To some people, holding firmly to a dream can be one of life's greatest challenges. In the classic 20th century novel, "The Great Gatsby," by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a man named James Gatz (aka Jay Gatsby) is revealed as one with a strong past of pursuing his dream. Jay Gatsby stood as his own bulwark throughout his entire life trying to achieve his one dream, and with his determination he could ... with Daisy, he embarked for Europe in the military and left his dream behind. Unbeknownst to Gatsby at the time, leaving for Europe was his tragic mistake. Daisy could last so long awaiting Gatsby's ...

• Word Count: 750
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... living since the ultimate destination is death. Gatsby thought that "of course you can" repeat the past. Therefore, he must have been living in some sort of dream world where he thought he can just wake up any mourning and just return to the past. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses this idea to create confusion. The reader of this story never really knows the true character of Gatsby, for example, how ... he got all his money. I believe that Gatsby is an illusion created by Nick and that is the only place that can withhold such a being. Nick relied ... on Gatsby's fantasy of living in the past t...

• Word Count: 593
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... lie two opposite kingdoms. The poet T.S. Eliot expresses his feelings on the balance between these two kingdoms by the narrator being tossed back and forth between the two realms that are what we call heaven and hell, but in his poem entitled "The Hollow men" Eliot calls them "death's dream kingdom"(II.30.) and "death's twilight kingdom"(IV.65.) The three themes that Eliot uses in his ... in his poem to make his point present are societies lack of spiritual guidance and truth, a lack of an emotional outlet, and the meaninglessness of life. The first theme that is in the poem "The Hollow...

• Word Count: 570
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... up and is faster causing the listener to feel suspense as the drums are beating and beating along with the lyrics that begin to bring a feeling of determination to accomplish great things and overcoming any obstacles along the way. The piano plays throughout the entire song demonstrating the consistency in his life. As the drums and guitar gets added into the song it is a parallel to all the different anxieties Spencer is ... experiencing in his life. Based on the instrument choice and the soft vocals, the listener can assume this will be a depressing song ... ...

• Word Count: 783
• Approx Pages: 3

... and bring us a copy of the time -lapse film.There would be arrangements so the film could be seen in one cotinious run.The arrangement was that the film would start at midnight on New Year's Eve and continue day and night until midnight of December 31.The Earth history would be extended from the Precambrian time up to the present. So the film started. During January ,February ... and March ,there were shapes of land masses and oceans .In April there will be the presence of single-celled living organisms and by the end of the month,it will be noticed that some of these ... organisms hav...

• Word Count: 256
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... its undeniable effect of portrait gallery or series of discrete vignettes, Death Comes for the Archbishop is more clearly and inexorably impelled toward closure than most novels. Its "propulsive force moving the narrative forward" announces itself in the title, and in a sense the "plot" is the most elemental possible: the story of how life leads to death. Second, and perhaps less obviously, in ... priest; and the time was short, for the diligence for Paris was already rumbling down the mountain gorge" (299). One further paragraph ends the novel with a description of the cathedral bell t...

• Word Count: 7335
• Approx Pages: 29
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... momentarily free is reconciliation, meaning a change from bad to good. This symbolizes that the Mariner has finally come to realize the natural life as well as the rest of his surrounding. The Mariner is alienated from the natural world because of the shooting of the albatros. He didn't have any premeditated thoughts about killing the bird. The Mariner just acted on impulse and didn't even consider what may arise from ... his actions. One way to look at the albatros is as a guiding spirit. The albatros always kept an eye on the Mariner and watched over him from the sky. The Mariner beco...

• Word Count: 523
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... uses symbolism to further the meaning of the story. Three symbols used by Ellison are the bingo wheel, the white beam of light, and the train. All of these symbols display the message that the black man, (the protagonist) has no control over his life. The first symbol is the bingo wheel. The bingo wheel represents God, one who has all the power. In the protagonists mind the person that spinning the bingo wheel has ... power. That person has the potential to determine his ... ...

