"Charlotte's Web": A Place in the Heart.

"Charlotte's Web": A Place in the Heart No matter their age, once a reader begins E.B. White's "Charlotte's Web" they are immediately immersed in the story and eager to embark on an adventure with Wilbur and Charlotte. It is not an easy task to write a novel that can be appreciated by so many. However, within the setting of the Zuckerman's farm E.B. White creates wonderfully diverse characters that the reader can become acquainted with. With these characters the reader learns and experiences situations they have or will encounter during their lives. Charlotte's Web is not simply a story about life on a farm; there is a much deeper level to the narrative. Throughout the pages of his story, E.B. White explores several topics that have significant universal resonance; the gratification of having a loyal friend, the reality of growing up, and the subject of death, something we all fear. The intention of this paper is to exhibit the relevance of these three themes to the story and their role in providing the reader with life lessons. Firstly, I will examine the relationship of Wilbur and Charlotte and how it provides an important message to the readers. Secondly, I will discuss the maturity of Fern and how it changes throughout the novel. And finally I will explore the topic of death and how it is dealt with throughout the text. Wilbur's first encounter with Charlotte comes at a

  • Word count: 1677
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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"Dracula"- sexual women

"Dracula"-sexual women Phyllis Roth believs dracular has remained so popular throughout the years as it involves a fantasy that is shared and understood by many, and this fantasy is strongly linked to the Oedipus complex. The fantasies of this novel change horror into pleasure. Dracula's hostility to female sexuality would have been appealing to both the victorians and 20th century reader and Carrol Fry compares the vimpiressess to the fallen women of 18th and 19th century novels. The division between the dark and the fair women and the fallen and idealised is clear. Roth states ; quote "Perhaps nowhere is the dichotomy of sensual and sexless women more dramatic than it is in Dracula and nowhere is the suddenly sexual woman more violently and self-righeously persecuted than in stoker's thriller". Vampirism and sexuality are closely related, and Freud observes "morbid dread always signifies repressed sexual wishes". Although the tone of morbid dread is evident throughout the novel, also is that of lustful anticipation; anticipation of killing dracular himself and anticipation of a sexual consummation. One instance of morbid dread mixed with sexual desire is when Harker meets Dracula's 3 vamire women; "All three had brilliant white teeth that shone like pearls against the ruby of their voluptuous lips. There was something about them that made me uneasy, some longing and at

  • Word count: 1615
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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"Enduring Love" How appropriate is the title of the novel?

"Enduring Love" How appropriate is the title of the novel? At first glance, "Enduring Love" may seem a simple title for a novel, not one that invokes serious thought for the reader. Although we expect a story of love, we are presented with a much more complicated array of events revolving around three people, all with their own version of "Enduring Love". Ultimately the story revolves around the somewhat content relationship between Joe Rose, an accomplished and well-respected science writer and his partner Clarissa Mellon, a Keats scholar and university lecturer that is until the intrusion by Jed Parry. Brought together by a ballooning accident, Joe and Jed momentarily exchange words, but this moment is the catalyst for a fixation by the younger man, Jed Parry, for the protagonist of the story, Joe Rose. Clarissa also witnesses the accident but she, like Joe, misses the moment that spawns the obsession, which rips their lives apart and in due course, breaks apart their relationship. There are two types of love themes running through this novel, one of obsession and one of pure love. The one of obsession is obviously the love Jed feels for Joe and the pure love is that of Clarissa and Joe. As Jed becomes more and more fixated on Joe, Joes relationship with Clarissa increasingly dwindles until the point where they call it a day and end their relationship. Early on in the

  • Word count: 1204
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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How do Ivan Turgenev and Jane Austen use narrative techniques to 'show' and 'tell'.

