Gulliver’s Travels: Satire, Society, and Swift
In Gulliver’s Travels, humanity is attacked, or criticized, from at least three different angles, and the implied character of Gulliver himself necessarily changes somewhat in the process. In Part IV, he conceives a horror of the human race which is not apparent, or only intermittently apparent, in the earlier books, and changes into a sort of unreligious anchorite whose one desire is to live in some desolate spot where he can devote himself to meditating on the goodness of the Houyhnhnms. However,
Read MoreFahrenheit 451: Montag’s Transformation and Rebellion
Montag’s Transformation and Rebellion in Fahrenheit 451
When Montag meets with Mrs. Phelps and Mrs. Bowles, he forgets that they are a good deal like Millie; they are devoted to their television families, they are politically enervated, and they show little interest in the imminent war. Because their husbands are routinely called away to war, the women are unconcerned. War has happened before, and it may happen again.
Listening to their empty babble, animated by his rebel posture, and with Faber whispering
Read MoreShelley, Keats, and Browning: A Concise Biography
Shelley
Shelley: Born the heir to rich estates and the son of a Member of Parliament, Shelley went to University College, Oxford in 1810, but in March of the following year, he and a friend, Thomas Jefferson Hogg, were both expelled for the suspected authorship of a pamphlet entitled The Necessity of Atheism. In 1811, he met and eloped to Edinburgh with Harriet Westbrook and, one year later, went with her and her older sister first to Dublin, then to Devon and North Wales, where they stayed for six
Read MoreAnalyzing Identity and Culture in “Jonny Appleseed” and “Mr. & Mrs. Iyer”
Jonny Appleseed: A Coming-of-Age Story
Jonny Appleseed (2018) is a coming-of-age story written by Joshua Whitehead, a Two-Spirit member of Peguis First Nation who studied Indigenous literatures and cultures focused on gender and sexuality. The novel is a love letter to the Indigenous queer community and Indigenous women, in which the author, through lyricism, narrates the story of a queer and Indigenous character in the form of poetic prose. Jonny Appleseed, the main character, is a Two-Spirit Indigiqueer
Read MoreMedieval Literature: Lyric Poetry and Clergy
Personality and Character of El Cid
Almost all characters are grouped in factions. The character of El Cid projects the image of a great hero, unjustly fallen. Until the recovery of his lost honor and heritage, he, part of the lower nobility, acts like a man of great personality, nobler than most of the aristocracy. His fame is rooted in the exercise of his virtues and heroic behavior. The portrait of the protagonist of the song gives us the ideal image of a man driven by the springs of moderation,
Read MoreFrankenstein: Character Analysis and Key Players
Frankenstein: Character Analysis
Here’s a look at the key characters in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein:
Victor Frankenstein
The protagonist and narrator of a significant portion of the story. Studying in Ingolstadt, Victor discovers the secret of life and creates a sentient but grotesque creature. He recoils from his creation in horror. Victor keeps the monster’s creation a secret, feeling increasingly guilty and ashamed as he realizes he is powerless to prevent the monster from destroying his life and
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