This paper explores how Faulkner employs the minor character Whitfield in As I Lay Dying to belittle simplistic Christianity. ... Whitfield claims repentance: "all that night I wrestled with Satan, and I emerged victorious. ... Whitfield is crossing the river because, yes, he does not want Addie to tell of their fornication, but he also desires to make things right with her family before she dies: "I would say to her husband: "Anse, I have sinned. ... A single minor character like Reverend Whitfield has much to reveal about William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. ... Working toward a full u...

• Word Count: 1270
• Approx Pages: 5

The poet deepens the reader's appreciation of the theme by employing imagery, contrast and an ambiguous tone. ... There is a confusion of tenses, "the dead man lay moaning", however, the poet is using the dead man as a symbol for her own feelings of isolation; by just existing he embodies all she is trying to say and so is in effect "moaning" to her. This personal treatment of the theme helps us appreciate it more as it shows the poet has a deep understanding. ... The line "It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way" is ambiguous as it describes how he really died, the col...

• Word Count: 840
• Approx Pages: 3

The strict form of the villanelle emphasizes the melancholy the speaker feels for his father's condition, and also emphasizes the father's stubbornness to want to lay down and die. ... Not only are they a son's plea to his dying father, but they embody the theme of the poem as well. ... Both of these parts will die, one will not immortalize the other. ... They too "rage against the dying of the light." ... "Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray", (17) is the speaker begging his father to show some sort of passion for the life that is leaving him, he can even ye...

• Word Count: 791
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

In both tales, respecting one's elders seems to be the main theme. ... However, the men even go on and ask him "Isn't it time to die?"... The King gave his Queen the power to let him live or die. ... He just lay next to her in bed without a word. ... To have me old and ugly till I die, but still a loyal, true, and humble wife that never will displease you all her life. ...

• Word Count: 1211
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

The main themes of this play are the idea of the American dream and what it takes to success, the struggle to distinguish between reality and illusion, and the emotional problems of the family. ... In an article Miller states, "I think the tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing - his sense of personal dignity" (Miller, 1). ... I never have to wait in line to see a buyer. ... That's all they have to know, and I go through" (DiYanni, 1142). ... He wants to plan something in the garden befor...

• Word Count: 792
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

Almost all of Plath's poem's have the same theme: death. ... She asks the question "Do I terrify?" ... Her lifeless body is found days after she had just been laying there waiting to die. ... Out of the ash I rise with my red hair And I eat men like air." ... Do I terrify?...

• Word Count: 1028
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Almost all of Plath's poem's have the same theme: death. ... She asks the question "Do I terrify?" ... Her lifeless body is found days after she had just been laying there waiting to die. ... Out of the ash I rise with my red hair And I eat men like air." ... Do I terrify?...

• Word Count: 1028
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School