... speak. The novel follows the development of Jeanette as she grows up and makes the decision that she is a lesbian and this causes uproar in the family home and in church as her highly religious mother regards this as a sin thus resulting in the breakdown of the relationship. Jeanette explains that after she ... except Jane is adopted by her aunt. One could assume that because it is her aunt she would be treated better as she really is true family, but this is not the case. Jane's Aunt Reed is very bitter towards Jane because she was bound to her by the death of Mr Reed ... herself bound...

• Word Count: 3018
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... to consider entering the priesthood. After briefly considering the offer, Stephen realizes that the austerity of the priestly life is utterly incompatible with his love for sensual beauty. That day, he learns from his sister that the family will be moving, once again for financial reasons. Anxiously awaiting news about his acceptance to the university, Stephen goes for a walk on the beach ... play in his development as a character? And how his Catholic morality complicate his experience of sexuality? Well, Stephen's early life is dominated by moral restrictions embedded in the society a...

• Word Count: 4998
• Approx Pages: 20
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... all and yes of course-. The novel's chief character is self-named; Jeanette. Winterson and Jeanette were both adopted into a conservative evangelist family, with strong religious beliefs and influence. Reading and education unless associated with the Bible and church was frowned upon. This incurred the amusing anecdotes ... also, therefore it could not be autobiographical in its strictest definition. However Hardy had a similar struggle with religion. Born into a very active Christian family, it was a logical step, that he should also become a clergyman. However in 1860, Hardy began to do...

• Word Count: 3072
• Approx Pages: 12
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... Jack. Davy's displacement in society, his relationships with his family and his brother, are the main themes throughout the story. The idea of 'love' or 'romantic love' rarely seems to be brought up. It is through the absence of love that the feeling of the story is really brought to life ... absent; overseas nursing injured soldiers. Therefore the early years of Davy's life are spent in the absence of his mothers care and love. When his mother returns, the family home is turned into a kind of hospital come invalid hostel, constantly filled with images of death and war. Davy's father is ...

• Word Count: 1679
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... is a naive romantic, constantly searching for someone in her life to provide her what she has limited herself to believe is an ideal love life and lifestyle. Her ignorance is the cause of her constant unhappiness, that is only at times relived through romantic affairs she has with ... her husband Charles, who remains infatuated by Emma's beauty and blinded by the denial of Emma's neglect and betrayal toward him, he continues to love and support her. Charles being an average looking, kind, and simple man would never even think of betraying Emma. Despite his respect, and admiration ... t...

• Word Count: 3767
• Approx Pages: 15
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... writing. When her daughters were school aged she was only able to work on her stories from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tyler's love and deep interest in her family is often reflected in the themes of her works. In most of Tyler's novels, the main characters struggle and, at the same time ... , depend on their families. The protagonist often has to deal with the internal struggle of wanting to escape and re-create their family at the same time. The ordinariness of day-to-day life that families encounter is most often the subject matter of Tyler's novels; ... on with one's life is also a prevalent ...

• Word Count: 834
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon. Likewise, the entire line of Buendias in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's 100 Years of Solitude is shown as a whole conglomeration of family traits, including both strengths and weaknesses. Milkman's filial struggle to be accepted by his father begins before he even enters into this world, as Macon Dead ... father when need calls for it, but by the time he is fourteen, the only similarity he finds that he shares with his father is "his love of good shoes and fine thin socks. And he did try, as his father's employee, to do the work the way Macon wanted it done" ....

• Word Count: 769
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... read the short novel Weetzie Bat by Francesca L. Block in order to help them learn about the importance of hope and the power of love. Block writes about the struggles that people endure when searching for and losing significant loved ones. Children who read the novel will encounter educational ... conveys to readers are centered around the realistic portrayals of life, having faith in what may seem impossible, and the importance of love for one another. One of the most important roles an adult plays is to teach and prepare children to live happily, yet ... they still have to move on w...

• Word Count: 808
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... have prided myself on my discernment.... How humiliating is this discovery!--Yet, how just a humiliation!--Had I been in love, I could not have been more wretchedly blind. But vanity, not love, has been my folly. Pleased with the preference of one [Wickham], and offended by the neglect of the other ... her air altogether, there is a self-sufficiency." Nevertheless the basic situation of the novel explores Elizabeth's recurrent feelings of shame about her family, and the book tends to move from one shame-laden situation to another. Darcy's first proposal of marriage to Elizabeth and his...