Compare Elizabeth Bennett in 'Pride and Prejudice' in their judgments upon their parents. How do Ivan Turgenev and Jane Austen use narrative techniques to 'show' and 'tell'. In this essay, I attempt to show that both Elizabeth and Arkady exist in different eras of the century, however, they are not totally affected by the predominant social perceptions widely adopted by the society, namely, values pertaining to marriage, love, beauty of art and nature. Nonetheless, their social and personal beliefs have affected their judgments upon their parents. Both Turgenev and Austen have used various techniques in 'showing' and 'telling' to capture the reader's interest as well as enable the reader to understand the viewpoints of each character in the respective passages. In the first passage, Arkady shows no intention of pretence by replying very promptly yet cheerfully: "Fenechka?" (Turgenev,12). However, this may have appeared too embarrassing to Nikolai who blushes at the loud announcement of the name. In fact, Nikolai's stuttered reply displays that he is indeed self-conscious that probably a man of his age should be dating a young peasant girl of a different social class. Arkady expresses surprise with a hint of reproach - "You ought to be ashamed" - that Nikolai should apologise for the inconvenience of appropriate accommodation. He is actually telling his father that

  • Word count: 1694
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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How is Justine Presented in this Chapter? How Does Shelley Use Language to Create Effect in this Chapter? How Does Shelley Present Women as a Whole in the Novel?

Gabriela Belmar-Valencia 12CA 7th March 2003 a) How is Justine Presented in this Chapter? b) How Does Shelley Use Language to Create Effect in this Chapter? c) How Does Shelley Present Women as a Whole in the Novel? a) At the opening of Chapter Eight, the character of Justine is presented as dignified and composed, not, as might be expected, ridden with hysterical terror; "The appearance of Justine was calm", "she appeared confident in her innocence and did not tremble". At this point Justine appears to be resilient and strong as she had "collected her powers" and is described as speaking "in an audible although variable voice". However it is implied that this is simply a façade "as her confusion had before been adduced as proof of her guilt, she worked up her mind to an appearance of courage". The fact that courage does not come naturally implies that she is far from brave, as initially described. This is later confirmed as it is clear that she is unable to keep up the appearance of composure "She was tranquil, yet her tranquillity was evidently constrained", "A tear seemed to dim her eye when she saw us; but she quickly recovered herself". As the trial progresses, she quickly loses control; "her countenance altered. Surprise, horror and misery were strongly expressed. Sometimes she struggled with tears". Justine is presented

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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Judith PughMarking Tutor: Mark Brown To what extent are writers also detectives in the novels you have studied?

Judith Pugh Marking Tutor: Mark Brown To what extent are writers also detectives in the novels you have studied? The crime and the detective novel and their conventions have changed considerably over the last century. As societies have changed, these genres have adapted and branched out to meet the needs of writers attempting to express new concerns. Edgar Allen Poe's detective novel, The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841) follows conventions we would now consider to be traditional in mystery writing. Bearing a close resemblance to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, we find a detective who relies on reasoning and deduction to solve a mystery that to all intensive purposes appears unsolvable; a locked room mystery such as Doyle's The Speckled Band (1892). In America, between the world wars, emerged the 'hard-boiled' private eye novel, featuring tough private investigators, often themselves outcasts from society. Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett are examples of authors from this school of detective fiction. After the Second World War there was increasingly a feeling that literary fiction was an inadequate means of accurately describing the horrors of the modern world. 'New journalism' emerged, a term coined by Tom Wolfe to describe non-fiction novels by authors such as Truman Capote. His true crime novel, In Cold Blood (1965) is one of the texts

  • Word count: 3953
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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In The Diviners, by Margaret Laurence, Morag Gunn's association with Ella Gerson provides her with opportunities to examine aspects of life that she might not have been exposed to otherwise.

