...Dreams greatly influence people to look beyond their troubles and strongly motivate people to exert more effort towards their goals. Dreams also improve people’s outlook on life as it is a chance for more happiness. This is very evident in John Steinbeck’s novella, “Of Mice and Men” when we see Lennie complain about the bunkhouse but tolerates staying there because of his dream, which is to tend the rabbits. Another example would be George. On the weekend, instead of spending all his on tempting offers, he stashes it in the bank to save up for his and Lennie’s dream ranch. Lastly, Candy is also a prime example of this statement. When Candy is let in on George and Lennie’s dream, Candy’s outlook on life improves and even...
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...Celton Brito-Lobato Analyse and compare how Lady Macbeth and Curley's wife are presented Shakespeare’s ' Macbeth' and Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men’ In the Shakespearean play of ‘Macbeth’ we are introduced to the character of Lady Macbeth. Similarly in John Steinbeck's novella Of Mice of Men we also presented with an equally diverse character of Curley's wife. ‘Macbeth’ was written during the early 17th century, and was a play 'fit for a king'. It outlines a couple's ambition to become rulers of Scotland and sees them fulfil this ambition and in doing so, killing the king in the process. Despite being written during patriarchal Jacobean society, Lady Macbeth is a female protagonist. Throughout the play, through Lady Macbeth's actions we are forced to believe that she is evil. In contrast, in the novel John Steinbeck tells a story of dreams, hopes and loneliness. We are introduced to a majorly significant and complex character, named Curley’s wife. Steinbeck shows us that Curley’s wife is flirtatious, mischievous (despite the patriarchal society of the 1930’s) but most of all she is an isolated character. Her hasty marriage to Curley proves to be failed attempt to escape her own spiral of disappointment of not fulfilling her ambition of becoming an actress. This ironically is a main theme in both texts. This essay will analyse and compare the presentation of Lady Macbeth and Curley's wife through structure, themes, what is said about them, their actions and what they themselves...
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...John Steinbeck’s novella “Of Mice and Men” was written the 1930s, during the great American Depression. He used the ranch as a microcosm to show society’s desensitisation to violence, the inhumane ways in which the marginalised were treated and the prevalent misogynistic attitudes. Steinbeck focused on lives of itinerant farmworkers who constantly searched for work. The economic crisis led to high unemployment rates and fierce competition for jobs. Many people were poverty stricken, violence became their ultimate source of escapism and a cheap source of entertainment thus creating a hostile environment. Steinbeck resigned from the prestigious Stanford University in order to gain insight of the hardships faced by peripatetic workers. His strong socialist views and empathy towards the marginalised inspired him to write this story. During his time on the farm, he witnessed a lot of violence. He based most of his characters on people he met; Lennie’s character was based on a man who killed a ranch foreman and stabbed his boss in the stomach with a pitchfork. One way Steinbeck portrays the importance of violence in the novel is through the way in which characters treat each other to determine status. When Curley is introduced in chapter two, he “glanced coldly” at George, his arms “gradually bent at the elbows” and his hands “closed into fists”. Curley “stiffened” and “went into a slight crouch” making Lennie “squirm” and “shift his feet nervously”. His actions...
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...Throughout times of hardships, achieving one’s dream calls upon the need for friendship and hope. John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men uses the setting of the Great Depression of America in 1929 to convey the importance of dreams to keep oneself from falling into despair. The novel embodies the notion of friendships and emphasizes the importance of developing and maintaining strong relationships as a barrier to the oppressive and hostile world. To do this, Steinbeck utilizes a range of symbolic characters and explores the flawed nature of the American dream. By reinstating the power of relationships, exploring key characters of society through revolving around contextual influence, Steinbeck conveys the value of friendship, importance of dreams and attitudes to freedom The importance of human relationships, dreams and freedom is epitomized in the opening chapter where Steinbeck constructs` a strongly idealistic atmosphere as a location to introduce his two key characters. The land is described with poetic imagery of “golden foothill slopes” where “sycamores with mottled, white, recumbent limbs and branches that arch over the pool”. This description lends contextual evidence of the Californian landscape and lives up to the naming of Soledad, which is a translation to loneliness, a large aspect during the Great Depression. The unspoilt scenery of purity and perfection is “beaten hard by tramps” when man decides to enter. This setting is particularly poignant as it foreshadows...
