... setting in which one can be tested to see if he or she is a hero. This idea is the major framework of The Red Badge of Courage, in which Henry Fleming aspires to be a man, a "hero" in the eyes of the masses by enlisting in the army. Henry's goal of returning a man from war has already marred his image of being a potential hero because his thoughts are about himself and not about the welfare of others. Also, the fact that he wants to impress people and appear heroic is a selfish aspiration. Heroes act not to impress others but to help them. Usually the actions of a hero are impulsive and not premeditated because the hero does what he/she believes is right ...

... and very real. Reading this essay was like watching it on television. Every sentence was described with so much depth; there was no need to imagine the scenery or the excitement of the hospital. The healthy police officer was described as a young, witty macho cop with thirty-two pounds of attack equipment. When reading this, the vision of a man in a blue uniform with his gun and walkie-talkie enters the mind. When the man had been diagnosed with lung cancer he was described as a sixty pound skeleton being kept alive by liquid food poured down a tube. The code blues were described horrifically. He stopped breathing two to three times a day, and every time he s ...

... beliefs. Ian Malcolm, a very knowledgeable mathematician, decides to go to the island of Isla Nublar to observe the biological preserve that a company named In-Gen has created for the world to see at a price. Malcolm always had doubts about this world of total chaos. Everyone thought that the world of Jurassic Park, is a world of new state of the art technology and entertainment. Until everything goes wrong. The electric fences stopped working, and the dinosaurs escaped. Ian Malcolm's opinion of this world is that it won't survive, or the humans won't survive. The world has survived everything until now, it will surely survive the dinosaurs once more. Bu ...

... to escape. For Huck, it is the violence and tyranny of his drunken father. Kept in a veritable prison, Huck wishes desperately to escape. Jim feels the need to escape after hearing that his owner, Miss Watson, wishes to sell him down the river-a change in owners that could only be for the worse. As they escape separately and rejoin by chance at an island along the river, they find themselves drawn to get as far as possible from their home. Their journey down the river sets the stage for most of Mark Twain's comments about man and society. It is when they stop off at various towns along the river that various human character flaws always seem to come out. Examples ...

... major influence. Customs began to change for the Indians. Pushed westward, as their number decreased, the Indians began to loose their land and their spirit. The tribe began to doubt their God. The stories that helped individuals retain their wealth ceased to be told, because the wealth of the tribe was gone. The warriors stopped fighting against the oppressing white man, because the Indians were nearing extinction. Eventually, for survival, the tribe agreed to sell their land to the whites. The Indians were forced to live on reservations. Indians, in the United States of America today, are in a constant battle with the duality of their lives. This duality i ...

... lives and an entire city was economically devastated. Nuclear proliferation should be banned in order to prevent other countries from suffering the death and destruction like that of Hiroshima. Governments around the world have the power to regulate what kind of warfare is used during battle. However, by permitting the use of the atomic bomb, many innocent civilians are killed. Proponents of nuclear armament argue that one massive show of force results in fewer casualties overall compared to prolonged ground war, but the use of the bomb is still inhumane. In the case of Hiroshima, staticians said that “at least 100,000 thousand people had lost their lives” ...

... even though they knew their ideas weren't popular. The strong beliefs that are shared in these stories are part of what makes them classics. However, some of the ideas that are portrayed in these works aren't ideas readers should assume to be true or good. The first of these is the theory that husbands will most likely treat their wives as inferiors after they are married. In A Doll's House, Torvald is blatantly condescending to Nora. He calls her his ³little squirrel² or ³little skylark² and requires her to ³do tricks² to please him. In addition, he treats her like a child, a ³feather head² who can't understand anything important. In The Awakening, L ...

... we perceive as real are actually just shadows on a wall. Just as the escaped prisoner ascends into the light of the sun, we amass knowledge and ascend into the light of true reality: ideas in the mind. Yet, if someone goes into the light of the sun and beholds true reality and then proceeds to tell the other captives of the truth, they laugh at and ridicule the enlightened one, for the only reality they have ever known is a fuzzy shadow on a wall. They could not possibly comprehend another dimension without beholdin! g it themselves, therefore, they label the enlightened man mad. For instance, the exact thing happened to Charles Darwin. In 1837, Darwin was trav ...

... looked down upon by the high society which he is supposed to live in. While it appears that Faustus seems to be headed to becoming a hero and Hal seems to be throwing away his chances, the audience can see from their soliloquies, that they both plan on changing their ways; Hal for the better and Faustus for the worse. Faustus has risen to a great point in his life. He was born to "parents base of stock (line 11)," but still has managed to gain a degree from the University of Wittengberg, thus acquiring much respect from the professional world. From the onset though, Faustus has his mind set on other things; such as magic and necromancy. Hal, on the ot ...

... and these were emphasized in Jay Gatsby. Jay Gatsby had been one of many who attempted for fame and glory, and due to his persistent dissatisfaction the results culminated in success. Unlike others Gatsby felt condemned not to be a fradulent dog. “The Truth was that Jay Gatsby, of west Egg, Long Island, sprang from his platonic conception of himself.”(pages 104, 15-16) Distorting his name, inventing a seventeen-year-old self-conception, he masked his counterfeit wealth from bootlegging with an image he wore with the help of Dan Cody. He was the man that gave Gatsby the opportunity. After Cody’s death Gatsby “was left with his singularly appropriate education; ...