Twice-Told Tales

The novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings tells the story of Maya Angelou’s early life, full of overpowering situations from her childhood. Maya and her brother, Bailey Jr., face many difficulties but manage to come out ahead. Angelou tells their tales with a sense of wry humor, related to the reader through diction and imagery that leaves a lasting impression. One of the first difficult situations Maya faces was a rape when she was only eight. “Then there was the pain. A breaking and entering…

Alice in Wonderland (2010) is an American fantasy movie, which was directed by Tim Burton, and was written by Linda Woolvertoon. It is a loose retelling of Lewis Carroll’s fantasy novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865). This essay will describe, compare and contrast two of the many characters in Alice in Wonderland. Alice Kingsleigh is a blonde-haired and brown-eyed girl whose original size is small, however her size changes depending on what type of Underland’s foods she eats. She is…

blackening church appals". By stating these, he refers to the rotten government and corrupt institutions like the church which allow child labor, prostitution, and bloody wars. In the last line, when he says "And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse." he puts his blame on the legal marriage of his day which restricts the romantic love. On the other hand, Wordsworth has an optimistic and positive view of London. Because he has lived in a countryside area and has described the natural beauty…

When looking back on medieval times, romance was at its peak. Chivalry was apparent in this time and men courted ladies in such a way that rivals romance today. Knights devote their lives to only one lady, which is something women desire today. In today’s society, men use sex for love and don’t call girls back after the first date. Men aren’t held to the same standards today in comparison to medieval times and it’s quite a tragedy. Women were also different back in medieval times. In Sir Gawain…

Throughout history, there have been a manifold of variations on the mythical Siren. Traditionally told through Greek Mythology, they are mermaid-like creatures who sing beautiful songs that lure nearby sailors to their death by shipwreck. Two variations on this classic character are found in Homer’s Odyssey and Margaret Atwood’s “Siren Song”. In both of these pieces of literature, we find very different tone usage, contrasting points of view, and various techniques of conveying the Siren's to…

Many characters in Margaret Atwood's fiction novel The Handmaid’s Tale break various rules. These characters consist of people high up in ranks like commanders to people low in ranks like handmaids. Even characters who you would not expect to break the rules do. For example, Serena Joy she is the commander's wife and also high in ranks but as soon as we meet Serena Joy in the novel she breaks one of Gilead's laws by smoking which is forbidden. During the novel, it reveals that breaking the rules…

Aesop’s Fables Introduction Fables are told all through the world. The characters of fables are usually animals that attract children to learn lesson from the stories. When I lived in China, I read many kinds of fables, including ancient Chinese fables, Arabic fables, and Greek fables. I have been interested in Aesop’s Fables from Greece since I was a child. The fables in Aesop’s collection usually have simple context, but they reveal deep meanings. My passion of reading fables was inspired by…

The Underlying Satirical Message of The Canterbury Tales Written between 1387 and 1400, Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales have attracted the attention of historians and English scholars from all over. This satirical piece poses many questions and gives an interesting insight in the lives of 30 characters, many of which being employed by the church. Chaucer gives an ironic twist to many, if not all the characters of The Canterbury Tales. The narrator addresses each character by their occupation,…

Jingnan Zhang English 3: Block Ms. Bunosky February 15, 2017 Archetypes in Toy Story One doesn’t usually watch movies and critically think about what is happening in it, but when one analyzes thoroughly, the audience can find some impressive things in the plots of these films. In the movie, Toy Story 3, the audience can clearly see a set of archetypes through the characters. Woody would be considered the hero, Buzz can be seen as the innocent person, and Lotso can be seen as the ruler/dictator…

Spirited Away is an animated Japanese film (anime), by Hayao Miyazaki, he “has made many famous films including; Laputa: The Castle in The Sky (1986) and Princess Mononoke (1997) and his excellent work has earned him the title of ‘Walt Disney of Japan’” (Dugdale). Even though the film maker decided to retire in 1997, he decided to create Spirited Away after noticing that young girls don’t have much to look out to in the media other that romance, he wanted to create a film “in which they could be…