... on many details from Joyce's early life. The novel's protagonist, Stephen Dedalus, is in many ways Joyce's fictional double. Like Joyce himself, Stephen is the son of an impoverished father and a highly devout Catholic mother. Also like Joyce, he attends Clongowes Wood, Belvedere, and University Colleges, struggling with questions of faith ... ironically, he feels he can accomplish only by leaving his native island behind. Apart from these questions about Stephen's life, the novel presents us a serie of themes that would be interesting to know about. So, we are now to centrate our intere...

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

... life of its own" and through repetition may evolve into an "invented tradition." My argument about sumo tradition in Japan is going to focus on three themes. First, I will seek to show that most of the "traditional" features of sumo, supposedly pointing to its legacy from the "time of Kojiki ... the first major chronicle of Japanese history and mythology, describes the "wrestling match between Takemikazuchi no Kami, a deity, and Takeminakata no Kami, the son of the ruler of Izumo on the Japan Sea coast. The results of this match were said to have established the supremacy of the 'divine ....

• Word Count: 6746
• Approx Pages: 27
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... people are still very much connected with their European descent. Once again we deal with the characteristic feature of Irving's fiction, that is the usage of European, mainly German, folktale themes and motifs. Having introduced the life of the community, I shall devote the following paragraphs to the individual characters in these stories as I believe their respective fate is the key to ... what circumstances, he is punished by drowning. The punishment seems to be rather cruel as it is not only Cyprien who finds his death in the waves, but also his son who have done nothing wrong what...

• Word Count: 2890
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: Undergraduate