...Love Medicine, by Louise Erdrich, is comprised of several correlated short stories about characters that live on a Native American reservation. They live on a Chippewa reservation in North Dakota. Love Medicine spans from roughly 1934 to 1984 and illustrates the characters at different times in their lives, mainly the most life changing events. The novel involves three different generations. There are many themes present in this novel that make the story seem more realistic to the reader. The three main themes are that of religion, survival, and Indian heritage. Religion has so many different meanings in this world. It can mean the belief in a godlike controlling power. It can mean the worship of that controlling power. It can also mean a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe. Each person has his or her own belief. Religion plays an important part in this novel. In the chapter titled, “Saint Marie,” readers find out that Marie Kashpaw is a catholic teenage girl trying to join the Sacred Heart Convent. Marie is discriminated by one of the nuns at the convent for being Indian. The nun, named Sister Leopolda, did very bad things to Marie to make her quit the...
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...Literature has always explored the theme of love. Love cannot be defined in just one way, there are several different types of love. Three types of love that can be found often in classic readings are eros(romantic), philia(friendship), and familial, or the love of family(“The 7 Types Of Love”). Love in literature is not far different than love in modern culture. The love titled philia can be found in The Epic of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh has a strong love for Enkidu in the epic. Their love is solely the friendship they have. Gilgamesh wanted to fight Enkidu and destroy him to begin with. They were evenly matched as they were made alike. After Enkidu comes along, Gilgamesh changes his ways of being mean. They set off on a quest together to kill Humbaba, and together they succeed. The relationship between Enkidu and Gilgamesh is the heart of the Sumerian epic. Enkidu and Gilgamesh first meet as enemies and fight each other. It is during this battle that Gilgamesh comes to understand that his thoughts about women and life in general could be wrong. He learns from Enkidu and Enkidu learns and becomes more `civilized' through his friendship with Gilgamesh. When the gods...
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...Love is an emotion that can withstand difficult obstacles if their passion for eachother is meant to be. When two people meet and have affection towards eachother, nothing can take away the beauty and chemistry they have towards each other away. In the three poems Sonnet 18 written by William Shakespeare, The Prologue to Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare, and “Annabel Lee” written by Edgar Allan Poe, all introduce that love can be shown from different perspectives including death. In the poem, Sonnet 18 written by William Shakespeare, the speaker expresses his deep compassion for his lover by comparing her beauty and presence to summer. In he prologue to the play Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare, the poet portrays...
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...ANALYSIS Love theme Love never gets old. So does every problem that comes with it. The “pride” and “prejudice” that once hindered the love of Elizabeth and Darcy have not ceased to cause troubles to lovers until nowadays. It is the love theme that makes Pride and Prejudice famous and widely read for many decades. Love in late 18th and early 19th century must be more difficult than today. Social standings and class could become a huge barrier. Early in the book, this barrier is poitrated when Darcy, being a wealthy noble, snubs Elizabeth (he refused to dance with her). Elizabeth’s pride immediately judged Darcy on that bad first impression, and keeps her away further from him later. Just like that, Elizabeth and Darcy were distant from each other because of their prejudice. Elizabeth and Darcy, however, eventually married. But how? Through a serie of events, and through many experiences, they understood each other. Darcy begins to admire Elizabeth, captivated by her fine eyes and lively wit. Elizabeth continues to impress Darcy during her time nursing Jane at Netherfield. But she, unlike him, did not grow such sudden change of heart that quick. She remained cold to Darcy for a long time, even angry at him once. But things change after Darcy gave her a letter to explain everything. And with some important events after that, Elizabeth slowly fell to Darcy. In the end both admitted that they were wrong. Aside from Elizabeth and Darcy, other couples contribute to this theme of love...
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...Students Name Instructor’s Name Course Date The theme of love in Li Qingzhao's poetry Li Qingzhao is one of the best-known poets in China and the entire Asian community who wrote several poems in the 12th century. She was born in 1084 in J’nan, Shandong province to an aristocratic and scholarly family that was dedicated to educating their daughters. Her father was a professor at the Imperial Academy and also a prose writer whereas her mother was a writer of poetry. Qingzhao acquired extensive knowledge of literature and classics in her teenage as she also remained devoted and focused on her academics. Literary work was part of her life; even as a young girl she wrote delightful little lyrics on her outings to the near beauty spots. She stood up in a literary world that was dominated by men in an unusual way at that particular period as Chinese women were actively discouraged from any form of writing. She pressed on and her determination of creating her space in the male literary tradition never died (Ring). At eighteen, she got married to Zhao Mingcheng-a student at the Imperial Academy- in the year 1101 and lived in Shandong; he later died in 1129. Fortunately, they both had a mutual interest in art collection and epigraphy, and they collected many books as a result. They enjoyed touring the city and the neighborhoods and many other places in quest of favorite antiques and the ancient books that helped in refining of her poetic style. Zhao was mostly absent after he started...
