Boule de Suif

Miguel de Cervantes’ universally known work, Don Quixote of the Mancha, uses zany characters and outrageous adventures to comment on the old art of chivalry and its absence from contemporary society. The protagonist of the tale, Don Quixote, and his squire, Sancho Panza, venture 17th century Spain following the codes of chivalry, as any Knight-errant should. Chivalry values loyalty, self-control, perseverance, generosity, respect, and honor. Though he cherishes chivalry, Don Quixote, ironically…

Loyalty is not a word, it is a lifestyle. This is shown time and again by the characters in The Godfather by Mario Puzo. The Godfather is a crime novel written by Mario Puzo and was first published in 1969 and later inspired a film of the same name in 1972, sequels to which were made in 1974 and 1990. The story of The Godfather follows a mafia family in New York over the span of a decade. The family in the novel…

story is also the evidence that they live in a wealthy period of time where people had a lot of money. Everyone looked good with expensive items at their disposition, and that is what makes Mme Loisel a little bit jealous in my opinion. I think that Guy de Maupassant is trying to send a message and that the moral of the story is that you have to tell the truth. No matter what you do wrong or right, always tell the truth. Otherwise, things like in “The Necklace” will…

present, while in “The Necklace”, Loisel complains to her husband about not having a nice dress or any jewelry. For example, in “The Necklace”, Loisel says to her husband, “I’m utterly miserable at not having any jewels, not a single stone, to wear” (de Maupassant, page 2). Essentially, both Della and Loisel live in working-class environments with little access to luxuries that richer individuals have. Even with little money to spare, Della is still willing to get Jim a nice gift, and ended up…

Many see Akira Kurosawa as one of the most important filmmakers in the industry. His influential career spanned 57 years, in which he directed 30 films. One of his final works, Kagemusha is a dramatic action movie that depicts the transformation of a petty thief who learned the value of loyalty. The unnamed thief was caught stealing from the daimyo of the Takeda clan. However, instead of being sentenced to death, his life was spared because of how similar he looked to Shingen. The Takeda Clan…

“Vanity working on a weak head, produces every sort of mischief.” This quote by Jane Austen explains the trouble that vanity often brings upon people who value their appearance over everything else in their lives. Accordingly, in the short story titled “The Necklace”; the main character, Matilda, is weak minded to an extent where her vanity brings her great suffering. Matilda suffers through a negative transformation of her social status which is due to: her excessive desire for luxuries she can…

Jacques-Louis David, a French painter during the neoclassical art period, began his art career painting a few mythology figures and narratives and then later on became an active supporter of the French Revolution therefore influenced the stories for which he depicted in his paintings. In this essay, I will analyze the formal qualities or elements of art such as color, implied motion, and space used as well to analyze the historical/religious context of one of his early paintings before the big…

be the Renaissance. The political realm of Florence was dictated by the Medici family. This family controlled the city in secret, for nearly eight decades. The family saw the city of Florence as their work of art One member of this family was Cosimo de’ Medici. Cosimo embraced the very essence of what humanism is. Humanism embraces the arts and literature from cultures of Ancient Greece and Rome. Cosimo made sure that he was constantly around humanists. He sought their advice as to what books…

research) to explain why things are the way they are. Certainly, humanity has not always been proactive in trying to achieve equality and justice. And to this very day, people still are impoverished and starving. Thus, this is why social critics like Michel de Montaigne and Jonathan Swift analyzed and wrote about the flaws of society. Both Swift and Montaigne were trying to convince others that the society they lived in, believed to be…

the prince of Italy at the time: Lorenzo De Medici. The Prince is a book about royals written by a commoner who was better informed on the matters of the royals. Machiavelli asserted that The Prince was the aggregation of the knowledge he had acquired over time through many difficulties, sometimes in dangerous ways as he traveled for his diplomatic duties. Within The Prince are chapters on several aspects that Machiavelli felt were important for Lorenzo De Medici to know about princes. The…