Richard Russo

Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Empire Falls, Richard Russo depicts the lives of average people in a deserted town of Empire Falls, Maine. Two of the primary characters in the story are Miles Roby, a hard working father that manages the Empire Grill, and Janine Roby, Miles ex-wife. The two have a long history together. They once shared a life together as married couple, but things change when she cheats on him to be with Walt Cameau. Which’d set off a chain of events that led to a divorce and Christina, “Tick”, Miles and Janine daughter to resent her mother and Walt. After twenty years of marriage, Miles and Janine had separated and went their own ways. In the middle of their divorce, Miles relationship grew closer to his daughter “ Since he and Janine had separated, a separation of a different sort had occurred between himself and Tick, the exact nature of…

Reminiscing about it every once in awhile helps to heal. It is almost like thinking about all the good times and bad times you had with someone who has died or you can not see them anymore, it is proof that it happened. After the ordeal of having to run, the mother is still able to find the husband comforting. Richard Russo writes, “Explaining my father’s character deficiencies really cheered my mother up” (94). John’s mother sees the father as her past. Hearing herself talk about him confirms,…

The Whore’s Child is a famous short story in a collection published in 2002 by Pulitzer Prize winning author, Richard Russo. The story follows the life of a nun, Sister Ursula, as she joins a college fiction writing course and begins writing her life story. As she writes her story, with the help of her professor and the feedback of her class, she discovers more about herself and the truth about her life. This story is particularity unique because although the narrator is a character in the…

Throughout history, many pivotal events have changed the world into what it is today. Specifically looking into historical battles, one may consider how things might be different with an alternate outcome. Let us look at the Battle of Tsushima and examine how a different outcome could have changed things for Russia as well as Japan. If Russia actually took the Russo-Japanese War, Japan would not have started their rise as a powerhouse . The European nation would have continued its rein for a…

the American citizens in achieving success under a Democratic republic. He then, however, uses the noun “mankind” to broaden the focus of the importance of every human in regards to having the republic succeed, thus assigning mankind to be the first priority. Although both Presidents use antithesis to prioritize, Trump uses it for national prioritization while Roosevelt uses it for global prioritization. Trump’s strategy has a more resounding effect, since this is the first time in 8 years that…

“Richard Cory”, written by Edwin Arlington Robinson, portrays a man’s life story only through the effect of his personality upon those who admire him. The poem is separated into four stanzas, each unfolding a different aspect of the protagonist’s life represented by the townspeople. This poem is devoid of almost any literary elements and figurative language; however, the words themselves still have resonance. By formulating assumptions and opinions of how the other half lives, the “people on the…

A century ago, in front of the Korea’s coastal waters, Japan and Russia had conflict over interests in Manchuria and the Korean peninsula, which is called Russo-Japanese War. At that era, Russian government was an imperial power and had many rebelling against the leader Czar Alexander II. After the incident, Czar Nicholas II obtained the sovereignty of Russia. However, because of too much internal revolution in Russia, they had to struggle with unstabilized government during the war. However,…

to occupy Japan, and thus Asians would lose control of the Pacific. Furthermore, Japan essentially wanted to “lift the thumb” of China on Korea so that they could later take it (Wilson, 01/27/17). War was struck and led to the victory “celebration of naval forces [for Japan] since China had no navy” (Wilson, 01/27/17). Due to this victory, in 1895, China offered the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which gave Japan Taiwan, officially marking Japan as a recognized Asian imperial power in the world, yet…

In 1904 Czar Nicholas made his first huge mistake by upsetting the Japanese. He wanted to expand Russian territory and started to spread east. In doing so he found “a strategic warm-water port on the Pacific Ocean in southern Manchuria” (Daniels) called Port Arthur. The new Russian presence angered the people of Japan. To further their provocation Nicholas had built the Trans-Siberian Railroad through Manchuria. Japan, wanting to solve their issue, sent diplomats to negotiate but upon their…

town as appearance-based, a place full of people who only care about a spotless reputation and how the rest of the world sees them. The first textual example is “a mean town, a hard, stingy town,” where the author is referring to the deeper description of Hadleyburg. The narrator uses this quote to explain how Hadleyburg may seem like an utterly perfect community with core values and strong morals, but underneath they only care about the way they look and how to keep a chaste name. The second…