... of Zeena. "While Mattie is young, happy, healthy, and beautiful like the summer, Zeena is seven years older than Ethan, bitter, ugly and sickly cold like the winter" (Lewis 310). Zeena's strong, dominating personality emasculates Ethan, while Mattie's feminine, effervescent youth makes Ethan feel like a "real man." Contrary to his characteristic passiveness, he defies Zeena in Mattie's defence, "You can't go, Matt! I won't let you! She's [Zeena's] always had her way, but I mean to have mine now -" (Wharton 123). To Ethan, Mattie is radiant and energetic. He sees possibilities in her beyond his trite life in Starkfield, something truly worth standing up for. ...
... confusing. I can understand why Jurgis left his family after the death of his young wife, and then the death of his only son. After his time in the country and working for the political machines of Chicago, he became interested in the idea of socialism. With the introduction of a socialist Jurgis, I wanted to put down the book. Where had the whole socialist movement came from? I felt it made absolutely no sense to be in this story. The story, at that point, needed to concentrate more on the reunited family of Jurgis rather than the radical ideas circulating throughout Chicago. Upton Sinclair painted an accurate historical picture with , but he wrote it withou ...
... truth about books. Montag meets Clarisse as he is one day walking home from work, and they strike up a conversation. During their conversation Montag is questioned why books are illegal and why firemen burn the books. She also asks him if he had ever read any of the books that he burned. His reply was that it is against the law. Clarisse even asks, "… long ago [did] firemen put fires out instead of going to start them?"(, page 38) Montag replies by telling her that that is nonsense, and that "Houses have always been fireproof,…"(, page 38) Here you can see how brainwashed and blinded the truth is for the people. Clarisse says good night to Montag, an ...
... is killing. In the book there are twins and the smaller one has to be released. His father turned and opened the cupboard. He took out a syringe and a small bottle. Very carefully he inserted the needle into the bottle and began to fill the syringe with a clear liquid. Jonas winced sympathetically. He had forgotten that newchildren had to get shots. He hated shots himself, though he knew they were necessary. To his surprise, his father began very carefully to direct the needle into the top of the newchild’s forehead, puncturing the place where the fragile skin pulsed. The newborn squirmed and wailed faintly “Why’s he-“ “Shhh,” said sharply. His fath ...
... between acquaintances meeting in the street, and good women gossiping at their open windows" (Hawthorne 256). The minister might have committed a secret sin, or he could have used the veil to make a silent statement. Whatever his reason for his odd clothing, Reverend Hooper’s veil caused more than a physical separation from the people of his town. The people felt the veil was "the symbol of a fearful secret between him and them" (Hawthorne 256). Their fear and confusion of the minister’s motives caused strange behavior and unnatural withdrawal from their spiritual leader. After the initial onset of the black veil, the minister was alienated from h ...
... a French man who is a tutor and is put on trial numerous times and has to be rescued. Dr. Manette- a prisoner for 18 years who recovers with the aid of his daughter; he tries to repay her by rescuing her husband from death. Sydney Carton- a drunken lawyer who looks like Charles Darnay, and saves his life because of his love for Lucie. Lucie Manette- a pretty, blonde woman who is very loving and loyal to others and marries Charles Darnay. Ernest Defarge- an owner of a wine shop who becomes a leader in the French Revolution. Madame Therese Defarge- the wife of Ernest who waits for the revolution to get revenge on her enemies; she knits the names of the people sh ...
... case and lose his father. Richard did not die, but when he heard of his son's error he could not forgive him and couldn't bare to see him anymore. Only a fatherly instinct would force Richard to find a meager job for his helpless son in a small town with an old friend who was looking for someone trying to regain status as Peter now was. Whitaker was not as exciting as Portland was to Peter, but he began to be accustomed to the town when he began his handling small criminal cases and ran into an old friend who graduated with him from highschool, Steve Mancini. Steve, like Peter's father, was a football star, but at the Division II level for the Whitaker State f ...
... was her environment for years and the only man around, sexually abused her. Imagine yourself in a similar position and ask yourself “what would the effect be on me?” The effect on Dorothy Allison is portrayed in the book. She writes about having mixed emotions that for people who have not had such an experience seems quit strange. For example on page 48 (I knew; with fury) she describes the first time making love to a woman. When she makes love to her the smell reminds her of her stepfather. She feels both desire and hatred. The desire was what scared her, but by making love to this woman it made her feel more comfortable with that emotion. The desire resulted ...
... the shore with just anybody, and you can't come by yourself, at this teenage period in life, the proper person is your best pal...which is what you are..." In that passage their relationship has taken on a greater meaning; from that point on they are emotionally attached. After Finny's first accident, the relationship grows stronger. "Listen, pal, if I can't play sports, you're going to play them for me,' and I lost part of myself to him then, and a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first: to become a part of Phineas." Gene begins to feel that Phineas is part of him. "Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies. ...
... work Gregor does is merely mechanical, a means to an end, it offers him no satisfaction, and it alienates him the moment he begins. He starts locking his doors at night after having to travel, he becomes distrustful of people, and he brings these things into his home, where they separate him from his family. The only way Gregor can find happiness is through the small amount of creative work he can accomplish through carpentry. This is his true love and his one indulgence and he will do anything to protect it, and he shows when his mother and sister move to clean his room and move his furniture. He fears they will remove the picture with the frame ...
