...Conley Howard The Great Gatsby Literary Analysis Notebook Mrs. Marlar/English III Period 6 Howard 1 Literary Element- Symbolism Chapter 1, page 21 Original Quote: “But I didn’t call to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone—he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward—and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far way, that might have been the end of a dock. When I looked once more for Gatsby he had vanished, and I was alone again in the unique darkness.”(Fitzgerald 21) Paraphrase with Analysis: Gatsby is being spotted by Nick, the narrator, while he is reaching out across his dock to the green light. (Fitzgerald 21) The green light symbolizes Daisy. Green is also an archetype and the negative associations are death and decay. Green can also foreshadow Gatsby death in the end since he never achieved the “green light” being Daisy who she chose Tom Buchanan in the end. Embedded Quotes in Paraphrase with Analysis: David F. Trask in his book, A Note on Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, states that “Gatsby believed in the green light, the future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms further ... And one fine morning Alas, all of us! The novel ends on a desperately somber note: So we beat on, boats...
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...A Analysis is the practice of looking closely at small parts to see how they affect the whole, but a Literary analysis focuses on how plot plus structure, character, setting, and many other techniques. That's what I intend to achieve in this essay about The Great Gatsby. In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts the theme of wealth can breed carelessness in my own opinion. Using the literary techniques of point of view, juxtaposition, and foreshadowing to create meaning in his classic work. The word “careless” sums up Nick's friends as I think and also what the author says in the book himself. For example I feel like Gatsby’s whole life trying to contract his money and status so that he could reach a certain position in life. This is what motivated him to move to west egg to be right across the lake from Daisy, making as much money by doing anything possible. I felt in his position Daisy wanted and needed a man that was wealthy so he changed himself to win her back. At a point him and Daisy were perfect for eachother when he was unwealthy, but their affair foreshadowed that it was a doomed relationship showing that she only wanted him for his money now. As we can see now, the relationship was never doomed at the end for Daisy as she runs away, as her secondary lover dies. Another...
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...Mohicans: Theme Analysis Theme Analysis Culture Clash In the wilderness of upper New York, two cultures clash—white Eurocentric culture and native Indian culture. Ample evidence is given in the novel of the destruction caused to the Indians by the coming of the whites—Hawkeye himself acknowledges that this is so. The reason that Magua was driven from the Hurons, for example, was because the whites introduced the Indians to alcohol, and he fell victim to it. The savagery of the conflict between whites and Indians is apparent in numerous incidents. The two races do not understand each other’s ways, even though they make many alliances with each other according to what they believe is in their best interest. Generally speaking, Hawkeye, Heyward, and David Gamut, each in his different way, represent the values of white civilization. Heyward represents the military ideal; David represents the sect of Protestantism known as Calvinism. Hawkeye is a more complex case because he in a sense lives in both worlds, Indian and white, and has great respect for some of the Indian ways. Although he thinks Indians other than Delawares and Mohicans are liars and “varlets,” he acknowledges the validity of their religion and respects many of their customs. However, Hawkeye still sees a wide gulf between the ways of the “Mingo” and those of the white man. He believes that whites have a more enlightened set of values, inspired by Christianity, although he is not an especially religious man. He claims...
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...seems to indicate a basic character flaw that precipitates them. Oedipus’ character flaw is ego. This is made evident in the opening lines of the prologue when he states "Here I am myself--you all know me, the world knows my fame: I am Oedipus." (ll. 7-9) His conceit is the root cause of a number of related problems. Among these are recklessness, disrespect, and stubbornness. Oedipus displays an attitude of recklessness and disrespect throughout the play. When he makes his proclamation and no one confesses to the murder of Laius, Oedipus loses patience immediately and rushes into his curse. Later, he displays a short temper to Tiresias: "You, you scum of the earth . . . out with it, once and for all!," (ll. 381, 383) and "Enough! Such filth from him? Insufferable--what, still alive? Get out--faster, back where you came from--vanish!" (ll. 490-492) If an unwillingness to listen may be considered stubbornness, certainly Oedipus would take advice from no one who would tell him to drop the matter of his identity, among them Tiresias, the shepherd, and even Jocasta. Even after Oedipus thinks he has received a reprieve from the fate he fears when he hears that Polybus is dead, he does not have the sense to keep still. "So! Jocasta, why, why look to the Prophet’s hearth . . . all those prophesies I feared . . . they’re nothing, worthless," he says. (ll.1053-1054, 1062, 1064) To the shepherd,...
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..."Poe Literary analysis" In the short story "The Tall-Tale Heart" Edgar Allan Poe shows craziness through the mans actions. The man goes to the old mans house every night for seven nights. He goes there for one reason and that's to get the old mans evil eye. He had nothing wrong with the old man other than he doesn't like his eye. The man goes into his bedroom opens the door to see if the eye is open or not. As Poe says, "And then, when my head was well in the room, I undid the lantern cautiously--oh, so cautiously--cautiously (for the hinges creaked)--I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye." (Poe). The man does this every night at twelve o clock for seven nights to get the old mans vulture eye. He will sit there watching the old man sleep....
