I chose to write my story based on two of the main features of the book The Collector by John Fowles The writing style (the diary-type entries) and the idea of isolation and separation from society.

Denial Dear Reader, (Morning) I've become aware that I don't remember much of the outside world. The colour of the grass is called green but I cant put the colour to the name. The feeling of a soft breeze on my face, forgotten. The sound of the children in a playground, the smell of the sweetest flowers, forgotten. What a waste. My own doing I suppose. I only had myself to blame. I'm surprised I could still remember my own name. I should be on the brink of madness. I want to be. But nothing ever goes my way does it. I've been waiting out the days, ticking them off, hoping someone will finally understand me but they never will. Nobody misses me and no one wants me. I have no friends, and the only family I have left are the ones that think I'm mental and everyone else is too preoccupied with their own lives to notice I'm still alive. It's understandable though. I wouldn't miss me. That's why I started this. I realised I'm nothing in this universe, just one small flea on the back of an elephant. Unimportant. I don't have a destiny, never found true love, haven't had a steady job in years and I know now that I'm the reason the word 'failure' is in existence. There was a time where I wasn't scared of anything, when I had a bunch of friends who hung on my every word but then there was the time I could be surrounded by a sea of people and still feel all alone. The sea made me

  • Word count: 1574
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: World Literature
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Metamorphosis comparison

Comparison of Metamorphosis and The Outsider The two openings of Metamorphosis and the Outsider are different in there beginnings but when they start to get to the end of the opening they begin to become very similar. They both wake up to different things, Gregor has been transformed into a giant bug and Meursault awakes to his mother death. The biggest difference between the characters is their physical form. Gregor has changed physically into a giant insect and Meursault remains a human being through the story. The characters also have different relationships with their mothers. It seems as though Gregor would like to have a great relationship with his mother, but under the circumstances cannot, having been turned into a giant insect and all. Meursault didn't seem to care that much that his mom passed away by his attitude which leads me to believe that him and his mom did not have the greatest relationship. Kafka creates a very lonely, cut off world for Gregor. In "Metamorphosis" Gregor feels more like an outsider when he awakes to find himself turned into a giant bug without any specific reason and no longer has control over his own life. He breaks off all connections to the world and to the people in his life; he does not talk or have any other kind of interaction with anyone inside or outside the family. He did not want to end all connections, but he had to because of

  • Word count: 566
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: World Literature
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Tesman and Lovborgs ability to fulfill Hedda's needs

Comparing Lovborg and Tesman's roll in fulfilling Hedda's needs Ibsen uses contrasting aspects of the two characters Eilert Lovborg and George Tesman to highlight the wide range of desires Hedda has when it came to being satisfied in a relationship. This highlights Hedda's incapability to be satisfied by only one man, representing how she will always want more than what she can have. These two characters are very different, but they have certain qualities that make them similar. Both characters have feelings for Hedda, and they have been at one point or another been in a relationship with her. In addition the two men are both authors even though they write about different subjects. The similarity between them signifies Hedda's attraction to men who are relatively intelligent, as Hedda has no trace of falling for a man who has no skill. Both men are authors which represent knowledge, a trait Hedda highly regards. Although several similarities, Tesman's marriage is fake compared to Lovborg's relationship with Hedda which was portrayed to be more natural. This can be conveyed through many things for example Tesman and Hedda's marriage happened mainly because of social conformity. At this time it was socially unacceptable for a woman to decline a wedding proposal from an ideal man. Also, Hedda states that her "time was up" (pg251) and that Tesman was "a thoroughly acceptable

  • Word count: 715
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: World Literature
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"A prayer for Owen Meany". Owen Meany is familiar with smoking and simple boyish behavior, however he possess what others utterly lack: firm and unflagging belief in the existence of God

