is cruel, while zoos argue it is the only way to save them from extinction or repopulate species that are becoming endangered. Animal rights activists claim there are many downfalls of keeping animals in … Read more
Dances With Wolves is a 1990 American Western film directed by, produced by, and starring Kevin Costner. It is an adaptation of the 1987 book of the same name by Michael Blake , in which a Union Army lieutenant joins his regiment’s U. S. allies to battle against invading Sioux warriors allied with their traditional … Read more
For teenagers, drinking alcohol is a significant part of social interactions and the teenagers’ development. The first drinking experience typically occurs during adolescence. Drinking alcohol is one of the first things teenagers learn and can be considered as an introductory activity to adult life. Some teenagers, particularly those who attended college take up this habit … Read more
Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel written by Nobel Prize in Literature winner William Golding. The story follows a group of British boys stranded on an uninhabited island after their plane was shot down during WWII. Lord of the Flies deals with the issue of human nature and how it can be corrupted … Read more
John Angelo Gotti was born December 27, 1940 to John and Fannie Gotti. John had three brothers: Peter, Richard, and Gene. John’s family lived in the South Bronx neighborhood of New York City near the East Harlem area during John’s childhood years. John was the last child born into his family. John attended Public School … Read more
The story The Lady or The Tiger, by Frank R. Stockton is about a kingdom whose ruler has put forth an intriguing problem to the public; he presents them with two doors. Behind one of the doors is his daughter, whom he had promised to marry to whoever can determine behind which door she was … Read more
The relationship between mathematics and philosophy is an old one, dating back to the dawn of mathematics in ancient civilizations such as Egypt and Mesopotamia. Many mathematicians such as Archimedes were also philosophers or vice versa, such as Thomas Hobbes who made great advances in mathematics but never received a degree in mathematics [1]. For … Read more
In Marry Me, John Updike chronicles a year in the life of a young couple who have been living together for several years. The book centers on a cast of characters who are all interconnected and live in the small suburb of Tarbox, Massachusetts during the mid-sixties. Marry Me’s plot mainly concerns the relationship between … Read more
Cool Running is a documentary by Cool Runnings director Jonathon Hock. Cool Running follows three of America’s best marathon runners who are not good enough to compete in the Olympics. As they struggle for glory against better funded, younger competitors, Cool Running proves that talent isn’t all you need to succeed in athletics. The movie … Read more
The Judge’s Wife is a short story written by Isabel Allende. The story takes place in the 1970s, during the Chilean President Salvador Allende’s government. The protagonist of this story is an unnamed woman who has been married to a judge for 18 years and still loves him as much as she did when they … Read more
Jane Eyre is a novel written by English author Charlotte Bronte, published in 1847 under the pen name “Currer Bell. ” Jane Eyre follows the strong-willed Jane as she navigates her way through life, ultimately finding love and happiness. Jane’s character is often considered to be an example of feminism. Jane represents the woman as … Read more
Ruby Bridges (born September 8, 1954 in Tylertown, Mississippi) is an American civil rights activist. In 1960 Ruby Bridges was one of the first black children to attend a previously all-white elementary school in Louisiana as ordered by the court following the U. S Supreme Court ruling on Brown v. Board of Education . Ruby … Read more
The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, explores the theme of love through Amir’s relationships with Baba, Hassan, and Sohrab. The Kite Runner is narrated by Amir who recalls his life in Afghanistan between 1965-1994 where he grows up next door to Hassan, a Pashtun boy who becomes his servant/best friend and is later raped by … Read more
” Touching the Void is an account by Joe Simpson of a mountain climbing expedition gone awry. In 1985, Joe Simpson and his climbing partner Simon Yates set out to scale Siula Grande, a remote peak in the Peruvian Andes. At some point during the climb, Simpson fell and broke his leg. Though Yates was … Read more
Azalea Seafood and Gumbo Shoppe is a company which specializes in seafood dishes. Azalea Seafood and Gumbo Shoppe offers over 20 different menu items including gumbo, shrimp stew, crawfish étouffée, fried catfish, stuffed crabs, oysters on the half shell, boiled crawfish, fried frog legs with Cajun fries, steamed clams with garlic butter sauce, soft shelled … Read more
Parents and their children have many things in common. Parents want the best for their children, they want them to be happy. However, there are a few differences in what parents and their children think makes a child happy. Parents generally know more about life in general than their children because they have been through … Read more
The Black Cat is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe. The story tells of a man who was once good friends with a black cat, until the day he decided to hang it. The main character becomes consumed in guilt and tries many different ways to hide his murders from everyone else, however … Read more
During Leonardo da Vinci’s lifetime, he painted several masterpieces that are admired today. His art is studied extensively by many scholars for its depth. Leonardo’s Last Supper is one of Leonardo’s paintings which has had a lot of attention. It is characterized by the use of symbolic meaning through the characters, their placement in the … Read more
In The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby has a lot of money and so does Daisy Buchanan. The only reason why they have money is that their husbands (and in some cases both) had the biggest bootlegging business during The Prohibition Era. The story takes place in 1922-1923, The Prohibition Era was … Read more
Paradise Lost was not well received during Milton’s lifetime; Paradise Lost is now remembered as “the epic of Paradise lost” (Murrin 1096). Paradise Lost shows how humans can overcome sin through religious devotion, but also represents how sin destroys Paradise (Greenblatt 1818). Paradise Lost by John Milton, a 17th century epic poem about the Fall … Read more
Lolita is a movie directed by Adrian Lyne that was released in 1997. Lolita tells the story of Lolita Haze, a precocious girl living in the United States with her mother and stepfather. Lolita catches the eyes of an older man, Humbert Humbert, who makes it his mission to win Lolita’s heart. Lolita has to … Read more
