Obsession: A Devastating State
Carmen Galzerano English 111 Wilkinson July 27, 2004 Obsession: A Devastating State At one point or another almost every person has experienced obsession. Obsessions come in all shapes and sizes and in varying degrees. In The Rocking Horse Winner, by David Lawerence, and The Birthmark, by Nathaniel Hawthorne readers witness the bizarre, and often shallow, obsessions people can have. These obsessions become great sources of pain for the characters and lead to devastating consequences, including death. By analyzing the cause and effect relationship of Paul's obsession, luck and money, and Aylmer's obsession, perfection and control, we can better understand how these characters developed these obsessions and why they could not overcome them. As a young boy Paul was highly aware that his parents never seemed to have enough money to satisfy their expensive tastes. Both parents refused to live by their means "so the house was haunted by the unspoken phrase: there must be more money! There must be more money" (399)! Paul and his sisters could always hear it although nobody dared speak it. Paul's obsession with luck and money develops when he inquires to his mother as to why they do not have a car. His mother says it is because they are the poor members of the family and they have no luck. She then explains to Paul that luck is not money; luck is what causes you to
Play: Simply HeavenlyTheatre Company and Venue: Trafalgar StudiosDate of Performance: 1/11/2004 Simply Heavenly, a good choice for the name of this play as it fits in with the theme of love
Rhian Haisman 10BN Theatre Review Coursework Play: Simply Heavenly Theatre Company and Venue: Trafalgar Studios Date of Performance: 1/11/2004 Simply Heavenly, a good choice for the name of this play as it fits in with the theme of love and relationships. There's also a link with the lead 'Jesse B Simple', who proves to be a very simple man who eventually battles his way through dilemmas and obstacles to find his idea of heaven, marrying his girlfriend Joyce Laine. The play is based on Harlem New York in the 1950's period. At the beginning of the play an introductory song brings in all the characters. They enter the bar from centre stage making the usual chit-chat before bursting into song with a fantastic dance routine. This is a front view of the stage: After the dance routine most actors leave gradually. A few characters remain; the barman, Bodiddly and his son, and other customers. The scene change is clever and smooth using music to draw attention from the actors leaving the stage. After this short scene we are introduced to another character, Jesse Simple. The scene changes to Jesse's room. His room looks lower class and hasn't got much on it. He has a bed and bedside table, cupboard, and very few possessions. The decoration and colours used are dark browns, greens, and simple accessories. His room is on the left of the stage and cleverly moves in and out
Snowy dead people - Andrew Walleck.
Snowy Dead People Andrew Walleck 10/28/99 "The Dead," a short story by James Joyce tells the story of an evening dinner party and the events immediately following said party. It takes place in Ireland, as do all the other stories in Dubliners and the story is loosely centralized on Gabriel; a pudgy, educated man who has attended this dinner party for many years running. The party is held by two sisters, Kate and Julia, the elder of whom is visibly near death. The attendants of the party are mostly upper-middle class, well-educated, patriotic Irelanders. At the end of the story, Gabriel reaches an epiphany in terms of discovering the true relationship he holds with his wife. This epiphany, the use of the elements, and the clever selection of title all help present a central theme, which is the ability of the human emotion to transcend place and elements, and even death. In the story's final pages, Gabriel's wife admits to Gabriel that she once had another love in her life (notwithstanding that the other is now dead) named Michael Furey. She then falls into a fitful sleep and Gabriel stays awake to attempt to contemplate. In his own words, Gabriel admits to himself that "He had never felt like that himself towards any woman," and that "he knew such a feeling must be love," (page 152.) This outright acknowledgement of his inability to match what he feels for Greta with
I choose to compare and contrast Nicholas and Paul's characteristics.
