... and only his youngest truly loves him. This is the secret in the story; the two older daughters hide their wickedness behind a mask of kind words, and Lear allows the secret to remain a secret, by his unwillingness to accept the fact that his daughters do not love him. What follows plunges Lear into the depths of hell, and then through his eventual realization of this secret, he is able to redeem himself. Shakespeare writes this story in a manner that the reader understands the cause of Lear's problems, but Lear himself does not. This draws the reader into the story because the reader knows that Lear's actions will lead to his downfall. As the story progresses th ...

... terrible it seemed. In this satire, Voltaire showed the world full of natural disasters and brutality. Voltaire also used contrast in the personalities of the characters to convey the message that Leibniz's philosophy should not be dealt with any seriousness. Leibniz, sometimes regarded as a Stoic or Fatalist because his philosophies were based on the idea that everything in the world was determined by fate, theorized that God, having the ability to pick from an infinite number of worlds, chose this world, "the best of all possible worlds." Although Voltaire chose that simple quality of Leibniz's philosophy to satirize, Leibniz meant a little more than just that. E ...

... have a natural connection with animals. “ Besides, Sylvia had all the time there was, and very little use to make of it. Sometimes in pleasant weather it was a consolation to look upon the cow’s pranks as an intelligent attempt to play hide and seek, and as the child had no playmates she let herself to this amusement with a good deal of zest.” This quote lets us know several things. Sylvia does not have any playmates; in fact, we get the impression that her best friend is her grandmother’s cow. The story soon gives us another piece of vital information about Sylvia. “ “‘Afraid of folks,’” old Mrs. Tilley said to herself, with a smile, after she had ...

... a "friend". At the end of the novel, when Huck goes looking for Jim, who was captured, he has to go to the Phelps's farm. There Huck is mistaken for Tom Sawyer and stays with Aunt Sally, and Uncle Silas. When staying there he tries to come up with a plan to rescue Jim so he can be a free slave. Later, Huck meets up with Tom Sayer who was coming to visit his Aunt and Uncle. Throughout this whole fiasco Jim listens to exactly what Tom and Huck say, even though some of the things that are "necessary" for a prisoner to do are ridiculous. Jim just thinks they are white people and therefore they must obey unquestionability. Their plan however backfires and Jim is ...

... ransoming people, and none of the boys know what that is, they agree that they probably should take it out of the oath. Tom disagrees and says, "Why blame it all, we've got to do it. Don't I tell you it's in the books? Do you want to go to doing things different than what's in the books, and get things all muddled up?" (12). Since all the boys want to follow Tom, they keep in the part about ransoming even though they do not know exactly what it is. This brings out Tom's character as a boy that follows the rules very clearly and tries to be like society. Also, when he tells Huck about the Arabs with all the jewels, elephants, and camels that they are going to go a ...

... in one of the one of the best coming to age stories that have ever been written. Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird is a sensitive touching portrayal of a young boy who grows up through shocking yet realistic events. Although many people are only aware of the coming of age theme through literature and other forms of entertainment, there is also a very realistic part to this event in a person's life which is often ignored. The coming of age is an event which is often celebrated in many different cultures, through rituals or ceremonies. The rituals, also known as passage rites, mark the passing of a person from one stage of life to the next: birth, infancy, ch ...

... these ducks would go in the winter? Another example of how Holden is twisted is how he constantly runs from reality and goes into flash about a person he hates and why he hates them. Holden is in constant depression and the reason for his depression is that he feels he can’t help in change things. Holden is set on a straight path. Holden gets depressed when he sees something in the world he can’t change. Most young adults don’t think about things like this and get depressed. Most young adults think about it and become sad and move on. Holden has trouble letting go of things Holden has such a twisted mind that he thinks his teacher Mr. Antolini is gay and a ...

... bring a little life into his existence. The matter appeared doomed in Hawthorne’s eyes, and unnatural. Hester doomed herself when she married Chillingsworth, certified that doom when she committed adultery, and finalized that doom when she concealed Chillingsworth’s identity from Dimmesdale. The effects these events had were the separation from her society, her lover, her husband, her child, and her own best self. She did it all in the name of sanctity, for true love, and she paid the price. Dimmesdale was changed by the affair in a way that “ [he] grew emaciated; his voice, though still rich and sweet had a [tone] of decay.” As a belie ...

... of the difference in their social status, he leaves her to amass wealth to reach her economic standards. Once he acquires this wealth, he moves near to Daisy, "Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay (83)," and throws extravagant parties, hoping by chance she might show up at one of them. He, himself, does not attend his parties but watches them from a distance. When this dream doesn't happen, he asks around casually if anyone knows her. Soon he meets Nick Carraway, a cousin of Daisy, who agrees to set up a meeting, "He wants to know...if you'll invite Daisy to your house some afternoon and then let him come over (83)." Gatsby's pers ...

... keeping Tom from leaving his family is that he feels he needs to take care of his mother and sister. Every time his mother tries to take control of his life, Tom thinks about how his father left and how much better life could be if he did the same thing. Tom doesn’t want to be stuck at home all his life with the responsibility of his mother and sister. In the end, Tom walks down the fire escape for the last time “following in [his] father’s footsteps” (7). No matter how much he tries to be better than his father is he ends up walking out just like him. Amanda is the one that tries to control Tom and burden him with all the responsibilities. She is constantly ...