• Word Count: 3336
• Approx Pages: 13
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... danger, security for happiness" (91). While Lydia does this in her apparent thoughtlessness as to the shame her act could cause to her family, Charlotte's lack of sense is contrarily shown by her inability to look beyond social acceptability and act with an ethical sense of romanticism. ... in Miss Lucas an important insight into her imperative significance within the novel, but it is also important to examine Austen's treatment of love further, and look closely on the theme of happiness this introduces. Aside from Charlotte's materialistic view of marriage already discussed, her characte...

• Word Count: 1309
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... complicated choice Bella is faced with throughout the novel. From the beginning, Bella only sees Jacob as a friend, she loves him like "family" (Eclipse, 329), and when the werewolf shares his more than friendly feelings towards her, she does not reciprocate them, however after hearing ... of said feelings, Bella finds herself considering the possibility of perhaps being in love with Jacob, "[he] had become a part of [her]" (Eclipse, 112). This ignites a competitive fire beneath her two supernatural contenders ... eternity with Edward. Contrary to her confusion over her feelings for "[he...

• Word Count: 1056
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... scene is not only frightening, but gives the suspicion that there is a hidden motive behind her actions. This is confirmed as it is learned that the family tortured by the Evrémonde family is Madame Defarge's family, which not only explains her behavior in the Revolution, but creates a feeling of empathy towards her. The reader understands why Madame Defarge acts the way ... she is, and feels not only the pain caused by the loss of her family, but the hatred towards the Evrémonde family. Madame Defarge laments, " 'Those dead are my dead, and that summons to answer for those thing...

• Word Count: 844
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... and their families. A sense of foreboding prevails throughout the book, building to a chilling and suspenseful scene...This very accurate portrayal of teen drinking, family break-up, and first love will leave an impact on the reader." Said Joyce Hamilton of the Voice of Youth Advocates December 1991. We All Fall Down is a novel ... All Fall Down draws the readers in, as almost everyone can relate to some aspect of the events that take place, whether it be the first love emotions or a jealous rage. Buddy is a teenage boy with no direction and no motivation, he seeks a father figure to re...

• Word Count: 936
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... Bartholomew Johnson, and a wet nurse, Elizabeth Denham [ CITATION Bio15 l 1033 ]. It is believed that Denham's job as a caretaker for an upper class family allowed Behn the opportunity to receive some sort of second hand education [ CITATION Bio15 l 1033 ]. Through her works of prose and poetry, this author presents herself ... was released when her debts were paid off by an unidentified source. Shortly after being discharged she returned to London. Rather than searching for the love of a husband to support her, Behn took to pen and paper in an attempt to provide her own living. Her inde...

• Word Count: 2238
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... description of the relationship between Tess Durbyfield and Angel Clare helps to elucidate the subtle shadings of their characters, for it is the nature of their love that reveals so much about them. On one hand there is Tess Durbyfield, a beautiful and simplistic farm girl who can affect a higher status by ... long as her loved ones are comfortable. This is seen when Tess sacrifices the stipend Angel gave her to live off of so that her family's home may be repaired, which essentially leaves herself destitute. Tess then exhibits great personal strength when she goes off to face hard man...

• Word Count: 2133
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... with the struggle of two sisters, Ursula and Gudrun, to liberate themselves from the stifling pressures of Edwardian English society. The Rainbow and Women in Love were originally intended to form one novel entitled The Sisters, which was begun in 1913 when Lawrence was living in Italy, but as the novel ... is not separate from history. The Brangwens have for generations been farmers in the Midlands of England and the novel focuses on three generations of the family, starting from around 1840 and continuing up to the beginning of the twentieth century. This of course was a period of funda...

• Word Count: 1985
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... reading in my point of view is an enjoyable task, no matter how long the novel is. Children from all backgrounds, ethnicities and income levels love to be read to by their parents. They enjoy being read to by teachers, friends, other kids their own age, librarians, but especially by ... smile. That is what keeps me coming back, it is all for the children. Reading is a time to draw closer together. It is like taking a family vacation without the car, the gas, the unpredictable weather, the frequent bathroom stops and the fighting. Reading in essence is having fun and enjoying one's self ...

