Rahana Schmalacker

Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder" presents a society in which time travel is not only possible, but a thriving business. Time Safari, Inc. provides customers with the opportunity to go back in...

"A Sound of Thunder" takes place in three distinct settings. When the story begins, the action is occurring in the office of Time Safari, Inc., at the present time, after a very significant...

General Zaroff's conditions for the hunt include giving the man he is hunting good food, a hunting knife, and a three hour head start. Having these conditions tells the reader that General Zaroff...

Lord of the Flies should not be considered a rescue, or adventure story, but rather a statement on society.  The entire novel revolved around removing individuals from the rules and...

The best example of the use of animal imagery to develop the theme of man's descent into savagery is in chapter 3 of Lord of the Flies. The chapter begins with Jack "bent double" with "his nose...

You may want to explore a thesis statement such as, "In the monologue O serpent heart, William Shakespeare shows that Juliet is feeling conflicted about her feelings for Romeo."  Juliet has a...

Over the course of the George Orwell novel, Animal Farm, the pigs change from being oppressed workers in a capitalist system to framers of a socialist system in which all animals would be equal, to...

In Lord of the Flies, Ralph betrays himself quite often throughout the novel.  This can be representative of the fact that he is struggling with how he should behave when the pressures of...

Zaroff especially welcomes Rainsford because the general looks forward to the challenge that hunting Rainsford will pose.  Zaroff is aware of Rainsford's reputation as a hunter. When...

The setting of the novel, Lord of the Flies, is significant because it allows the boys to be removed from the constraints of civilization. The boys were not displaced from their society and its...

In one word, it can be said that Piggy's glasses represent clarity.  Piggy has a clear view of what was expected of a civilized society. Piggy is the only character that never tangles with...

In the beginning of Lord of the Flies, Jack is introduced in chapter one as being a very powerful leader of the choir. His authority over the boys is evident by the way the boys are still wearing...

One could argue that the boys always possess savagery, and it was the removal of society's confines that allowed it to emerge. However, if one chapter needed to be identified as the point in which...

The sky in the poem, "Cloud Painter," represents the illusion of control that we have over our lives. The first stanza reads: At first, as you know, the sky is incidental-- a drape, a backdrop for...

The littluns are the youngest boys on the island.  They are referred to in the collective sense which suggests that their individual identities are not of importance.  One of the biggest...