In ‘“A bloke’s story”: From an apprenticeship to a masters degree’, Alan Hales recounts to the reader his incremental steps he took to achieve his scholastic success. Realising that the job market was shrinking, he made the decision to improve his prospects. From his initial preparation bridging course as a mature age student, to acceptance into and obtaining an Undergraduate diploma, through to completing two postgraduate diplomas, Hales showed a passionate determination to succeed. During his year attending the Open Foundation preparation course, Hales developed a strong learning base to build upon his study skills.…
Throughout Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, there are some chapters that readers may feel lack information or any plot movement that pertains to the book in a direct way and would like to just pass through those chapters as quickly as possible because those particular chapters are thought of as filler chapters. If there is one thing a reader should take away from studying any Jane Austen piece is that she has a talent to formulate and place events in an appropriate order so that everything that happens throughout the novel fits perfectly together like a puzzle and that she has a rhyme and reason for the information she expresses throughout the book. A particular chapter that should be focused on is Chapter 10 in Volume One. On the first read-through, this chapter seems unimportant based on how it is primarily about writing letters and killing time until Jane Bennet has recovered from the…
In the short story, The Man Who was Almost a Man, the author, Richard Wright, demonstrates the theme of craving and wanting power in an extraordinary way. Power can be interrupted in many different ways, as was seen in the story. Although, a lot of times people end up mistaking power, for respect. In addition to that, even though power and respect require similar qualities, they are very different. In the short story, the main character, Dave Sanders expressed that some people create a life of searching for power, and holding the the title of respect and establishment.…
Conflict is shown in different ways in the poem, ‘The Man He Killed’, and ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’. One of the major differences seen between the two poems in the portrayal of conflict and war is where war is shown to be fought as a unit; a fight to be fought together, in ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’. Lord Tennyson portrays this by his use of repetition at the end of each stanza - “rode the six hundred”. He did this to emphasise how no-one left the rest of the cavalry when they had to fight for their country while knowing that they were most probably going to die. This would make the reader feel both sympathetic for the situation that the six hundred soldiers were put in (a choice between life and death), and proud that…
The Vietnam Conflict introduced many side effects that were detrimental to the soldiers that participated. These effects range from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), general disdain from the public, and even loss of innocence. As seen by William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, loss of innocence is a topic associated with traumatic events that authors utilize to portray how inimical they are to humans. Tim O’Brien, the author of The Things They Carried, exemplifies this in his writing. He applies vivid characterization and metaphors in order to convey the loss of innocence.…
In the story of “A&P” a boy named Sammy was 17 years old and he worked at a convenient store called A&P. when he worked one day a small group of girls came in and were wearing bathing suits. His boss was not fond of the dress attire the girls were wearing. So, the Manager asked the girls to leave. This made Sammy furious. But really all he was doing was boosting his pride so he could talk to the girls.…
American essayist and social critic H. L. Mencken writes about how an average man does not want to be free but wants to be safe. Mencken conveys many observations to contemporary society. Many people have disagreements, others may have many agreements with Mencken. Determining whether you would rather have freedom or safety may be hard, but according to “an average man” they would pick to be safe. We often value freedom-the ability to choose who we associate with, where we choose to travel, our religion, and what ideas we hold.…
The Korean division started the day the 38th parallel was settled on during the Potsdam Conference nearing the end of the Second World War. The 38th parallel was to serve as the dividing line of Korea, which was going to be occupied by the Soviet troops in the north and American troops in the south. Both international powers were set to help countries re-establish themselves in the world following WWII. The Americans vowed to help any country threatened by communism (Truman Doctorine, March 12th 1947). By the end of 1947 the US troops were prepared to leave South Korea and leave the country in hands of a pro-American conservative Dr. Syngman Rhee.…
At the end of the poem the speaker says “Now I am dry bones and my face a stony skull staring in yellow surprise at the sun” symbolizing the irony of enlightenment that comes at the end of this merciless killing. There is a shift from innocence to knowledge in this line; the victim learns that social injustice and man’s inhumanity to man imposed on him is…
Quoted by Thomas Hardy “A story must be exceptional enough to justify its telling; it must have something more unusual to relate than he ordinary experience of every average man and woman,” this quote relates to the non-fiction story Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. The quote by Hardy means that a person does not want to hear a story that can be repeated by any average person, many people are interested in hearing a story that is un-relatable and unique to that person. The story Unbroken relates to the quote by Hardy since no one has experienced what Louie Zamperini and his fellow prisoners of war (POW) experienced during war. Thomas Hardy’s quote agrees with the book Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, since average people do not experience what…
Rough Justice “God help us, if ever in this great country we turn our heads while people who have not had fair trials are executed” (Grisham 216). The Innocent Man, by John Grisham, is a nonfiction novel explaining the false conviction of Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz. In the small town of Ada, Oklahoma, a waitress named Debra S. Carter was violently raped and murdered. The people of Ada were enraged and a one-sided investigation took place. Local police coerced Ron Williamson into confessing false statements by using Williamson’s bipolar disorder to their advantage.…
A Guy Who makes Monsters When most people think of Stephen King they think horror. Though he has written many short stories and novel based on horror, he writes many different genera’s except romance. Based on his biographical information it will help readers understand why this is. In Kings’ western themed story “A Death” Jim Trusdale is arrested for the murder of a young girl and for stealing her silver birthday dollar. This story takes place in Black Hills, Dakota.…
Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth is a powerful text concerning the struggle faced by colonized people on their journey against colonialism and towards liberation. Rooted not only in psychology but also in Marxism and critical theory, the book provides an analysis of number issues related to colonialism and decolonization. Fanon methodically examines a diverse range of issues including, but not limited to, racial identity formation, language, class, and the way in which they interact with the liberation struggle and alter the relationship between colonizer and colonized. The topic of violence however, is addressed repeatedly.…
“The Man I Killed” O’Brien explains a Viet Cong soldier whom of which he has killed. He felt stuck in time remembering what the man he just killed may have been like before the war. O’Brien is describing the history of the dead Vietnamese man while his American troops continue to move forward. He is in shock from killing the man, meanwhile the rest of the world is moving around him, all in speech and imagination. There is no way that O’Brien knows everything about the fallen soldier playing with the notion of truth.…
While we grow up we take certain risks that help us get through difficultly stages and that makes us see things differently. It's hard to see it from our perspective but when we get to a certain age we see all the changes we made in order to get to the point we are at. Herbert Otto claims, "Change and growth take place when a person has risked himself and dares to become involved with experimenting with his own life. In other words, Otto believes that an individual start to grow up when he or she start to take risk on different aspects in life which causes the individual to mature.…