1. In the chapter “The Test Case” in How to Read Literature like a Professor by Thomas Foster, Foster presents several different interpretations of the story “The Garden Party”. Foster then shows the readers interpretations of the short story that his college students have articulated. Foster’s interpretation, however, goes much deeper.
The setting of “Flowers for Algernon” takes place in New York during the 1960s where people with mental disabilities were treated unfairly. Even though Charlie and Max persevered through similar situations, Charlie had a different personality. Unlike Max, Charlie was innocent, extroverted, and naive. We know this because Keyes presented in the book, “Everybody laffed and we had a good time and they gave me lots of drinks and Joe said Charlie is a card when he is potted”(Keyes 40). With Charlie being outspoken, he was able express in a positive manner what he was feeling and believed.
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, is a Puritan sermon from the eighteenth century during the Great Awakening. During this time, Puritans had strayed from the church due to the church’s strict guidelines and regulations and begun to embrace more secular thought. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, was written to motivate people to join the newly refined church that embraced these secular thoughts. Jonathan Edwards uses rhetorical devices throughout his sermon to show God’s wrath on sinners and to instill the fear of God in Puritans. Jonathan Edward’s was a well respected clergyman of eighteenth century New England.
Loyalty and the Punishment That Follows a Puritan When it comes to spreading religious beliefs you can always wonder how much is too much. In typical Puritan culture life is considered a temptation to sin and you must always be grateful for what god has given you. Writing is a way to connect to god and spread a direct, powerful message to the followers of Puritan life. In result of their religion, bible allusions are commonly used throughout their writings. When comparing the two authors, Bradstreet and Edwards, one must look at some of their most common works.
In the short story “Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier, the theme of there is beauty in life for those who are willing to see it applies to Miss Lottie. Through many children’s eyes, including Lizabeth, the main character, they viewed Miss Lottie as a witch. In reality, she is merely a broken woman who tried to grasp onto the last ray of hope in the shanty town. The marigolds bring joy and love into her life. On page 223 of “Marigolds”, it states, “...only a broken woman who had dared to create beauty in the midst of ugliness and sterility.
There is beauty in life for those who choose to see it. The Marigold is a story that is about the time of the Great Depression and how people were growing up in poverty with no shoes, little to no clothing, and barely a roof over their heads literally. The theme is see the good in little things for those that do see it. The marigolds were a symbol of beauty in all of the ugliness that was around them but at the time Elizabeth could not see it until it was too late. The title of the book is Marigolds short story by Eugenia Collier and is historical fiction.
Lastly, “The Last Leaf” not only includes good applicable themes, but also the unpredictable fatality of Behrman, of whom no one thinks very highly and yet has a great effect on the reader. Overall, these authors achieve their goals of teaching ethical principles through stories
George Gascoigne publishes A Hundred Sundry Flowers, as a collection of various works by unnamed authors, while in fact being his stories. One of his stories, The Adventures of Master F.J., gains quick recognition because it is the tale of an anonymous man who falls in love with an elite married woman. While it may seem like an insider’s view of the events taking place among the higher classes, it remains a fictional story. However, because A Hundred Sundry Flowers is later banned, it demonstrates its similarity to non-fiction. Regardless of Gascoigne’s intentions of editing the story into a conventional manner in the following years; his initial publication suggest to readers the gossip-like qualities of his story are meant to attract readers.
The classic book Flowers for Algernon, which was written by Daniel Keyes in the late 1900’s, explains the story about a middle-aged man named Charlie Gordon and the struggles he faces from having a mental disability. Charlie Gordon worked at Donnegon’s Box Company, but while working there, he was made fun of and called stupid for something he can’t control. Charlie had a wish for all people to love and accept him, but couldn’t understand that there is always going to be someone that wouldn’t like him which made him feel unwanted and unappreciated. Throughout Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes develops a theme of self-acceptance to explain how people shouldn’t change themselves to fit in with others.
Fanny demonstrates the obsession of sex and pleasure in the society. She chooses to have multiple partners because of her own personal pleasure. She uses no reasoning nor morality and instead focuses on her own self-interest. Furthermore, she and the rest of society perceives multiple partners as a requirement of the citizens as shown by: “you ought to be…promiscuous” (43). Fanny demonstrates the foundation of society on sex and pleasure.
Phron Scranton Modernism and realism how do these types of literature came to evolve and how are they compared? In this writing, there will be a comparison of modernism and realism and how they related to each other. These two types of literature played a part in American history and happened during a pivotal era of time. When a person thinks of realism the thought that may come to mind is it references reality. When it comes to modernism it is viewed as the results of a progressive society.
In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the roaring twenties are explored through an outsider’s perspective on how status consumes people. It is shown through the division of class within New York between West Egg and East Egg where new money and old money view society differently when it comes to wealth and societal norms. Though, the one thing both areas had in common, was the people’s desire to climb social hierarchies and how it consumed them which is represented through flowers. In reality and in the novel as well, flowers are used to symbolize innocence, beauty, and fragility but Fitzgerald alters the motif into focusing on the falsity of New York City and how the truth hides behind the beauty of a flower. Flowers are an illustration
It was during the Great Awakening, when powerful preachers like Jonathan Edwards decided to intensify their ways of broadcasting their religious seriousness. The idea of secularism and religious neglect had been the cause for this religious movement. In his sermon, from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Edwards used strategies to guilt, persuade, and redirect the “sinners” into conversion, and to give a wakeup call to those who overemphasize their own worthiness as holy citizens. Throughout his sermon, Edwards used a variety of figurative language like imagery, metaphors, personification, and allusions to reveal his attitude towards “sinners” as unworthy and insignificant in the eyes of God, and his attitude towards God as being enraged
Flowers for Algernon explores themes of ethical dilemmas in scientific research. Charlie Gordon is the first human to undergo an experimental operation to triple his IQ from 68 to 204. His mental capacities dramatically increase, but the consequences are drastic when the operation fails and he regresses. Under Charlie’s circumstances, the operation was unethical. Charlie, mentally disabled, cannot give informed consent.
In her short story “Marigolds”, Eugenia Collier, tells the story of a young woman named Lizabeth growing up in rural Maryland during the Depression. Lizabeth is on the verge of becoming an adult, but one moment suddenly makes her feel more woman than child and has an impact on the rest of her life. Through her use of diction, point of view, and symbolism, Eugenia Collier develops the theme that people can create beauty in their lives even in the poorest of situations. Through her use of the stylistic device diction, Eugenia Collier is able to describe to the reader the beauty of the marigolds compared to the drab and dusty town the story is set in.
