Thomas the Apostle

“Human sensibility is the basis of the social contract,” says a key point from Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s On the Social Contract. Multiple times, Rousseau brings up the nature of human beings running on the assumption that both the people and its leader will do the right thing. He brings it up when it’s about governing, when it’s about places and statuses within a family, when it’s about slavery. That’s a lot of loaded topics, coming from a white man. Let’s see if it holds up. At first, Rousseau…

The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about American life is achieving the “American Dream”. The very thought of living a life of freedom in lifestyle choice, economic opportunity, and political engagement, drove many immigrants to this country. E.L Doctorow explores this phenomenon in his novel, Ragtime. Although he speaks almost explicitly about achieving the American dream, what he does not say is almost as important. The American Dream is not achievable for African Americans, or…

As Central Asian scholars brought in influence from Eastern Europe, especially the Ottoman empire, they discovered the growing importance of education and attempted to further the idea among Central Asian elites. The Patricide by Mahmud Khoja Behbudiy is a play that exemplified the very values of those scholars, who were known as Jadidists. In the play, Behbudiy introduced two ranges of characters which represented the divided attitude in the acceptance of Jadidist beliefs. One side involved…

Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales toward the end of the medieval period. Regarded as the first true English poetic masterwork, The Canterbury Tales describes twenty-nine pilgrims on a journey to Canterbury Cathedral to see the shrine of St. Thomas Becket. Chaucer describes many fictional characters from the different social classes in the Middle Ages; in particular, he includes many figures affiliated with the Church such as the Friar and the Summoner. These two characters share…

Steinbeck’s most well-known works that accomplished this are To a God Unknown and East of Eden. In To a God Unknown, Steinbeck writes about Joseph Wayne, a rancher who was born on his father's ranch and is one of four boys. Joseph is younger than Burton and Thomas, who are already married, and older than his brother, Benjy. As Joseph grows up, he gains a special connection to the land and decides to move to California to create a house and start a family. In East of Eden, Steinbeck writes about…

The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, tells the story about a tangle of lies, misunderstandings, and deaths in the town of Salem during the time of witch trials. In the story, Abigail Williams along with a group of girls who follow her, between they Mary Warren, are responsible for falsely accusing the vast majority of people in the town of alleged relationships with the Devil, an act that the highest authorities believe. In this occasion, Miller treats topics such as integrity, revenge, guilt…

1 / 2 Lexi Punturo The Crucible Theme Analysis Theme #1: Reputation Reputation is one of the many concerns for the characters in The Crucible . Everyone wants a good name in the town because they do not want to get accused of witchcraft or being a husband of a witch. As the play starts out, Reverend Parris ( the Minister of Salem) finds out that Betty Parris and the other girls have being dancing outside. Later, people all believed that the "dancing" was a form of witchcraft and this was…

"Men! The only animal in the world to fear" (Lawrence). This quote is talking about how the most dangerous and capable animal in this world is man himself. Without the restraints and expectations of society, man is capable of anything. Conrad illustrates these negative effects that result from taking man out of his environment in his novel Heart of Darkness. He shows that man has the ability to adapt to to new civilizations, however it may not be beneficial. In Conrad's novel, he uses the…

The major push for American Literature came with the effects of American Renaissance and Civil War which had realized around mid-19th and late 19th century. When we go back to American Revolution in the 18th cent. and have a glance at "the American Birth" we see "the founding fathers" rejected to carry on calling Britain as their homeland. They decided to give birth to a new man who will be called as "an American”. He was as Michel Crèvecoeur had defined was a new man who acts upon new…

Frederick Douglass and the Power of Knowledge Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) was an influential African-American writer, news paper editor, orator, civil rights activists, and diplomat. He was born into slavery and had a deprived and tragic childhood, which he has described in his Narrative of Frederick Douglass. Once he escaped the suffocating chains of slavery he proved himself an intelligent and powerful figure, and become the symbol of the abolitionist movement, which was blooming in the…