Owen Meany is one of the most fascinating characters in the story; natural tiny size of his body, but biggest soul and fortitude are harmonically combined in this character. He is thus the representation of the natural and supernatural, the holiness and mystery. Owen Meany is so light, that all his classmates could lift him up, so wise, that he could foretell his fate and so clumsy, that one awkward baseball shot, made by Owen killed his best friend's mother. Developing a Christ-like character, John Irving does not intend to reach perfection and idealism: Owen Meany is familiar with smoking and simple boyish behavior, however he possess what others utterly lack: firm and unflagging belief in the existence of God, who charged him with special mission. This strong principle overcomes all the doubts and leads to a "miracle", that undoubtedly has influence on John Wheelwright. Owen Meany just as a Christ visualizes his death and devotionally habituates to it. Symbolism in the novel is one of the most effective and important strategies that the author uses. Owen, himself, is depicted as a divine being: he is literally a fragile male miniature with a falsetto high voice, strong will and developed opinions. Owen is the symbol of Jesus, a medium between God and Mankind. Likewise, Owen constantly exclaims: "I AM GOD'S INSTRUMENT." There is a reference to

  • Word count: 634
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: World Literature
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"A Simple Heart" by Gustav Flaubert fallows the life and times of a servant girl named Felicit.

"A Simple Heart" by Gustav Flaubert fallows the life and times of a servant girl named Felicité. The protagonist is a hardworking, good-hearted, poor and uneducated woman named Félicité. The duration of A Simple Heart has a common theme of loss. Through her experiences we learn that loss is ineveitable, even if you do nothing wrong. The positive is the redemption to her losses is an angelic afterlife. We see the protagonist Félicité constantly have to face abandonement of a beloved character several times. The author suggests a beautiful redemption to her life, as her faith and goodness is saved by her beloved parrot. Félicité was portrayed as a pure and loving character and receives a deserved end to her life. The story begins with Félicité serving as a hardworking and diligent servant for Madame Aubain. She is a good and caring servant, and even gets along with Madame Aubain, who isn't easy to work with. Her present state becomes surprising for the reader when they are told of her traumatizing past. At a young age both her mother and father die, she is also separated from her sister and left to fend for herself. She is taken in as working hand on a farm where is abused and eventually evicted due to a false crime. She was very young and that must have left a deep wound to her. Another occupation on a farm is given to her, which is where she meets Theodore and

  • Word count: 950
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: World Literature
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"As Beloved drains Paul D and Sethe, her animated, ghostly frame becomes the embodiment of the traumatic past and the embodied threat of the past's intrusion on the future" Discuss this statement.

"As Beloved drains Paul D and Sethe, her animated, ghostly frame becomes the embodiment of the traumatic past and the embodied threat of the past's intrusion on the future." Discuss this statement in relation to your understanding of Toni Morrison's novel "Beloved". Beloved is the catalyst of all the disaster at 124. But instead of Morrison making Beloved an obvious evil presence, she writes in such a way that the reader is able to sympathise, not only with Sethe and the other characters of the novel, but Beloved herself as she too is an indirect victim of slavery. Beloved has her life taken by her mother, Sethe, who justifies the killing as a means to escape the world of slavery. This is ironic in itself, as the slave owners look down on the black race, so Sethe is just killing one of her own which the slave owners see as vermin. If the child dies through the hands of her mother then this is defiance to school teacher for Sethe, as if she doesn't kill her then Beloved will probably be tortured as a slave to the white people if she lives. Sethe is fixed on killing her children but only manages to kill Beloved, who at the time did not have a name as she has only just been born. Morrison portrays Sethe's decision to kill her children in such a way that the reader can almost see the justification, but at the same time, throughout the novel she makes

  • Word count: 1423
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: World Literature
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Funeral Blues Analysis

Funeral Blues The poem begins with the line "Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone." This introduction makes it clear that the narrator is depressed and a tragic event has taken place. The first half of the sentence portrays her wish for time to stand still and her unwillingness to carry on with her life. She feels that her situation will not improve in the future and she has nothing to live for or look forward to. The second half of the sentence: "cut off the telephone" shows that she is unwilling to communicate. She is inconsolable and perhaps there are many people around her trying to comfort her but they are unsuccessful. It could also show that she wants to isolate herself from the outside world and ignore the situation she is in as she cannot deal with it. The first stanza shows a wish for silence, as she wants all the objects around her that make noise to stop. This shows that the noise is stopping her from being able think properly, which is a metaphor for how the events in her life are stopping her from moving on or thinking in a rational way. The way all these noisy objects are mentioned together signifies how too many problems are distressing her at once. The last line of the stanza shows us the reason for her distress; someone close to her has died. She wants everyone to be quiet as a mark of respect for the person she has lost. She also says that there are

  • Word count: 977
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: World Literature
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This extract is from Chapter 7 from the book Heidi by Johanna Spyri. The extract talks about the first morning in Frankfurt for Heidi and her actions and feelings about her new surroundings.

