... a man of many themes and personality traits. The Old Man and the Sea" is a heroic tale of mans strength pitted against forces he cannot control. It is a tale about an old Cuban fisherman and his three-day battle with a giant Marlin. Through the use of three prominent themes; friendship, bravery, and Christianity; the "Old Man and the Sea" strives to teach important life lessons to the reader. The relationship between the old man and the boy is introduced early in the story. They are unlikely companions; one is old and the other ... ." Hemingway puts these themes together in such a way th...

• Word Count: 1434
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... the sources of the conflict and explain how the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid plot summary. In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce follows the mental and physical maturation of Stephen Dedalus. The dawn of Stephen's psychological and intellectual enlightenment is seen especially in the resolution of conflicts revolving around the cultural and societal values by which the novel's authority figures judge the protagonist. Stephen's introspective and ... weighed down by the sea spray, and his wings will be insufficient to keep him from sinking below ...

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

... and desires of others. She begins to "recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her," (Chopin 14) and this revelation inevitably becomes a curse, creating a complicated conflict in her heart. Edna begins to ponder whether she should be defined as a mother and wife, or as a woman who is bold enough to create a personal definition for her life. Robert Lebrun is the man who Edna truly ... slowly drowns and becomes one with the sea, she transgresses back to her childhood where there is a comforting innocence and naiveté about the world and the way works: "Edna ...

• Word Count: 2199
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

... from a plague 'between two Mondays in May' supposedly as a result of Partholon's sins (killing his parents). All were supposedly killed except one, Tuan, the son of Partholon's brother Starn. Tuan survived alone into old age and saw the arrival of the next group of invaders, the Nemedians. One night after their coming Tuan was magically transformed into a deer ... the region of Scythia sailing across the Caspian Sea. Nemed had sailed for a year and a half in thirty-two, thirty-man ships but of the original nine-hundred and sixty emigrants only, nine survived (Nemed, four men, and four wom...

• Word Count: 2233
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

... Beowulf describes his strong heroism by retelling one of his battles at sea to the people at the mead-hall after a verbal conflict with a warrior named Unferth. Beowulf proclaims, "Other monsters crowded around me,/ Continually attacking. I treated them politely,/ Offering the edge of my razor-sharp sword Lucky or not, nine was the number/ Of sea-huge monsters I killed. What man,/ Anywhere under Heaven's high arch, has fought/ In such darkness ... and Beowulf do. The Old English style of writing encompassed many themes and attributes. In the case of these two poems characters possess th...

• Word Count: 1799
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... conflict going on within the Jewish community between those who followed Jesus and those that did not. This gospel was written to the Jewish community to show them that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. The Gospel of Matthew was placed at the beginning of the New Testament for a good reason because it provides a good transition from the Old Testament to the New Testament, and made it easier for Judaism to relate to it. The arrangement of the ... of Mark Jesus also heals the sick and drives out a number of demons in Matthew's Gospel. One of the stories that I enjoy that shows how miraculous Je...

• Word Count: 1632
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... to remain true to herself because she is around a group of people that share the same beliefs as her. Juana's traits and beliefs of having a constant being are not as easily seen until moments of conflict occurs. For example, during the threat of a scorpion biting her only son Coyotito, she doesn't flinch but instead murmurs old magic to protect her son from evil while mumbling Hail ... the pearl into the sea out of selfishness but for the sake of the family. The pearl is "evil...like a sin" (38) and getting rid of the pearl is the only way to save the family from turmoil. She still des...

• Word Count: 1311
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... further than that on behalf of the anti-Fascist cause. Hemingway wrote plays The Fifth Column(1938) on the conflict and a script for pro-loyalist propaganda film The Spanish Earth, and he raised funds and support for the republican cause speaking engagements in the United States. From the artistic standpoint, the Spanish Civil War provided Hemingway with the materials for and the motive behind his third major novel, the tightly written For the Bells Tolls (1940). From a personal ... . Upon his return to Cuba, he plotted out a multi-part sea novel. Although drafts portions of this opus wo...

