... with moisture. It was stiflingly hot...A bolt stuck a tall chinaberry tree...the crash seemed to invade the very boards they stood upon." She soon gives in to her desires and finds a satisfaction that she had never experienced before. Her body was "knowing for the first time its birthright." Chopin here is ... making a controversial statement that was unheard of in her time. Women were not supposed to exhibit any type of sexual desire or pleasure. They were expected to be pure and chaste, even as wives ... committed to her husband, so for a woman to be contented with her husband's deat...

• Word Count: 1460
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... means to lose a couple pounds from the heat. The black car that Alexandra sat in finally drove up. I could see her sitting in the back seat with her white dress. My heart started to beat faster and my feet were getting cold. I had to admit, I was really getting nervous. The car driver that I ... I thought nothing could be more perfect. The day was beautiful and people all over town were there to witness this marvelous event. Alexandra looked beautiful as ever in her white dress as a queen should be and I, gallant and handsome as I could be, was fit to be a King. She was about a few .....

• Word Count: 2004
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... younger brother of Wang Lung's father, he is a shiftless farmer who is careless of his house and lets his children run wild in town. He exploits the traditional obligation toward blood relatives to prey upon Wang. A gambler at the beginning of the book, he later turns out to have criminal connections. He could ... estate. II. Setting Wang Lung's farmland is in the northern area of the province of Anhwei, which is a cold and dry country. Once every five years or so it suffers a drought in which no crops grow. This region is bare of forests, it has no woodland in which to hold back the run...

• Word Count: 2063
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... . A few days later, Pozdnyshev discovers her crying and because he is unable to understand his wife, they have a fight. It is the first of many fights. Just as in "The Lady with the Dog-, they become cold and distant to each other. Eventually, his wife has a male companion and Pozdnyshev assumes that they are having an affair. This is the turning point ... to discover that he is after the countess's secret. In Gogol's "Nevsky's Project-, Piskaryov commits suicide because the woman he is in love with is a prostitute. In Dostoevsky's "The Underground Notes-, the underground man was way too...

• Word Count: 1555
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... like a gambler loves a fast racehorse or a desperate man loves whiskey."(p.41.) She was the only thing that made him right, that made him happy. He grew up in a world where he was abused, degraded and had no control. He believed once he married Anney he would be a husband and a daddy from it he would gain ... never around, her mother poor. She grew up with nothing and wanted a different life for her children. She was used by one man and left pregnant, fell in love, got married and had a baby with one who died. She ended up alone with two mouths to feed. Anney had a real hard time accep...

• Word Count: 1590
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... empathize with the play and why it has preserved through time. Hamlet is indecisive and analyzes situations along with the consequences yet when put in an emotional turmoil he acts out of passion, which is a common instinctive reaction out of most people. The ideas Hamlet touches upon, ... is so upsetting to him that he is contemplating suicide because he has lost all sense of purpose. Hamlet seemed to be very interested in death, and over the course of the play he considers death from a great many perspectives. Throughout, the idea of death is closely ... combines sensitivity and perc...

• Word Count: 1367
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... of detail provided about how they are reacting to each other in different situations is abundant and intentional: He touched a strand of her hair where it lay along the pillow. She did not turn. A tremor passed through his limbs. He felt the sweat grow cold on his back. He rolled off her and lay still, ... is dialogue between the family members concerning the Bennett's and Gormely's haggard, who are neighbors to the family's homestead. The Bennett's are said to be known in those parts as notorious land-grabbers. However, James, who is the boss man, is portrayed as old, hard working, and ...

• Word Count: 2043
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School