... from its pioneer days in 1868, shortly after the American Civil war to 1968, arguably one of the most tumultuous years in the history of American culture. The story is that of a family (The MacIvey family) through three generations, a family emigrated from Georgia into the wild and untamed lands of Florida. They start out eeking out a living from the earth, but over time learn to round up wild ... cattle and drive them to market. Over time, the family fortune turns to ... world and this. While it is far from being a manual on how to live with truth and integrity, or how to be a good ne...

• Word Count: 399
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

In The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, many themes are illustrated throughout the story. Some of these themes include filial piety, poverty, and relationships. The most important of these themes is the relationships between man and earth. The good earth has provided Wang Lung and his family with life. Life includes food, shelter, and wealth. Wang Lung and his family depend on the earth to survive because it provides everything they need. The earth provides food ... . A big way the earth gives life is by providing Wang Lung with money. When Wang's plants and crops are ready for harvest, he harves...

• Word Count: 736
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... primary duty of respect for one's parents and ancestors. In Pearl S. Buck's novel, The Good Earth, the author implies that pre-Revolutionary Chinese people feel social obligations of filial piety. To the characters of the book, elders are first priority, the young have the obligation to remain silent and to follow their elders' orders without question, and honor the name of the families ancestors. Wang Lung's obligations to his elders are first ... himself and his sons rising into a landed family, the shiftless brood of his cousins should be running loose, bearing the same name as his o...

• Word Count: 803
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... , the protagonist, is a strong willed, if stubborn, man. He refuses to sell the underhanded pearl dealers his valuble pearl although he desperately needs the money. He does this because he feels very strongly that what the men are doing to him is wrong, and he refuses to give in to that. The main idea of the story is that good things can have bad effects. While its intentions were good, the pearl ... brought about the downfall of the protagonist. Due to the greed of the pearl dealers, and partly becasue of Kino's own lust for wealth, his son is killed and he loses almost everything he ow...

• Word Count: 338
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... Cristo by Alexander Dumas and The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, the protagonists take journeys through time and show how life can change for the better or the worst. In The Count of Monte Cristo Edmond Dantes begins as a well-off sailor of the Pharaon. His well-being simply couldn't be better. He has a fair amount of money, a beautiful fiancée, and a caring, loving father awaiting him at home. As the story ... unfolds, Edmond is charged with the ... reaps in a lot of money. Dantes is also fortunate that he chose to escape, because he had indeed succeeded and was rid of the horrible life ...

• Word Count: 2979
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: High School

The book The Call of the Wild by Jack London is the story of a dog named Buck. Buck is kidnapped and sold as a sled dog, and encounters many different kinds of people in his life, some good some bad. Throughout the book, one can see how each of these people has an effect on how Buck's actions and the way he thinks, suggesting that animals could have feelings and instincts very much ... like humans. Buck ... that it is best to trust them no matter what. That is, until he is kidnapped and sold by Manuel; one of the gardener's assistants. Buck is forced into a much different world from the Judg...

• Word Count: 565
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler takes place mainly in Baltimore between 1924 to 1980. Pearl Cody Tull is on her deathbed, on the verge of death. From there she flashes back to her past, and all the events in her life that brought her to where she is now. Pearl at the age of thirty-one married Beck Tull, a twenty-four year old businessman. Pearl had ... , life grew difficult and somewhat stressful for her. He sent her a check once month to help with expenses, but that was not nearly enough. She got a job as a cashier at the grocery store. Pearl was stressed out from always worki...

• Word Count: 556
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... , but there is most undeniably a child's wanting for some structure and guidance that a parent gives. The people he meets, he picks up teachings that he will need in life. These surrogate parents are the aristocratic Colonel Grangerford, the strict down to earth Widow Douglas, and Huck's river companion, the runaway slave, Jim. All these people help and serve Huck as long as he's willing to ... came at two particular moments in the story. The sermon was about brotherly love, everyone talked about how important the sermon was, although they were in the middle of a feud with their neighbor...

• Word Count: 807
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... and Little Crane, talk to him about how dim-witted white men are and how uc more superior Indians are. Nevertheless, they had to go away because the white soldiers would have killed them otherwise. When True Son arrived in Paxton County, he was immediately brought to his parents, Harold and Myra Butler, his ... is John C. Butler. When "John" sleeps in his bed, he feels too far away from his mother earth, and that he is trapped from the natural atmosphere. He doesn't feel right, and that he is surrounded by his white enemies, especially when his family comes to visit. Uncle Wilse talks ba...

