Literature

Characters and Analysis Alice At 7 and a half years old, Alice is the protagonist of the tale. Her adventures in Looking-Glass World present challenges to all of her perceptions and preconceived notions of the world. Because she approaches everything she sees with a firm sense of order, she unintentionally alienates nearly every character she encounters. The Red Queen She...

From: Literature Guides

Key Facts According to Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon is a product of 14 years of thought formation. Keyes first published Flowers for Algernon as a short story in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction  in 1959 and won a Hugo Award for Best Short Story. The novel only came as an extended and more in depth version of the short story...

From: Literature Guides

Summary The novel opens with a preface allegedly written by the nephew. In this he tells us how he hcame to meet Harry Haller, or Steppenwolf, when Harry rented a room in the boarding house owned by his aunt. He tells us that he did not at first like Steppenwolf, but came to like him over time. At first the nephew...

From: Literature Guides

CONTENTS Introduction A now famous novel by Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, was first published in 1960. The book won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize immediately, becoming a classical book of modern American literature and a bestseller, and was soon adapted into a film in 1962. Being one of only two books by Harper Lee, it brought her instant fame....

From: Literature Guides

CONTENTS General Introduction Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Hamlet, The Prince of Denmark is considered by many to be one of Shakespeare’s greatest works. Written around 1599-1602 (the exact date is unknown), it is certainly one of the most famous of Shakespeare’s plays. The line “To be or not to be,” from the famous soliloquy, is now part of the common language in English....

From: Literature Guides

Dagny Taggart As vice president of operations for Taggart Transcontinental, Dagny is the central character. She is a brilliant manager and she is committed to saving the railroad against the “looters” who would seize property from capitalists. Amid the growing chaos in the nation, Dagny mainstains the system which allows the looters to disrupt the system. She makes the mistake...

From: Literature Guides

CONTENTS “Man’s guilt in history and in the tides of his own blood has been complicated by technology, the daily seeping falsehearted death.” As Jack observes his son’s receding hairline he considers the ways in which modern technology has led to physical effects on the human body. He also wonders how much of his son’s receding hairline is due to...

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Dylan Thomas’s “Deaths and Entrances” is a poem which has focused on the after effects of World War II, sympathizing in every aspect with the impact of the war. He creates a picturesque image of the horror that the soldiers of London faced during the World War. Deaths and Entrances BY DYLAN THOMAS On almost the incendiary eve Of several...

From: Poem Examples

CONTENTS Key Facts Complete title: Night Written by: Elie Wiesel Genre: WW2 and Holocaust memoir Language: The book was originally 800 pages long, and written in Yiddish. It’s original title was Un di Velt Hot Geshvign (And the World Remained Silent) Time of Writing: Night was written in Paris in 1950. The author had previously taken a ten year vow...

From: Literature Guides

CONTENTS Beowulf is written in Old English. Though this is English in the most technical sense, it would be unrecognizable to a modern reader. We can read Chaucer’s Middle English with a little help from a glossary of terms, but Old English resembles a completely foreign language. Here is a sample from the opening lines of the poem: Hwæt. We...

From: Literature Guides