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...Themes of Love and Hate in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet 1 Themes of Love and Hate in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet is a play about two young lovers, whose love was destined for destruction from the beginning because of the hatred between the two families, Montagues and Capulets. Therefore, the themes of love and hate are very important in the play as the plot is driven by these two themes. Shakespeare brings out the love between the two rivals through Romeo and Juliet and their relationships with the Friar and the Nurse. I want to argue that in the play, the themes of love and hate are closely linked. To show this, I have selected some of the most important scenes in the play, which illustrate the idea that love and hate are closely bound together. The first example is the chorus, which is found at the beginning of the play, in the prologue. It is a short summary of what the play is about. The chorus is in the form of a sonnet and sonnets were often associated with love in the time of Shakespeare. However, the words of the chorus seem to emphasize the idea of hate although there are some words about love. “From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.” (Prologue, 3-4) These two lines are about the feud between the families. It shows that it is a feud, which has been brewing for many years. By repeating the words civil, Shakespeare is stressing the fact that they are all civilians...
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...Darwin Quinde Comp.Lit March 1, 2012 An Essay on love Love is a huge feeling that carries many other emotions along with it. The common theme on the poems “Love one another” by Khalil Gibran, “Meeting at night” by Robert Browning and “If you forget me” by Pablo Neruda is that love is more than just being next to the person that we love. In the three poems we see that love is the main theme but it is presents it in a different point of view in each one. In the poem “love one another” by Khalil Gibran the narrator talks about how individuality is important for relationships. The narrator tells the readers that love shouldn’t be rigid and inflexible in the first line of the poem “Don’t make a bond of love” because it could cause the end of a relationship. The tone of voice in this poem is a little persuasive. The narrator is trying to convince us that doing things together is good for a relationship but there should be things that people should do individuality. For instance, “Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone” demonstrates the narrator’s tone of voice and how people need their own time. The author uses imagery to show how love isn’t just about being together but it is also about knowing how to adapt to different situations in life. A perfect example of it is “Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.” Which demonstrate that love shouldn’t be rigid and not changing but instead passive and changing. The Narrators...
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...The components that contribute to the theme of the short story “What We Talk about When We Talk about Love” by Raymond Carver are plot and character. The main character of the story plays a big role in creating the theme and the symbols that are prominent also contribute to the theme. This author used these key components to help the readers understand the main point of the story. The main character Mel and the symbols love and gin are all important to identify the theme in this short story. The theme in the story is the complicated meaning of love. The character Mel is a round character in the story. His character is sometimes hard to understand and figure out and also is shown to have more than one side. He is a very confused character...
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...This book theme is "Love Isn't Easy". Throughout the book "Take me there" by Susane Colasanti, the main 3 characters, which are Rhiannon, James, and Nicole, goes through their own problems. The three high schoolers tries to fix their problems, but turns out they made it even worse. This book has it ups and downs, but it really teaches readers. It shows how it is to be an average teenager. In the beginning of the story, we started off with Rhiannon's point of view. Rhiannon is devastated after the way her ex broke up with her. The break up came out of nowhere and Rhiannon is wondering why. While she was doing her homework, she kept on saying that her homework pile is calling her pathetic. She agrees. Rhiannon shows the theme by showing how hard...
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...The Themes of Madness and of Love and Hate in Poe’s “Tell Tale Heart” and Browning’s “Porphyria’s Lover” In Edgar Allen Poe’s short story “Tell Tale Heart” and in Robert Browning’s “Porphyria’s Lover,” both unnamed narrators commit murder and provide the audience with a seemingly unjustifiable reason as to why they murder their loved ones. In “Tell Tale Heart” and in “Porphyria’s Lover,” both narrators attempt to pose to the audience that they are not insane and effectively accomplish this through their tone and explicit narration. Two of the recurring themes within both Poe’s short story and Browning’s poem are madness and the tension between love and hate. The themes are reinforced through calm tone and passive tone and through the characterization of the narrators. In Poe’s “Tell Tale Heart,” the narrator opens up the short story denying the fact that he is insane and defends his statement by confessing to killing an old man in a very calculated and precise manner with the simple motivation being his fear of the old man’s “eye of a vulture.” The narrator goes through with his plan of murdering the old man and hides the body only to be engulfed by a feeling of guilt which leads him to confessing his act to the police. Throughout the short story, the narrator continues to tell the audience that he is not insane due to his “sharpened … senses” and his “calm” way of telling the whole story, yet it is his tale of murder that contradicts the very claim that he attempts to...
