Rainer Maria Rilke

William Vargas Who knew a pearl could cause so much trouble? The Pearl was written by John Steinbeck. The main characters are Kino, Juana, and Coyotito. The Pearl takes place in La Paz, Mexico about the family life of Kino, his wife Juana, and their son Coyotito. A scorpion crawls onto Coyotito’s shoulder and Stings him. Kino searches desperately to find a Pearl on his canoe. Later on in the story Kino’s family get in a lot trouble with the village people because they want that Pearl. The…

It has been said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And in John Steinbeck’s novella The Pearl, beauty becomes evil and destructive. The pearl of beauty and value is found by a poor man named Kino and his life is changed forever when it corrupts him. The pearl is a tragedy disguised as a fortune, although Kino is unaware of that. Throughout the novel, Kino’s perspective on life changes as he copes with his resolutions of his internal conflicts. At the beginning of the story, the two…

In Erich Maria Remarque’s novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, the most prominent symbol are Kemmerich’s boots. The boots symbolize more than one aspect in the novel, which develops into major theme. The footwear can symbolize death, the sacrifice of emotions during war, and cheapness of life in the battlefield. Once the soldier Kemmerich dies, his boots are taken and worn by Müller, then worn by Paul, the protagonist of the story. Müller’s time with the boots were short and dies painfully.…

Paul’s Lost Generation World War I had a great effect on the lives of Paul Baumer and the young men of his generation. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is a novel about several classmates who represent a generation destroyed by trenches and warfare. Their enlistment was encouraged by their school teacher, in whom they trusted. When Paul Baumer and a couple classmates are encouraged to go to war by their school teacher. They don’t experience life but only war, they became…

In The Pearl by John Steinbeck, the ending is very tragic. The blame for the ending ultimately falls on Kino, but several other factors combined with his own actions lead to it. For instance, his decision to turn down the pearl buyers’ offers (when it was their fault for offering such a low amount), when he killed the man who attempted to steal his pearl (even when it was the other man’s fault for assaulting him), and when the trackers followed the trio and were unable to fend off one man.…

In the First World War soldiers had experiences with both good and bad leaders. In the book All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque explores the idea that leaders can be competent and kind or clueless and bitter. In this novel, Paul Bäumer deals with many different leaders which he has both positive and negative feelings towards. As the story progresses, Paul begins to realize that there are both good and bad leaders, and he gives them respect only if he feels that they truly…

‘Opposites attract’ is an old adage that society generally considers true. But when people are constantly told to make friends or find others with similar interests, do opposites really attract? People tend to expect from others what they can expect of themselves. In the world today, this is how friendships form. Although some may believe that friends do not hold enough power to influence individuals, it is not uncommon that the people one surrounds themselves with are the type of people they…

In “All Quiet on the Western Front,” Erich Maria Remarque tells a story about a young soldier, Paul Baumer and his journey in World War I and the traumatic events he and other soldiers faced. Paul and his friends willing joined the army because of the persuasion of a teacher they looked up to, and trusted. They went from boys, to men, in this war. Paul and his friends face many brutalities throughout the war; they struggled and they learned to survive. Many struggles were caused by a…

This poem dramatizes the conflict between a young man in the military and the ever approaching abyss of death. The speaker talks about a man named Arthur who died in combat. He argues that America is symbolized as all those who have died fighting for the country. The poem is most likely told from the point of view of a man who served in the military, and whose friend was brought back from combat in a coffin. Knowing that the author, John Ciardi, was a gunner in the U.S. Army Air Forces during…

According to HG Wells, “If we don't end war, war will end us” (Things to Come). In A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, the main character Gene struggles with the wars around him. Gene struggles at Devon, an all boys preparatory school during the World War II era. At Devon, Gene faces the struggle of finding peace and many conflicts throughout the story along with the other boys, Brinker Hadley a natural born leader, Phineas his sporty best friend, and Quackenbush a dislikeable crew team captain.…