Abstract
The mother-daughter tale is a relatively new phenomenon in literature, which has not yet been defined by any particular characteristics. This essay proposes three essential characteristics of a such a tale: estrangement between the mother and the daughter, a crisis which brings the mother and the daughter together, and the daughter's epiphany. Furthermore, the essay applies these characteristics in comparing the two novels at hand, "One True Thing" by Anna Quindlen and "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tam.

From the Paper
"Similarly, The Joy Luck Club, a novel by Amy Tam, is a collection of sixteen separate stories about four mothers and each of their daughters. The mothers, who were are all born in China, struggle to teach their Americanized daughters the valuable truths that they have accumulated through life's experiences. The estrangement between the mothers and daughters in The Joy Luck Club is the product of their cultural difference. For example, when playing Mah-Jongg with the Aunties, her deceased mother's friends, June comments on the nature of all of the Aunties' relationships with their daughters. "In me they see their own daughters, just as ignorant, just as unmindful of all the truths and hopes they have brought to America. They see daughters who grow impatient when mothers talk in Chinese, who think they are stupid when they explain things in fractured English" (Tam, 31). The cultural difference between the mothers and their daughters is a barrier that impedes their communication and understanding of each other. In their daughters, the mothers are reminded of the false hopes and dreams that brought them to America. While in their mothers, the daughters are confronted with a culture and philosophy of life that they don't understand being born and raised in America. Due to this, the mothers and daughters in the novel share estranged relationships."

Tags:crisis, family, Waverley, Jong

Abstract
The paper first illustrates the differences in the way Africa is depicted by the two authors, Conrad and Achebe. Particularly, it compares the depiction of the African landscape, the native peoples, and the culture of Africa in the two texts. Additionally, the paper discusses the contextual frameworks of the novels for a better understanding of why such contrasting images of Africa exist among them.

From the Paper
"Chinua Achebe, in "Things Fall Apart", and Joseph Conrad, in "Heart of Darkness", present sharply contrasting images of Africa. This is most evident in comparing their depiction of the African landscape, the native people, and the African culture. However, any comparative analysis of the two works should be approached bearing in mind differences in their contextual frameworks. Viewed from such a perspective, it can be argued that the differences in the portrayal of Africa merely represent the reality of the two novels written with different purposes, from different cultural viewpoints and at varying points of human development."

Tags:achebe, africa, apart, comparative, conrad, contextual, darkness, fall, framework, heart, literature, postcolonial, things

Abstract
The use of satire or sustained irony is a rhetorical strategy which an essayist may use to disconcert a blase reader into questioning areas which seem to reveal a certain degree of folly or stupidity. This paper discusses how, whether intended for a scholar such as "Of Cannibals" by Montaigne or intended for the general populace as in "A Modest Proposal" by Jonathon Swift, caustic wit becomes the means to critique society to a more receptive and entertained audience. It looks at how Swift and Montaigne choose their rhetorical strategy for the impact it would have on the reader in the hope of gaining interest in the cause or ideology they believed in.

From the Paper
"Ireland was poverty stricken due to a massive famine and oppressive taxation by the British in Jonathon Swift's era. "A Modest Proposal" was intended to provoke concern over the quandary of the poor. The state of affairs in Ireland was unsound due to the lower classes continuing to yield large families in the midst of a famine with little work to be had and the upper classes who were indifferent in regards to the welfare of the poor populace. Swift chose to adopt the personae of someone writing a "serious letter" to address the situation and offers the idea of finding "a fair, cheap and easy method of making" (Swift 217) the "children sound, useful members of the commonwealth". (Swift 217) This method involves offering the children for sale as food for the nobles."

Tags:ireland, poverty, rhetorics, renaissance

Abstract
This paper examines how the poem by Philip Larkin, "Talking in Bed" discusses alienation and isolation from humankind. It looks at how the poem can be compared to Franz Kafka's, "The Metamorphosis", because it deals with isolation and estrangement from one's own comfort. In this case, his home life. It discusses how both works deal with ontological issues- the state of being- and present themselves in a bleak, murky tone and how Larkin and Kafka both share experiences of isolation and alienation from their societies.

