Metamorphoses

Julia Alvarez, a Hispanic American immigrant and a woman, remains a voice for those who have suffered the strife tied to these labels. From her award-winning novels to her passionate poetry, her words eloquently demonstrate a sort of empathetic understanding only available from an author who has experienced these difficulties. Julia Alvarez uses her poetic voice to explain, yet also escape, her multicultural world with a vocalized desire for freedom from oppression both in her home country and…

“To Rule or Not to Rule” Gods are almighty and powerful beings that stand on the shoulders of mortals and commanding them at will. Who deemed them rulers of the land? Ovid’s Metamorphoses, is a collection of mythological stories carrying the same trend- transformations. In the stories of “Daphne and Apollo” and “The Rape of Proserpine” a God has turned a mortal into a new physical form due to pettiness or protection from another god. In both instances, the gods at fault were told no or simply…

In “Ovid, Rape, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona,” William Carroll’s understanding of Proteus and Valentine hinges on the premise that “the two gentlemen [are] in essence one man split into two parallel but distinct figures” (57), and within his thesis of their Ovidian objectification of women, I agree with that premise. However, when it comes to their views of love itself, Proteus’ aggression in his love for Silvia is more than a foil to Valentine’s courtly love for the same woman; it…

Approximately two years ago I was able to make a dream of mine become true. Countless hours of researching and shifting between different parts lead me to craft a work of my own. Building a computer from scratch was such a great accomplishment that as I look back at it I have realized it was more influential than what I had speculated. Realizing that this accomplishment symbolized the introduction of myself from childhood to adulthood. As a result even my Mother and my Aunt provided me with a…

Walt Whitman is widely recognized as one of America’s leading nature poets. His wide-ranging description of the “voluptuous coolbreathed earth” (“Song of Myself” line 439) in his lyrical works suggests both the poet’s respect for the natural world and his transcendentalist belief in the world’s unity in diversity. Whitman comes to a more complete and fulfilling grasp of his humanity through the various poetic discourses evident in his poetry. The first concerns a discourse between the internal…

literature prostrated due to the profound social and political crisis in Russia. Stories became fueled with tales of Ivan the terrible and his contributions to the first Russian peasant war. As the next half century pasted Russia’s literature metamorphose into writings of conflict and turmoil. (www.rusliterature.org, 2015) Russian literature evolved over the years changing its writing allowing more freedom of…

Blanchard’s Cricket Frog (Acris blanchardi) Introduction As humans, we get the opportunity to share and coexist on this planet with some extraordinarily unique and diverse organisms. Of such organisms, reptiles and amphibians are some of the most adaptable organisms on Earth, residing on every continent except bitter cold Antarctica. Here in Minnesota, There are 22 species of amphibians and 31 species of reptiles, ranging from the fast moving salamanders to the slow and nimble turtles. I got…

In the beginning of Stardust, we become acquainted with our hero. Tristan Thorn, being the hero in question, does something wonderful over the plot of the movie Stardust. What he accomplishes seems odd considering the fact that he can still be considered a boy. Tristan fell in love with a wretched, greedy girl who only cared about herself. Tristan possessed almost nil life skills that might be a boon to his very existence. When a man named Humphry challenged him to fence it resulted in Tristan…

When most people think of Greek or Roman Mythology, what comes to mind immediately are familiar names like Hercules, Perseus, and Theseus. In this paper I will address the religious practices associated with heroes, the origins of the term, examine what makes a hero, analyze the heroic content of the stories of the three heroes previously named, and look at information and ideas from Joseph Campbell’s excerpt on the ‘Monomyth.’ Evidence suggests that there were cults of people who worshipped…

George Orwell’s way of writing politically “What I have most wanted to do throughout the past ten years is to make political writing into an art.” George Orwell presented this idea in his work “Why I Write”. This idea was used throughout Orwell’s life, as a reporter, writer, essayist, critic, he used his sharp insight and writing to view, and record this world that he lives in, and made many predictions about the world he lived in. Orwell is often referred as the wintry conscience of a…