This extract is from Chapter 7 from the book "Heidi" by Johanna Spyri. The extract talks about the first morning in Frankfurt for Heidi and her actions and feelings about her new surroundings. Heidi is a German name and Frankfurt is also in Germany. This extract seems realistic as it talks about the normal actions that a person would do if he/she finds himself/herself in a new, unknown place. The title of the book "Heidi" tells us that the book talks about the life or autobiography of Heidi. Normally when a book is named after one of its characters, that character is the true protagonist of the book and the story is about him/her. The extract is written in 3rd person and uses a bit of direct speech also. "She could not think where she was" This phrase sounds like a sarcastic phrase and actually means that she didn't know where she was. It was as if she had been unconscious when she arrived at this place and didn't know how she reached here or what place this was. "She was sitting up in a high white bed, on one side of a large, wide room, into which the light was falling through very, very long white curtains; near the window stood two chairs covered with large flowers, and then came a sofa with the same flowers, in front of which was a round table; in the corner was a washstand, with things upon it that Heidi had never seen in her life before." This is a very long sentence

  • Word count: 1229
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: World Literature
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Tim Wintons collection of short stories, Minimum of Two, endorses the importance of not only enduring but coming out on top. Through the often inspiring tales of Rachel, Queenie and the unnamed girl in The Water was Dark and it went Forever D

"You need to just go, that was it; survive, win." Does Minimum of Two endorse this attitude in life? Tim Winton's collection of short stories, "Minimum of Two", endorses the importance of not only enduring but coming out on top. Through the often inspiring tales of Rachel, Queenie and the unnamed girl in "The Water was Dark and it went Forever Down", the reader becomes aware of the necessity of persisting to succeed. Nevertheless, Winton presents the characters who don't survive, who don't win and in many ways fail with sympathy and understanding. The "weaker" male characters such as Jerra and Neil Madigan are examples of people who fall short of their expectations and do not endure life with the attitude of "You need to just go, that was it; survive, win." In the story "The Water was Dark and it went Forever Down", the main character, who is identified as a fourteen year old girl, has lost her father and has a difficult relationship with her alcoholic, reclusive mother. The "winning is all" mentality is shown through the young girl's belief in the web of life - "The sick and the weak died and the young and the strong lived and thrived". The girl is a courageous figure who forms her own principles and lives by them. She is independent and not reliant on anyone else. Her strength is distinguished through her decision that she must leave her mother in order to survive.

  • Word count: 821
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: World Literature
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Duffys Poem, Valentine, is a thought provoking and interesting poem, in which an onion is used in the form of an extended metaphor to symbolise true love,

Carol Ann Duffy: Valentine Duffy's Poem, Valentine, is a thought provoking and interesting poem, in which an onion is used in the form of an extended metaphor to symbolise true love, in an unconventional, non-romantic way. The reader is subjected to a different approach to love, whereby, he is made to understand the parallelism between a mundane cooking ingredient and a Valentine's Day gift. The title, valentine, has jovial connotations associated with it, but judging from the word choice, viewpoint (voice) and pace of the poem, the reader is led to believe that Duffy assumes that an object of obscurity, such as an onion can also have happy connotations. "I give you an onion. Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips, possessive and faithful as we are, for as long as we are." Duffy has also used words which make the message ambiguous as the reader does not really know how serious Duffy is about an onion being a Valentine's Day gift or whether she uses an onion as a object of effective comparison or she is frustrated with the idea of love and relationships. The whole expression of thought does help her in successfully achieving a gloomy and sedate mood and help the reader to interpret her work better. The use of diction and word choice in the poem is an effective device that Duffy uses to express the mood in the poem and aid the reader to understand the poems deeper message,

  • Word count: 1385
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: World Literature
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