From the Paper
"The sense of broken communication is well displayed through the structure and form of the poem. The iambic pentameter and the three-tercet rhyme scheme (aba, cac, dcd, eee) portray the absence of continuity and the broken-up nature of the couple's discourse. Each stanza in the poem, with exception given to the third stanza, contains end-stopped lines. This form displays the isolation of each stanza in relation to the couple isolating themselves from one another. "At the unique distance from isolation/It becomes still more difficult to find" (Larkin, 9-10) discusses the unique isolation the couple is faced with and contains no end-stop punctuation to separate the two verses. "

Tags:bug, isolation, gregor

Abstract
This paper provides an analysis of Orwell's "1984" and Kesey's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". It asks the question "can individuality be maintained in an oppressive society or environment?" and determines that while the protagonist of "1984" succumbs to societal pressures, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" offers hope for the preservation of the human spirit.

From the Paper
"At first, the individual represses his spirit in an outward display of conformity, designed for physical survival only. Orwell's mythical country of Oceania is a tyrannical, brutal society. It presents a shocking view of the future that can best be described as "a boot stamping on a human face - forever" (Orwell, 280). Winston Smith, the protagonist of Nineteen Eighty-Four, is secretly unhappy with his life. Although he cannot remember a time when things were better, he does not believe that the world was always in its present condition. He is condemned to a life sentence in which he must be the victim of authority. Not to conform would mean certain death. In all outward appearances, Winston is a follower of the Party. He participates in the Two Minutes Hate, which is intended to manipulate citizens."

Tags:winston, oceania, mcmurphy

Abstract
This paper explores the literary use of landscape in D.H. Lawrence's "Sons and Lovers" and in William Golding's "Pincher Martin". The paper claims that both Lawrence and Golding manipulate landscape for a specific purpose in their works. The paper explores both of these novels, commenting upon the stylistic uses of landscape, a literary device that may be employed towards the fulfillment of a particular artistic theme. Both D.H. Lawrence and William Golding make use of landscape in this fashion. Citing many specific examples from the novels, and drawing upon a wealth of bibliographic resources, the paper is relevant to any discussion of Lawrence, Golding or twentieth century literature.

From the Paper
"D.H. Lawrence's 1913 novel, Sons and Lovers, is set in the British Midlands at the turn of the twentieth century (Lawrence 9). This is a region in central England that was, at the time the novel is set, becoming highly industrialized. Factories, coal pits, and squalid row houses were plentiful. "We are in the northern Midlands at the turn of the century, seeing the daily life of the mining community through the eyes of one of its children, and seen with such intensity and clarity, especially in the first of three parts, that the reader feels in direct contact with life (Black 151). Robin Hood's Sherwood Forest is close by the busy industrial city of Nottingham, where Paul Morel obtains employment, and the river Trent, a significant piece of landscape in Lawrence's novel, swirls its way from the city through the wide-open country hills and vales. Sons and Lovers continually contrasts the sensuous, natural environment with that of the cold, drab monuments of industrial town and city life, providing the reader a vivid sense of the times."

Tags:british, fiction, lovers, martin, pincher, sons

Abstract
This paper examines how the use of stereotypes in Shyam Selvadurai's "Funny Boy" and Thomas King's "Green Grass, Running Water" is very effective in clearly enunciating the dichotomy between traditional cultural expectations and contemporary transcendence of societal norms. Other themes examined in the two novels include racial identity and gender/sexual identity.

From the Paper
"The primary example of stereotyping in the novel is King's continual mention of Indians versus rangers and cowboys. In one of the Creation stories, First Woman saves herself and Ahdamn by wearing a black cloth that disguises her as the Lone Ranger. She told the rangers that her Indian friend was named Tonto, and that he had helped save her from the Indians. "Okay, says those rangers, but don't say we didn't try to help. And they gallop off, looking for Indians and buffalo and poor people and other good things to kill."(71) King reversed the stereotype by presenting the rangers as the inarticulate savages, which was traditionally used as an image to portray the Indians."

