In writing A Voyage Long and Strange, Tony Horwitz’s goal is clear, to educate others on early America and debunk ignorant myths. Horwitz’s reason for wanting to achieve this goal is because of his own ignorance that he sees while at Plymouth Rock. “Expensively educated at a private school and university- a history major, no less!-I’d matriculated to middle age with a third grader’s grasp of early America.” Horwitz is disappointed in his own lack of knowledge of his home country, especially with his background history and decides not only to research America’s true beginnings, but to also follow the path of those who originally yearned to discover America.
Book Analysis- The Devil in the White City The Chicago World’s Fair continues to be one of America’s defining moments. This is where America proved to the world they had grown up and were able to hold their own. Erik Larson eloquently illustrates the entire fair in little black words on paper. Although he was not alive during this event, Larson is able to reconstruct the story with factual events; he created twists to keep you ensnared into the story.
Frank Beddor’s book The Looking Glass Wars is another version of The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland. In this retelling of the story, Alyss is a princess in the queendom of Wonderland. Her Aunt Redd takes over the throne as Queen Alyss is cast out of Wonderland and has to find her way home to retake her throne. In this book there are many themes evident.
Stephen Puleo wanted to tell the story of The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919, so he did. Puleo is an author, historian, university teacher, public speaker, and a communications professional. Some of his works are the “Boston Italians”, “A City So Grand”, and “Dark Tide”. While I was reading this book, I was amazed of how big and fast the Molasses was moving down the streets of Boston. You wouldn 't think of molasses moving fast.
A separate peace by John Knowles is book that takes place at a boarding school and a big part of it is looking at how tragedy can change a characters personality. Gene Forrester the protagonist and narrator of the novel is a great example of this. At the beginning of the book he is envious of his best friend Phineas and will do anything to be the best, but as the book goes on and tragedy strikes all he feels is guilt. Before the tragedy of Finny breaking his leg gene is envious of him.
In life a single event can dramatically change a person forever, but how they survive determines what matters the most. In Night by Elie Wiesel and The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, two characters named Elie and Santiago are placed in life altering situations where they must figure out how to persevere. The dramatic book, Night, recounts the reprehensible treatment that Elie had to live through during the Holocaust. Elie endures horrible conditions in a Nazi concentration camp and learns survival. He chooses to separate himself from his negative experiences and still have hope.
Like the concept of survival of the fittest, it is essential for the soldiers to have an animal instinct to survive on the battlefield. Many moments are shown in which the soldiers become two faced, changing from good-mannered and soft soldier to animal - like characteristics. Paul informs us that they only way to survive in battle, is to block away all your emotions, if not, it would drive you insane. Another aspect as to the book’s anti-war sentiment, is how Remarque describes the consequences of war, the loss of the young life. Paul's generation was known as the "Iron Youth", which was a group of young boys who enlisted and fought in the war as a way of showing gratitude for their country, Germany, but his age group is lost because
Do you think being in the face of danger and or death could bring people closer together? In the short stories “The Interlopers” by Saki and “Two Friends” by Guy de Maupassant, this task was reached. The stories relay a similar message about loyalty and fate. Their demonstrations of this theme are very dissimilar, however. The short story “The Interlopers” shares a team that fear can alter a friendship to the better while , “Two Friends” shares a team of alerting people that the Even when being put in the worst situations when someone who you value is there, fear is worthless to you.
In the book Night, Elie Wiesel describes his struggles as a Jew in a concentration camp using a depressing and serious tone, meant to reflect the horrific conditions the Jews were forced to face and the theme that adversity can cause a loss in faith. From the time Elie first arrived at the camp and heard everyone saying prayers, to when the young pipel was hung, and even when the Jews had to make the long, arduous, trek to the other camp, the reader could see his faith dwindling as he continued to question where his God was and why he wasn’t helping the Jews. Not only was a lack of faith evident in Elie himself, but the other Jews around him, even the priests, were having trouble believing in their God. Elie’s disheartened and somber tone
The Pigman, written by Paul Zindel, is the adventurous story of two teenagers who befriend a nice, lonely old man and their time together. Although there were many wonderful memories involving John, Lorraine, and Mr. Pignati (the Pigman), sad memories were also made. The Pigman dying was a difficult time for two of the main characters, John and Lorraine. The pigs from the Pigman’s special collection being broken; and the baboon, Bobo, dying were the largest contributions to Mr. Pignati’s death. There may have been other factors; however, these had the most impact towards his death.
How does an ordinary group of people turn into bloodless killers? The author of Ordinary Men, Christopher Browning offers the most captivating argument towards how it is possible for ordinary men to commit extraordinary atrocities. This paper will analyze the different viewpoints of what caused ordinary men to commit murder. To better understand this issue one must understand the sides of argument.
The Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Ante-Bellum South takes a profound look into slavery in America from the beginning. The author, Kenneth Stampp, tells the story after doing a lot of research of how the entire South operated with slavery and in the individual states. The author uses many examples from actual plantations and uses a lot of statistics to tell the story of the south. The author’s examples in his work explains what slavery was like, why it existed and what it done to the American people.
Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse-Five chronicles the life of Billy Pilgrim, a fictional character loosely based on Vonnegut’s own experiences in World War II. The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien’s fictional novel that is set during the height of the Vietnam War. Both authors incorporate fact and fantasy scenes in their writings, albeit in different contexts. Vonnegut’s novel travels throughout time and brings the reader to both non-fictional and fantastical scenes. Conversely, O’Brien’s novel is written in chronological order, but also incorporates fact and fantasy into the timeline of the story.
The following work of interest is “Who goes there?” or “The Thing” by John W. Campbell. Originally written in 1938, “Who goes there?” tells the story of a group of scientific researchers in Antarctica who discover a space ship and an alien creature entombed in ice. As the story progress the crew realize that the creature has escaped and has one deadly ability, the ability to imitate any living thing down to the cellular level.
In The Stranger, the crucifix appears to represent Christianity, a religion that Monsieur Meursault refuses to believe in or accept. Additionally, it represents rational beliefs that the magistrate attempts to thrust upon Meursault. He wants Meursault to accept God so that his sin will be forgiven. However, Meursault rejects the notion that his life have any significance or rational explanation.
