Vittorio De Sica

France in the nineteenth century hit on some of the darker parts of modernity on its journey to the France of today. There were many events and attitudes that a good portion of French men and women would like to forget. Many governmental officials, historians, and citizens of that time period repressed or consciously used policies and writings to perpetuate a myth that allowed for these same events and attitudes to fall by the wayside. In recent years, revisionist historians, or historians who…

characters show their true identities. Monsieur shows a great deal of generosity Goussetis 2 in helping his wife look and pay for the necklace while Madame is always greedy for more and never satisfied even in tough situations. D- In Guy de Maupassant’s “The Necklace” the theme of greed and generosity are shown through the characterization of the three main characters. The use of irony and symbolism also support the characters actions from before and after the necklace was lost.…

dishonest, but appealing hero. This novel,Don Quixote, may be referred as the very first great modern novel. However, according toHenry M. Sayre, in his book, Discovering the Humanities, “the first book that introducedpicaresque tradition was Lazarillo de Tormes” (Sayre 324). The book was banned because of itscomedy towards the Catholic Church and was put on a list of forbidden books. MiguelCervantes had a very interesting life,…

A hero is an evolution of character brought on by experiences and demands encountered by a person. In Cervantes story, “Don Quixote”, the main character imagines himself as an instant hero regardless of the fact that a true hero is a product of their environment, not their mind. In Don Quixote’s fantasies, he wants to become a legend in his own time. Quixote’s private world of fantasies, which he has created from his library, is interlaced with the world of reality that he encounters. At many…

Cycle of Violence in City of God City of God is a film by Fernaldo Mereilles and Katia Lund. The film is narrated by a young boy named Rocket and focused on the stories of the local gang leaders in Rio de Janeiro. Rocket observes countless acts of violence to and from the people of the City of God. Although the plot is driven by numerous individual acts of violence, the film illustrates a cycle of violence throughout the generations. Violence causes death, which incites revenge. Almost…

Jardim Gramacho Introduction The Jardim Gramacho dump. One of the Earth’s largest open-air landfills, seaside dump located on the, once beautiful, Guanabara Bay, Brazil. Only 35km from the world-famous Copacabana beach. Since the unofficial opening in the late 1970’s the landfill continued to grow and at one of the dumps largest state, it spread over 321 acres of land, also the equivalent of 244 American football fields. Jardim Gramacho is home to seagulls, vultures and homes to people. This…

In Rihanna’s song “Diamonds,” she sings “Shine bright like a diamond,” this line relates to the big, shiny diamond in the book, All the Light We Cannot See. The Sea of Flames is a cursed diamond and it is is said in the story, “...if you hold it you cannot die, but the people around you die within a month. Or maybe it’s a year”(Doerr 50). The diamond described in the book is a big blue diamond with flames of red in the center. The diamond was cursed by the Goddess of Earth because it was a gift…

World Literature has many things to offer as a college class. For instance, a student has the opportunity to obtain knowledge of different authors and their culture as well as the impact their works had on literature, however, some works has bigger impacts than others and therefore are critical to be taught in a World Literature course. If I were a World Literature instructor, The Iliad, The Prince and Don Quixote would be the three works that I would have to include into my curriculum. These…

There are many effects prejudices have on both historical and modern societies. These prejudices are apparent in Price of Love and La Traviata, where the female protagonists are each harshly judged by society for their professions. Montaigne thoroughly addressed such prejudices and decoded societal perceptions of “barbarous” acts. Modern societies as a whole, however, are often quick to place judgements without offering resolutions. In both Price of Love and La Traviata, the female protagonists…

Existentialism is a philosophy that the choices individual makes should be responsible for it and should accept their own act without consent of other people. Its beliefs are centred on the idea of finding the meaning of life through different choices and situations. In the view of existentialist, this world is meaningless and absurd. It is the way that let external factor affect us that determine who we are. As individuals we have freedom to make our own choices and that’s what life's all…