Tags:gender, homosexuality, identity

Abstract
This paper explains that Charlotte Bronte in her novel "Jane Eyre" and Jean Rhys in her novel "Wide Sargasso Sea" tell the same story of humanity and monstrosity, sanity and madness, but the monsters are different. The author points out that Bronte comes from romanticism and Gothicism movements in literature; whereas, Rhys, generations later, reflexes modernism and surrealism. The paper relates that Bronte's madwoman, "beastly Bertha Mason", imprisoned in the attic, is described as unfeminine and inhumane, and example of how a Victorian lady ought not to behave. The author highlights that Jean Rhys tells a more complete story of "Bertha Mason" who in this story is really Antoinette, the first Mrs. Rochester. The paper states that, in this version, this character is not regarded as being a monster but rather is pitied. The author concludes that, in Rhys' novel, Mr. Rochester is the monstrosity because of his lack of humanity and compassion.

From the Paper
"It shouldn't go without saying, however, that some critics believe "Jane Eyre" was before it's time in its view of the humane and inhumane. It is believed that perhaps Charlotte Bronte, despite a Victorian upbringing, was making a statement about her society's expectation and marginalization of women. In "Jane Eyre", Bertha Mason, despite being described as physically frightening, ghastly and intimidating, is not described as being cruel to the protagonist, nor is she described as having inhumane personal qualities. In fact, it is quite the opposite."

Tags:victorian, surrealism, humane, inhumane, rochester

Abstract
The paper looks at how "love" as a concept has been examined in many different forms as the novel itself has progressed over time. It examines how early English literature commonly portrayed the then stereotypical notion of the idealized or "courtly" lover and how more recent novels have expanded - and effectively recreated - the definition of love. In particular, it explores how this is evident in "Flaubert's Parrot" by Julian Barnes, "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguroand "Enduring Love" by Ian McEwan.

From the Paper
"The Remains of the Day is very much a tragic love story aggravated by the protagonist's continual repression of romantic sentiments. Blinded by unwavering devotion to his position as head butler of Darlington Hall, Stevens conceals his love for Miss Kenton despite an obvious attraction to her. As Shaffer asserts, "the butler clearly represses his sexual attraction to Miss Kenton, a woman with whom he works "at close quarters" during her maiden years" [(47) Shaffer 68-69]. When Stevens receives Miss Kenton's letter at the beginning of the novel and considers undertaking an excursion to meet her, he states, "I had become blind to the obvious" (5). Although Stevens is referring to the "faulty staff plan" (5) at Darlington Hall, these words allude to much more; although he covers his journey in the guise of a business trip, it soon becomes apparent that the main motivating factor is his love for Miss Kenton."

Tags:deception, delusion, braithwaite, stevens, jed

Abstract
This paper discusses how Mary Shelley was, without a doubt, reacting to Milton's "Paradise Lost" when she wrote "Frankenstein". The paper also examines how many of the characters in "Frankenstien" seem to reflect Milton's. Additionally, the paper examines how Shelley updated the way the people of her generation perceived the relationship between God and Satan, just as Milton had in his time, in his poem.

From the Paper
"One of the main reason why "Frankenstein" and "Paradise Lost" are so captivating is the author's ability to create a personal connection between the reader and the anti-hero in their works. Frankenstein is the story of a Creator, Victor Frankenstein, and his Creation/Opponent, the Creature or Monster, just as Paradise Lost is the story of a Creator, God, being foiled by that embodiment of Evil, Satan. Victors problems started when he chose not to follow the path of a common natural philosopher, who "might dissect, anatomize, and give names" , but never acquire the true knowledge of God, the secrets of nature which he desired to "divine". Victor places the role of God upon himself. He has the power to create, but unlike God's power, his is not divine, but comes from science. Victor attempts to create a man in his own image, but what he created was a hideous creature, "a thing
such as even Dante could not have conceived"(Chapter 5), which implies that Victor himself is flawed."

Tags:victor, stereotype, satan, god