Edgar Degas

When a coin is tossed into the air one can never accurately predict which side will show its face, we can make predictions and assumptions of the altitude it shall rotate and change its fate but we will never truly know until it lands. This reminds me of the unpredictable reactions in human beings when a difficult situation bares its ugly head. Delve closer on a psychological view and we will see the relationship that the brain has with one’s self, communicating by sending out chemical…

American Gothic was painted by Grant Wood in 1930. Grant Wood was born in Iowa, than later moved to Gran Rapids after the passing of his father. While working as an apprentice in a metal shop he attended art school in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His inspiration for this painting came about after a trip to Iowa in 1930. Initial reception of his painting was considered as a satirical work of art, out to make fun of small town folks. There are many fictional aspects of his painting to include, the…

The passage above demonstrates the wealth of Menelaus by describing the precious metals and expensive material used in the palace. The imagery also creates an extravagant mood. The use of “[…] the echoing mansion” (Homer 126) illustrates the enormous size of the palace, and provides spatial context that depicts an expansive palace adorned with metals and valuable additions, which demonstrates Menelaus’ wealth and power. Furthermore, the comparison of the palace to “[…] Zeus’s court on Olympus”…

A bold juxtaposition of real and fantastical worlds is at the heart of Guillermo Del Toro’s visually striking, 2006 film, Pan’s Labyrinth. Through the application of audacious stylistic techniques, Del Toro creates a mesmerising, yet haunting cinematic experience. The lush binding of lighting, camera, and sound techniques are used to morph between eerie fairy-tale escapades and a horrific reality to create a film which expresses the value of imagination. The colour palette and its association…

In Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls, he goes into depth about how life is mysterious and that all the events that happen to us will become some kind of lesson to be learned. Longfellow had experienced the deaths of both his wives, Mary Storer Longfellow and Frances Elizabeth Longfellow, who both had tragic endings. The feeling of distraught and depression for losing the two women whom he had grown to love and cherish was something that he felt so strongly, which…

Albert Camus is an Algerian-born French author and philosopher. Camus is widely known to be the father of Absurdism, the rejection of a purpose in a meaningless world. One of his very first works, The Stanger, is centered on absurdity. The Stanger is a story about an Algerian clerk who commits murder, but, strangely enough, he is convicted because of his apathy towards his mother’s death. Using his beliefs and experience in poverty/life, Camus demonstrates that the world of The Stranger is…

Poetry is an unusual way of telling a story. It can be used to express feeling or some type of moral or lesson. “Hazel tells Laverne”, by Katharyn Machan tells a unique story filled with nonfiction and fun. To combat this story Edwin Arlington Robinson wrote a more serious story based off of a man living in his town. This poem, “Richard Cory” sheds light on how the views of others towards a person can be so far from the truth. Both of these poems are very different but strangely correlate in a…

Roald Dahl’s short story “The Landlady” is effective for the reader by cause of the well used foreshadowing and context clues. “The Landlady” is mainly rising action, and comes to a close before a climax is able to happen. Dahl's use of foreshadowing made for an engaging read. Without deliberately saying what is going to happen Dahl is able give the reader enough context clues to figure out what is happening. For example, before Mr. Weaver rings the doorbell Dahl uses foreshadowing to hint…

In a writing piece, close reading of the text is crucial for understanding what it is the author is trying to imply. In the short story “Videotape,” by Don DeLillo, a little girl is in the back of a car filming a man in the car behind her. As she is filming, the man is shot out of nowhere and the girl caught the whole thing on tape. The video is being watched by a man in his living room who is pleading for his wife to come watch the film with him. DeLillo uses literary techniques such as…

Compare and contrast the way in which the narrators of The Tell-Tale Heart and The Black are presented as psychotic In the shorts stories ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ and ‘The Black Cat’ by Edgar Allan Poe, both of the narrators are presented as psychotic. Psychosis is a mental disorder characterised by symptoms, such as delusions or hallucinations. In The-Tale Heart the unnamed narrator decides to kill the old man- not for money, but rather a fear of the man’s pale blue eye. Similarly, the narrator in…