• Word Count: 1944
• Approx Pages: 8

... sea within us," and his short story, "The Metamorphosis" does not stray from doing so. In "The Metamorphosis" Kafka tells the tragic and absurd tale of a working-class man who is transformed into a bug and the overall isolation and rejection he receives from his family and the rest of humanity. Kafka uses the symbolism of the man's metamorphosis to perpetuate the theme of isolation among people and their unending enslavement to the work world by forces of materialism. His criticism of the modern capitalist society and the ... the reader has a clearer view of society's sad plight and the i...

• Word Count: 1585
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... to create dramatic tension and irony as the story of Sidon's duplicity is told by Aeneas retrospectively. Similarly, Virgil's mythological wars create great pathos for his characters. Evander, for example, is a man whose simple, peaceful existence suggests he is a character who the audience will want to sympathise with. His son, Pallas, is the "only source of joy" for the old man. Pallas' death cripples ... shore." War has shattered Greece and threatens to shatter Italy. Even the very idea of war causes pain to the protagonist. Aeneas' hatred of war instils "great tides of grief" in hi...

• Word Count: 2231
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... be an huge conflict with Spain. Appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy, by President McKinley, Roosevelt oversaw the expansion and modernization of the Navy that resulted in Dewey's overpowering advantage at Manila. It was also Teddy, who would be instrumental in organizing and leading the force that would destroy the Spanish from Cuba. Teddy always a man of action, knew his place was on the battlefield, not in the rear. At the age of 40 he took ... forced to abandon their run to the open sea and instead turn toward the safety of the Cuban coast. The Spanish ships returned fired, but...

• Word Count: 1774
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... other human beings and relationships, "He had an instinctive and charitable knowledge of the weaknesses of men and women, and like a priest, it made him the more concerned for the maintenance of outward forms."" Anson compares himself to, a failure to love, a cocky old' unmarried man, a priest, a holy figure. He believes he has an understanding for human weaknesses yet he can't propose to the women he loves. The second woman of importance in the story is Dolly ... is very effected by the news of the marriage, he gets a dose of reality when "What he never really believed could happened a...

• Word Count: 1512
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... and fair, and doubtless was strongly tempted to her fall -- and that, moreover, as is most likely, her husband may be at the bottom of the sea;--have not been bold to put in force the extremity of our righteous law against her. The penalty is thereof death" (Hawthorne 56). Different cultural upbringings and ... and humble. Larger part of the townspeople have forgiven her and acknowledged her repentance and her good deeds since. The truth can change and mean one thing to someone and another to someone else. Are humans born innately good, evil or both? "Therefore, as a man who has not thou...

• Word Count: 1931
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... of human beings as the best kind of existence through showing the reader how unconscious the mind of an animal is, the arrogance and tyranny that comes with being a God, and the blessed, but limited life that humans have. The Epic of Gilgamesh proves to the reader that humans' consciousness of their inevitable death, while a daunting fate, is a factor in their actions, choices, and view of life. The Epic of Gilgamesh's plot appears to have a major conflict between humanity and ... beauty, shade, food, drink and oxygen, and in the world of Gilgamesh, immortality: The Old Men Are Young Ag...

• Word Count: 1399
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... that did not, jobs in the air, on the sea, as nurses and doctors, and war correspondents were offered. For the entire time of the war, the U.S. government flattered American women to work in the war, whether it was at home or in the factories or flying a plane or anything else that contributed to the success of the war. "Rosie the Riveter-, quickly became the catchy phrase that represented all ... friend or family member. These women made momentous contributions to the war effort. More than one thousand flew during the conflict, others delivered cargo, tested new aircraft, and some flew ...

• Word Count: 1572
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... have both preached as well as practiced its inherent advantages. The earliest archeological data we have that suggest a voluntary partial vegetarian diet is the Old kingdom of Egypt. There are hieroglyphic inscriptions, which suggest the avoidance of eating some animals. The priests avoided eating pig for its lack of cleanliness, and cow for their belief that it was sacred mainly did this ... to die for it. Socrates suggested that the consumption of cattle is somewhat gluttonous rather then of necessity. He suggests refraining from meat would lead to a world with less conflict and great...

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

... blind, exiled father, Oedipus. Sophocles sums up her childhood in the following soliloquy by Oedipus:"Since her childhood ended and her body gained its power, has wandered ever with me, an old man's governess; often in the wild forest without shoes, and hungry, beaten by many rains tired by the sun; yet she rejected the sweet life of home so that her father should have sustenance" (Fitzgerald 104). Because ... he is the man. The closing scene reveals Jocasta slain by her own hand and Oedipus blinded by his own act and praying for death or exile. Here the children conflict is Oedipus him...

• Word Count: 2132
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... and ignorant of all mistakes. So of course Candide had to include mockery of war, and the Seven Years War is a perfect example of that. The war in the beginning of the novel between the Bulgars and Abares is indeed a reference to the Seven Years War that occurred between France and Prussia while Voltaire was alive. This battle that Candide is forced to flee from and that leaves many men dead is actually based on the real conflict ... it with hell. No one refers to war as fine and brisk, nor brilliant and well drilled. However, Voltaire effectively voices his opinions through the events he...

• Word Count: 2236
• Approx Pages: 9

... in the last part of the Middle Ages and was still alive until the early 20th Century. 6 The Ottoman Empire became the modern state of Turkey. Sultan Selim III really liked literature and calligraphy. Many of Selim's works were put on the walls of mosques. He also wrote many poems and was a musician. He spoke Arabic and Persian. He was also religious, patriotic, and played the reed flute and a long necked lute. Selim was thought of as a modern man ... war on France on September 4, and moved him into an alliance with Great Britain and Russia to defend his country. 10 The Turks and the Fre...

• Word Count: 1405
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... and reevaluation (analysis) of classical civilization and the application of the aspects of this civilization to intellectual and social culture in the current time. It is a blend of concern for the history and actions of human beings, mainly the ancient Greeks and Romans, such as, Cicero, Ceaser, and Augustine, with the belief that man was at the center of the universe. Contrary to Christian teachings, humanist believe that man is subject and creator of his own destiny, governed by ideals of beauty, grace, and harmony and the glorification of ... simply familial and fraternal, an old f...

• Word Count: 2254
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

... , with his unique gift for writing, Hughes turned the pain engendered by his parents' conflict into the noted poem, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," published by Crisis in 1921. (Life of Langston Hughes: I Too, Sing America) His father did not think he would be able to make a living at writing, and encouraged him to pursue a more practical career. His ... and beloved fictional creation, and the subject of five collections edited by Hughes, starting in 1950 with Simple Speaks His Mind. (www.nytimes.com) Hughes's two volumes of autobiography together with his essay about his involvement with t...

• Word Count: 2112
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... the side of the car to the car behind. It exploded and killed everyone in that car. The party were shaken by the scare and decided to return home as quickly as possible. On the way back to the train station, Ferdinand's car took a wrong turning. It did a U-turn, and in the process a man called Gavrilo Princip stepped forward and shot the Archduke in the throat and the Duchess in the chest. The ... Duchess died almost immediately and Franz 10 minutes later. Gavrilo Princip was arrested momentarily and was found on the floor having unsuccessfully committed suicide. Gavrilo was part of the ...

• Word Count: 1711
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... both following the process of trial and error. Both make mistakes to become better and more fulfilled, resulting in wisdom for Ulysses and efficiency for the modern society. There is great conflict between the knowledge gained through adventure and the isolation in not knowing the world in this poem. Besides themes, there is also much imagery that can be discussed throughout "Ulysses". The central image of the poem is the ocean. He speaks of a "dim sea" (ll ... see him in different lights. Some see him as a grand, noble man that refuses to give in to the stereotypes of old age and death...

• Word Count: 1975
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... . Jake's conflict of being impotent still haunts him and there is nothing he can do but accept it. This creates a feeling of being "lost" that is the stressed theme of the novel. This of course was developed from a passage from Ecclesiastes which is put in the preface of the novel: "One generation paseth away, and another generation cometh but the earth abideth forever...then sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down and hasteth to the place ... who search for other allegorical meaning inevitably reduce the grandeur of the text." This context was once brought up in a 1958 interview from T...

• Word Count: 2253
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

... earthly creation, as the image of God, but was merely part of an age-old biological process of the survival of the fittest. Rather than being a little lower than the angels, man was somewhat more developed than the ape. The theory was devastating and destroyed the Christian vocations of many. Perhaps the best way for the modern reader to gain some sense of the impact of this experience is to go to the poetry that grew out of the loss of religious belief. Arnold ... the night-air! The senses of sight and smell register the pleasant view, but the sound of the breaking waves marks the poem...

• Word Count: 1759
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School