Neal Baer

Introduction This essay will be an examination of the minimalist elements in the two short stories, ‘They’re not your husband’ and ‘Neighbors’, by Raymond carver. There will be an emphasis on the thematic issues of body image and materialism in the two short stories. Chapter 1 Minimalism Minimalism is a movement in the arts; it arose in the 1950s and was characterized by simplicity and massive forms. Even if minimalism arose in the 50s it was first later, that the term would be used in…

In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening (1899), protagonist Edna Pontellier is said to possess, “That outward existence which conforms, the inward life that questions.” In the novel, she lived her life outwardly as though she was comfortable and filled with happiness however, inwardly she was confused. Like Edna, Sal Paradise, main character of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road felt confused with how his life was turning out. Sal was living a mundane life until Dean Moriarty turned his apathetic emotions into…

Detour Detour is a 1945 film noir directed by Edgar G. Ulmer starring Tom Neal and Ann Savage. The film starts off by a piano player Al Roberts drinking coffee at a diner while hitchhiking east from California and song plays on the jukebox which reminds him of his former life in New York City. In the flashback, we learn that Al was bitter about his talent going to waste in a cheap nightclub and so was his girlfriend, so she decided to seek fame in Hollywood, leaving him behind. Later, he decides…

Summary: Unwind by Neal Shusterman is a dystopian novel that revolves around three characters and their different perspectives on unwinding, which detaches people's limbs off and donating them: Connor Lassiter, a troubled kid, is sent to be unwound, Risa Ward is a state ward is to be unwound because of budget cuts in her program, and Lev, a tithe, is being unwound because his parents believe that he should be given back to God. Connor learns of his unwind order and escapes by running out on the…

Allen Ginsberg, along with William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac are poets known as the "beats" and important writers of the beat movement. Ginsberg was born in New Jersey and raised in Paterson, NJ. His father was an english teacher. His mother suffered from mental illness and had a series of mental breakdowns. It affected him growing up. Ginsberg, Burroughs and Kerouac met at Columbia University in 1943. At the time, they were considered "subversive" for their views and behavior. They…

The Beat Generation was heavily influenced by the events of World War II. Jack Kerouac was the original beatnik, with William S. Burroughs, and Charles Bukowski following him. Although other authors built upon Kerouac's work they highly differ in their styles. Beatnik literature reflects the rebellious inner self from the view of post World War II teenagers. The beats also tend to be very experimental with their lives and writing styles. Many believe that "the master narratives strangely seem…

The wrench is a useful tool used for a variety of different tasks, like tightening nuts and bolts. Without it, nuts and bolts everywhere would be falling out of place, and people everywhere would go “nuts” trying to reassemble desks and reattach the tires onto their cars. In Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, people do in fact “go nuts,” and wrenches are indeed used, but not in the exact same ways. Randle McMurphy, the main character of this novel, frequently causes mishap in the…

A person’s right to their body has been an issue often debated throughout human history. Some examples of body right struggles include body snatching, organ harvesting, legal kidnapping, and abortion. In a novel by Neal Shusterman entitled Unwind, the repurposing of human teenagers is decided by their parents or legal guardians. Unwind exemplifies how an individual’s “right” to their body is determined by others. Unwind exaggerates and expands the issues society faces today about body right…

lead to their death and destruction. This was what the Black Arts Movement structured itself after, speaking out against the preconceived notions of the Other World and creating their own thing, their own African American thing, a new thing. Larry Neal in The Blacks Arts Movement suggests that this is in itself an entirely new thing, but I assert that these detachments from whiteness have indeed been made in different periods throughout the history of African American…

desire to articulate something within oneself. Jack Kerouac’s narrative of On the Road is akin to a spiritual journey, or a process of self-discovery, in relation to the world. The characters of Sal Paradise based on himself and Dean Moriarty based on Neal Cassady form character personas around both of them in relation to the Beat aesthetic. The character of Dean Moriarty, in particular, invokes the image of the Beat lifestyle as a rebellion against popular culture and encompassed a carefree…