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...being one of the most famous love stories. The play teaches us about forbidden love and young death. Romeo and Juliet's unforgettable story of love and loss is the inspiration for many well know songs. The play and these songs relate to each other in many ways. Check Yes Juliet written and performed by We The Kings has almost direct relation to Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet". Romeo and Juliet are teenagers who come from two of the richest families in Verona, Italy (Romeo is a Montague and Juliet is a Capulet) . Their families are enemies and this causes trouble for the two young lovers. In the popular song Check Yes Juliet the singer's lover is off...
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...106 March 08,2014 Theme In Literature What is the meaning of a theme in literature? A theme or moral of a fable is the lesson that is being portrayed within the story. It is a message that can be taken from a story and personified into one's life. Theme is immensely important in literature due to its ability to share the author's opinion and understanding about life and human experiences. It is impossible to tell a story without letting out one's views and attitudes toward a subject of the story. By sharing these views, it helps someone distinguish or open up to new ways of thinking and feeling. To demonstrate, the theme in Raymond Carver's short story "What We Talk When We Talk About Love" portrays multiple themes, which are love, language and communication, marriage, drugs and alcohol, and violence. Although themes are not directly presented, you can derive an idea or the evidence of what the theme may be from the characters, actions, and settings that formulate the story. For example, based on the what the characters of What We Talk About When We Talk About Love are trying to define as love, you can formulate that one of the themes are the elusive nature of love. For instance, Mel says, " I was going to tell you something. I mean, I was going to prove a point. You see, this happened a few months ago, but it's still going on right now, and it ought to make us feel ashamed when we talk about love like we know what we're talking about when we talk about love" (p. 729). He is...
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...The Princess Bride is an epic romance novel written by William Goldman. The Princess Bride began with a man telling his grandson a story about the love between a beautiful girl, Buttercup, and her family’s farm boy, Westley. One day, Buttercup fell deeply in love with Westley; she expressed her love forhim but, he left to go to America to find fortune. After he left, Buttercup heard the news that he was killed by Dread Pirate Roberts. She vowed to never love again, but Prince Humperdinck of Florin demanded Buttercup’s hand in marriage, so he could become the king. After they declared their engagement, Buttercup was kidnapped by a band of criminals. She was rescued by a mysterious man in black, who was actually Westley. Westley and Buttercup...
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...“The Gift of the Magi” – Deciphering the Theme Scott Cole ENG 125 Introduction to Literature Professor Patricia Vineski 6 Oct 2013 The theme of a story, as I’ve learned, is much more than what happened; this is the plot. Instead, the theme is much more; it “tells you what the story is about” (Clugston, 2010, para. 7.1). In order to decipher what the theme is, our text tells us to ask the question “how” a few different ways in order to come to a final conclusion. “How does the writer use setting to narrow the underlying idea? How do characters make particular aspects of the underlying idea clear? How does conflict reveal the strength or worth of the underlying idea?” (Clugston, 2010, para. 7.1). So, throughout this essay, I will be asking these questions, in order to come to a final conclusion as to what the theme of “The Gift of the Magi” really is. I will also discuss the plot, as well as some symbolism in the story that expands on the theme of the story. The plot, for The Gift of the Magi, is a short story about a couple, housed in a tiny apartment, living paycheck to paycheck. Christmas is just a few days away, and the Della, whom is the wife in the story, is struggling to find the perfect gift for her husband. Finally, after searching all over town, she comes across a fancy watch chain that is $20, and decides she must have it; the dilemma is she only has $1.87 to spend. After careful thought, she decides she will cut off her long, beautiful hair...
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...While reading a story, it is un-noticeable that the theme can coincide with the setting. In some stories, it might be unchallenging, but there are some writers that do make it challenging. For instance, Edgar Allen Poe’s works, describe vivid details. His themes provide emotions and scenery – which gives a better understand or feel. The emotions that Poe shows in the story are generally a dark type of feeling – making the theme to be related to that type of feeling and emotion. In Poe’s work of “The Raven” he describes setting types that benefit in understanding the theme, which is life after a death or grief, loss, madness, and even love. In the beginning of “The Raven” Poe states, “a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary … and a curious volume of forgotten love” (Bayum 637). When he uses the words midnight and dreary those show an emotion of dark as well as eerie. Since, dreary means bleak and lifeless they relate to depression. With the words, weak and weary – they both mean lifeless as well as extreme exhaustion. Feeling tired and the lack of doing anything are the signs of depression too. Grieving shows many kinds of emotions, while during the time of grieving the feeling that will be felt is sadness – that follows in pursuit of...
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