... he was. "The reason he [Stradlater] fixed himself up to look good was because he was madly in love with himself." (pg. 27) Holden had an inferiority complex. He was afraid of not having any special talents or abilities and used other methods to make him out to be a rough tough boy. "Boy, I sat at that goddam bar till around one o'clock or so, getting drunk as a bastard. I could hardly see straight." (pg. 150) Holden tried all he could to fit in. He drank, cursed and criticized life in general to make it seem he was very knowing of these habits. I myself have found me doing this at times, also. I, at times, feel the need to fit in to a group and do things simil ...

... of life and civilization are not yet affected by the loss of law and order. Throughout the novel the progression of the obsessive hunts causes the disintegration of civilization on the island. Jack’s obsession grows stronger with every kill, influencing the boys’ number one priority as the hunt. Ralph’s dictatorship is progressively over ruled, allowing the blindness of the boys on what’s really happening- the dominance of evil within themselves, to increase. Golding shows that it doesn’t require much to trigger the beast- the common evil within man. The boys considered most events as games, like the hunt, kill, chant, and dan ...

... he discusses the Salem witchcraft trials as having an impact on our society, one must first completely understand the metaphor, and all of its implications. Clearly, the candle described represents their persecution of the witches, perhaps the burning flame a symbol of the power that the Puritans possessed. It was the divine light that emanated from this candle, that they believed they could use to expose the heretics and eventually remove them from their society. The darkness that supposedly befuddled good and evil would be eliminated, and everyone and everything in their society would be seen as it truly was. This was a very hopeful idea for most of the Puritans ...

... of corruption resulting from materialism (money) and his abiding faith in the common people to overcome the hostile environment. The novel opens with a retaining picture of nature on rampage. The novel shows the men and women that are unbroken by nature. The theme is one of man verses a hostile environment. His body destroyed but his spirit is not broken. The method used to develop the theme of the novel is through the use of symbolism. There are several uses of symbols in the novel from the turtle at the beginning to the rain at the end. As each symbol is presented through the novel they show examples of the good and the bad things that exist within the novel ...

... people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us" (94). Boo is exactly that. Boo is the person who put a blanket around Scout and Jem when it was cold. Boo was the one putting "gifts" in the tree. Boo even sewed up Jem’s pants that tore on Dill’s last night. Boo was the one who saved their lives. On the contrary to Scout’s primary belief, Boo never harms anyone. Scout also realizes that she wrongfully treated Boo when she thinks about the gifts in the tree. She never gave anything back to Boo, except love at the end. When Scout escorts Arthur home and stands on his front porch, she sees the same street she saw, jus ...

... to be in charge of the farm. The pigs left in charge are Napoleon, Squealer, and Snowball. Napoleon and Squealer both have evil intentions by turning the dogs after Snowball, in other words, killing him. Napoleon would make the other animals work long hours and give them little portions of food, while he and Squealer would feast on large meals. Napoleon and Squealer took advantage of their role as governor and ate all the food, drank beer, and lived in the owner’s house. However, to the farm animals, they considered these to be the 7 commandments: 1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. 2. Whatever goes upon four legs and has wings is a friend. 3. ...

... emotional bond with another character. Huck Finn's relationship with Jim was somewhat strange, but nevertheless was strong. Jim was a runaway slave and Huck thought that it was a sin to help a runaway slave. Despite his religious beliefs, Huck knew that he was "the best friend old Jim ever had, and the only one he's got now." He knew that by helping Jim he "will go to hell," but took this risk and followed his own morality. Love was also shared between two characters in Ethan Frome. The love shared in this novel was different from the love in Huckleberry Finn, for Ethan's love was of sexual nature. Ethan Frome was married to Zenobia Frome who suffered from ...

... who wanted only to escape (Nesbitt 277). Grey used a common theme in most of his novels. The theme of the "rite of passage". This idea involves an eastern person, usually of a higher class moving to the west, for whatever reason (Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism 173). Gradually the character comes to be one with their surroundings and is able to cope with the problems the west posses. They gain inner peace and become one with nature. In the novel The Vanishing American Marian is an eastern girl who moves out west to be with her true love Nophie. Nophie is an Indian she met and fell in love with. At first Marian struggles with the harsh conditions and hot w ...

... autobiography about himself, he more than likely would describe himself as possessing many qualities similar to those of Huck Finn. The many encounters Huck has with the Mississippi River are drawn from Mark Twain's childhood home of Hannibal, Missouri, a town on the Mississippi. Even more important than childhood similarities; in the novel, Huck becomes more than just another character. He becomes a vessel by which Mark Twain shares his views with the world. In the South where he lived, there was still much bitterness towards ex-slaves and this dictated what was proper and what was not. Instead of writing a manifesto of his views, these views were consolidat ...

... say that James did this so that he himself would not be repulsed. Perhaps James wasn't thinking so much of the reader as he was thinking of himself. In "The Beast in the Jungle" James has aesthetically hidden the reality of Marcher's destiny by treating it as a symbolic crouching beast waiting to spring. The reader will ask why James has done this? Wouldn't it be more effective to speak plainly of Marcher's and Bartram's relationship? The author could tell us exactly why John Marcher does not marry May Bartram. The narrator tells us that Marcher's situation "was not a condition he could invite a woman to share" and "that a man of feeling didn't cause hims ...