...Shortly after dropping out of the Trotskyist movement in 1978, I embarked on a systematic reading project of the world?s greatest novels. Since I had made the decision to begin writing fiction myself, I wanted to learn the craft from the masters. Additionally, I wanted a change of pace from the hard-core Marxist literature I had been reading for 11 years. (Within two years, however, I had returned to radical politics, largely under the impetus of the Central American revolution.) I soon discovered that some of these masterpieces left me cold, including those written by Henry James, Joseph Conrad and especially Jane Austen. Although I would never deny that they were great writers, their words did not resonate with me. After reading 50 or so pages of ?Pride and Prejudice,? I found myself wondering what all the hype was about. I was left cold by an endless round of country balls, dinner parties and arch dialogue that always sounded self-conscious and somewhat artificial. To illustrate: Elizabeth Bennett, the major character who is based on Jane Austen herself, is in one of her frequent 'cutting' exercises with Fitzwilliam D?Arcy--reminiscent of an old Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy movie. Like Hepburn and Tracy, these two spend most of their time hating each other until they finally discover that they really are in love. (I myself had a different take on the matter. In my experience, people generally start off in love and then discover that they really hate each other...
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...The themes in the Canterville Ghost The Canterville Ghost is a ghost story. Ghost stories belong to the genre called horror literature, whose purpose is to scare the reader with situations that cause horror or fear. The most common technique is suspense, the slow insinuating of a doubt or of a frightening revelation, which keeps the reader interested. This story can be defined an inverted ghost story, because a lot of elements are different from the traditional ones. The main difference is the fact that Mr Otis is not scared by the ghost, while usually people should be. Moreover, the Ghost itself is frightened by the Otis twins. There is also comic relief bordering on farce, including buckets of water balanced on half-open doors. But the story has a dark centre. The crime and retribution which led to the haunting is ghastly, and this is really not a comedy at all, but a tale of redemption through the power of love. The innocent girl of the family, appropriately called Virginia, prays for the ghost and endures terrifying if unnamed experiences to release the ghost. Also, The Canterville Ghost is both a parody of the traditional ghost story and a satire of the American way of life. Wilde obviously intends to satirize American materialism, but he pokes fun at English traditional culture as well. American vs. British society: “The Canterville Ghost” is a study in contrasts. Wilde takes an American family, places them in a British setting, then, through a series...
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...English 102 20 February 2014 Question 5: Question 5: Women at the End of the 19th Century Daisy Miller is the female main character in the short story by Henry James. Mr. Winterbourne describes her as a pretty American flirt, suggesting she is somewhat liberal and improper, as per the young man’s impression. Mr. Winterbourne is also a relatively young American man, about twenty-seven years old. He has spent a lot of time in Europe, becoming accustomed to a different world view from that of the American family and more specifically that of Daisy Miller. When the story begins, Winterbourne is seated at the garden of a hotel in Vevey when he meets Daisy’s younger brother Randolph, a pleasant little fellow, brave enough to ask a stranger for sugar, and justifying his request by saying that he is an American boy who misses candy from back home. When his sister Daisy appears and is introduced to Winterbourne, he expects her to be as proper and uptight as the women in Geneva. He even fears for his image, as he struggles to decide what would be proper for him to say to her, considering that he found her attractive. However, Winterbourne is put at ease when he finds Daisy more liberated than he had seen in a long time. When James describes her, as “…very charming; but how deucedly sociable” (12), he gives the impression that he had expected her to exercise some form of restraint upon their acquaintance, since they had just met. He did enjoy her company, but he certainly wasn’t entirely...
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...Can You See The White Elephant? Have you ever been forced to make a life altering decision? A decision where you much choose one option or the other? The short story Hills Like White Elephants depict a situation in which many, if not all readers can relate to at one point in their lives. The author Ernest Hemingway describes this scenario with a young couple who are at a crossroads in their life, and they are unsure of the future. The young couple are forced, but shying away from the rather large “white elephant in the room”, deciding to go through with having a child or an abortion. The theme in Hills Like White Elephants is expressed using typical thematic literary elements. Hemingway uses elements such as character, setting, conflict, and irony all to express the short story theme and symbolism. All of these elements help to develop the theme of decision making and sacrifice. The reader gets very little background on the relationship of the young couple but at the same time receives insight into the norms of the relationship between the “American man” and Jig the “girl” who is pregnant. Jig is represented as a young dependent girl, in article Tim O’brian writes, “Even the nickname "Jig" develops this central conflict. The name suggests a dance, the music for the dance, and a joke, for instance, and thereby exposes the man's ultimately condescending attitude toward her: she is entertainment, material for an interlude, perhaps. “Hemingway uses the character as an element...
