Stephen Colbert

The Modern Period was a time of great experimentalism, popular authors began to subvert the tropes of past renowned authors, and there was a new sense of what literature could be. New narrative techniques were being used by many, and one of the most notable was the Stream of Consciousness narrative, where the author would translate their protagonists thoughts directly, rather than giving the audience an omniscient narrator. This strategy was a tool that enabled an entirely different form of…

you can become better than the situation you were born into. Many people, in real life and fiction, are examples and success stories of this dream. Many other people, however, fall short of reaching their goals. In Maggie, A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane, that idea of the disillusionment of the American dream is on full display. Crane shows disillusionment through the setting and through the characters Pete and the titular Maggie. Maggie is set in the Bowery, a poverty-stricken…

The Repetition of History, and Why it Shouldn’t In Stephen Crane’s The Monster a doctor successfully prevents the death of Henry, the black man who serves the doctor’s family, from a house fire. In attempt to rescue Doctor Trescott’s son from the top floor, the house engulfed in flame burns and severely maims the Henry. Although Henry was not the one who ultimately pulled the boy from the fire, Doctor Trescott believes Henry was actually the man who saved his son. Overlooking the guidance given…

The human brain is certainly the most magnificent organ; it gives us the capacity to imagine things that haven’t happened and make us be conscious of things that might happen in the near future while watching a movie or series. Simply by making a switch in how the shot is taken or the sounds that can be heard in the background. This is what makes scary films so successful, the usage of certain techniques that stimulates our brain to interpret sounds for actions we can’t see and makes us feel…

grew up. People tend to judge each other and act cruel to them if they differ from what they are used to. They make it seem like the person that is different is the monster, but it is themselves since they treat each other cruelly. In The Monster by Stephen Crane, Henry Johnson is viewed as the monster because he got his face severely burned. His face got burned from saving little Jimmy Trescott, from a burning house, now the town’s people see him as a hideously dangerous monster that no one…

Man-made structures are a huge contributing factor involved in the development and understanding of a Gothic novel. Structures such as castles, big houses and monasteries are fundamental aspects that are continually present in Gothic novels, and form a basis that allow its characters to flourish. These constructions are continually prevalent in Gothic writing, as according to Anthony Roche, they regularly appear in all work over two centuries of Gothic scripture (“The Big House in Ireland:…

they're more likely to display their talent. Throughout history, there have been many people that showed what they could do, especially during dark times. Nelson Mandela showed his skills of leadership when apartheid took place in South Africa. Stephen Hawking continued to show his brilliance even after he suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The Prophet Muhammad (saw) was able to spread the religion of Islam throughout the world, despite having very few followers in his first 10 years…

In Loving Memory of Philip K. Dick SOMA is a sci-fi Horror experience developed by Frictional Games. They are the developers responsible for creating Amnesia: The Dark Descent and the Penumbra series. I don’t typically play games that are in the Horror genre, and this is the first game I’ve played by this particular developer. Now sci-fi games, that’s completely different. I can deal with a little bit of horror in that case. At first, I thought I was stepping into a space station. It was a very…

Transitions, influenced by interactions with others, enable a person to overcome obstacles that restrain them to transition. Billy Elliot, the film directed by Stephen Daldry, and Jennifer Niven’s novel Holding Up The Universe both explore transitions through defying social standards and acceptance. Billy Elliot explores transitions of Billy entering a world of ballet in the disapproving society of Durham during the Miners Strike. Holding Up The Universe explores the transition of Libby Strout,…

The civil rights activist Maya Angelou once said, “A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.” Often times, people listen to that song without further knowledge on what it may truly mean and fail to take the time to investigate the credibility of that bird. Along with this, us humans sometimes act as parrots, simply imitating any idiotic utterance that is conceived. In the speculative fiction book Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the episode “The Monsters…