... Metamorphosis, Jean-Paul Sartre’s Nausea, Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, and theater of the absurd plays like Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Eugene Ionesco’s Amedee - they spin you around on your chair so you are facing the real world, and then shove you right into the middle of it. Existentialism especially turns our attention toward the meaningless, repetitive and dull existences we all must lead. Two works, The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus and Waiting For Godot by Samuel Beckett have exemplified these existential points in contrasting perspectives. In the essay The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus takes a lo ...

... both men would receive five years and not obtain the minimum possible time spent in jail. If each man looked out for him self both will end up worse off than if they had acted in a more benevolent manner. This is what makes the prisoner’s dilemma such a paradoxical situation. Both men will be better of if they look out for each other or rather not look out for themselves. This is a situation that can be used in every day living.. Any time there are peoples' interests that are affected not only by what they do but what other people do, a dilemma may occur. In some situations everyone will end up worse off if they individually pursue their own interests than if ...

... Kenny points out, "To execute someone so simple, he concluded, would be like putting a hog in the electric chair" (683). Directed the jury, Jefferson's attorney states, "What you see here is a thing that acts on command... Why, I would just as soon put a hog in the electric chair as this" (Gaines 7-8). At one point in the novel, Jefferson smashes his face into his food and begins eating it as if he were a hog. He does this, because of the attorney's rash, insensitive and cruel remarks. This event marks the beginning of Jefferson's decline of self-respect and gradually decreases his belief in heaven and God. With the help of Grant, his beliefs are slowly ...

... two options either as a governess or a schoolteacher. If they were married they were mothers and hostesses for their husband's parties. Jane was a very strong woman for her time, as she did not allow people to mistreat her. She is on a constant search for love and goes many places to find it. As Jane travels through each place, starting at age ten in Gateshead Hall till she was nineteen in Ferndean, she matures as a result of the experiences that she has, which in turn allows her to become a strong woman. In the beginning of the novel, Jane, age ten, lives in Gateshead Hall, a house owned by her uncle. She lived with her Aunt Reed and her three children. ...

... though she is ashamed, she also received her greatest treasure, Pearl, out of it. She is a very strong woman to be able to hold up so well, against what she must face. Many would have fled Boston, and sought a place where no one knew of her great sin. Hester chose to stay though, which showed a lot of strength and integrity. Any woman with enough nerve to hold up against a town which despised her very existence, and to stay in a place where her daughter is referred to as a "devil child," either has some sort of psychological problem, or is a very tough woman. The second meaning that the letter "A" took was "able." The townspeople who once condemned her now beli ...

... Wasteland," wrote about a young man, named Donny, who felt neglected. Donny felt that his parents did not respect him or even trust him. He became a disruptive student, his grades dropped, and began drinking at a young age because of these problems. He was moved to another school and his parents were still called to even more meetings with his teachers because he did not change his ways. Donny got sent to a tutor but got too much freedom and his grades dropped. In the end he got kicked out of school because he had some beer in his locker. Within a month of his expulsion he runs away from home never to return. "Eveline" and "Teenage Wasteland" ended very s ...

... also be used to show the quirks and flaws of society---such is the case in these pieces. The assumption made by the character in “The Lame Shall Enter First” is that it is enough for a person to appear morally right, as if faith in God is not necessary. The belief that there is no God is presented by the protagonist, Sheppard. For Sheppard, intelligence and morality are the most important values in life. It is not important for him to believe in God. He does not believe in the after life, nor does he believe that he has to follow the Bible. For him, the Bible is another book written by a fanatical society that preceded his. Sheppard introduces ...

... and lighthearted little boy. The book starts with Elizer talking. “During the day I studied the Talmund, and at night I ran to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the temple.” (page 1) Although he is young, he has already learned that he should be devoted to his religion. Once the Germans come and start taking over the city, the Jewish people of the city are forced to wear a yellow star (the Star of David) to distinguish them from the non-Jewish people in the city. Elizer is very upset about this, while his father doesn't seem affected by it at all. His father tries to comfort Elizer. The father’s argument is that wearing the star is not so terr ...

... two films differ from Shakespeare’s original play in some respects, but most viewers would agree that these films both follow Shakespeare’s story with adaptations to the time at which they were produced. Franco Zeffirelli’s version of the play follows Shakespeare’s version very closely. The buildings and costumes reveal that the setting in this film is old Verona during Shakespeare’s time. The plot is nearly exact when compared to the original play. Most viewers would agree that Zeffirelli’s movie would not surprise that audience of William Shakespeare. Aside from the this production being a movie on a screen instead of an ac ...

... love which he, and other critics of the time, felt had drastically weakened the religious values behind chivalry. As such, the poem is a warning to its Aristocratic readers that the traditional religious values underlying the feudal system must be upheld in order to avert destruction of their way of life. It is easy to read _Sir Gawain and the Green Knight_ as a romantic celebration of chivalry, but Ruth Hamilton believes that "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight contains a more wide-ranging, more serious criticism of chivalry than has heretofore been noticed" (113). Specifically, she feels that the poet is showing Gawain's reliance on chivalry's outside form and su ...