... time and travel reveals his philosophical view toward free will. Throughout Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut argues that the loss of free will is affected by a parallel of controllable and uncontrollable events that occur in the life of the protagonist, Billy Pilgrim. Vonnegut argues that Billy's loss of free will results from his experiences ... primary decisions he must make. He seems to always be the passive receiver of various actions rather than the aggressive initiator. Through war, Vonnegut shows how free will is lost in several ways. One example is through death. While finishi...

• Word Count: 971
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... emotional climate where we can deal with our past conflicts and failures. Brent was in my office, stone-faced and unfeeling. He had come, not by his own initiative, but at my request. A week earlier his wife, Becky, had been sitting in the same chair, weeping uncontrollably. Between her ... been there. Thousands of husbands and wives have been there-emotionally empty, wanting to do the right thing, not wanting to hurt anyone, but being pushed by their emotional needs to seek love outside the marriage. Fortunately, I had discovered in the earlier years of my own marriage the difference b...

• Word Count: 2637
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: High School

The Line of the Sun by Judith Ortiz Cofer, is a novel based in the 1950's through the 1960's about story-telling. All the characters introduced in the novel, have some sort of tie or connection to ... mother, and only to claim the house which her mother had left to her. As a teenager, Rosa gave birth to her only daughter, an illegitimate child of a married man with five other children, as she tired of waiting for the man to join her in New York, she decided to take a job in a factory, and became very close to yet another ... the things that happened to her were not her fault, but because sh...

• Word Count: 1045
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

"The Storm" by Kate Chopin is a masterpiece promoting immorality. Immorality means not moral. Moral means "have or relating to principles of right or wrong." (Franklin Dictonary) It is a story about Alcee' and Calixta ... both parties are married and have children. We are also aware that Calixta has been married for at least five years. Calixta and Alcee' are derespectul, adultress and decietful. These qualities are immoral. The first immoral act that take palce is coldheated. By neither of them telling each other no and where they stood in their relationships. Calixta is obviously uncomfort...

• Word Count: 877
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... the oppression in her life, Ramatoulaye must first reflect on and understand her own experiences and choices. However, she is only able to do so by confiding in her female friend, showing that romantic relationships fail to provide a space in which women's problems can be understood. Not only does the ... a Letter, as it is also featured in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun. In this novel, Adichie frames the stories and conflicts of five main characters within the context of the Nigerian Civil War, as they struggle with their changing identities and many developing tension...

• Word Count: 1849
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The short story "Straight Pool", written by John O"Hara, is one of the most interesting and mysterious stories in the anthology, Points of View. The story shows O"Hara's masterful ability to create ... pages. "Straight Pool" is a very ambiguous story in which the main point of the story is left up to the reader's imagination. The story begins with a monologue by a loyal, yet confused husband, who is playing pool with his friend Jack Mc Morrow. The speaker is discussing his wife and her problems and his feelings about her behavior ... Mae. "She was O.K., according to the doctor. That was a to...

• Word Count: 1133
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... for a second time. With Senegal moving into a time of modernization, woman begun to have a new outlook on their rights after they became enlighten by education and the outside world. From the opening pages of So Long a Letter, the book revolved around a complex theme of abandonment in two relationships ... where giving up their traditional trades and attending school to acquire enlightenment. Some of these people studied in other countries and where heavily influenced by the other cultures of the hosting country. The newer generation that acquired this insight threw the country into a pe...

• Word Count: 1737
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... discussed in Martin Golan's short story called ''The Arena'' from 2008. This short story is about a man which name we do not get to know. The short story goes by in one morning with a lot of flashbacks in time. It is about a man who is going to drop off his son at an arena where the son is going to ... ...

• Word Count: 778
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

There is no doubt that my outlook on everything I have ever encountered has been shaped by my family in one-way or another. Although I do not have a lot of political opinions, I do pay attention to what is going on with our politicians and the current events ... ...

• Word Count: 891
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... proposes to her, and not Harriet. She says she will give up matchmaking, but soon changes her mind when the son of Mr Weston, Frank Churchill, arrives. He was adopted by his snobbish aunt and uncle on the death of his mother, and despite the secret wish of the Westons for him and Emma to be united, Emma decides to plan ... ...

• Word Count: 526
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

I have seen the film Emma based on the book by Jane Austen. I found the film funny and very romantic but of course, I like the genre "costume movies". Are you bored a Sunday afternoon; this is the perfect film to watch. I think ... ...

• Word Count: 429
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

"Yours" by Mary Robinson is a story of an evening in the life of a couple struggling to come to grips with cancer. Allison and Clark spend the evening carving pumpkins and then bickering about whose is better. Later on, after the enjoyable evening with the pumpkins, Allison begins to die. The story...

• Word Count: 646
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... seemed to have a very special connection with the horses on the ranch, one of which was a new rescue. Betsy even began speaking when Rick asked her to name the horse by saying "Bluebird". The new family's life was threatened when someone sabotaged their vehicle and Allie was nearly killed when someone cut the rope on her saddle before she ... but the man Mark Haskell, had committed suicide. His brother's name was Charlie Reyes, the same Charlie that had told Allie about Bluebird Ranch and worked at the Bluebird Ranch. By the time Rick got this information, Charlie had kidnapped Allie an...

• Word Count: 744
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

In "The Manhood Test," written by Mohammed Naseehu Ali, much is made of Mr. Rafique's manhood test but not much is said of Zulaikha's corresponding "womanhood test." The society and culture both the husband ... chooses to focus on their family over their career are seen as weak and unmanly. These societal expectations and tests pressure both men and women between choosing what seems right by society and what is right personally for the individual....