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...“Spunk” A Literary Analysis “Spunk” A Literary Analysis Zora Neale Hurston was born in 1901. She was raised in Eatonville, Florida. Zora went to Howard University and progressed on to Barnard College. Zora’s work reflected the use of African American legends in her short stories. Zora Hurston is a vital figure who composed stories and plays during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s and 1930s. She was committed to telling the stories of many cultures to allocate their social legacy with deference and love with an end goal to beat the unrefined stereotyping of the period. In 1925 during the Harlem Renaissance, Zora wrote a story called “Spunk”. In the story “Spunk”, Zora used the literary terms like character, setting, and conflict that catches the reader’s attention and makes the story “Spunk” a page turner. Zora used the literacy term character in her story “Spunk”, to give the readers an idea about the character personalities. The term character was also used to help the readers to connect with the characters in the story, making the story very interesting. “Spunk”, started out by describing “a giant of a brown skinned man ...” (Hurston, 1925, 502). The character described in the previous sentence, we later found out his name is Spunk Banks. Spunk Banks is described as a giant muscular man who is fearless and confident, which makes everyone scared of him. “But that’s one thing Ah likes about Spunk Banks – he ain’t skeered of nothin’ on God’s green...
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...ANALYZING NOVELS & SHORT STORy Good feedback is kind, thorough and timely. It’s professional and focused. It leaves the writer feeling challenged to do better but great about their strengths. Even if that just means the location they chose was cool. Give your feedback relative to the skill set of the writer. Never lie or obfuscate. Just serve it up gently. An upset writer isn’t going to hear your points anyway. But an encouraged one will. Trust me on this. — Julie Gray PRINTER FRIENDLY PAGE Literary analysis looks critically at a work of fiction in order to understand how the parts contribute to the whole. When analyzing a novel or short story, you’ll need to consider elements such as the context, setting, characters, plot, literary devices, and themes. Remember that a literary analysis isn’t merely a summary or review, but rather an interpretation of the work and an argument about it based on the text. Depending on your assignment, you might argue about the work’s meaning or why it causes certain reader reactions. This handout will help you analyze a short story or novel—use it to form a thesis, or argument, for your essay. Summary Begin by summarizing the basic plot: “Matilda by Roald Dahl is about a gifted little girl in small town America who learns to make things move with her mind and saves her teacher and school from the evil principal.” This will help ground you in the story. (When you write your paper, you probably won’t include a summary because your readers...
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...information about the author or story details necessary for the reader’s comprehension The book is about a man who is on trial for rape. That man, Tom Robinson was black and the town was ruled under very unfair social standards. His lawyer Atticus Finch knew he was not guilty. So he was trying to protect his children from Maycomb's corrupt town by...
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...and Lennie, who travel together to find work. Lennie is a big, clumsy man, who doesn’t know his own strength and he is also childlike, simple and easily forgetful. Lennie goes through life with his fellow George, a smart guy and hard worker who takes care of Lennie. The book starts with them walking down a road, they ran away from their job in Weed because the stupid, innocent Lennie touched a ladie’s dress (because Lennie likes soft things). Lennie and George have a shared dream: having their own farm, where they can keep all kinds of animals, and can live from their harvest when they have saved enough money. When they on their way to a ranch, hoping to find work, they sleep in the clearing (a place near a river) for one night. The next day they come to the bunkhouse and they get a job. Soon they meet the other workers on the ranch, including Curley, the son of the boss. Curley is mean, aggressive and a lightweight-boxer. Because he is so small he doesn’t like big guys, he feels threatened by them. So an aggressive look and a rude attitude is his first reaction when he sees big Lennie. The next day when Curley comes into the room, Lennie is attacked by Curley. But strong Lennie defends himself and crushes (accidentally) the hand of Curley, because he tried to stop him. When Curley goes to the doctor, he said that his hand was trapped in a machine. He said this because he is known as a “strong” man and he didn’t want to look stupid and weak. One day Lennie sits in the...
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...Hamlet: Analysis of Act IV Soliloquy Hamlet by William Shakespeare is a tragic play about a young prince named Hamlet and his struggle to avenge the death of his father. Hamlet is outraged when he learns that what appeared to be an accidental death was actually a murder carried out by his uncle. He vows to get revenge on the murderer at all costs. Throughout the play, Hamlet is hesitant about his actions until he sees a group of soldiers preparing to battle over a very small piece of land. At this point Hamlet has a soliloquy; he reflects on his actions and is upset with himself for not fulfilling his plan yet. He decides that it is time to complete what he has started and kill his uncle. This speech directly affects the target audience, the people of the Elizabethan Era. The audience is captured by the use of poetic devices, they can relate to Hamlet and feel his pain, and his speech adds excitement as the audience knows there will be a change of events. Shakespeare uses an abundance of literary devices to enhance his work. In this soliloquy there are multiple examples that draw in the viewer and intensify the meaning of his words. The speech opens with an example of assonance: “How all occasions do inform against me,/ And spur my dull revenge!” (4.4.31-32). The repetition of the “o” sound in the first line and the “u” sound in the second line make the words flow together. This captures the audience’s attention because it makes the phrase easy to listen to. The words are...
