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The moral of The Metamorphosis is that being made to bear an outsize burden of obligation lead to alienation and dehumanization. Gregor Samsa is a traveling salesman who works to support his...

People often like to live in a world of "gray," avoiding decisions that are "black and white." It often makes them uncomfortable to consider that something is right or wrong, and instead they...

By the end of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the narrator has descended into madness. Her husband has taken her for a relaxing vacation at a country estate so that she can...

In Les Misérables, Éponine falls in love with Marius Pontmercy, her neighbor in Paris, and she eventually confesses her love for him with her dying breath. Éponine is initially an unsympathetic...

The innkeeper in Les Misérables is named Monsieur Thénardier. He is a petty crook who emerges as one of the major antagonists of the novel, and, along with his equally corrupt wife, is perhaps the...

As World War I began, the United States voiced its intention to remain neutral, a policy which held widespread support among the American people. Yet in April of 1917, the United States would enter...

The first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence introduces the topic at hand. Similar to an essay one may write for a literature or history class, this paragraph serves to ensure that the...

The very first line of Donne's “The Canonization” would appear to indicate that there's nothing particularly spiritual about the love between the speaker and his beloved: For God's sake hold your...

There is a great deal of research on the overlaps between issues of homelessness and mental health in Canada. Now, not all people who experience homelessness struggle with mental health issues or...

This assignment is more difficult than it appears. This is because Swift has already taken the most shocking example imaginable in A Modest Proposal, and it would be a mistake to try to outdo him...

The least possible value of `(xy - 1)^2 + ( x + y )` has to be determined. The least value of `(xy - 1)^2` is 0, as the square of both negative as well as positive numbers is positive. If either x...

The protagonist of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis is a traveling salesman named Gregor Samsa. Gregor works hard every day to support his parents and sister. He hates his job and the loneliness and...

An illness when she was very young left Helen Keller unable to see or hear. As a very young child, she adapted to this situation, but as she got older and her brain continued to develop, her...

Kurt Vonnegut's short story "Harrison Bergeron" is full of irony. Perhaps the most glaring irony is the idea of imposing complete equality on a population through state power. Anyone who has the...

The generally accepted understanding of "canto" is that it is a single unit in the separation of a poem into sections. The word is derived from the Latin word cantus, meaning “song,” and...

In his poem "London," William Blake refers to the streets of London, and to the river, as being "charter'd." This could have several meanings: first of all, a chartered street is one that has been...

In "Self-Reliance," Ralph Waldo Emerson follows his statement that "whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist" with an illustrative anecdote which tends to shock religious readers. When he was...

There is some debate over precisely who Squealer is intended to represent. Some of the characters in Animal Farm represent specific historical individuals. Mr. Jones, for instance, is intended to...

The historical Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) was a Florentine poet of the early Renaissance and the author of a variety of works, including his masterpiece, the Divine Comedy. Dante was a student of...

Dante Alighieri's three-part epic poem, the Divine Comedy (Divina Commedia)—composed of Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory), and Paradiso (Paradise or Heaven)—is intended to convey the message,...

Dante's Inferno was published in 1314, during the early Renaissance. As such, it is a masterpiece of Christian humanism, merging Christian theology with classical literature and thought. Dante...

Jared Diamond argues that the three major factors that separate the haves from the have-nots in world history are the development of agriculture, the accident of geography, and resistance to...

Marilla comes to meet with Mrs. Spencer to tell her there is a mistake about the child and that she and Matthew can't keep Anne. Mrs. Spencer says that's fine because Mrs. Blewett needs a girl, and...

In chapter 3, the pigs decide to take all of the milk and apples for themselves. This, they argue, is a privilege that they deserve because milk and apples "contain substances absolutely necessary...

Diamond lists a number of reasons why Europeans were able to conquer Native Americans. One, surprisingly, is the more sophisticated written culture that Europeans had developed. For example,...

In his prologue, Jared Diamond recounts being sent to study birds in New Guinea in 1972. While there, he met a curious and charismatic New Guinean politician named Yali. Yali, like everyone else,...

