PAPER Topics

... situation as we read the long letter from Raskolnikov's mother. Then we witness the murder as it is graphically described by Doestoevsky. After reading this graphic description of the murder, how can the reader be sympathetic towards Raskolnikov? How can the reader believe that a murderer is the protagonist? It is, in fact, not hard to accept this murderer as the protagonist. Raskolnikov believed that by murdering the pawnbroker, he rid society of a pest. We realize that if the victim would have been someone other than an evil old pawnbroker the crime would never had taken place. He could never have found the courage to kill an innocent person. It would not prove anything to h ...

... this, he mocks the stupidity of the empire and their choices of life. He explains all the rules and regulations that the people have to live by. The reader is then assumed to understand that the rules and regulations are ridiculous and absurd. Vennegut does this so that people will realize that we are all not meant to be the same we are each our own person. Some examples of this, for instance, are making the strong and the weak equal. In order to do this, the strong must carry around many weights on their shoulders. By doing this, it makes the strong weak. Another example, is making the beautiful look like the ugly.The beautiful would have to wear hideous masks in order to look like th ...

... in others disgust and pity and the desire to torment and reform” (69). The relationships she forges later on will be greatly influenced by these images of youth. The narrator’s first relationship with a man turns out to very detrimental to her well being. The man is married and unavailable yet she describes her feelings for him as “unique, the first, that’s where [she] learned.” (150). She goes on to say that she “worshipped him” and refers to him as a “non-child bride idolater” (150). The feelings of un-reciprocated adoration that she had towards her first love go to greatly influence later relationships. She approaches them as a war, with a winner and loser. In her curren ...

... I got mad and realized I was pleading with a dumb little Mexican wench and I told her so” (p. 80) This quote makes clear Sal’s intentions with this woman, and also the fact that he is somewhat racist. Then when Sal gets a job working in the fields with Terry, it’s as if he views it all as a camping trip, or even an experiment, to possibly further himself spiritually. “There was a bed, a stove, and a cracked mirror hanging from a pole. It was delightful" (p. 96) Notice the way Sal makes light of their circumstances. He does not appear to even consider Terry’s poor situation, and that she always has to live like this. Sal was just with her for the experience, ...

... family, the strong place that could not be taken.” (95) The family felt what Ma felt and let her emotions be in control. “And since, when a joyful thing happened, they looked to see whether joy was on her.” (95) Because of this she kept strong. She always wants happiness for everyone in the family, that’s why she stays strong. Ma knew that if she were to weak the whole family would fall apart. She realizes that they have no home and that the only value and meaning in life is that which they derive from being a family. She keeps the two cars together so they will not be separated and she forces decisions to be made for the benefit of the family. She understan ...

... he asked. Although Alcee wished to remain on the gallery, Calixta insisted that he come inside and stay until the storm passed. Although it was dark outside, inside Alcee admired the fact that “she was a revelation in that dim, mysterious chamber; as white as the couch she lay upon.” Calixta realized that “her firm, elastic flesh that was knowing for the first time it’s birthright, was like a creamy lily that the sun invites to contribute its breath and perfume to the underlying life of the world.” “Her mouth,” unlike the torrential rains, “was a fountain of delight.” As though their adulterous tryst were timed with the weather, their forbidden lust filled afternoon was over just as the ...

... done spared me...a few days longer till Ah see you safe in life.”(p.14) Nanny instilled a sense of needing a man to be safe on Janie that she keeps with her all through her life. After Nanny’s death, Janie continued to stay with Logan although she disliked him. She would have left if she didn’t need him to depend on. Next is Joe Starks. He is a kind of salvation to Janie. He is a well-dressed black man who has worked for “white folks” all his life and has earned enough to travel to a place where black people run the town. Janie meet Joe while she was still married to Logan. She wanted to leave Logan, but I don’t think she would have if Joe hadn’t c ...

... expectations of are what finally bring him to realize the importance and value of true goodness. He is brought to London where he was to become a gentleman. But he only finds that life there was even more unsatisfying. He grows deeper in debt, and starts loosing friends because he felt he was better than them. When he visited Pip was actually embarrassed by him, one of the few people who loved him most and cared for him so much when he was a child, and Pip just turned him away. He even did the same to Magwitch, a person who had dedicated his life toward helping. When Magwitch finally revealed to him that he was Pip’s benefactor all Pip had to say was, “Oh, no, no, no… Was there ...

... this point lacks development. Rather Grendel is portrayed as a confused creature passing through life looking for answers. Surprisingly Grendel walks the forest in harmony with the animals. He does not act like the blood hungry beast he is seen as in Beowulf. In the novel -- Grendel is walking the forest and comes across a doe. He notices that the doe is staring in fright and suddenly runs away. One would assume from the ideas hinted in Beowulf that Grendel would have attacked the deer. However Grendel appears upset with the deer's actions. He says; “ Blind Prejudice” (Gardner 7) “Ah, the unfairness of everything, I say and shake my head. It is a matter of fact that I have never killed ...

... and public buildings constructed. From a mere seventy five post offices, scattered bout the Union, the number had soared to over twelve thousand. There were now twenty five hundred miles of canals, though none had existed while Washington was in office; and the railroads “ beginning only ten or twelve years ago, are already completed over one thousand miles.” Schools, colleges, lyceums, and institutes were multiplying in scores.(1) As you can see from that example, this time period certainly did show how our nation was growing into the power that it is today, and taking shape. That is the author's point of view, that the time period of 1789-1837 was a great period of change for o ...