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.
The two girls were acting differently and very strange. The young girls did things unusually as if they were possessed. They would scream and say things that were not even words, also known as, “speaking in tongues”. Shortly after the experiences with those girls, a few more began to break out with
Lori’s dad is out of the picture, with her mom’s boyfriends being inappropriately attracted to Lori. These inappropriate relations with elder men explain the flaunting of her body. When jumping into a random man’s car, Lori thinks to herself, “I am aware of my short shorts and move my legs. I spread my legs a little more and sigh, my shoulders at attention, knowing what this does to my top” (15). Her relationships, always consisting of lust, makes her want love, or in this case, tenderness.
“Marigolds”, a short story written by Eugenia Collier, conveys the message of the struggles upon approaching adulthood. Similar to “Marigolds”, Anne Estevis addresses the theme of maturity in the story known as “The Whistle”. The theme can be depicted by the character’s actions and realizations. However, the theme being set in the past, allows it to be pertinent to modern day life. The reasons being: children back then were burdened with more responsibilities, the maturation age was younger back then, and historical events and settings can provide symbolism yet, also personal connections.
From age eight to age twelve, Lola is pictured as a quiet young girl who obediently follows her mother’s orders, however when Lola turns twelve she begins to reject traditional gender roles, refusing to remain passive and timid, specifically around men, as she finds herself being able to “look boys straight in the face when they stared” at her. At the same time, Lola begins to reject traditional beauty standards as “[She] cut[s] her hair short –flipping out her mother yet again– partially I think because when she’d been little her family had let it grow down past her ass, a source of pride, something I’m sure her attacker noticed and admired” (25). Lola does not want to be seen as an accessible and sexual object. She realizes that the traditional beauty standards of long, silky hair which her mother raised her to fit into from childhood are actually what sexual predators target: a young, sexually appealing girl who is too young to be able to fight back. Lola rejects these beauty standards in spite of her mother and cuts her hair short, defying the values of her mother as well as proactively eliminating herself from the target pool for sexual predators.
Indeed, “Nineteen” explores the sexual relationship between two contrasting lovers, mainly due to their significant age difference, since the persona is called “the baby” (4), while her partner is already a father. At different moments of their respective lifetime, one at the end of youth and the other in middle adulthood, the two lovers need each other. This gap between them supports Alexander’s idea of the human curiosity towards everyone’s differences, which brings us to learn from others. In addition to the age gap, the veteran and the persona greatly differ in terms of experience. The nineteen-year-old girl has never left her parents’ house as she lives her “first summer away from home” (9), whereas her partner has physical and psychological “scar[s]” (17) from the Vietnam war, in the “jungle” (18).
Flatland is a fascinating novel taking place in the fictional two-dimensional world of the same name. The readers are guided through this new world by a square-shaped narrator who uses the first few chapters to explain the nature of Flatland, and the last few chapters to explain how he found out about the three-dimensional world. Throughout the story, the narrator gives detailed descriptions of the various shapes, culture, weather, conflicts, history, and politics in Flatland, all while trying to transfer his viewpoint to one that the reader can understand. Besides just being an interesting narrative about basic mathematical principles, the novel also brings up important questions about class, ignorance, and ethics. The narrative tests reader’s
The women are objectified and symbolized by Sammy, so he chases after both them and his childhood. Sammy doesn’t have many good adult role models so he dreads his upcoming future. This negative outlook on life is what makes him quit his job and go chasing after something he knew he could never obtain. However, he objectifies not just the young women, but the older women as well. Through the first person point of view, the reader gets to learn how Sammy feels about particular age groups of women.
“The Vane Sisters” by Vladimir Nabokov is an incredibly intriguing short story. However it is unlike most in many ways, one in particular. Nabokov uses unreliability in this piece by creating a secret understanding of the story between the reader and author, using intricate details to draw attention elsewhere in the short story and connecting life experiences to his writings that explain why he chooses to appeal to be so unreliable. Vladimir Nabokov was born in was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, on April 23, 1899. He was one of 5 children bore to Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov and Helene Rukavishnikov Nabokov.
Finally, the personal take of Nabokov on the subject of tyranny has allowed him to produce a masterpiece such as Lolita in which the protagonist is a deranged man manipulating his audience into thinking that being a despot is not something to be ashamed of, but rather to embrace while it lasts. The novelist uses Humbert to demonstrate how powerfully persuasive tyrants can be while subtly leading his readership into not being seduced by the man (Schiller). Controversy was nonetheless bound to happen, but despite its repercussions, the gains are many as they allowed for an audience that is socially aware and critical of its interpretation of readings. All in all, Azar Nafisi was not wrong when he said that “the biggest crime in Nabokov 's 'Lolita
God and Goddesses in Ancient World Identified by the horned headdress and that long five-tiered robe while, “Protective Goddess” – Lama was carved on this stele with plentiful cuneiform scripts. In the earlier Mesopotamian art, upraising arms to the left is a very common image especially for the “interceding goddess” such as Lama, since that seems like praying. (Crawford). This Egyptian faience work could be recognized easily by the bright blue glazed sun disk as the main symbol, all of which imply that this beautiful falcon is Ra, the Sun God.
Vladimir Nabokov challenged his Cornell students in one of his introductory literature courses to select four attributes that each student finds most necessary for good reading. Nabokov provided the students with a list of ten attributes they were to choose the four from; belong to a book club, identify with the hero or heroine, concentrate on the social-economic angle, prefer a story with action and dialogue, have seen the book in a movie, be a budding author, have imagination, have memory, have a dictionary and have some artistic sense. Although each of these can contribute to good reading, four attributes stand out greater than the rest for me. Those four are; have imagination, identify with the hero or heroine, have some artistic sense, and have memory. These four attributes will be
Adolescence is regarded by many as the single most important stage in a person’s life: the step between childhood and adulthood. As a result of the psychological and physiological developments that occur during such age, adolescence has been thoroughly depicted in works of literature. For instance, in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates the protagonist, Connie, is forced to give up on her innocence and youthful approach to life as she is forced to become an adult. In this 1966 short story, Connie’s confrontation with Arnold proves to be life-changing as it causes her to become more alert and observant, teaches her about the perverted nature of adults, and allows her to embrace the elements of childhood one last time.
To what extent does the nature and form of a film and literature influence what is or is not presented as “reality?” How do we define what is considered as realism and what isn’t?In the world of realism we find ourselves engulfed in an attitude of living in the moment. By this I mean in regards to realism, we deal with situations as they arise. We do not plan or fabricate or use emotions; we use logic. We see this realism prevalent in Dostoyevsky’s Notes from the Underground.
It suggests that language can be used to depict objects or realities in a way that adds artificial value. Indeed, on closer examination, it can be seen that Humbert Humbert uses this language not merely for his depictions of American culture but for Lolita herself. Understanding Humbert’s depictions of Lolita as moments of advertisement-language will helps us to understand the presentation of his relationship with her as something rendered more beautiful or valuable than it actually may
