... ideas and, at the same time, is exaggerated. Voltaire offers sad events that are disguised with jokes and witticism, and the story itself presents a distinctive outlook on life. The story deals with irrational ideas as taught to Candide about being optimistic, versus reality as seen by the rest of the world. The overwhelming theme that is presented throughout the story is optimism. Out of every unfortunate situation in the story, Candide, the main character, is advised by his philosopher-teacher that everything in the world happens for the best, because "Private misfortunes contribute to the general good, so that the more private misfortu ...

... Geouge in the navy, Allen can't run it alone. Donald's had him put it up for sale." (Stegner, 16). This shows how a lot of help is needed to run a farm, but a person can survive in nature by themselves. Alma is faced with this problem because there is not a lot of people willing to help her, but her husband will soon be leaving her. Living in as nature intended us to avoid the many problems that come with farming. Another reason that living in nature is more desirable is because of its stability and dependability. Stegner describes a house that was ruined in the hurricane of 1938 and was now overgrown with fireweed and roots. On the other hand, when talkin ...

... and poor relations with his father, and determines insanity is the result. Billy’s father is a source of his instability from the beginning. Mr. Pilgrim treats Billy as if he has no feelings and he is a disgrace to him. Unfortunately for Billy, fathers are very influential in a boy’s growing up. In a terrible encounter with his father when Billy was young, Mr. Pilgrim sets the stage for Billy’s insanity: Little Billy was terrified because his father had said Billy was going to learn to swim by the method of sink-or-swim. His father was going to throw Billy into the deep end, and Billy was going to damn well swim. It was like an execution. Billy was numb as ...

... He finds out that his ‘friend’ has many characteristics in common to him. His friend had ‘ a mind as cold as the slice of ice within my own brain’. The poet has a conversational tone such as asking questions. We are hearing only part of the conversation. The poem is set on a cold chilly night. The poet is more cynical and formal when she is talking about the snowman. The phrase ‘an idle mind is a devil’s workshop’ is very applicable here since the thief has nothing to do, so to keep himself busy he breaks into people’s homes. He has a rather ruthless philosophy of life that ‘better of dead than giving in, not ta ...

... to obtain truth and wisdom. The only way the soul can find pure knowledge or reality is to become separate from the body since "the soul reasons best when none of the senses troubles it… but when it is most by itself, taking leave of the body… in its search for reality" (Plato 102). In the pursuit of knowledge, the only way to discover reality is to separate the body from the soul. This freedom from the body is called death. This does not mean that one should live in a state close to death, but one should not fear death. Socrates explains that " our souls… existed apart from the body before they took on a human form" (Plato 115). Since our ...

... so not to many people eat his specialty dips, excluding me. I think they are good. They are made up of anything and everything he can get his hands on. Well after my grandpa gets done worrying and everything finally set up it is about 5:30 at night. Around this time our family gets pumped for another one of our shindigs. We all load up and head to his house and just sit down and watch television. About and hour later my aunt shows up. She is always late and her time is an hour difference from the regular time. She brings all her kids and her husband (whom wants nothing more than to go home) inside and tries to perk them up. Well after a while every body dec ...

... could not marry her because 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 o ...

... nor deep. They are obvious and blatantly stated, and leave Vonnegut fans analyzing the entire novel searching for the slightest hint of irony. The real irony in Slaughterhouse-Five is much more scholarly, clever, and structured. The real irony in Slaughterhouse- Five took a lot more thought and time than simply making up stories about men who get killed when they try and retrieve their wedding ring from an elevator shaft. Billy Pilgrim's life is structured in such a way where he floats from experience to experience (in no chronological order). He has the ability to become "unstuck in time", which means that he can uncontrollably drift from one part of h ...

... took pictures of the dead (4-5). By documenting the great events and battles of the Civil War, they brought to life the “horror and honor”. To obtain these photos they went through complex and time-consuming procedures. One would mix chemicals and pour them on a clean glass plate. After the chemicals were given time to evaporate, the glass plate would be sensitized by being immersed --in darkness-- in a bath solution. Then placed in a holder, the plate would then be inserted into the camera, which had been previously positioned and focused by the other photographer (Applebee 479). After the picture had been taken the photographer had to rush to develop the plate ...

... takes on her unforgettable role as a meek, sweet, passive girl who was given the grave misfortune of having a evil step-mother and step-sisters (Grant, 629). The characters in “Ashputtle” written by Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm and in “Cinderella” written by Charles Perrault also depict the girl as helpless, unable to rescue herself. Despite the girl’s beauty she was forced to lay among the ashes in her own home. She is depicted as a helpless child who simply waits to be rescued and suggests that, as many other fictitious heroines, she wishes to be accepted. She humbly assumes the role of the victim and does chores that lessen her true qualities. This is where Ci ...