Historical eras

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys is a prominent post-modern novel, and rather progressive at that. Taking Bronte’s crazy woman in the attic from Jane Eyre, Rhys proceeds to attack some ideas Bronte illustrated and highlight some ideas Bronte left out entirely. One of Rhys’ most tangible ideas that is rather representative of post-modern authors and that of this novel is the idea of truth and whether or not there are absolutes "truths". In Wide Sargasso Sea, Rhys demonstrates that there are no…

In Robert Louis Stevenson's novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde the classic reading is that the two characters Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde symbolise the struggle between good and evil in each person.Yet, in an age where the view of criminality shift the focus from lower classes to higher classes, created a change in perspective where men's reputation was not as easily kept as it was before. Therefore, another reading of the text is that it exposes the changing late Victorian society…

The novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens revolves around the life of a young boy in Victorian era of England named Pip. When Pip is a young boy, he meets the rich and secluded Miss Havisham. Miss Havisham introduces Pip to her young adoptive daughter, named Estella. She raises Estella to not love, for she is intent on saving Estella from heartbreak. While she does this, she also trains her to break the hearts of others, much as her heart was broken by a man in her youth. She eventually…

Emma and Moll, Breaking the Mold The 18 and 19th centuries are remembered for the literal and art creations as depicted in the Daniel Defoe’s The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders of 1722 and Gustave Flaubert Madame Bovary of 1856. The two pieces are novels exploring the lives of heroines Moll Flanders and Emma Bovary respectively. Similar to other pieces of increasing critical thinking such as law and philosophy at the time, the two novels were based on societal changes…

WILLY WONKA- SCHIZOTYPAL PERSONALITY DISORDER About the character Willy Wonka is one of the main characters in Roald Dahl’s famous books, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. The character was portrayed by Gene Wilder in the 1971 film adaptation, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and was portrayed by Johnny Depp in the 2005 film adaptation, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Both the films and the books describe Willy Wonka as a phoenix-like man who…

8. Flowers of Shanghai (Hou Hsiao Hsen, 1998) At the finale of the 19th century, Shanghai is divides among zones of foreign influence. In the British one, a number of luxurious "Flower Houses" address the needs of the male elite. The Chinese dignitaries were forbidden to attend brothels and the aforementioned houses are their sole choice for pleasure. However, those men visit the Flower Houses not solely for the companionship of the courtesans, but also to smoke opium, dine and play Mahjong. The…

Gilded age to Progressive era is not something related to sudden or abruptness. Instead, it is a progressional and evolutionary process. In order to determine the changes and progresses happened during this transition, it is indispensable to understand the true meanings and representations of Gilded age and progressive era separately. For Gilded age, it is an era of rapid economic and population growth in the United States during the post-Civil War and post-Reconstruction eras of the late 19th…

Manifest Destiny Through the eyes of Margaret Fuller and Henry David Thoreau Romanticism was a social reform movement that changed American society. The industrialization that occurred in the 1820s and 30s sparked this reformation of American individuality. During this period of evolution, certain individuals expanded both philosophically and geographically. With the world changing at such a fast pace, people were forced to adapt and embrace the unknown. This mentality was greatly adopted by…

Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens, illuminates the inherently selfish nature of people’s actions through the parental relationships of Pip and Joe, Pip and Magwitch, and Miss Havisham and Estella. Despite the supposed familial qualities of these relationships, the insinuation of the characters’ actions in volumes one and two demonstrate the selfish nature of human intent. However, in the final volume, Dickens illustrates the ability to redeem one’s nature through admittance in the final…

period, or progressive era, begun in 1890 but it was not until 1901 when President Theodore Roosevelt was elected president that the progressive era and its movements gained nationwide importance. Progressive is a term used to describe a series of responses to social and economic related issues. The progressive era also refers to the series of movements and reforms that occurred all over the United Stated within the first two decades of the twentieth century. The progressive era was a period of…