The Bluest Eye is a novel written by Toni Morrison, awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1973. The novel tells the narrative of Pecola Breedlove, an African American girl who prays for her eyes to turn blue so she can escape the reality of living in poverty and being black during the time of … Read more
“A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens is a novel that talks about life during the French Revolution. Many characters such as Sydney Carton, Madame Defarge and Dr. Alexandre Manette make an appearance throughout the story, but one revolutionary in particular reoccurs through this narrative: A woman named Madame Defarge. The book starts off … Read more
Macklemore’s song Same Love discusses the controversy surrounding homosexuality in society today. The song talks about how everyone is equal and should be treated the same. It also talks about what Macklemore believes in, which is marriage equality in any state or form of government. The song samples the song “Thou Shall Not Steal” by … Read more
“Oedipus Rex”, by Sophocles, is a tragedy of Oedipus’s life as an outcast and how he became king of Thebes. Oedipus was given away as a baby to be killed because it was prophesied that Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother. However, the child Oedipus survived and grew up elsewhere not knowing … Read more
Eudora Welty’s A Worn Path is a story that tells the journey of an old, poor, and sick woman going into town to get medicine for her grandson. A Worn Path takes place in December when the main character, Phoenix Jackson, still has a lot of strength despite her age and bad health. A Worn … Read more
The Glass Menagerie is written by Tennessee Williams, a playwright who originally hails from Mississippi. The main characters are Tom Wingfield, an aspiring writer; his sister, Laura Wingfield, who has been crippled since the age of seventeen after she was attacked by a man on her way home from school; and their mother Amanda. The … Read more
The Lottery and The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas are two short stories, written by different authors. The similarities between the two are scarce but the impact of each story is very profound. The Lottery is a short story written by Shirley Jackson in 1948. The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas was published … Read more
“Le Morte D’arthur is one of the most famous works in English Literature, despite the fact that it was completed almost 600 years ago! Le Morte D’arthur has influenced many writers, including William Shakespeare who borrowed phrases from Le Morte D’arthur. Le Morte D’arthur is really a collection of stories about the knights of the … Read more
Grendel is a novel written by John Gardner. Grendel tells the story of two men: Grendel and his father. Grendel is an outcast, considered evil and ugly by those around him; Grendel’s father is a powerful and respected man who struggles to find favor with his king and among his peers. Grendel and Grendel’s father … Read more
The Great Wall of China is the longest wall in the world, stretching over 5500 kilometers. It was built to protect China’s northern borders by preventing foreign invasion. Much of it was made of mud dug from nearby pits and held together by sticky rice soup instead of mortar; this allowed it to be quickly … Read more
The solar system is the only source of energy we have for now and solar power has been growing as costs decrease. But new forms of alternative clean energy are on the rise such as hydroelectric, win power, and wind power. Wind power is low cost and environmentally friendly because it uses turbines that use … Read more
There are many forms of education, including book learning, the laboratory school, and life itself. To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the most famous books in American literature for both its story and the life lessons it teaches us about human nature. Many people believe To Kill A Mockingbird is about racism because so … Read more
To Build a Fire is a short story by Jack London. Originally published as “The Strength of the Strong” in 1907, To Build a Fire tells the tale of one man’s struggle to stay alive in subzero temperatures without proper preparation and equipment. Having traveled alone into the Alaskan wilderness with only his dog and … Read more
Brutus is one of the most important and memorable characters in The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. Brutus was once a very good and loving individual, but because he trusted too much and was manipulated by Cassius, Brutus became cold-hearted and sadistic by the end of the play. Brutus truly loved Caesar at first, Brutus was … Read more
Sonnet 65 is a Shakespeare Sonnet. Sonnets are poems that have fourteen lines, while following a specific rhyme scheme and a particular meter. Sonnets typically speak of love or relationships in some way, while also being about the author’s thoughts on life. In Sonnet 65, Shakespeare uses an old man as a symbol for time … Read more
Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 has been considered by many to be a book about censorship. The censorship is represented in the book by the burning of books, however, there are other themes, symbols, and ideas that are present in Fahrenheit 451. One theme that ties Fahrenheit 451 together with another story is an allusion to … Read more
Siddhartha is a novel by Hermann Hesse which was published in 1922. Siddhartha is about the spiritual journey of Siddhartha, who becomes a ferryman’s apprentice before experiencing awakening and ultimately leaving society to become a Samana. The major themes are Siddhartha’s quest for knowledge, his abandonment of society, and his understanding that all life is … Read more
Jane Eyre is considered the perfect example of the female heroine in Victorian Literature. Jane’s strength and independence are what make her so admirable amongst other female characters, but she does rely on others at times to facilitate her growth. Jane becomes more independent throughout the novel with positive consequences though she never becomes completely … Read more
For A Rose For Emily, the narrator is an unknown person, most likely someone who witnessed Emily’s life. A few key clues are that the narrator never reveals his or her identity, that the reader learns about Emily after she has died, and that the reader finds out more about Emily through other characters’ dialogue … Read more
Symbolism is a figure of speech that uses an object or action to represent something other than itself and convey some hidden meaning. Symbolism is used throughout the play and Tennessee Williams makes use of it very effectively. Tennessee Williams was born Thomas Lanier Williams on March 26, 1911 in Columbus, Mississippi, USA. He studied … Read more