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...NORTH AMERICAN FICTION BRIEF INTRODUCTION: Before starting our study of American Fiction we must understand what American Literature is in itself and which pieces of writing we can include within this label. It is believed that when a piece is written in North America, more precisely in the USA, it would automatically be given this epithet. But it should be taken into account that this idea is quite broad and doesn’t reflect the real essence of the term. However, there is also another definition that gathers this essence: American Literature is the one that represents the Americanism, the singularity of the USA philosophy and culture. This way, instead of focusing on who the author is, it is focused on the content of the writing. In that which concerns Fiction, the following documents are the ones considered as narrative: Speeches Letters Short Stories Essays Political Documents Sermons Novels Diaries 1 FIRST LITERARY EXPRESSIONS The first documents in which the idea of Americanism is very present are the Sermons. They respond to the strict Protestantism settled in the New Continent after the arrival of the Pilgrim Fathers and Puritans in the Mayflower (1620) and the Arabella (1630). They established a theocratic community whose main and only point of reference was the Bible. That is why the idea of the ‘city upon a hill’ is still very present in American mentality. As we all know...
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...-“Strauss versus Brains and Genes or the postmodern vengeful return of positivism.” This essay first started as an answer to what I deemed very problematic, i.e. the disputation which I found in bad faith (un-authentic to use a philosophical term or an existentialist term), of the mediatic, dashing Harvard cognitivist/linguist, Steven Pinker, in his article “Neglected novelists, embattled English professors, tenure-less historians, and other struggling denizens of the Humanities, Science is not your Enemy—a plea for an intellectual truce,” (The New Republic--August 19). Then the counter-arguments against Steven Pinker’s conception of the “human animal” developed into an essay arguing that the New Positivism, not science, or technology per say, was the enemy of humanism and its avatars as such. The point is not to become a postmodern anti-scientific Luddite. Genomics are changing the world in ways we barely imagine yet and will re-define what it means to be human (a becoming already imagined by science fiction writers, social critics and critical thinkers such as the feminist Donna Haraway with her “Cyborg”). The point is also not to turn “anti-brainiac.” Without a brain we would become vegetative, a vegetal…, i.e. a purely “natural body,” a “zombie.” If we make use of this “computer” allegory which is an analog but not a homologue, and which is used ad nauseam used by psycho-biologists, without a hard-drive there is no software. But is this a reason to say that the software...
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...critical theory today critical theory today A Us e r - F r i e n d l y G u i d e S E C O N D E D I T I O N L O I S T Y S O N New York London Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 270 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016 Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 2 Park Square Milton Park, Abingdon Oxon OX14 4RN © 2006 by Lois Tyson Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business Printed in the United States of America on acid‑free paper 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 International Standard Book Number‑10: 0‑415‑97410‑0 (Softcover) 0‑415‑97409‑7 (Hardcover) International Standard Book Number‑13: 978‑0‑415‑97410‑3 (Softcover) 978‑0‑415‑97409‑7 (Hardcover) No part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data Tyson, Lois, 1950‑ Critical theory today : a user‑friendly guide / Lois Tyson.‑‑ 2nd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0‑415‑97409‑7 (hb) ‑‑ ISBN 0‑415‑97410‑0 (pb) 1. Criticism...
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...Reading the Novel in English 1950–2000 i RTNA01 1 13/6/05, 5:28 PM READING THE NOVEL General Editor: Daniel R. Schwarz The aim of this series is to provide practical introductions to reading the novel in both the British and Irish, and the American traditions. Published Reading the Modern British and Irish Novel 1890–1930 Reading the Novel in English 1950–2000 Daniel R. Schwarz Brian W. Shaffer Forthcoming Reading the Eighteenth-Century Novel Paula R. Backscheider Reading the Nineteenth-Century Novel Harry E. Shaw and Alison Case Reading the American Novel 1780–1865 Shirley Samuels Reading the American Novel 1865–1914 G. R. Thompson Reading the Twentieth-Century American Novel James Phelan ii RTNA01 2 13/6/05, 5:28 PM Reading the Novel in English 1950–2000 Brian W. Shaffer iii RTNA01 3 13/6/05, 5:28 PM © 2006 by Brian W. Shaffer BLACKWELL PUBLISHING 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK 550 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia The right of Brian W. Shaffer to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs, and...
