Sue Monk Kidd

In Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, Catherine Morland, the protagonist is a young naïve girl who is not a very good judge of character. She falls in love with a man much older than her, named Henry Tilney. Henry enjoys Catherine’s ignorance and educating her of things she doesn’t know. This essay will examine a passage from volume two, chapter nine wherein Henry finds out Catherine has been accusing his father of murdering his mother. Through the use of satirical tone, the implementation of odd…

Wallace’s analysis of Northanger Abbey focuses on the reader’s relationships with the narrator and the author. To highlight this relationship, Wallace chooses to concentrate on the character of Henry Tilney. More specifically, Wallace shows how Henry Tilney’s satire relies on reductive generalizations of other characters, particularly female ones. Wallace then connects this trait of Henry’s to Austen’s tendency to reductively generalize her readers and manipulate her reader into becoming an…

The Friar is a perfect example of a religious figure who fails to conduct their job and follow their vows in the correct manner. The Friar said that “he was qualified to hear confessions” (1.222), and that “he had special license from the Pope” (1.224). When the people confess to the Friar an easy penance is given, but only when “he could hope to make a decent living” (1.228). This means that in order to receive forgiveness by the Friar the confessor will have to give the Friar a nice gift, or a…

In society, individual’s tend to change their perspective based on others. Having personal desires can influence others but shouldn’t affect their behaviour to change for society’s expectations. In the film, Pleasantville, the director, Gary Ross, develops the idea that having a personal desire can lead to changing one’s perspective. Jennifer was a leader in and outside of Pleasantville, but known for different things. In the beginning, Jennifer was an extroverted, self-centered, and…

In Sue Grafton’s The Parker Shotgun, Jackie and Bill Barnett exhibit covetous behavior for the highly-sought-after Parker shotgun that Kinsey Millhone recognizes to identify the culprit of Rudd’s murder, thus indicating that excessive acquisitiveness often…

Introduction Newport, Rhode Island was a safe haven for pirates during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, especially from the late 1600s to the early 1700s. This perhaps is surprising considering that Rhode Island was established by Puritans, but it is important to note that these Puritans were not as devout as the first generation that had settled the colonies. In fact, Rhode Island was a place where the non-traditional colonists’ could belong. Still, pirates were a part of the daily…

Pirate ships in the Golden Age of Piracy weren’t very pleasant places to live. It was an exciting life, to be sure, but things weren’t always easy for the sailors. Diseases and injuries were common among the crew. Doctors were scarce and not always well trained, and many pirates died. It is a wonder that so many men chose the pirate life! Life on a pirate ship was greatly influenced by sickness, injuries, and often harmful treatments for both. When pirate problems are mentioned, most people…

Treasure Island The setting of treasure island is set in two different places in the mid 18th century. The book starts at the Admiral Benbow, a small inn by the sea at Black Hill Cove in Bristol, England and treasure island, which is an island off the coast of Spanish America. I think that the significance of The Admiral Benbow Inn represents family, home, and Jim’s starting place. The Admiral Benbow Inn also represents Jim leaving his childhood behind and moving on, starting to grow up. Some…

Jim, Ben Gunn, and Long John Silver are all overcome with a desire to search for the treasure and each is let down and unsatisfied by the end of their adventure. When Ben Gunn arrives on the island three years before Jim, he suggests to his crew that him and the “[b]oys…land and find… Flint’s treasure” (Stevenson 152). After living on the island for so many years Ben is now almost crazy and has been living in a cave all alone. His initial desire to find the treasure ends up with his captain and…

Just like the world we live in today, detective fiction is a male dominated genre. Detectives are usually white males who solve dangerous crimes such as murder. If women are involved, they are usually characterized as damsels in distress or femme fatales. It is a man’s world; therefore, it is the sole responsibility of men to be the protectors. For centuries, we have lived in a patriarchal society and this mindset has influenced this genre significantly. Men are deemed better detectives because…