The Tao is an ancient Chinese practice that focuses on the way and path of life without letting frivolous actions (such as desire) overwhelm such path. Electra is an ancient Greek play that focuses on Electra’s personal desire to avenge her father’s murder, regardless of how overwhelming or detrimental her desire is. While both Sophocles’ Electra and Lao-Tzu’s Tao Te Ching seem principled around desire, the texts disagree on the position taken when one is desirous of a certain outcome—the Tao generalizes
“My Papa’s Waltz” is the illusive narrative of Theodore Roethke’s speaker’s childhood. The speaker is a boy who deeply loves his father despite him being a drunk. Even though his father could be rough at times, this boy’s childhood memories are well treasured in his heart and mind. Roethke sets the tone to the ‘waltz’ by utilizing situations, descriptions, and unique characteristics throughout his character’s childhood associated to his father. Roethke allows the reader to experience situations throughout
identity crisis that would lead to his death in the inhospitable Alaskan tundra. These
With this statement, readers begin to question whether Hamlet has secondary motives as to his plot for revenge. With the early death of his father, Hamlet’s uncle inherits the throne rather than him. If it is indeed true that this secondary motive is underlying Hamlet’s actions, it could definitively be argued that Hamlet does in fact seek revenge against his uncle. However, if
Shakespeare’s Hamlet explores the intricacies of authority-based relationships, such as those between parent and child. Prince Hamlet of Demark loses his father two months prior to the start of the play, and the narrative consists of his struggles in dealing with this loss. King Hamlet’s untimely death prevents the natural decline of filial admiration and leaves Price Hamlet with an idolized view of his father. This idolization negatively affects both Hamlet’s values and actions. King Fortinbras also died
Her mother, Mary, died eleven days after Shelley was born. She was raised by her father’s second wife, but was not favored as her own children were (Mellor). During these years, Mary urged for respect from her father. “The best way for Mary to keep her place in her father’s heart was to be what he wanted her
ethical or not. The use of narrative techniques which are composed and consist of components such as narration, point of view, tense, symbolism, and speech in both Hamlet and
Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, in my opinion, is a poet who thoroughly challenges her readers through her work. Through her ambiguous perspective, Ní Chuilleanáin creates and upholds secrets for her readers to resolve. There are several aspects of Ní Chuilleanáin’s poetry that appeal to me: the themes she discusses, her use of poetic techniques, her ambiguity, writing about her personal experience and her honesty. As a reader, I found her work very challenging, but ultimately rewarding. What I find most
with their grief in their own way. “The novel essentially functions as both Susie and her family's personal act of narrative therapy--as the discursive mechanism through which she and her survivors both grieve for her loss and attempt to fashion new means for living with such an immutable absence. In this manner, The Lovely Bones necessarily encounters the processes via which human beings cope with death and its interpersonal consequences” (Womack).For some it causes them to withdraw and for others
Hemingway is typically discussed under the mantle of modernism and ranks as one of the great American short story writers and novelists, whereas Ernest Gaines is usually discussed under the category of African American and/or Southern literature. It is my purpose to demonstrate how the two writers can be read and taught together, as they are linked by many common themes and stylistic elements. However, their differences are even more instructive in that they allow the reader to compare and contrast the