Alternate Group Work Question: Write and approximately 300 word answer for the following: Morag sees a range of choices for women living in the 20th century through the female characters she meets. Choose one or two of the following characters (Mrs. Crawley, Ella Gerson, Mrs. Gerson, Julie Kazlik, Fan Brady) and describe what Morag gets from their relationship. Are there things that she both takes and leaves from her association with them? In The Diviners, by Margaret Laurence, Morag Gunn's association with Ella Gerson provides her with opportunities to examine aspects of life that she might not have been exposed to otherwise. Ella comes into Morag's life during a period of significant change and adjustment, and at a time when she needs support and friendship. Ella, like Morag, is a writer, and they first meet at University. Morag is, at the time, struggling with her insecurity as a writer and with who she is as a person. Ella is able to offer Morag emotional support and understanding that has been lacking for as long as Morag can remember, and for the first time "Morag tells - can she? she does" (196) someone about her writing, her past, and her hopes for the future. Via her friendship with Ella, Morag is exposed to the Gerson family, and to the first loving and warm family experience she has had since her parents died. Morag realizes "that she never knew until now

  • Word count: 420
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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The Tell Tale Heart

The Tell Tale Heart This story was written during the Victorian time, in early 1800 by Edgar Allan Poe, who was born in 1809 and died in 1849. Although he was American, he spent his school years in Stoke Newington University, in England. In his early age Poe tried many different jobs, like a soldier, journalist, and a kitchen porter. Then later, he became very successful at writing horror stories (Gothic). The Tell Tale Heart is one of them. The story is told by the narrator who murdered the old man he lived with. He says he used to love the old man. However, the old man had an awful eye and the main character could not stand it, so he decided to kill the old man. Eventually, he took the life of the old man. Then, the police were called by a neighbour, and told of a shriek heard the night before. The police went to find out what happened. The main character successfully presented himself as innocent, but in the end he gave himself up. He admitted committing the crime. In the first paragraph the writer is diving us an introduction to the story. Tension is suggested straight away in the narrator's opening sentence, in which he says "True! Nervous- very, dreadfully nervous. I have been and I am". Suspense keeps building up as the writer tells the story by talking to the reader directly. "But why will you say that I am mad?" suspense in this story plays a very

  • Word count: 784
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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Themes within the first chapter of Of Mice And Men

Themes within the first chapter of Of Mice And Men The novel Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck was written during a period in history when life was not very auspicious. It was the time of the depression, which followed The Wall Street Crash. The Wall Street Crash occurred in October 1929 when the stock market crashed, wiping out forty percent of the paper values of common stock. Many Americans lost their life savings. By 1932 approximately one out of every four Americans were unemployed. They received no help from the President at the time, Herbert Hoover, who believed that a person should help themself. It was not until Franklin Roosevelt came into power in 1932, that unemployment fell from 13,000,000 to 8,000,000. Roosevelt spoke of a "new deal" for the American people. The Depression was even more detrimental for the Americans as it went against everything they believed in, in particular The American Dream. The American Dream is basically the idea that every American can be successful and happy and that they, themselves can achieve this. Back in the 19th century, settlers from Europe began arriving in America, intent on starting a new life there. The American government sold families a small piece of land (about a square mile) for $1 an acre, on which to live. They would have to build their own houses made out of sods on it. They would farm it and have to combat many

  • Word count: 1419
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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The Landscape of London

The Landscape of London Both The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Picture of Dorian Gray deal with the notion of duality - Dr. Jekyll is the respectable doctor whose alter-ego is the dark and animalistic Mr. Hyde, and Dorian Gray is a beautiful young man whose portrait becomes aged and decayed through his immorality and corruption. The notion of duality is also evident in both novels' treatment of London as a city that is fragmented socially and geographically. In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Picture of Dorian Gray, London is depicted in a manner that reflects the dual nature of the principal characters. At first glance, it would appear as if Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde were two distinctly different individuals. They also reside in two separate, contrasting parts of London that appear to reinforce their character traits and the binary opposition between the two personas. The respectable Dr. Jekyll is a "well-made, smoothed face man of fifty" (44) who lives in a house that "wore a great air of wealth and comfort" (42) in a middle-class, West End neighborhood. In contrast, the atavistic Mr. Hyde is "wicked-looking" (47) and "downright detestable" (35), and he is appropriately situated in Soho, a dismal neighborhood that evokes the worst stereotypes about the East End. Yet, these binary oppositions are interrogated and deconstructed. The

  • Word count: 2266
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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