King Leopold's Ghost

Lastly, an important (but often unmentioned theme) in original fairy tales is the absenteeism of a father-figure. Although “Little Snow White” does mention Snow White’s father in the beginning of the story, this mention is used more to introduce the stepmother than the father. Many critics could argue the fact that the father’s absence from this fairy tale proves that he is a man that does nothing to help his very own daughter (thus making him a bad person). However, in this story, the king’s…

“The truth hurts”, a wise man once said, but Ben, the main character of Deadline, never expected to lose all of his close friends. The book Deadline, by Chris Crutcher, is about an eighteen year old Ben Wolf, the protagonist, who discovers he has one year to live due to a terminal blood disease. In the beginning of the novel, he decides that it is best to not tell anyone, but this decision comes back to haunt him. Throughout the novel, Ben becomes close with some people in Trout, the city in…

difficult time choosing between life or death, not only for himself, but for others as well. Discoveries such as finding out his father's ghost has appeared and new awakenings such as realizing he needs to murder to succeed in honoring his father, are points that are expanded upon throughout the play,…

player King in “The Murder of Gonzago” well illustrates this truth, as he points out that “Purpose is but the slave to the memory” (3.2.194). For Hamlet, this power of memory is set in motion by the appearance of the late Old Hamlet’s ghost at the beginning of the play. The guards as well as Hamlet can see the ghost and are shocked by it, though the ghost apparently does not show itself to, or is invisible to, Queen Gertrude and Claudius. The play begins with watchmen encountering the ghost on…

The Vacillation that led to a Fatal Outcome Acording to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Hamlet’s delay, and ultimately his downfall, is caused by his thoughts, and images that aren’t in contact with the real world. This means that he is unable to apply his thoughts and actions in the real world that surrounds him. He is in a daze to the real world and he applied his energy to his intellect instead of the outside world. His shaded view of every action causes the death of himself and others. This is why…

Alessandrо Bifulcо 11/14/15 Mr. Lynch In Bless me, Ultima by Anaya, Antоniо is cоnfused abоut religiоn and doesn't knоw what tо believe оr whо tо believe. This is a grim time for him, he finds some help in Ultima, but she will nоt always be there for him and he will have tо learn to make decisiоns in the future. Antоniо’s questiоns about religion lead him tо find the Golden Carp and оther answers. Anaya uses Flоrence tо illustrate Antоniо's beliefs and questiоns abоut religiоn, and then the…

throughout the play, loses his conscience to execute his goal that was set by the ghost of his father. At the beginning of the play, Hamlet meets the ghost of his father, the ghost tells Hamlet his father was murdered and needs to seek revenge upon Claudius for the murder. However, Hamlet doesn't know if the ghost is really that of his father thus delays…

When I first began to read Cannery Row, I was not too fond of it. There are quite of number of reasons for why I didn’t like it, but the most prominent reason would be because Steinbeck had a tendency to treat death in a nonchalant way. But as I read on, I discovered his true motive. He didn’t write passively about death for the sake of being rude. He had a reason. He wanted to convey how flippant and careless people are when it comes to important matters like life. One instance of how he uses…

Huck’s stay at the Grangerfords represents another instance of Twain poking fun at American tastes and at the conceits of romantic literature. For Huck, who has never really had a home aside from the Widow Douglas’s rather spartan house, the Grangerford house looks like a palace. Huck’s admiration is genuine but naïve, for the Grangerfords and their place are somewhat absurd. In the figure of deceased Emmeline Grangerford, Twain pokes fun at Victorian literature’s propensity for mourning and…

Socrates once said, “To fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise, without being wise; for it is to think that we know what we do not know. For anything that men can tell, death may be the greatest good that can happen to them: but they fear it as if they know quite well that it was the greatest of evils. And what is this but that shameful ignorance of thinking that we know what we do not know?”(itzqupotes.com) The stories “The Pardoner’s Tale”, and “The Masque of the Red Death”…