Albert Camus' The Stranger explores the causes for Monsieur Meursault's murderous act, portraying Meursault's increasing feelings of indifference toward life following his mother's death. Meursault becomes ignorant to social values and conventions, thinking they constrict him, for he veers towar...

Competition and compassion, contrasting Brad Manning's "Arm Wrestling with My Father" and Sarah Vowell's "Shooting Dad" Learning to regard a parent as a human being, not just as a father or mother, is one of the most formative emotional developments in an adolescent...

Shakespeare\'s love sonnets describe three different contexts in which love operates, as such, he depicts a multi-faceted picture of love. Love in Shakespeare\'s poems does not have a single definition, but rather, an intangible conglomeration of characteristics that, together, make up an ever power...

The Theme of Isolation in Waiting for Godot and The Stranger Isolation is not a unique theme in novels or plays. It may be found under many different guises. Isolation can be physical, determined by concrete boundaries, emotional, or spiritual. Race, social development, and even persona...

Although for the religious person death can be viewed as a joyful passing from this natural life to an eternal spiritual existence, the subject of death is still not easy to address. Our lives hold so many hopes, dreams, and plans, and when death comes, it means a sure end to all that we ...

By studying and learning about aggression, it can be understood that children and even adults will show aggression when they feel threatened. Children from divorced homes have issues with low self-esteem and social competence because they are left out from one or both parents due to the fact that th...

In his poem, "A Dialogue Between the Soul and Body", Andrew Marvell uses intense imagery, unconventional structure, and personification to portray the body and soul as enemies who represent the conflicts between human spirituality and human instinct. Body and Soul are typically viewed as ...

The most admired classical hero is most certainly Odysseus, the mythological Grecian subject of Homer's epic tale, The Odyssey. This legendary figure displays excessive amounts of brains and muscle, seeming almost superhuman at times. He embodies the ideals Homeric Greeks aspired to: manly valor, lo...

The most admired classical hero is most certainly Odysseus, the mythological Grecian subject of Homer's epic tale, The Odyssey. This legendary figure displays excessive amounts of brains and muscle, seeming almost superhuman at times. He embodies the ideals Homeric Greeks aspired to: manly valor, ...

In Beloved, we learn about the history and legacy of slavery from Sethe, Paul D, Stamp Paid, and Baby Suggs. Morrison writes history with the historical voices of the people without the right to speak, and Beloved recalls a history that had been lost – either due to wanting to forget - as in t...

Compassion is the key to morality, and those who possess this quality are people of a caring and genuine nature. Margaret Laurence's character, Hagar Shipley, is someone to whom compassion is foreign. She lives a life obsessed with her public image and appearances, an obsession that leaves her ber...

Child development experts have pondered upon the reasons for different attitude types within human beings. Are the reasons caused by nature (our genetic make up) or nurturing (the environment we are exposed to during infancy and adolescent years). The National Encyclopedia defines "emotion...

William Empson begins his critical essay on John Donne's "A Valediction: of Weeping" with this statement. Empson here plays the provocateur for the critic who wishes to disagree with the notion that Donne's intentions were perhaps less base than the sincere valediction of a weeping man. ...

Thoughts on the Concept of "Forgiveness" and the Power of Your Subconscious Mind Although the topic of 'forgiveness' is not common in everyday conversation or perhaps in our conscious everyday thoughts, the subject matter is worth considering on different levels; an effort, whi...

English Coursework - Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night' Concealment and disguise are the driving forces behind the dark comedy that is 'Twelfth Night'. The character Viola decides to adopt the disguise of a man, which has serious consequences for herself and others around he...

In "Good Country People," O'Conner uses Hulga to exemplify how being different doesn't make you stronger or better than others. To the contrary, it is such differences which ultimately expose Hulga to Manley's web of deceit. Ultimately, the need for individualism can leave ...

When I turned sixteen he stopped loving me. I was no longer the daughter he wanted or planned for. I was the thorn in his side, the pesky fly that never left. In his mind, I was holding him back from his glorious empire, and for that he put his hands on me. But, I was never a bad child; in...

Synopsis Brown Sugar is modern day love story between 2 friends, Dre (Taye Diggs) and Sidney (Sanaa Lathan) who can attribute their friendship and the launch of their careers to a single childhood moment--the day they discovered hip-hop on a New York street corner. Now some 15 years later, she is ...

The Agony of Waiting The dictionary defines the verb to wait as the looking forward to the probable occurrence of an outcome and or event. In life there are many things that people find themselves waiting for. People wait in line to check out, for the weekend, for another year to go by, to grow ...

In the book titled Illumination Night, Alice Hoffman has clearly defined each character, attributing to them the most unique and distinctive traits, but giving enough 'elbow room' for parallelism between them. As the characters struggle with family relationships, social acceptance, restriction and ...

Timeless Love The harsh nature in which loves consumes us can also contain our heart and soul for an eternity. Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera confronts what is held to be the most sacred of human emotions as its primary theme and source of conflict. This emotio...

At the end of the play, Alfieri says of Eddie that despite "how wrong he was...I think I will love him more than all my sensible clients". To what extent does Arthur Miller make us agree with Alfieri? The opening of the play "A View from the Bridge" sets the tone of a stron...

Logic is the study of necessary truths and of systematic methods for clearly expressing and rigourously demonstrating such truths. THERE can be no doubt that all our knowledge begins with experience. For how should our faculty of knowledge be awakened into action did not objects affecting our sense...

Health is an important condition that mankind should be concerned with. Health is commonly linked with youth, although health can be lost or damaged at any age and in many different ways. Because of this, many people take good health for granted. There are many factors and areas contributing to o...

True redemption of sin comes from suffering. When a person goes against what they judge as wrong, the only way to be freed of the guilt that their actions have caused is to feel the pain emotionally from the guilt of their sin. The guilt they feel on the inside and the shame they have to face others...