Jane Arden

If talking about the characters in Six Chapters of a Floating Life, almost everyone will focus on Yun, who is regarded as one of the loveliest women in Chinese literature. Compared with other traditional women characters who only live for husband, her love for literature and her virtues make her different and conspicuous. However, Yun’s unique qualities make me more interesting in her husband, Shen Fu. Since Shen Fu gets Yun’s unconditional love, he certainly is an extraordinary person who owns…

All is well with the Lulla inhabitants. However, a turning point comes when Thenga Jani flees with a Christian girl Santosh Kumari. Thenga Jani, the only son of Ramchandra Muduli, the headman of Lulla village, is betrothed to Saria Dann, the only daughter of Hari Jani, a respectable elder of the community. But Thenga falls in love with Santosh Kumari, a Christian Domb girl and violates the tribal codes. They decide to run away to Assam to work on tea estates and plan to build their dream home in…

Good People is a novel by Maggie Gee, who is a English writer. I'm not completely sure when she wrote the short story, but it is in a short story-book from 20131. I have, however, found it mentioned on another webpage back in 2006.2 It's about a woman named Justine, who just got on a plane back from Africa. There she meets an evangelist who's also been to Africa. In the beginning Justine is pretty uncomfortable. She thinks that something on the plane smells burned and she tries to get an…

There is a subtle, inward satisfaction in picking up details initially missed the first time you read a book or watch a movie. Appreciating the hidden adult jokes in Disney classics or understanding the significance of George Orwell’s 1984 feels like a measurement of growth of one’s maturity and life experiences. Theresa Krauskopf’s essay entitled “On Second Glance” explores that feeling of enjoyment that comes from rediscovering something that was little appreciated in youth. Readers will be…

A comparative study of Jane Austen’s, Pride and Prejudice and Fay Weldon’s, Letters to Alice on first reading Jane Austen, argues the values of social restrictions to dictate notions of success. The reading of Pride and Prejudice presents confusing perspectives on social restrictions and success in love, mannerisms and marriage. It is only upon reading Letters to Alice, an epistolary series does Weldon explicitly and implicitly comment on Jane Austen’s context, utilising her own context to allow…

The earliest writing that we know of today dates back to 5,000 B.C. by the Mesopotamians. Since then, writing have developed from a way to communicate and teach people to telling intricate, heart wrenching stories that have people turning the pages of their books for hours on end, but Ruth Graham's article “Against YA,” in which she argues against young adult novels, is different. Ruth claims that reading is taking a dark turn, for the worst, the rise of young adult novels among adults is her…

Dolly's influence continued to grow after the release of her films as newly revealed facets of her already complex personality attracted a diverse group of people. The "lite feminism" of 9 to 5 made her appealing to feminists and working women without offending women with more conservative values. The sexual nuances of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas hinted at homosexuality and her pro-gay rights comments in interviews made her an icon for the queer community. Dolly's feminism and ties to…

The book, Genie: A Scientific Tragedy Book, the main character was a girl nicknamed Genie. She went through pain and misery that I would not even wish on my worst enemy. How could parents of a young child be so cruel and harsh, Genie was considered mentally retarded by her parents and was abused a lot. She was tied up in a dark room behind the house. How could one survive such misery, I would have lost my marbles if I was in her place. I empathize her because she is so young and is merely a…

Dee is on her way home with Asalamalakin. She always wanted more than her family history or what Mama could offer her. Dee is intelligent and driven, her accomplishments have come at the expense of her mother and little sister. Even though most people should value their family rather than the materialistic things that represent their family; to her, she has a different perspective on her family and Mama. She wanted to get the quilts that are passed down from generations. Even though Dee went…

What if you were constantly competing with someone who is dead? Sometimes competing with death is the hardest task, especially when the person was such a seemingly amazing character. It can feel as if they haunt you every day, in every way possible. This is just what happens for the timid narrator of the gothic romance novel, Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier. The narrator falls madly in love with maxim de Winter, a mysterious man with a dark, questionable past with an ex-lover, Rebecca, who has…