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...CONTE NTS Introduction 1 WHY YOU SHOULD VISIT CEMETERIES: Survivorship Bias 2 DOES HARVARD MAKE YOU SMARTER?: Swimmer’s Body Illusion 3 WHY YOU SEE SHAPES IN THE CLOUDS: Clustering Illusion 4 IF 50 MILLION PEOPLE SAY SOMETHING FOOLISH, IT IS STILL FOOLISH: Social Proof 5 WHY YOU SHOULD FORGET THE PAST: Sunk Cost Fallacy 6 DON’T ACCEPT FREE DRINKS: Reciprocity 7 BEWARE THE ‘SPECIAL CASE’: Confirmation Bias (Part 1) 8 MURDER YOUR DARLINGS: Confirmation Bias (Part 2) 9 DON’T BOW TO AUTHORITY: Authority Bias 10 LEAVE YOUR SUPERMODEL FRIENDS AT HOME: Contrast Effect 11 WHY WE PREFER A WRONG MAP TO NO MAP AT ALL: Availability Bias 12 WHY ‘NO PAIN, NO GAIN’ SHOULD SET ALARM BELLS RINGING: The It’llGet-Worse-Before-It-Gets-Better Fallacy 13 EVEN TRUE STORIES ARE FAIRYTALES: Story Bias 14 WHY YOU SHOULD KEEP A DIARY: Hindsight Bias 15 WHY YOU SYSTEMATICALLY OVERESTIMATE YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND ABILITIES: Overconfidence Effect 16 DON’T TAKE NEWS ANCHORS SERIOUSLY: Chauffeur Knowledge 17 YOU CONTROL LESS THAN YOU THINK: Illusion of Control 18 NEVER PAY YOUR LAWYER BY THE HOUR: Incentive Super-Response Tendency 19 THE DUBIOUS EFFICACY OF DOCTORS, CONSULTANTS AND PSYCHOTHERAPISTS: Regression to Mean 20 NEVER JUDGE A DECISION BY ITS OUTCOME: Outcome Bias 21 LESS IS MORE: The Paradox of Choice 22 YOU LIKE ME, YOU REALLY REALLY LIKE ME: Liking Bias 23 DON’T CLING TO THINGS: Endowment Effect 24 THE INEVITABILITY OF UNLIKELY Events: Coincidence 25 THE CALAMITY OF CONFORMITY: Groupthink 26 WHY...
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...even-handed, detailed presentation of these disparate cultures and divergent views—not with cool, dispassionate fairness but rather with a warm, involved interest that sees and embraces both sides of each issue…Superb, informal cultural anthropology—eye-opening, readable, utterly engaging.” —Carole Horn, The Washington Post Book World “This is a book that should be deeply disturbing to anyone who has given so much as a moment’s thought to the state of American medicine. But it is much more…People are presented as [Fadiman] saw them, in their humility and their frailty—and their nobility.” —Sherwin B. Nuland, The New Republic 3/462 “Anne Fadiman’s phenomenal first book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, brings to life the enduring power of parental love in an impoverished refugee family struggling to protect their seriously ill infant daughter and ancient spiritual traditions from the tyranny of welfare bureaucrats and intolerant medical technocrats.” —Al Santoli, The Washington Times “A unique anthropological study of American society.” —Louise Steinman, Los Angeles Times “Some writers…have done exceedingly well at taking in one or another human scene, then conveying it to others—James Agee, for instance…and George Orwell…It is in such company that Anne Fadiman’s writing belongs.” —Robert Coles, Commonweal...
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