• Word Count: 422
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... an indulgent kind of scorn for her children" (pg. 16). She is never pleased with any of her or her children's accomplishments. Pearl actually wants help but does not let anyone because she has "been continually on the edge; she'd felt too burdened, too much alone" (pg. 19). Her pride does not allow any outside help. If you do ... ). He is constantly reminded of how he will never be as good as Ezra. Cody always wants to win and does not care how. Even his son Luke is annoyed by his attitude and exclaimed, "You won the damn Monopoly games, didn't you?" (pg. 228). He is only motivated by be...

• Word Count: 658
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

Perfect Intentions A wise man once said "There are no perfect people in the world, just perfect intentions." This statement exemplifies Pearl Tull. Pearl is the centerpiece of Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant; a novel which tells the story of her life through the eyes of the people she loved most, her children. Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, by Anne Tyler, is a bittersweet novel which demonstrates how one mother's perfect intentions became just ... mother" she failed to give to her children the one thing that makes a mother perfect, her love. Cody was the oldest child and probably showed...

• Word Count: 1740
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... and sensible one. Before that, she was living in a fantasy world. Do you agree? Girl With a Pearl Earring, written by Tracy Chevalier, is a novel that follows the life-changing experiences of sixteen-year-old Griet, particularly accentuated over the two years of her serving as a maid for the Delft painter Vermeer. While Griet lives apart from her family, she struggles to deal with reality, yearnings ... . "I wanted him to think of me, not the painting." Griet realistically has one choice- to marry Pieter. Griet is not completely satisfied with her situation- she still is disgusted by the...

• Word Count: 264
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... . One of the members of the family sees Huck and asks if he knows the Shepherdsons (87). [b]Huck is confused by this question, but he tells him that he does not know them. As the story progresses, the Grangerfords take Huck in and let him stay for a while. Huck meets a boy that is the same age as him, Buck. Huck asks him what the whole cause about the feud between ... his family and the Shepherdsons. Buck tells him that " ... ;they don't know now what the row was ... ...

• Word Count: 1088
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... . If she does love him, she barely acknowledges his existence, or she tries her best not to. This can be seen many times throughout the movie, however the best example is the dining room scene. Conrad is asking if he can help her with anything and she replies by saying he should clean his closet which is dirty. As he asks again, she answers ... not an affection person, and that she cannot just go around hugging everyone. These statements are contradicted when the flashbacks of her with Buck are seen. She shows him plenty of affection but in a friendship way rather than son. Conrad's fath...

• Word Count: 1238
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Girl with a Pearl Earing Character Sketch This takes place in 1660 Holland where we find Greit, a shy girl of 16 and worked at the Vermeer household. She is easily spotted by the cap she wears on her head everywhere she goes. Greit was offered a job which they couldn't turn down because of their ... support himself. Greit's sister spies on what Greit is doing almost everywhere. Her father went blind over a year ago in a kindling accident. In the Vermeer household there are the Vermeer's; Maria Thins, Catherina, Vermeer, Cornlia, Lisbeth, Maertge, baby Johannes and Aleydis. there is also anoth...

• Word Count: 485
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... to hide with. The Oostervelds are the new family that will hide the sisters. Chapter five tells how the girls get to know the Oostervelds. They are treated well. The family consists of the father, the wife and the grandmother. The girls get to drink coffee. The family is not as rich as the Hanninks. The family is a good hard working family. Chapter six marks a month that the girls had been with the Oostervelds. The year is 1942. They ... sick from too much time in the sun. Chapter ten marks the Allies (Americans) slowly winning the war. The Oostervelds's home are going to be search by t...

• Word Count: 895
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... own life was defined by one of these unforeseen events that occurred when I was eight-years old. I skipped home, as I always did, on this beautiful, Friday afternoon. It was a good day until I saw my mother at the front door bawling her eyes ... but she would not say exactly how long. Even though the point of the nurse showing us the doll was to calm us, I was more terrified after hearing her talk. Soon, we entered the horrid room and my dad was right there. A machine was ... his hand and touched it, but immediately pulled away because of how cold it was. The nurse said he could hear me...

