Arnold van Gennep

We as people are constantly changing, attempting to find the role our society dictates us to fill. We let our labels define us, allowing us to be tucked away like soup cans into our categories of “male”, “female”, “old money”, “new money”, “working class”, along with hundreds of other labels whose only purpose is to separate us. Our society clings to the belief that this labeling process only exists in tawdry cinematic dramas about high school, but the references are as old as human history. The…

1. Why do you think Gladwell claims that “We live in the golden age of satire?” Gladwell claims that “We live in the golden age of satire” because we live in a time where satire laces every aspect of society. It's everywhere. It's used in politics, the entertainment industry, and even between friends where it's masked as light-hearted humor. Modern society allows for satire to be popular because it allows us as a society to talk about serious topics in a way that's less awkward and easier to…

Ngugi’s novel A Grain of Wheat is concerned with fashioning a national consciousness through a shared historical experience. He weaves in a labyrinth of betrayals in order to show the sacrifices made during the struggle of independence. Unless his characters acknowledge their mutual betrayal and that their unresolved individual pasts recover from their burden, a collective consciousness remains dubious. The question that lingers is how might one be able to achieve this collectivity in a world…

Materialism in The Great Gatsby Within the characters’ relationships in The Great Gatsby, money and materialism are huge motivators. Most of the characters reveal themselves to be highly materialistic, their motivations driven by their desire for money and material possessions. Wealth, material possessions, and power are the core values of the "American Dream" which characters such as Daisy, Tom, Gatsby and Myrtle all try to achieve or have achieved to some degree. For many Americans, like…

MAJOR THEMES IN THE NOVEL The Decline of the American Dream in 1920s Though the novel revolves around the love of Daisy and Gatsby, the main focus of the novel is to bring out the concept how the American dream has got corrupted. It brings out the historical fact how the life of people in America had an unrestrained desire for money and pleasure. It tells how people left the conventional values and followed their own values to become rich. It shows the sudden rise of stock…

The short stories ‘A Perfect Day for Bananafish’ (1948) and ‘For Esmé—with Love and Squalor’ (1950) present the American writer Jerome David Salinger in his prime. Both short stories are well-acclaimed by critics as well as readers, as they preceded the author’s well-known novel The Catcher in the Rye (1951). Although the two short stories may not be as famous as the worldwide-known Salinger’s masterpiece is, they both represent him maybe even better than The Catcher in the Rye’s Holden…

Hollow, we find Ichabod Crane, the protagonist, who begins to notice the daughter of the richest man in town, Katrina. He decides to pursue a relationship with Katrina. However, this decision starts trouble with Katrina’s other suitor, Abraham "Brom" Van Brunt. There is a party at Katrina’s house later she breaks up with Ichabod. Heartbroken Ichabod makes his way home when he is interrupted by the Headless Horseman. The next day, Ichabod has disappeared and no one knows what happened to him.…

Have you ever felt like something that was supposed to be the most wonderful thing, turns out to be a complete nightmare? In Reunion by John Ceever, a boy meets his father after a long time for lunch. Throughout the course of the book, the father throws around his wealth and ego, in order to impress his son. John Ceever uses symbolism, tone and revealing actions to show how the father’s actions and words resulted in ruining their relationship. John Ceever uses symbolism to show how the father’s…

Acting as an archetype in literature for hundreds of years, the common man remains one of the most ubiquitous characters in the American literary canon. Even though the concept emerges long before, the idea of the common man mostly manifests itself in the writings of American realist authors during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Realists strive to create works that focus on reality, its hardships, and familiarity instead of romanticized exaggeration of the trivial and…

Know the value of things, not the price. The Great Gatsby is a twisted novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, there are people who get so caught up in money that they miss out on the opportunity to appreciate life’s blessing. This is a tragic love story that depicts the theme of the “American Dream” and how it is corrupted by the desire for wealth. What really is the “American Dream” though? It is the right to prosperity, equality, and the pursuit of happiness through hard work and determination.…