• Word Count: 525
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... as a way to rationalize their own trivial existence. He includes many absurdist ideas, showing people's inability to cope with the fact that sometimes things happen for absolutely no reason at all. The courtroom, representing society, makes many futile attempts to find rational explanations for Meursault's behavior. Camus shows that life is just a series of petty random events that are completely without meaning or consequence ... : "feIt was as if that great rush of anger had washed my clean, emptied me of hope" "(154). Meursault wants people to accept the triviality of their lives in o...

• Word Count: 554
• Approx Pages: 2

... the base of the book the themes of nostalgia and longing are present throughout the novel. The past is something which cannot be relived but stays with one throughout their lives. The theme of nostalgia plays an intricate role in how the lives of the characters are formed and remembered. Right from the beginning the theme of nostalgia is introduced. When the ... central figure, a Bohemian girl whom we had both known long ago. More than any other person we remembered, this girl seemed to mean to us the country, the conditions, the whole adventure of our childhood,""(Cather 2) This quote i...

• Word Count: 986
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... attempting to discover the great mysteries of life, Victor Frankenstein plays God and pays the price of his "fervent longing to penetrate the secrets of nature." (p. 25) The story of Frankenstein tells a cautionary tale of a privileged, inquisitive young man who becomes obsessed with the origins of life ... bride. Whereas Victor vows revenge to destroy the monster that he created. The story starts out with a series of letters which Robert Walton, the captain of a ship bound for the North Pole, recounts to his sister back in England the progress of his dangerous mission. It is during .....

• Word Count: 1273
• Approx Pages: 5

... he feared and hated it." - Dmitri Shostakovich On November 7, 1917, the Russian Bolsheviks stormed the Winter Palace and created a new form of government they called the Communist Party. In the first years of the revolution, anything and everything seemed possible; not just in politics, but in the arts as well. It was an era of "isms,": symbolism, ... the reference to the liturgy of the orthodox church. Shostakovich divided the strings of the orchestra into groups to give the impression of a choir singing. This is what Tchaikovsky had done; evoking the sound of a chorus singing the hymn ...

• Word Count: 3530
• Approx Pages: 14
• Grade Level: High School

... in both Franz Kafka's, Metmorphosis and Leo Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich, however the way in which these themes are presented and the meanings associated with them vary in each work. Isolation, materialism, and self discovery are ideas found in both pieces of literature. Both works have a constant theme of isolation. In Kafka's ... objectivity, reflects in all aspects of his life. As aforementioned, Ivan deals with unlikable affairs and relationships by pushing them away and erecting barriers between himself and the possible offensive influence. When married life grows challengin...

• Word Count: 1195
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... without completely understanding." He realizes that Paul would not have been receptive to any help, since Paul didn't truly reach out for help. This realization helps Norman, and the entire family, endure the loss of Paul. It also grants Norman a moment of illumination, that further sets the precedent for his transition into an artist. Nevertheless, Norman's transition remains incomplete, as his ... only after Norman Maclean completes his book with the following words, "Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and r...

• Word Count: 1355
• Approx Pages: 5

... modern racism in todays society, and how colour is relative to life and death in historical periods like Nazi Germany. In town bombings the sky has been described as blood red,  plane crashes explained to be black but for the death of Jews in Germany that summer, it was so severe that death has no color to associate with it. He can no ... Max held surrounding this symbol. It wasn't just Hans music he longed and hoped for but also his safety. For Max the accordion was his saviour, it was the hope for him that he would survive the coming years we now historically know as the holocaust. T...

• Word Count: 1566
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... learns other ways to cope with the pain that comes along with death. In "The Man I Killed" the story is about the beauty of life rather than the ugliness of death. O'Brien talks about a young man that he kills, and tells us of the man's history and possible future. In "The Man I Killed" O'Brien feels he is the reason for the death because he focuses on his ... surroundings. O'Brien tells us that blue flowers were blooming next to what was left of the man ... 's cheek and a butterfly lands on the man's face. This shows that O'Brien understands that life ... ...

• Word Count: 805
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... by and obsessed with objects and achievements of immense scale, when it is actually the tiny things that, when put together make big things possible? Why do we try to create our own little worlds, so we have the illusion of being completely in control of our entire existence, when we know with ... we get so hung up on what we don't agree on, when in fact it's our differences that make life interesting?" These are a few passages from the book that make its readers stop and think, "Why do we do that." What is life about? Often you hear that life is a journey. Some people ... and hit the ...

