Pat Fitzgerald

Power and wealth are what people want. The idea of being powerful and having wealth makes people feel strong and important, but is this true? Humans enjoy feeling good and sometimes even do dangerous things to get what they want. Geoffrey Chaucer uses deception in The Pardoner's Tale by having the old man with gold, the death of three men, and the corrupt pardoner show that greed symbolises death. Three rioters were looking for a man named death. They began their journey for a town about a mile…

An essential theme present all throughout the novel, State of Wonder by Ann Patchett, is the journey it takes for people as individuals to find who they truly are, and how the topic of morality plays a big role in the process. From the beginning of the book, it is evident that the main character, Dr. Marina Singh, relies solely on past events which in consequence, continue to torment her as an adult and further dictate how she lives her life. Moreover, these fears increase as she begins her…

Jose Ramos Latin 125/1800 Prof. Gonzalez Bodega Dreams Bodega Dreams is a novel written by Ernesto Quiñonez who teaches in the South Bronx, not far from the Schomburg Projects in East Harlem where he grew up and near where Bodega Dreams is set. Bodega Dreams occurs not in an activist age but as part of commodity culture, as Quiñonez himself well understands, for it is the difference between social involvement and personal exaggeration that lies at the heart of this touching and clearly…

All humans have feelings of despair and worthlessness. As we mature, we have more substantial periods of worthlessness. In Ernest Hemingway’s “ A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”, we get an inside look at the relation between old age and feeling worthless. Old age promotes feelings of worthlessness. The old waiter is not rushed in his actions at the café, as he knows the struggles of the old man, and this causes him to drink alone at a bar. Old age supports the delay in critical actions. The old…

What Lies Behind The Glamorous Eggs of New York and The Reality of Its American Dream The 1920s, also known as the Roaring Twenties and the Dollar Decade is a decade renowned as the age of prosperity. The decade is defined by the soaring economic growth, which brought forth the idea of the American Dream. Life was modernized in all aspects; there was a drastic change shown in fashion, music and morality. Despite the fun and prosperity that is known to have defined this decade, it is argued in a…

When society urges an enticing yet, zealous young man to engage in charisma, gallinty, haughtiness, dominance, and deadly persistence, he responds with eager disclosure. In Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, Nick, a young man, who resides in New York, meets Gatsby, after receiving an invitation to attend one of his extravagant parties; Gatsby, a wealthy but perplexing man, greets Nick and offers his friendship since he is particularly interested in reuniting Nick’s radiant cousin, Daisy…

crisis, which resulted that many young people lost themselves and the worship of money become very prevalent. The whole society is filled with mental disturbances. Lived in the this spiritual desert, people’s goal is money and benefit. F. Scott Fitzgerald show the people’s spiritual crisis in the novel. For example, “the valley of ash” symbolized the degraded and decadent morality of people; in the luxurious party of Gatsby, people’s laughter cannot cover up their loneliness; When Tom gave Daisy…

Franz Kafka was born on July 3, 1883, in Prague, the capital of what was then, Bohemia, (a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire), to two upper middle class Jewish parents. After studying law at The University of Prague, he worked in insurance and wrote in the evenings. In 1923, he moved to Berlin to focus on writing, but died of tuberculosis shortly after. Before he died Kafka asked Max Brod to destroy all of his writings after his death, but Brod didn’t comply with his wishes. Over the course of…

“Bienvenidos a Newport Beach” by Firoozeh Dumas The story starts off in Whittier, California, then ends up in Newport California. But first the author describes his home in Whittier, which he wasn't very fond of.. Dumas say’s “[f]rom [his] living room window, [they] could see [a] big Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket that was always lit up at night” (Dumas 89). Also Dumas discusses the troubles that he had with his two neighbors. The first ones he talked about “had two dogs that always pooped on…

Pride comes before the fall. The main characters in both “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and “Ozymandias” are very prideful. They both put great importance in their individual statures. In one story, there is the very superficial and conceited “lady” being the Grandmother. In the other story, there is the great “king of kings” Ozymandias. The two of them find out that pride can often blind you. In the Bible, in Proverbs 16 it says “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”…