• Word Count: 648
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING: Character Analysis Griet: "Strangers would think I was calm Only my mother would note the tightness along my jaw, the widening of my already wide eyes." Fairly reserved and quiet natured, however more so on the outside. She doesn't commonly outwardly express her emotions. However did get into trouble a lot, and was frequently corrected by Maria Thins for speaking when she shouldn't. Maria ... would stand in an alley alone with a man, who was not so calm". This was explained as the reason why she never bore her head, so as to prevent any part of "this" Griet being ex...

• Word Count: 860
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

The Girl With The Pearl Earring, by Tracy Chevalier, is an eloquent and successful intertwining of fact and fiction. Depicting life in the 1600's with great detail, while at the same time intriguing readers with an eloquent and imaginative explanation of the mysterious painting by Vermeer. I believe that the author's goal was to do exactly this; teach readers about the artist Vermeer and his time period, while at the same time telling ... be such a major concern she should have given readers more persuasion. It would have had a stronger impact if the author had made this facet clearer. In fac...

• Word Count: 1154
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

In the book "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer, the Cullen family and the Swan family are structured very differently from one another. When looking beyond the extreme abnormalities of the Cullen family, like the kids pairing up in couples, their ages, or the fact that they're all vampires, the Cullen's are actually portrayed as a very ideal, "All American" family. Contrasting from the Cullen's, Bella's family is depicted as broken ... Esme are happy to see me happy. Actually, Esme wouldn't care if you had a third eye and webbed feet." The Cullen's are a considerably wealthy, attractive, and highl...

• Word Count: 565
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... done by; Stanford M Dornbusch; Kristan Glasgow Erickson; Jennifer Laird; and Carol A Wong on "The relation of family and school attachment to adolescent deviance in diverse groups and communities". The Journal of Adolescent Research published this work. The purpose of this research is to determine what effect family and school will have on children's likeliness to perform deviant acts. The main hypotheses was, that the closer the family ... all results concluded that the closer the attachment that the adolescent had to the family and school, the less likely they were to act in a deviant...

• Word Count: 690
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... found out that his mothers name use to be Rachel and that she had a older brother and a younger sister who disappeared . Chapter 21 Ruth remembers the day Bubeh died. She also remembers everyone wanting her to stay and how Dee-Dee stooped talking to her because of that. Ruth's ... keeps a picture of Mameh. Ruth's mother dies. Ruth feels guilty for Mameh's death because she abandoned her. Chapter 22 In this chapter James searched for his family of Suffolk, locating the synagogue his mother went to. James wanted to find Ruth's sister, Dee-Dee, but he felt that to do ... Chapter 23 In this...

• Word Count: 959
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Good old free spirited Will. He was always that way. Full of hope and spread it everywhere he went. Even as a young child he had a way about him that would brighten up a room. Very intelligent; he was. He could see things about people and life that the rest of us couldn't see. As a young man, through all of the ... confidence that extruded from him. He could work all day in the fields plowing the earth in the sizzling sun until he had blisters on his hands. He could take care of the crops and sell the produce, working in the rain or snow until dark and all the time with a smile on his face. As...

• Word Count: 856
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... would be back home in time for Christmas dinner. They are in the mountains and he no longer has the desire to continue with the skiing but his father coerces him, "He was indifferent to my fretting" (1332). The son was growing impatient and frustrated, "By now I could not see the trail. There was no point in trying" but he latched himself ... to his father and continued the ride down the mountain (1332). "We returned our skis and my father put chains on the Austin-Healy while I swayed from foot to foot, clapping ... begins to see that his son is not overly enthusiastic about their outi...

• Word Count: 674
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... the artificial tradition of Father Knows Best and Leave It to Beaver "used to be characterized by a working father, a housewife mother, and several well behaved children. In no way is my family similar to these once typical American families. I will begin to tell you about my parents. My dad is an egotistical asshole. He figures since he is the one that "makes the ... money in the house-, he can do whatever he wants ... for some odd reason he thinks he deserves respect for doing this, even though he is a lunatic. On the other side of him we have the housewife mother, the June Cleaver g...

• Word Count: 472
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School