• Word Count: 464
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... her everyday but she was still lonely because she had no true friends, I found this surprising. This also emphasises the next line, which suggests that Monroe's life was meaningless and was causing her great pain; "a blur of incomprehension and pain- The personification of uncertainty conveys Morgan's opinion that Monroe was very much insecure; " lonely Uncertainty-. Uncertainty is referred to ... as a person due to the capital letter in front of the word, and my interpretation of the rest of the line was that Uncertainty enjoyed the loneliness and sadness that Monroe ... . The themes o...

• Word Count: 1287
• Approx Pages: 5

... life. Throughout "After Great Pain, a Formal Feeling Comes"; Dickinson employs many nuances, such as imagery, symbolism, and irony. Various parts of the body are personified as if they were their own entities. The Nerves, after death, sit ceremonious, like Tombs referring to the often stiff and useless ceremonies in life. The Heart asks whether it could be possible that it even ever existed ... had no real meaning and use. Accordingly, the line, "This is the Hour of Lead" brings images of ultimate finality and closure to the reader by portraying the burial Death is referenced as the Hour...

• Word Count: 615
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... who have lost their identity and sense of reality. Through themes such as the American Dream and the repercussion of past actions, morals are presented to the reader. Miller demonstrates the extremities that the Loman family goes through to achieve the "perfect American family". Through the themes and morals, the struggle for happiness is presented, as well as the mistakes that sustain the Lomans from happiness. With a firm view on life to be ... place and avoiding his family. Secondly, Biff's stealing habit prohibits him from keeping a steady job. Characters often do not realize the im...

• Word Count: 868
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... are not all wild to get out of the small community to "see the world-. One other thing that the Editor mentions in his speech, is the lack of culture and the arts in the town. These people are content. They have no great desire to have the latest and greatest fashion or piece of artwork. It is remarkable that the only thing that Mr.Webb can come up ... wish longingly. ["Our Town: Life is a Gift-; 1993] This brings out an interesting point of the story. During the play, one of major themes is the value of life. None of the characters see the way that they don't even notice the details th...

• Word Count: 1231
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... then having problems trying to transfer their jobs to Galatz. That is how I came to consider him very dear to me. He was a tallish person in the year he died and had a really warm-looking face. Surprisingly, his hair wasn't at all white and did not get fattish as most old people do. ... always know to repair things, from a broken hinge to electrical equipment. I learned quite a lot from him, including how to play the guitar. That is how I came to enjoy doing this and by the time I was in Primary School, I already started taking music lessons. He also gave me my first classical guitar, wh...

• Word Count: 369
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... try to get familiarize with our self, which is a part of knowledge, however that still does not need any understanding. We deal with various natural aspects, such as our birth, death, universe, sun and moon with great deal of harmony and regularity, but still as a whole, even if we don't have a clue about ... them it still doesn't bother us. We may not like many of our friends, actions and conversations, but we still appreciate of having them. It seems that the more we get involved in, the less we ... don't let it go, as it is dream that becomes a reality of tomorrow". It is very diffic...

• Word Count: 467
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... because with bullfighting death is predetermined and according to Hemingway death was also predetermined for any individual in the real world. He struggled so hard to find a meaning for life, but the only answer he could come up with was death. Hemingway seemed fascinated with the concepts of Life & Death. Many people view the two as complete opposites but Hemingway looked at death as part of life ... and not as people. He seems to portray the women in his stories as a burden to the man and his existing way of life. For example in "Cross-Country Snow" Nick and his friend George are out ...

• Word Count: 1381
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... was a very difficult assignment for me because I didn't know exactly what I could leave behind to offer to others and future generations. I was contemplating talking about my terrific experiences with the handicapped or meeting so many different types of people in my life, I finally decided that I want to be remembered as a loving, genuinely kind, and honest person. All of the traits that I hope that ... today. My family has gone through many rough spots but we always get through are struggles because we are very supportive of each other. I have become a supportive person because of the...

• Word Count: 310
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School