• Word Count: 914
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... her experience, seemingly untouched, although she acknowledges the brutal truth that life lived in sin has horrible outcomes. Sonia justifies her "profession" by the money it brings to support her family. Dostoevsky stresses Sonia's belief in the power of suffering for others. She is fervent in her belief in God and trusts that he will reward her misery. Sonia tolerates her ... her father. Although her deeds are immoral, the novel affirms the good nature of her intent. The religious themes in the novel center around her for she exemplifies unconditional human love, which accepts others ...

• Word Count: 1225
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... become aware of class distinction in a pheasant society plagued by putrid conditions and political upheaval. A Psychological bravado unfolds in the midst of an entangling love story. A detailed first hand account of one man's mental ramblings, utilitarian in their nature. A moral, ethical dilemma is exposed. The list ... in social stature, she has a remarkable trait of moral strength. She can also be seen engulfed in the feelings of love. She is full of true human emotions. Clearly the fact that both these characters overcome moral predicaments cannot be denied. Raskolnikov ... prostit...

• Word Count: 966
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... finally frees himself from his father's influence. Stephen also resolves his emotional turmoil toward the family by describing his father endearingly, despite his many faults. This demonstrates that although Stephen recognizes his family's-and specifically his father's-imperfections, he remains strongly rooted by familial love. Again, Joyce's personal life bleeds through the pages of his novel; Joyce's father was ... a drunkard and shameless debaucher who gambled away most of the Joyce family fortune over the course of Joyce's formative years. Despite ... these tarnished upbringings, Jo...

• Word Count: 1289
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... uneasy, characterized by a rift that slowly is widening in a process that neither woman seems able to halt" (Huntley 82). Although they do love each other, the root of their distant relationship derives from the fact that they do not understand each other, and because of the lack of ... beliefs" (Tan 29). Because of Pearl's status as a contemporary American woman, she feels bothered by her mother's demand that she participate in family events that to her simply feel burdensome. Despite Pearl's emotional and geographical distance from her mother, she hints at wanting to become closer to h...

• Word Count: 1822
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... United States citizen, has written a robust novel that portrays this community during the colonial period, The Crow Eaters (1980), another that depicts a Parsi family in Lahore during the time of Partition in 1947, Cracking India (1991), and a third set in the postcolonial era, An American Brat (1993), ... more into the familiar milieu of Bombay Parsis, which the earlier short-story collection introduced. The engaging but far from exceptional activities of Gustad's family, including his wife, daughter, and two sons, are revealed in minute detail, as are their physical surroundings: again...

• Word Count: 4673
• Approx Pages: 19
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... United States citizen, has written a robust novel that portrays this community during the colonial period, The Crow Eaters (1980), another that depicts a Parsi family in Lahore during the time of Partition in 1947, Cracking India (1991), and a third set in the postcolonial era, An American Brat (1993), ... more into the familiar milieu of Bombay Parsis, which the earlier short-story collection introduced. The engaging but far from exceptional activities of Gustad's family, including his wife, daughter, and two sons, are revealed in minute detail, as are their physical surroundings: again...

• Word Count: 4675
• Approx Pages: 19
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... This rebuilding provides for an atmosphere of conflict between the Kabuo and the Heine's as the former is left without the land previously worked by his family. The two distinct yet intertwined themes of Snow Falling on Cedars each have their own conflicts. The external conflict between Kabuo and the white inhabitants of ... and the shattering effects that it has on the lives of whom it victimizes. Ishmael's inner conflict represents themes of morality, love and duty as he decides whether or not to reveal the evidence proving Kabuo's innocence, and removing all chance of him regaining H...

• Word Count: 1123
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... outrage upon its publication, and continues to fascinate modern literary critics and film makers. Is she a romantic idealist, striving for perfect love and beauty in dull bourgeois society? Is she a willful and selfish woman whose pursuit of the good life brings about her own destruction and that of ... her family? Or is she, like Ibsen's Hedda Gabler and Nora Helmer, a rebel against the repressive, patriarchal society in which she finds herself? Is she, ... word and gesture with Emma is false. From the moment Rodolphe meets Emma in the novel, his true intentions are apparent: "Poor litt...

• Word Count: 2372
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate