... This leads to a tyrannical atmosphere given off by his wife who expects more from Van Winkle. Using this theme, Irving sets the stage to compare the old Van Winkle's struggles to those faced by Americans both pre and post Revolutionary War. During the story, there are several themes and metaphors that can be ... to a fault. He would rather help everyone else other than his family without reserve. In fact, Rip does not care at all for the livelihood of his farm and family. He helps other so much; he looses interest in the people closest to him. He has failed as a husband and a father, mor...

• Word Count: 1834
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... she feels for her husband is insignificant. This lets the reader relate to how bad her situation must be. Helen is left alone only with her unsuccessful farm and a child. Helen has no one there to support her. This means she must try and survive on her own. Helen soon gets more and ... even bring herself to cry. The child's funeral was set in the snow as it symbolises the purity of the child. After the birth of Gregory (the old half-brother) Helen begins feel human emotions and cries non-stop for a long time "and she cried day and night, day and night" this is ... lumpish and loutish, ...

• Word Count: 1890
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... he read at this time was Spenser's Faire Queene, Thomson's Castle of Indolence, and Shakespearian works. In the summer of 1816, Nathaniel was twelve years old, his mother moved her family to Raymond, Maine. The outdoor life was very present in his stay at Raymond, Maine. His mother one marked that ... Custom House, he left because the Federalist came back into power. Then he invested $1000 of his hard earned savings into a Transcendentalism movement called Book Farm. He did this in hoping that it would provide a financial security for his love Sophia, although he didn't believe in the Tr...

• Word Count: 1626
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... extensive description of setting, along with the use of the narrator's point of view, we get a good idea of what life is like on her family's fox farm in the 1950's. The story opens with the narrator speaking about the life of her father, a fox farmer who sells the coats of foxes to trading companies and ... which was very likely based on her actual homeland. Munro spent her life on a farm in Ontario near Lake Huron, many of her stories are based upon her life experiences as a farm child, which would lead to the conclusion that this farm story is set in Ontario (A83-84). The narrator fi...

• Word Count: 1372
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... The coloured, crippled stable boy is set apart from the other men as his colour invents yet another "class" of people who are socially below even the farm workers. It is ironic that the one of the only people to see that his colour makes no difference is Lenny and he is the least intellectual person ... for people to talk to as she is yet another lonely person in the book. Although the men were disgusted by her flirting they find no problem in visiting "old Suzies place" where they can pay "two an" a half" for a girl. This shows that the men believed a married womans place was in the hou...

• Word Count: 1524
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... Sinclair Ross; but first, a brief overview of the plot is in order. This is a story about a married couple, john and Ann. They live on a farm in a very secluded area. John works fifteen-hour days on the farm by himself. Anne wants him to hire some help so that he can spend some more time with her but he won't. She loves John ... not want to be left in the house alone. The snow is very deep and John has to walk, he tells Ann that he must go as his father is old, he must go to help his father do work and to make sure he is okay. They both know that the storm will be getting worse later bu...

• Word Count: 2012
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... life begins to revolve around achieving one goal, it pushes other important parts of life out of the way. In, "Gooseberries," a man's dream of owning a farm becomes a "definite disorder" (Chekhov 3). The story, which is being told by the man's brother, Ivan, shows the downward spiral that obsession can create. Ivan ... that he is willing to deceive people and use them for his gains. Not only is Nicholai taking advantage of someone, but that someone is a weak old woman, which further shows how fixated on his dreams he has become. It is later revealed that, despite the money that he has g...

• Word Count: 1357
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... car, where the lion cannot even see what is attacking him, is not only illegal but is a cowardly way to assassinate one of the finest of all game animals"(Kobler 39). This incident was an example to Macomber's ignorance to the code of big game hunting. The code is what Wilson himself choose as a way of life. He makes some exceptions ... and journalism. If the fictional Wilson might lose his license, so might have the real hunter-guide if Hemingway had told in "all" in factual rather than fictional prose" (Kobler 39). Another scene that could be associated with Hemingway's own personal e...

• Word Count: 1636
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... by one author can be very well done by itself; however, should the like author attempt to bring back characters from an old work into a new, the well-known characters of old become flat and lacking individuality. In addition, I have found that simply changing the point of view, from which a story ... development and altered style of narration. "Spotted Horses" and "Mule in the Yard" are two short stories by William Faulkner that deal with comedic animal chases. Although both provide entertaining examples of Faulkner's work in very similar settings, on the scale of literary value, "Spotted...

• Word Count: 1265
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... to provide us with the discourse of that time. According to Foucault, " Madness is an object of perception produced by social practise." (Introducing Foucault, Horrocks and Jetvic, page 39). This of course refers to the discourse of psychology that Foucault studied and in particular the mad/sane binary that makes it up. There is a very fine line between someone ... terrified of the "evil eye" and being watched by it. It is for this reason that he feels he must kill the old man. As a result of his ranting we read his character as being mad, and the old man in the category of sane. What if...

• Word Count: 1340
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... leaving him. "How different from his own world, spoilt and depraved. Where people wallowed in their greed. Where teenagers goaded and attacked old people for pleasure. Where children were not safe from molesters. Where wives left their husbands without warning and conscience. As had Neville's own ... wife. No, here was something wiser, better."(lines 39-44) The passage above represents Neville's hatred and resentment towards his own background. However, it is important to notice how he keeps on ... the western world; paradise is a place where children can get a decent education and a pl...

• Word Count: 1607
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... story, and Poe has had a worldwide influence on literature. Poe's parents were touring actors; both died before he was three years old, and then taken into the home of John Allan, a prosperous merchant in Richmond, VA, and was baptized. (Wells 39) His childhood seemed uneventful, although he studied for five years in England. In 1826, he entered the University of Virginia but ... Visitor". (61) Poe, his aunt, and Virginia moved to Richmond in 1835, and he became editor of the Southern Literary Messenger and married Virginia, who was not yet fourteen years old. Poe published fiction, not...

• Word Count: 1485
• Approx Pages: 6

... short novel. The story concerns a group of extremely bright young children, taken away from their families and whisked off to a "think-tank" institute for scientific observations, referred to as the "farm" by its inhabitants. Also in the institute are the "babies", unique infants that have outwardly autistic symptoms but really possess unexplainable phenomenal abilities. The book deals with many aspects of ... as the babies, their uniqueness a direct result of this intervening, and they are subject to an endless stream of tests and analysis's in the period of time spent at the farm. Alt...

• Word Count: 1473
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... and a few other villagers. But, Mr. Graves has many more villagers behind him sharing his views. They are in the same shelter and refusing to accept changes. Furthermore, another character, Old Man Warner also penetrates through the story. Mr. Warner is the oldest man in village and, therefore, having the most knowledge of what the original tradition was all about. He ... to the tradition. People refuse to reject the folklore, thus they will not step out from the circle which drawn by the traditions. Mrs. Hutchinson ended up being the "sacrificial animal," the "scapegoat" of the group. ...

• Word Count: 1301
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... to conceal his social origins, with time his history is uncovered by Nick: I suppose he'd had the name ready for a long time, even then. His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people - his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all. The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of ... just that - and he must be about His Father's business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conce...

• Word Count: 1294
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... the main character's thoughts and ideas. For example, Elisa Allen is a lonely woman who enjoys growing and nourishing her chrysanthemums. Since her husband is always working the cattle in their farm, she never has enough attention or any kind of affection. The result of this dispassionate marriage leads Steinbeck to describe his main character as, "Her face lean and strong and ... the lottery which someone was sacrificed (murdered) he is seen as one of the most innocent characters because of his new ideas and wishes for something better. Another character is Old Man Warner, which is the...

• Word Count: 1318
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Louis L"Amour was born on March 22, 1908, in Jamestown, North Dakota. His father, Louis Charles, was a veterinarian and farm machinery salesman and was also involved in local politics. Charles served as alderman of Jamestown's largest ward for many years as well as deputy sheriff, but he lost his mayoral ... been dead a while. Some fellow was trying to save the hides and it was the most miserable job, but I learned a lot" (Larson 4). The young man's boss was a seventy-nine-year-old wrangler raised by Apaches, who had ridden on war parties with Nana and Geronimo. L"Amour left his odorous job,...

• Word Count: 1689
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... the sincerity of his patriotism as parts of the same thing. Among Reikos few possessions are five small animal trinkets. She dismisses them as worthless because of the materialism they represent. The first animal is a dog which can symbolize loyalty and friendship. The second animal figure is a rabbit which is a symbol of love and faithfulness. The bear is a symbol of strength. The last ... of the animal trinkets, a fox, symbolizes the presence of an enemy or rival among acquaintances. While Reiko considered their solely materialistic value, "the expressions on the small animals faces g...

• Word Count: 1287
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... the story happens when the main character tries to kill the new cat, and his wife stops him. In a fury of rage he murders his wife: "I aimed a blow at the animal which, if course, would have proved instantly fatal had it descended as I wished. But this blow was arrested by the hand of my wife. Goaded by the interference, into a rage ... uses words that bring real and genuine situations to mind. In "The Black Cat" he does this very well when talking about Pluto: "The latter was a remarkably large and beautiful animal, entirely black, and sagacious to an astonishing degree." (pg. 545, 4) ...

• Word Count: 2283
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... for himself and his family. He cannot afford the luxury of buying a horse to assist him with his farming. Instead, he has to endure his hard labor with a mule, an animal common amongst the poor, working class. Although his economic situation is uncomfortable for him, it is evident in his monologue the he is not one to surrender to adverse circumstances ... hope and optimism. He hopes for a more comfortable life; one that has less struggle, and more contentment. He take the lines and I jump down on the ground to open The old beat-up gate. I see Etienne's horse in the yard, and I see Chris...

• Word Count: 1382
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... is about a young girl who struggles against society's ideas of how a girl should be, only to find her trapped in the ways of the world. The story takes place on a farm. The narrator is a woman who is telling in the first point of view of when she was a young girl. Her father was a fox farmer, he was hardworking and she had ... to realize his sex-determined superiority. He explains to his father and mother how Flora escaped from the yard and also starts listening to his father almost exclusively. "We shot old Flora," he said, "and cut her up in fifty pieces." "Well I don't want to hear a...

• Word Count: 1386
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... same youthful energy of the past. Instead by the end of the race he is winded and showing his age. Cash does not give up at this sign of growing old but decided to prove youthfulness to his wife one last time. Unfortunately this last race leads to Cash's demise in an ironic twist of fate, when his wife shoots dead ... feels as though he has lost his last contact with youth. Cheever clearly describes Cash to the reader when he states: "He had been adored and happy and full of animal spirits, and now he stands in a dark kitchen, deprived of his athletic prowess, his impetuousness, his goo...

• Word Count: 2093
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... has symbolic meaning in this story. The red convertible symbolizes the relationship between the brothers. The author uses a lot of symbolic meaning in this short story. Louise Erdrich contrasts the old way of life versus the new. The author uses many other metaphorical symbols: convertible, the road trip, and the dance Henry does before his death. The color of the car ... in the story also has symbolic meaning. The author writes, "The branches bent down all around me (Lyman) like a tent or a stable. Lyman describes in Alaska as living like an animal in nature": "You never have to sleep ...

• Word Count: 1471
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... views. In the short story Afraid All the Time , Jane Baum was quite the unusal character. She had a mental problem because she could not get used to living on a open farm where she lived because she was accustomed to living in a large city. "Jane was terrified of everything, from the animals attacking her, the chickens at night and the sound of ... did it? what is it? and how did it happen? In the short story All the Lonely People , Sharon Maccone is a detective who must solve the problem of how her old friend and his wife suddenly passed away. As the story goes on the three questions c...

• Word Count: 1475
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... ; Come hear," he yelled. " Hello, is there a problem officer?" I asked sarcastically. " Where is the gun?" He asked I said " In the car." " How old are you two?" " I'm 16 and he's 15." I replied " Where do you guys live?" " We live right there," I said pointing at my house Right ... gets out of his car and starts asking us the same questions. Then he lectured us. He said " Don't you both know that it is illegal to shoot an animal out of a moving vehicle and if i turned you two in then the state would take your gator,the gun, and both of you would have a big fine to pay, does ... ...

• Word Count: 1638
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School