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...Week 7 Case Study – Going Global You are the HR manager of a firm that is about to send its first employees overseas to staff a new subsidiary. Your boss, the president, asks you why such assignments often fail, and what you plan to do to avoid such failures. How do you respond? After careful research I would present the president with six challenges of using expats: 1. Problems with selection and recruitment of appropriate candidates on overseas assignments 2. The problems of an expatriate and/or a spouse with adjustment to the host country, and/or family problems 3. Expatriates’ lack of knowledge of the host countries social cultural environment as well as cross-cultural misunderstandings. 4. An expatriate’s lack of command of the local language 5. Limited foreign language proficiency among the local mangers 6. High costs of expatriates’ pay package Next I would outline the steps we are taking to overcome the challenges: Our first step is to do an analysis of critical job competencies then select potential candidates from the results. Step two is to perform psychological tests on the candidates and their family members. Step three is determine who is the best candidate for the position by factoring in all of the above. Step four is to verse the whole family in the culture the host country. Step five is to provide the family with basic language skills and the employee with targeted language skills. Step six is to hire a translator in the host country...
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...Analysis of Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” In Ernest Hemingway's short story "Hills Like White Elephants," the decision on whether or not to have an abortion puts strain on the characters’ relationship. The two characters, Jig and the American, have differing views on abortion. Hemingway uses the elements of symbolism and dialogue to portray such a serious conversation in which a major life decision is about to be made. Like the proverbial elephant in the room that everyone sees, but no one wants to acknowledge, not once is the subject of abortion mentioned, but it is implied. The reader must be willing to read what is not there. While most writers set the stage for their readers, Hemingway leaves the interpretation completely up to the reader. This story takes place in 1926 in Spain, a country where abortion was illegal until 2009 (“History of Abortion”.) The fact that the procedure was illegal is probably why the word abortion was never mentioned during their public conversation in the bar. Money is obviously not an issue for the American as referenced to the many hotel stickers on their suitcases and as we know, money can buy anything including medical services. Jig is interpreted as a young and naïve girl, who is struggling with the decision that is laid upon her. The American is interpreted as an harsh, manly man who is adamant during his dialogue about what he wants, even to the point of trying to downplay the procedure by stating that it was an “awfully...
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...Professor Lynda Lambert English 102 5 November 2013 Hills Like White Elephants In “Hills like White Elephants”, the main character’s dilemma serves at the symbolic setting of the story. By giving the reader just enough information in the form of using symbols, Ernest Hemingway’s concept gives readers an opportunity to draw deeper meaning from the tale. He focuses on symbolism to deliver the idea of an abortion as the main point. Jig, the main character, struggles with the decision to continue her pregnancy or continue her hard-nosed lifestyle with the American; this is represented by describing two different scenerios of the railroad tracks. “Hills Like White Elephants” is the title Hemingway uses as a symbol for Jig’s pregnancy. A rare, expensive possession that is a financial burden to maintain is defined as a “white elephant”. “On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun” (Hemingway 591). The complicated decision of abortion plagues Jig and the American, even though the term “abortion” is not found in the story. From the symbolic interpretation of the setting, there are only two choices, or two directions, similar to how there are only two rail lines that pass through the station. (Rankin 1). However, the situation is regarded in separate viewpoints from both characters. “Close against the side of the station there was the warm shadow of the building and a curtain, made of strings of bamboo beads...
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...Look What You Did!: An Analysis of Societal Effects in “The Turn of the Screw” “The Turn of the Screw” by Henry James is a very riveting story that requires a significant amount of attention by the reader. James uses the governess as a main character in the attempt to produce a psychological thriller, instead of a ghost story. The governess is used to represent the Victorian era and what James predicted to be the result of their ways of life. He particularly uses the subject of repression to formulate the plot of the story. The fact that this was written in the perspective of the governess also allows the reader to somewhat understand the way people, especially women, thought during this time. Throughout this story, the actions taken by the governess and the things she says are blatant examples of her upbringing in such a society. From the beginning of this story, the reader learns minor, yet important details about the governess. Douglas makes it clear that he was quite infatuated with the governess and that she too may have had an interest in him. Douglas states that, “I liked her extremely and am glad to this day to think she liked me, too” (2). Prior to this comment, he also points out that the governess is ten years older than him. What would constitute him to think that someone so much older than him would like him? Simply put, because she said so. Douglas knew she was in love, because when the governess wrote the story, she was forced to make it clear. There was no...
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...Daisy Buchanan is a young, prestige woman from Louisville, Kentucky, and the second cousin of Nick Carraway, the narrator of the story ‘The Great Gatsby’. She lives with her husband, Tom Buchanan and her daughter in the East Egg representing the old elite. When Daisy was introduced to the audience she wore a white dress. The symbolism of white which stands for purity, perfection and innocence is outlining her whole character thus making her seem like an angel. However, despite the fact of her first shy and innocent impression Daisy is a woman who loves to hog the limelight. Symbolically, her name also plays a huge roll into this perspective as the outer part of a Daisy flower is white as an angel’s wing but the core is a yellow which captures...
