Essays on Book Reports

... In the Prince of Tides Conroy has the main character describe to the reader through flashbacks, and memories, all of the events of his life from when he was just a young boy all the way up to the present. " I betray the integrity of my family's history by turning everything, even sadness into romance. There is no romance in this story; just a story" (p.75). The narrator paints a very good picture for the reader and therefore gives the reader a good sense of Tom's difficult family life, and sees how it has made Tom into the man that he is (a loving father and husband). In the novel The Great Santini, Pat Conroy also uses first-person narration. Bull's son ...

... Street and hated every minute she was there. Her family always dreamed of a white house with trees all around it, with real stairs and a real hallway, and at least three washrooms. The house they dreamed of is everyone’s dream. The house was nothing like this dream. The house was small and red with tight steps in front and small windows. It was old and broken down. It was not the most secure or safest place to live and it was not what Esperanza wanted. Throughout the entire book, Esperanza and many others were trying to escape Mango Street in order to look for a better place to live. Finally, Esperanza didn’t have many friends. Sometimes she went as low as to pa ...

... not only receiving sensations from the outside world, but it also half-creates them. In Wordsworth, a sensation is formed by imagining his childhood in a series of stages in the development with nature. The sensation is based on nature but is also shaped by the poet’s mind. The thought revolves around the serenity that nature has brought to his life. In “Intimations of Immortality” Wordsworth states “Yet in my heart of hearts I feel your might” (line 89) as to perceive nature as a part of man spirit. The part of man spirit man can roam freely without human concerns. In light of this thought man loves nature in an overwhelming way. Nature being th ...

... things Claudius has some explaining to do, and this is precisely what occupies him for most of the second scene. It is practical concerns, Claudius argues, that have forced him to become king. There is of course the threat of Fortinbras who, thinking Denmark to be vulnerable "by our late dear brother's death" has been demanding "the surrender of those lands/Lost by his father" (I, ii, 23-24). In a gesture of contemptuous superiority, Claudius simply declares "So much for him" (I, ii, 25). That crisis is over. The fact is Claudius is in control. He has already acknowledged the moral awkwardness of marrying his "sometime sister" Gertrude but characterizes it as me ...

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... of. In this era women were supposed to find happiness in serving their husbands and taking care of the children. There were no other options within the restrictive boundaries of marriage, and divorce was never an alternative. Women's lives were austere and self enrichment or self gratification were often times cast aside relative to the more mundane tasks of daily life. Most women accepted this but Edna did not. She figured that life was more than constantly doing for someone else. She wanted time for herself in order to figure out who she was. Some may see this as selfish but everyone is entitled to “me” time and space. Although I admit she did not go a ...

... a loss of dignity and pride, none of them wanted to lose that. Also, by the time the boys were given the chance to chase the money, they were numb from pain. I don't think the new torture methods were really affecting the boys. Their bodies became somewhat immune to the blows after awhile. My battle royal was a little bit different from the boys in the story. I did not really suffer from outside torment. The battle I faced was mostly inside myself. People didn't have to say anything and I would be judging myself and putting myself down. Like the boys in the boxing ring fighting one another, I would have to fight with my own feelings to overcome things. Ea ...

... father's son, a child taught to ignore the wisdom of women. Even when he is 31, he still needs "both his father and his aunt to get him off" the scrapes he gets into. Milkman considers himself Macon, Jr., calling himself by that name, and believing that he cannot act independently (120). The first lesson his father teaches him is that ownership is everything, and that women's knowledge (specifically, Pilate's knowledge) is not useful "in this world" (55). He is blind to the Pilate's wisdom. When Pilate tell Reba's lover that women's love is to be respected, he learns nothing (94). In the same episode, he begins his incestuous affair with Hagar, leaving her 14 year ...

... swaying. I could not handle all of this beauty; it knocked me out, literally. When I awoke I noticed that some of my things had been moved about. Each item was placed in a navigational direction: north, east, west, and south. I also was aware that my hands were placed in the direction, northeast. I collected my things and began walking, I must have walked for quite awhile because when I left, the sun was just overhead and when I thought to check again, the sun was already even with the horizon. I noticed something covered with shroud, it was a sign in English but it did not make sense to me. Upon further investigation I learned that the sign must signify ...

... don’t need a gun.” This statement said by Joe, is the main reason why Dave truly wants a gun, to feel independent. Even though Dave wants to be acknowledged as an adult, his actions are very immature and childlike. The act of cornering his mother for a gun is one good example of immaturity. Dave feels as though he can not ask his dad for the gun for fear of rejection, a perfect example of immaturity. Daves defiance to his mother’s rules is another example of immaturity. Dave’s mother agrees to allow Dave to buy the gun as long as he promises to bring it straight to her. He agrees to this, yet he does not go along with her wish. The next mo ...