Essays on Book Reports

... novel. By definition, a pragmatist is one who believes that the meaning of conceptions is to be sought in their practical bearings, that the function of thought is to guide action, and that truth is preminently to be tested by the practical consequences of belief. Bayard Sartoris was a pragmatist. He 'let his conscience be his guide'. Telling his father about Drusilla's attempt to seduce him and refusing to avenge his father's death are two good examples of this. In the beginning of the novel, Bayard is shown to be simple minded, but as time passes on and Bayard grows into a young man, his mind develops and he ultimately ends the battle between idealism and pragmat ...

... but also feel hated. Jean Valjean, an ex-convict who had been on the run from the authority most of his life, took Cosette into his own hands by request of Fantine before she died. Before he had Cosette in his custody, he had already change his name to Monsieur Madeleine. This character name change got me off track at a point in the story. However, in the end it all came together to show how desperate he tried to get away from his past. Hugo had a good way of showing the emotions of the characters; not only by deep description , but by how they strive to live a normal life. Hugo uses a great deal of description in his writing. For example ...

... their sacred deer, and he took his land. They have a great dual and Aeneas disarmed Turnus by striking him in the leg. With his sword to his chest Turnus makes a last request for his body to be returned to his family, as Aeneas is considering the request he notices that Turnus is wearing the sword belt of Pallas and the stoic ways of Aeneas leave him as rage, fury, and anger run through his body. He kills Turnus in anger and dedicates his death to Pallas. This loss of control and act of violence is the opposite of stoicism and the way Aeneas had been portrayed the rest of the epic. Turnus has to die for the founding of Rome to occur but he should not have been k ...

... rooted securely in her garden but also held down by her connection to it. Their house is described as “hard-swept” and “hard-polished,” and is the only outlet for her talents. However, Elisa needs something more in her life than a neat house and a good garden. Their marriage is childless and conventional and she has begun to sense that an important part of her is dying and that her future will be predictable and mundane. Elisa is a barren woman who has transferred her maternal impulses to her garden, a garden full of unborn seedlings. On the other hand, Elisa would never consider a lurid affair, when a dark mysterious stranger appe ...

... to it.” In their rapacity the “pilgrims” have placed ivory as their God, a realization that has greater meaning towards the end of the book. The significance of ivory begins to move away from avarice and takes on a purely evil connotation as Marlow approaches those hearts of darkness: the Inner Station and Kurtz. Kurtz's relationship with ivory seems to have been reiterated by every company member through the course of the story. Of course Kurtz “harvested” more ivory than all the other stations combined, and therefore it almost seems appropriate that Conrad would use extensive ivory imagery in describing Kurtz. Earlier, during his digression on Kur ...

... to be accepted to sustain life, there would be a lot of dead people in the world. Have you ever heard the saying, "if a tree falls in the woods, would it make a sound?" Well if you have, you will notice a lot of similar things in it and Thoreau's saying, "the sky is less grand when it shuts down over less worth in the population." They are both saying that if something happened and nobody was around would it have the same affect as it would if many people saw it. Thoreau was saying that the sunset is not as beautiful when only a few people see it. I think that a person would have to question things like that, because nobody really knows. In conclusion, I a ...

... has changed dramatically as a character throughout the play. Macbeth was tortured with remorse after Duncan’s murder but upon hearing of Banquo’s successful assassination he is elated. His vaulting ambition was driving him to extreme measures and he could do nothing to abate it. Macbeth had risked his life to attain the throne and he had no choice but to employ Machiavellian practices to retain it. The appearance of Banquo’s ghost at the royal banquet horrifies Macbeth. Shakespeare brilliantly uses irony to make Banquo’s emergence very dramatic: Macbeth: Fail not our feast. Banquo: My lord, I will not. (III, i, ll 28-29 ...

... ourselves this afternoon, and the day after that, and the next thirty years?" This quote not only means she lives for one day at a time never thinking of the future, but that she truly has no idea of what to do with herself. She is like loose change floating around wandering from party to party, man to man, friend to friend, in a big house in East Egg with no sense of purpose. She once attempted to plan something when she first reunited with Nick. She said, "What'll we plan? What do people plan?" meaning she has never had to make decisions nor has she had much responsibility. Not only does she have no purpose, she has no morals. She literally killed a woman and wen ...

... was an innocent Frenchman that just after being hired as Mr. Fogg's servant was told to pack for a trip around the world. Throughout the entire novel the reader is informed of all the peculiar habits of Fogg that Passepartout had to support. My least favorite character is Fix the detective. He followed Fogg around the globe, he missed arresting him in India and Hong Kong through incompetence, and as soon as they arrived back in London, he did arrest Fogg but erroneously. The main conflict of the novel was time. Time caused a lot of pressure on Fogg; he had to get back to London on time or he would lose the money he wagered. Mr.Fogg and Passepartout were ...

... to think he is a coward so he does. Then the rest of them follow." In the book, Between Parent and Teenager, it states the substance abuse is the number one cause of death amongst teenagers. Studies show that among high school students age 14 - 17, 60% of the students use alcohol once a week, 75% use it at least once a month, and 85% have used it once in the year. In the novel, Holden Caulfield has very easy access to alcoholic beverages. Throughout the novel, it seems that every time Holden gets depressed, he turns towards alcohol. in Chapter 12, Holden is at Ernie's night club and he got served even though he was only a minor. In Chapter 20, Holden gets drunk. Th ...