I choose to compare and contrast Nicholas and Paul's characteristics. Character plays an important part in a story. Sometimes, characters can create a sympathetic atmosphere with the description of their personalities that touch our emotion. We learn about characteristics of characters by the physical attributes, dialogues, actions, opinion from the other characters and the author's comments. We also know about an author's style when we analyze the characters. There is development in Paul's characteristic from the beginning of the story until the story ends. The plot of the story proves to us that he is a dynamic character. Lawrence introduces Paul as a usual and normal boy who lives a lavish lifestyle family. The situation gets worse when the family face financial problems. Paul tries to find luck to solve this problem. To Paul, luck is money and money is the way to get his mother's love. We know he is a round character through Lawrences's description of Paul becoming obsessed boy in getting the money through horseracing gambling. Saki uses different ways to describe Nicholas. Nicholas is a flat character because his characteristics do not change from the beginning to the end of the story. His mischievousness actions that presented in the beginning to the end of the story prove to us that he is a flat character. Nicholas and Paul are curious boys. Saki reveals Nicholas's
"Araby" by Joyce
Katie Raffensperger April 15, 2005 Comp. 200 - Dr. Lee Assignment #4 The short story "Araby" by Joyce is a highly dramatic short story. The narrator takes his readers through his times of life is a constant reminder of how the narrator is slowly becoming an adult. His uncle is not very reliable due to his drinking habit and the narrator has to learn to take care of himself. The narrator also is learning to grow from a boy to a young adult, because of his secret love. He learns to take things for what they are and make the best of things. He also comes to the painful realization that some things are just better on their own. Short stories also contain criteria. Criteria for a short story should focus on the characters and their relations with each other, conflicts that occur throughout the story, and a controversial theme. Each of these is beneficial for a successful short story. One part of this dramatic short story focuses on the narrator's change in beliefs and behavior. In the beginning the narrator is portrayed to be a young boy with outgoing, sporadic ideas and actions. The young boy in the beginning is someone who overvalues things. He appears to have various interests that last for a short time span, but puts full effort into every different interest that appeals to him at that certain time. He takes little events and turns them into
short story
Review of Literature: In order to know whether this topic has been dealt with before, the researcher has consulted MUI Dissertation online .It was found that some dissertations were written on Joyce's novel but from different perspective. Nevertheless, these dissertations will be of esteemed help to the researchers -Kelly, Marian Herstein 'The distance of proximity': James Joyce's and Toni Morrison's re-envisioning of the readerly space (Ireland).Diss. TulaneUniversity,2005. This study has been examined Joyce's(and Toni Morrison) reaction to the political pressures of his times with an emphasis on diversity and ethical understanding. Joyce's opinion about nationalism has been explained by giving special importance to his work, Ulysses . The dissertation has been questioned Joyce's anti-nationalism. Kelly's study will be greatly useful to the proposed study as it will hopefully enable the researcher to comprehend more dimensions of Joyce's themes, characters, and technique. 2-Horowitz, Evan Cory. The writing of modern life (William Morris, George Eliot, James Joyce, Ireland).Diss. Princeton University,2006. This study has been explored Joyce's (with other writers such as Eliot,Morris)struggle
Paul’s Case written by Willa Cather
Paul's Case written by Willa Cather is about a proud and confused adolescent boy Paul, who lives his imaginary life. Paul takes his daydreaming out of limits and therefore is perceived to be somewhat bizarre by others. Paul is very self oriented, impressed with money, fortune and fame. In Paul's fantasy world things are either exceptional or miserable never in the middle. Being unable to accept and see the reality of true life isolates Paul from others. To bring Paul's character closer to audience Willa Cather describes Paul in three ways: how others perceive him and what it is like to be around him; how he feels and what it is like to be him; and how he would love to feel and be seen by others. At the beginning of the story audience is introduced to Paul's character from his teacher's opinions who think he is little strange. Paul's appearance is a somewhat pretentious; he wears a carnation in his jacket and his large eyes are dilated, rather suggestive of person on drugs. Paul is seen by others as unusual and misfit and as much out of ordinary physically as mentally. Paul's confused personality confuses others around him also. People are not completely certain how to treat Paul and this is why he is outcast and mistreated. Although audience never reads about how Paul's peers treat him, it is obvious that he is afraid of his father who verbally abuses him and
Comparison and Contrast of the Main Characters in "A & P" and "Araby"
Caitlin Hargrove Professor Sterr English 2 November 2004 Comparison and Contrast of the Main Characters in "A & P" and "Araby" Mordecai Marcus defines an initiation story as one that shows "a young protagonist experiencing a significant change of knowledge about the world or himself...and this change must point or lead him toward an adult life" (1960). As seen in John Updike's "A & P" and James Joyce's "Araby," both of the main characters are confronted by situations that bring them to "thresholds of maturity and understanding." Marcus classifies initiation stories based upon one of three levels that a character passes through during their struggle towards wisdom and clarification. Although both characters from "A & P" and "Araby" make it to this passageway toward adulthood, Sammy from "A & P" passes farther through Marcus's levels of initiation than does the narrator of "Araby." Despite the narrator of "Araby's" progress, Sammy matures more after his initiation as he appreciates his struggle and lessons learned more than the character in "Araby" by accepting his fate and moving forward instead of dwelling over his circumstances and blaming others for his frustration. As Sammy grows-up in a quiet, suburban town in New England during the early 1960's, he takes on a bleak outlook of life as he becomes bored while serving his community as a cashier at the local A & P
Bernard MacLaverty - More Than Just The Disease
Bernard MacLaverty - More Than Just The Disease This short story is an excellent from the Irish author Bernard MacLaverty. It is an examination of a young boy called Neil Fry who suffers from a skin condition called psoriasis and how the other characters react to, and interacts with him. My intentions for this essay are to examine how MacLaverty uses various settings to highlight different attitudes and explore the effects of such attitudes on the main character in this text. The story revolves around Neil - a young boy, whose mother is a single parent, who goes to spend part of his summer holiday with his friend Michael and his family. Michael's father is a doctor who has rented a Victorian terraced house in Scotland for the holiday. The holiday home is described as being full of collectables gathered from the owner's travels to Africa and the Far East i.e., the cupboard of "black lacquer with a yellow inlay of exotic birds." Such items may make the reader think that the owner is well-travelled and open-minded but the rest of the house is neat and orderly with a place for everything and everything in its place as typical of those times. This portrays an image of an inhibiting environment much more typical of Victorian attitudes and standards. Importantly, the house does not belong to Michael's family but is used to represent an image of the family. The garden which is