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...Rahnuma Shabiba 2013-1-40-044 Eng 420 (1) - MAZ Response to the Character of Daisy Miller Daisy Miller is a novella written by Henry James where the story focuses on a young girl Daisy, who is full of life and innocent at the same time. This one particular aspect of the novella that focuses on this young girl has left the novella to analyze from a feminist point of view. Therefore we can say that Daisy Miller focuses on the nature of women, and Henry James portrayed the character of Daisy in order to do that. Daisy is introduced to Europe, and she deals and copes up with the society as well as she lives on her freewill. Unfortunately the consequence of her freewill does not prove to be a very good one. Perhaps this is how Henry wanted to depict the societal position of women. The response for this character Daisy can have a lot of dimensions. Many could easily call Daisy a flirt, many could be confused just like Winterbourne, and many could also support her freewill. Here we should also keep in our mind that although the narrator of the story is unreliable, unnamed and omniscient, yet every detail about Daisy as well as every other character is told from the point of view of Winterbourne. Many readers may get influenced by the comments that Winterbourne and Mrs. Costello makes regarding Daisy and her family. Here we should understand that Winterbourne himself is a confused person, and till the end of the story he is not able to understand what Daisy actually is. On the other...
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...Imagine seeing what isn’t truly there, breathing air you think is inhabited by the same things as your nightmares. Expecting and hoping others see the same things as you, and you believe they do, but only because of your clouded mind in retrospect to reality. So, you act out. You want to be doing good and in your skewed view you are doing what’s right. That however isn’t the case and tend to do worse things rather than better. That is the main character of this novel Turn of The Screw. The Governess is sick and twisted and wants to do the best she can however because of her mental state she cannot seem too do such a thing. The Governess is lost in a sea of who she wants to be. She wants to be there and help the kids and even Mrs. Grose...
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...When Henry James contacted Philadelphian publishers in an attempt to get his novella, Daisy Miller, printed, he was told the piece was an “outrage on American girlhood” and was promptly turned away (Isaacs 49). American publishers, quite frankly, were leery of the novella’s eponymous character, a young woman from New York who wreaks havoc on European high society. Unphased, James decided to send the piece to European publishers and in 1878 Daisy Miller made its literary debut in London’s Cornhill Magazine. Pirated copies of the piece quickly began to circulate among curious Americans and a great social divide took hold: “Daisy Millerites” versus “Anti-Daisy Millerites” (Werlock 163). To Daisy Millerites, the character upheld the fiery, independent, and bold spirit colonists had died for in the previous century....
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...Henry James’s book, The Turn of the Screw, is a mysterious, yet well written novel that has captivated readers since 1898. Its complex characters create a dramatic tone that adds suspense to the novel. James leads the readers to draw conclusions about the characters that lure them into the plot so they will further enjoy the story. Mrs. Grose seems to be a simple character, but is essential to the novel; she possesses a degree of ambiguity that adds to the complexity of her character and of the novel. Mrs. Grose is a simple woman, a foil to the governess, and an insight to critical information, however each one of these defines her complex nature. Mrs. Grose’s ambiguity exposes her complex identity that is hidden by her simple nature. When...
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...The Innocents, a film directed by Jack Clayton, adapted from Henry James’ short novel The Turn of the Screw by John Mortimer, William Archibald and Truman Capote, can be argued to have subject matter of either a supernatural or psychological nature. The same can be said for Henry James’ original, but having digested both texts it is made clear to me that there are some very noticeable differences between the two, that both hinder and enhance our understanding of the stories. In both the film and the novella, the principal story is narrated, somewhat unreliably, by Miss Giddens, the governess appointed to care for the two children by their uncle. In Henry James’ version however, the story is framed in the prologue by an unknown character, Douglas, who introduces the story to a few friends at a house party. In the film, we see Miss Giddens crying with her hands together as if praying, emotionally exclaiming: “All I want to do is save the children, not destroy them. More than anything I love children. More than anything.” It then fades into the interview scene with the uncle, soft focus, to suggest a flashback. Both these openings elicit an anachronistic or nostalgic feel, and with The Innocents, this sensation is strengthened by the black and white cinematography. The cameraman, Freddie Francis, used a special filter which darkened the edges of the frame similar to the ‘vignette’ effect. This had practical uses for characters walking of screen but it also gave the impression that...
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...HENRY JAMES ( 1843 - 1916 ) Henry James was born an American and Joseph Conrad a Pole. Each chose to settle in England to become a British subject and for each, the collision of different cultures was an important themes. The relation of America to Europe is a central concern in James’ fiction : in major novels such as “ The Portrait Of A Lady “(1881), “ The Wings Of The Dove” ( 1902 ),or “ Daisy Miller” (1879) the moral consequences of the meeting of American innocence and enthusiasm with a sophisticated but corrupt European culture are explored by means of irony , a sustained attention to the nuances of individual CONSCIOUSNESS , and a prose style of increasing subtlety and complexity . But in their technique James and Conrad are most revolutionary .Modernist novelists sought radical redefinition of the REAL. Since the individual always perceives reality through his or her own consciousness , the contents and structure of consciousness represent the only accessible reality .A number of philosophical influences are relevant here : William James ‘ Henry James’ brother ‘ a psychologist and philosopher elaborated the notion of “pure experience”, all reality being described in terms of SUBJECTIVE HUMAN EXPERIENCE ( and he also named the new trend “ stream of consciousness”). Sigmund Freud (1856- 1939) had had an enormous influence upon modern literature as a result of his idea that “ all mental phenomena have meaning...
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