Literary Analysis: No Longer At Ease

Has someone ever noticed that one of their family members was alike a story character? My Grandpa Al was similar to Jefferson in the book A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines. This story gives a pleasing insight into Jefferson’s journey into becoming a man. Jefferson and my Grandpa Al are related in the way that they both never valued the joyfulness of life enough until it was too late. The two also resemble each other on the level that they are held back by the environment they are growing up in. They each needed to strive to become true to themselves.

Christine’s virtue comes from God and manifests itself through morally virtuous characteristics. This can be seen in the example of Valentina Visconti, the duchess of Orleans, who Christine describes as, “A lady who is strong and constant in heart, filled with devotion to her lord and good teaching for her children, well-informed in government, just toward all, sensible in her conduct, and virtuous in all things” (213). Christine places the highest value on leaders who lead by example. Christine devotes a large section of the City of Ladies to martyrs, saying of them “women who are crowned in glory and whose fair lives serve as excellent examples for every woman above all other wisdom. For this reason these women are the most outstanding of our City” (219).

In past years, as well as, in the twenty-first century, African Americans are being oppressed and judged based on the color of their skin. In, A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, this is the primary conflict that plagues Jefferson’s as well as Grant’s everyday life. By pleading guilty to a murder that he did not commit, Jefferson has to choose to die just as he is, a hog in the white’s eyes, or die a man. On the other hand, Grant, who is his teacher, is faced with being looked down upon by his community all because of his race and status. He is graced with the challenge of turning Jefferson into a man before his execution date. It is only a matter of time before they both realize that they cannot change the past and they have

Set in pre- Civil Rights South Louisiana, Ernest J. Gaines’ novel, A Lesson Before Dying is a captivating story about dignity, injustice and redemption. Gaines stylistic elements effectively takes us back to a time when racial segregation caused black people to lack hope for recognition of their humanity much less find justice in a court of law. Gaines manipulation of time, symbolism and motifs keep the readers gripped word for word with his heart-wrenching tale.

The literary theme of “A Long Way Gone” is of acceptance. “At times I thought that some of the stories the people passing by told were exaggerated” (pg 16). Exampliable in aforesaid quote beginning of the book, Ishmael Beah like the fellow people of his village couldn’t accept that the civil war in their country was ever as bad as the horror stories told by those managed to escape and pass through their village. Indeed when the war came to Beah and he joined the army as a child soldier, his life changed drastically. “”In my head my life was normal” (pg 154). In other words, Beah started to accept his new life as a child soldier and that his only objective in life was to kill as many people as possible in the war. Fortunately for Beah, he was

Time is a lot like sunlight. It’s not unlimited. You only have so much of it before it’s gone. You should cherish it and not take it for granted. It’s just like time because you only have so much of it with your loved ones before it’s gone. Once it’s gone, you’ll never get it back. Harvey learns that in The Thief of Always. By the end of the book, Harvey learns that time should be cherished and that he only has so much time with his loved ones.

Lady Reason provided Christine with many reasons as to why men would slander women so consistently throughout history. Some men attack women through their own vices; out of jealousy, pure pleasure from

In view of American morals and beliefs, death is honestly wrong. For that reason, the decision of Abortion is morally wrong as well. Abortions have become very common in America, but many are totally against it. Neal Shusterman once said “In a perfect world everything would be either black or white, right or wrong, and everyone would know the difference. But this isn't a perfect world. The problem is people who think it is.” In the 2007 novel “Unwind”, Shusterman talks about the near future were different means of abortions are shared and believed in their society. The setting of this novel is after the second Civil War also known as “The Heartland War”. The war was fought over one reason, Life. It was Pro-choice against Pro-Life. Shusterman uses ideas of youthful innocence to his benefit throughout the novel. In the story

Throughout The Awakening, themes of femininity, motherhood and self-expression are portrayed, all of which Edna struggles with. These themes are merely used to help the reader comprehend the type of confinement and repression that Edna— and other women of the Victorian era— faced. Women of the time period, were expected to be complacent and property of their husbands. In the novel, Madame Ratignolle portrays more of the ideal Victorian woman, since she is perfectly at ease with the expectations society has placed on

Fairytales are always black and white. The knight in shining armour is clear to spot, and the story always displays the villain in ways that invariably point to evil, however; this is not the case in reality. Loved ones can cause torment and misery, yet as dark and twisted as it is, letting go may not be an option because sometimes, pain manifests itself as butterflies in the stomach. In Jenna Blum’s Those Who Save Us, Anna Schlemmer is in a state of hopelessness, when Horst, a Nazi officer, comes into her life. Despite his violent and bestial nature, Horst saves Anna in her time of desperation, which prevents her from letting him go, and mentally destroys her. Similarly, In Scott F. Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Daisy involuntarily marries

The two books The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum and Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix have very similar settings. While Dorothy travels to a strange land called the land of Oz, Jessie travels out of her 1840’s village and back to the current time of 1996. While both girls need to learn how to interact with situations they aren’t used to but they use different methods. Also the girls have totally different reasons as to why they are there and while they are there they are trying to accomplish different things.

Many people believe that material things will bring you peace and happiness. That is not always that case though.Everyone at some point in their life had gone through something that they thought would have a major positive impact on their life, but ultimately, it affected them very negatively. These can include anything from money, to power, even to women. Bernard Malamud explains these example in his book, The Natural, with his character, Roy Hobbs. Roy is the Knights star baseball player, when all goes wrong. He starts to chase different women, believing that those people will lead him to happiness in the end. Roy Hobbs is the main character in the book, The Natural, who finds himself in tough situations, and finally discovers that what he wanted from the start, won’t actually make him happy in the end.

Perhaps the most strikingly recognizable Absurd characteristic the audience encounters is Beckett’s distinctively ambiguous setting. The stage, divided into two halves by a tree, changes little from Act I to Act II; there is little difference in the barren setting, other than a few leaves sprouting from the lonely tree. The passage of time is also indeterminate, so instead of a progression of events within an identifiable setting, the entire action takes place during an unspecified time on a desolate country road, reminiscent of a hellish Dantesque landscape. Lois Cuddy contends, “The tree, leafless and otherwise, is only placed in this setting as one of the illusions intended to keep the characters questioning time and life in this ‘indescribable’

More than those of any other African writer, Chinua Achebe’s writings have helped to develop what is known as African literature today. And the single book which has helped him to launch his "revolution" is the classic, Things Fall Apart.  The focus of this essay includes: 1) Achebe's portraiture of women in his fictional universe, the existing sociocultural situation of the period he is depicting, and the factors in it that condition male attitudes towards women; 2) the consequences of the absence of a moderating female principle in his fictions; 3) Achebe's progressively changing attitude towards women s roles; and 4) feminist prospects for African women. In the context of this study, the Igbo people whom Achebe describes will

This paper reflects the novel “Things Fall Apart” written by Chinua Achebe in 1958. Achebe gives an overview of pre-colonialism and post-colonialism on Igbo, detailing how local traditions and cultural practices can “fall apart” in some scenarios through some introduced, externally created hassles elevated because of colonization. The protagonist named Okonkwo mentioned in the story is a proof showing the lifestyle of the tribe. My main objective and focus is to lay emphasis on Africa specifically the Igbo society, before and after the arrival of the Europeans in Umuofia community; the results of their arrival concerning Igbo culture, thus leading to the clash of cultures between the two categories. I will also draw on post-colonialism with respect to globalization.