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...LITERARY ANALYSIS - THE MOMENT BEFORE THE GUN WENT OFF It wasn’t easy to be black during apartheid in South Africa. And though the whites were superior to the blacks, one moment can make your life as white turn from being a good life into a terrible life. ‘The Moment Before the Gun Went Off’ is a short story written by the South African short story writer and novelist, Nadine Gordimer, and it is published in Harper’s in 1991. The main plot in the short story is about a white man, Marais Van der Vyver, who by an accident shoots one of his farm labourers, Lucas, while they are out hunting. Marais and Lucas were driving in a truck on a dirt track; Marais was in the car, and Lucas stood on the back of the truck to look for kudus. Marais had a riffle beside him in the truck, and unfortunately, the gun was loaded. In the same moment as a kudu passed Lucas’ sight, Marais drove over a pothole, and the jolt fired the rifle. The bullet went trough the roof of the truck and straight into the head of Lucas. This became the last moment of Lucas’ life. Marais Van der Vyver is an Afrikaner farmer, leader of the regional party and Commandant of the local security commando. He is in his late thirties and he has three children, Magnus, Helena and Karel, and a wife, Alida. He is the son of Willem Van der Vyver, and he inherited his father’s best farm. Marais takes really good care of the farm, but he is a white man in a community where both withes and blacks are settled, so he has, as many...
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...In the poem Beowulf the idea of warrior culture is described through literary, poetic and real life situations. Beowulf is an epic poem about a hero who sparks up an old rooted allegiance to help save the Danish people from a terror far greater than anyone has ever seen. However, this is only the beginning of his journey as he ends up defeating the monster and later dies in his old age fighting off a dragon in his last breathe. The journey itself is one that displays the warrior culture that lives within the Anglo-Saxon period and through the lenses of literary, poetic and real life situations the reader is shown how society was built and society had valued. From the very beginning of the poem we see that weapons and gifts are a big part of the warrior culture, they represent honor, glory, pride and status within a society. Anglo-Saxon society in literary terms was centered on a warrior chieftain and his retinue of loyal followers who were expected to defend him to the death. Loyalty is essential and is rewarded by the chief's generosity...
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...The Sniper Analysis War is a devastating topic, which brings forth much action and devastation. Because of this, Liam O’Flaherty made his short story “The Sniper” based around the Irish Civil War. During the time this piece of literature was written, the Irish Civil War was still in process. This event occurred after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1922, therefore ending the Irish War of Independence. In this war, the Irish Republicans fought against England to gain their independence. The Irish Free State was established by the Anglo-Irish Treaty. After the treaty was signed, the Free Staters and the Republicans had broken out in dispute. The Free Staters supported the treaty while the Republicans did not. While fighting against...
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...Literary Analysis: A Character from The Crucible By looking at The Crucible by Arthur Miller, one can infer that the character, John Proctor, reveals the theme of reputation and integrity. These are important because refusing to lie to protect one’s reputation can stop hysteria from spreading. In The Crucible, John Proctor was more worried about his reputation for his family to live with than he was concerned with his own life. Basically, the idea of John Proctor protecting his reputation motivates him to deny that witchcraft exists in the village. Proctor had stated his worry by saying, “The town is mumbling witchcraft” (1.1.511-512). Proctor says this in reference to Reverend Hale walking through town with a stack of books for researching...
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...Mariner Poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge hone his craft. Troubled by debt, though, he left Cambridge in 1793 and enlisted in the 15th Dragoons, a British army regiment, under the alias Silas Tomkyn Comberbache. After being rescued by his brothers, Coleridge returned to Cambridge, but he left again, in 1794, without having earned a degree. That year, Coleridge met the author Robert Southey, and together they dreamed about establishing a utopian community in the Pennsylvania wilderness of America. Southey, however, backed out of the project, and their dream was never realized. notable quote “No man was ever yet a great poet, without being at the same time a profound philosopher.” fyi Did you know that Samuel Taylor Coleridge . . . • developed a fascination with the supernatural at age five? • was known as a brilliant and captivating conversationalist? • was the most influential literary critic of his day? • liked to write poetry while walking? Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772–1834 Samuel Taylor Coleridge is famous for composing “Kubla Khan” and “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” considered two of the greatest English poems. As a critic and philosopher, he may have done more than any other writer to spread the ideas of the English romantic movement. Precocious Reader The youngest of ten For more on Samuel Taylor Coleridge, visit the Literature Center at ClassZone.com. children, Coleridge grew up feeling rejected by his distant mother and bullied by his older brother...
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