In Kate Chopin's "The Awakening," Edna Pontellier, the protagonist, is searching for her identity for most of the novel. Her identity is defined by the awakening of her soul; not only her soul, but also the awakening of her social life, spiritual life, sexuality, and her role in society. Edna t...

To be "optimistic" is to "believe that good things will happen in the future". Most readers would balk at the poems within Songs of Innocence and Experience is described thus. Afterall the collection is meant as a contradiction to Songs of Innocence – the latter showing life through the eyes o...

Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard. Thomas Grays Elegy laments the death of life in general while mourning long gone ancestors and exhibiting the transition made by the speaker, from grief and mourning to acceptance and hope. It was written in 1742 and revised to its published form in 1746, and...

Descartes' 'Cogito Ergo Sum' (I am, I exist) argument is a complex one. In many ways, he constructs a convincing argument for the existence of the self, and for the process of the thinking being, the essence of that self. In this meditation on his philosophy, Descartes on numerous ...

Ever wonder how life was created on earth and how we became what we are today? Was earth created by God or by the stars? Were we created by God's hand or did we evolve from apes? Throughout my life, I only know two ways how life, man, and earth we created. One of the ways is through my Catholic...

I have read two books, "Forever Free," by Joe Haldeman and "Speaker For the Dead," by Orson Scott Card. These two books, while differing in many ways have similar aspects of the plot. The writers with similar spontaneous writing styles depict life in the future in similar ways. Both books illustrate...

Although there is very little exterior action in John Galsworthy's very short, short story, "The Japanese Quince," the perceptive reader knows that an opportunity has been passed by, and that the protagonist has chosen to stay closed to the beauty of life rather than risk change. Some readers may no...

Since the time of Adam and Eve, mankind has changed. We no longer see, interact, or depend on nature the same way as we did thousands of years ago. Yet, we are still very much connected to the earth. Mankind continues to be engaged in nature's challenge to survive. Our relationship with nature ...

All Quiet on the Western Front All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front is one of the greatest war novels of all time. It is a story, not of Germans, but of men, who even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war. The entire pu...

Who is responsible for the deaths? There were several deaths that occurred in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Although the monster committed all these crimes, they were all related to getting revenge on a deeply flawed Victor Frankenstein, who abandoned him. In fact a...

All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front is one of the greatest war novels of all time. It is a story, not of Germans, but of men, who even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war. The entire purpose of this novel is to...

Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott", is a poem full of symbols of death, isolation, and light. He shows the Lady moving from a spiritual death and isolation to an awakening that is highlighted by his use of light. Ultimately, Tennyson's poem urges its readers to confront life rather t...