• Word Count: 657
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

In the poem "Sex without Love" by Sharon Olds, the speaker is confused about how people can engage in the act of intercourse without love. Casual sex was something that was just being introduced during this time ... satisfied with his best time. The runner is always going to want to run faster! People, who are going to have sex without love, are never going to be satisfied by their last orgasm. Olds isn't quite sure any human being can ever be satisfied with their best time (orgasm). In this case, if a person will never be satisfied, he or ... ...

• Word Count: 774
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... makes it seem like women depend on men to support them; that they should get married either before you graduate or soon after, so you can start having kids. "By your late teens and early twenties, you should be looking your very best if you want to attract the most desirable men." Susan makes the statement that you need ... read certain parts of this book, because what she was saying was so awful and unfair to women. Also it baffled me how she thought that she was helping women by giving them this "advice." How the author talks about marriage sounds more like she thinks it is best to fi...

• Word Count: 777
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... 's notion of marriage would have treated as a norm of a woman's life in the early 19th century of American society. Once a woman was married, her life would be confined and bounded by the domestic sphere since the mainstream back then had the tendency of indicating that it was the man who brought home the bacon whilst the woman was mostly maintaining a household ... lives as women of being wives. Emily Dickinson wrote the poem express herself as an educated woman to break the constraints and convey her expectation in a male dominated society. 'm I'm Wife - by Emily Dickinson I'm "wife" -...

• Word Count: 1111
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... hand and finally notices that his thumb and fingers are misshapen. Not able to remove her glance from the horror, she describes them as "a pliant beast, awkwardly bent, shaken by faint jerks which resembled some sort of agony. The flat, cruel nail of the over long thumb glistened." This sickens the girl and she is somewhat repulsed ... by him now. She exclaims, "And I've kissed that hand!...How horrible! Haven't I ever looked at it?" Even when she wakes up in the morning, the image of the hand is ... ...

• Word Count: 486
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... less adventures together, and more alone. But the novel ends with the family happily gathered together again, each sister thankful for her blessings and for each other. They grow up by the end and learn to accept their realities. Little Women is a sentimental, coming-of-age novel. It is set during and after the Civil War. The story is told in ... on her family. In the book, an emphasis on domestic duties and family slows down the women's personal growth. It shows the different ways to deal with being a woman bound by the constraints of nineteenth-century social expectations. With the op...

• Word Count: 646
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

"The withered- arm and other Wessex tales' by Thomas Hardy How does Thomas Hardy portray his female characters in this collection of short stories? Does he create them sympathetically? Do they seem real? Do you think he understands ... stories to support your response. In the first short story the withered arm' there are two main characters are female, one of which is Rhoda Brooks. Hardy creates Rhoda sympathetically by telling the readers that many of the people lookdown, ignore and frown at her because she had borne' an illegitimate son to a local farmer. Another main factor that lots of ...

• Word Count: 885
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

"This is a novel about love in all its forms." What does Paul learn about love from his various relationships in the novel? In the "rites of passage" narrative Maestro by Peter Goldsworthy, Paul learns about "love in all its forms". Through his relationships with his parents, his girlfriend then wife Rosie and his piano teacher "maestro" Edward Keller, Paul learns ... life he hated." Paul had many relationships throughout his life. he learned a considerable amount about love through them, especially from his parents, Maestro and Rosie. His life was greatly affected by what he had learned abo...

• Word Count: 683
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... she wants to succeed and wants to get the respect she never had before. When Ruth starts working in an old people's home she gets to know Mary Fisher's mother by coincidence. She feigns the incontinence of the old woman and because of the strict rules she has to leave the facility. Ruth suggests to her that she could move to ... successful novelist fades to black. She gets cancer and finally dies from it. interpretation: The story deals with an everyday topic: Women who are cheated on or even left behind by their men in favour of more attractive women. As Ruth realizes that she had lost...

• Word Count: 610
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

In the flash fiction story "The Factory" by Mary Dilworth, the factory owned and loved by the narrator's husband, Eric, burns down in the night while she does not call the fire brigade, and enjoys watching the beauty and grandeur of the burning sky. Although the ... , spreading the hairs thinly across it." This shows how he has grown old over all the time spent at the factory. His life consist of the same routine day by day leaving his wife at home waiting for him. "I could draw the second half of his day with my eyes closed." He has this routine revolved around the ... ...

• Word Count: 546
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

The short story "The Girls in Their Summer Dresses" by Irwin Shaw, details a dispute between a married couple. Michael is fascinated by looks of other women and it drives Frances crazy. Shaws intention was not just to show a bickering couple, instead, he was trying to show that women and men have different ... and feeling good about it." Fifth Avenue comes to represent visual pleasure for Michael. He is getting older, near middle age, so he is trying to preserve his youth by looking and fantasizing about a variety of girls. Towards the end of the story Michael tells Frances "Sometimes I feel...

• Word Count: 935
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Spoken in the perspective and observations of the protagonist, "Amnesty," written by Nadine Gordimer, shows the crippling effects of a city movement upon the relationship of a poor couple. As a housewife, the narrator ... However, as her husband spends more time in the city, he quickly becomes attached and invested in the city movement than his wife and family. By choosing to commit to the movement, the husband's decision puts a strain on his marital relationship and father-daughter relationship. At the beginning of the narrative ... daily conversations with his wife no longer interests him....

• Word Count: 536
• Approx Pages: 2