"Cargo" refers to all the material goods a society develops and produces. Early on in Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond is questioned by a New Guinean named Yali. He asks why Western society...

Based upon Phillips Exeter School in New Hampshire, Devon School is an elite boarding school where "Boys Come to Be Made Men." At first, Devon is described as a calm and relaxed place, especially...

The link between the distant past and the present is most visible in the personal interactions which bookend this short story. As the narrator arrives at school, he clings to his father's hand, not...

Jared Diamond posits that certain societies had a distinctive advantage based on geography. A first, extremely fortunate aspect of Middle Eastern geography was the existence in the Fertile Crescent...

The book Guns, Germs, and Steel was written in answer to an important question: why is it that the West became more advanced (e.g., has more technology) than places like New Guinea? Diamond's...

The reasons for the easy spread of crops between Europe and Asia and why this easy spread did not occur in the Americas are explained in chapter 10, "Spacious Skies and Tilted Axes," of Guns,...

The word "fatal" is an interesting one in this play. It's connected to another phrase that always brings it to mind: "star-crossed." In modern parlance, the word "fatal" is often used as if it...

This poem is a great example of a writer who separates himself from the speaker of the poem. Langston Hughes was a Black man who wrote during the Harlem Renaissance; this poem is one of his many...

In chapter 24, Atticus interrupts his sister's missionary circle and breaks the news of Tom Robinson's tragic death to Calpurnia, Miss Maudie, Alexandria, and Scout in the privacy of the kitchen....

In Guns, Germs, and Steel, author Jared Diamond explains how the Incas were very skilled at growing and cultivating corn and potatoes. The latter crop was particularly important for the Incas, and...

Accuracy is a difficult issue to tackle when it comes to a book like Guns, Germs, and Steel. Diamond is painting with what is called a broad brush: he is covering a vast amount of history over the...

In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, George and Myrtle Wilson are the most significant non-rich characters. They live in what is known as the Valley of Ashes above the automobile repair shop...

The Fertile Crescent is a geographic area comprised of such places as present-day Egypt, southern Turkey, Israel, Palestine, Iraq, Jordan, and Syria: a region we today call the Middle or Near East,...

It's difficult to imagine two people more different than Mrs. Cutler and Mrs. Bedlow in Lyddie. Mrs. Cutler is a thoroughly unpleasant piece of work, a mean, nasty individual who makes poor...

U.S. culture has been noted both for its tolerance of individualism, at least on paper, and its conflicting tendency to value conformity. Despite high minded writers, such as Thoreau and Emerson,...

The presence of the term slope places this question in the context of slope stability. This concept deals with gauging the stability of a given object—like a rock or, say, a box—on a slope. Within...

When Bruno and his family arrive at their new house, Bruno immediately considers it to be the polar opposite of their old home in a variety of ways. While the old house had been in proximity to...

At the end of Chapter 26 of The Custom of the Country , the Spraggs go to Europe. Page numbers vary by edition. The text discussed here pertains to their vacation, beginning “After a moment of...

The themes in Leonard Cohen’s song/poem “Anthem” center on ongoing corruption and persistent hope. The nefarious parts of society are addressed in the first verse when Cohen remarks that wars will...

Jane Addams co-founded Hull House and introduced the settlement movement to the United States in 1889, the same year that the fabulously rich industrialist Andrew Carnegie published his influential...

It's in chapter 3 of Animal Farm that Napoleon appropriates the “nine, sturdy puppies” belonging to Jessie and Bluebell. As with any dictator, Napoleon understands the overriding importance of...

In chapter 15 of Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond compares some of the different developments that occurred in New Guinea and Australia. While native Australians maintained a hunter-gatherer...

Guns, germs, and steel are three factors which, according to Jared Diamond, have enabled Europeans to colonize other civilizations which were less geographically fortunate. Guns and steel are...

When the Spanish came to Latin America, the Inca people had never seen horses before. This gave the Spanish an immediate psychological advantage: the man riding a horse appeared to be some...