Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Now and then character analysis
Now and then character analysis
Now and then character analysis
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Character Analysis of Mr. Carter in John Collier's Thus I Refute Beelzy
In many stories, the protagonist is often described as the hero or the "good guy" of the work. In John Collier's short story, "Thus I Refute Mr. Beelzy", this is not exactly the case. Mr. Carter, the "I" in the title, is a cruel, selfish father, who is locked in a struggle with the invisible "Mr. Beelzy" for the love and soul of his son, Small Simon.
Mr. Carter enjoys possessing power and being in control. He is used to everyone doing what he wants, without question. As a dentist, he is able to legally exercise this power on a helpless patient. They are at his mercy when they lie sedated on his chair. Mr. Carter comes home early because two patients cancelled their appointments, though the reason for this is not given. After studying the story, it became safe to assume that they cancelled because of the pain that was about to be caused on them by Mr. Carter. As a father, he is able to exercise this power on his little son. Small Simon is under his father's mercy when he cringes underneath the weight of his father's "big, white, dentist's hand." Even Mr. Carter's wife is afraid of his anger. She is unwilling to say anything bad about him, even though she "knows what Big Simon's ideas are.'" Even though Big Simon is not in the room, his power precedes him. Also, Mrs. Carter is not, as the reader would assume, the one to object to the idea of the beating of Small Simon. Betty, not Mrs. Carter, calls out, "Don't!'" before Big Simon says that he will beat Small Simon. Betty, not Mrs. Carter, reacts and rushes up the stairs at the sound of something seeming to "tear the air apart." In addition to this, Mr. Carter shows supremacy over Small Simon by the very fact that he names himself "Big" Simon, and his young son, "Small" Simon. He even goes so far as to say, "I have been longer in the world than you have, so naturally I am older and wiser." In this way, Mr. Carter is establishing supremacy over Small Simon, in his mind.
In conclusion, Jay Gatsby is a magnificence character throughtout the story because of his modest beliefs, genuwine heart, and generous will. A hero is often a man that is usually of divine ancestry. In the story The Great Gatsby, Gatsby’s reach to become a hero not only for the wealth, but for the true love. Gatsby is the great hero in this story because of his elegant figure that rule over one person’s life, which is Nick Carroway.
Despite lacking recognition when it was first published, The Great Gatsby--by F. Scott Fitzgerald--is now regarded as both a literary classic and a great American novel. While well known for its use of symbolism, The Great Gatsby uses other literary techniques to an effective degree. One of the several techniques Fitzgerald used was one of creating mirrors between scenes. A good example of this is how chapter eight is a dark mirror to chapter two; several events that occur in chapter two appear again in chapter eight; however, when they appear again they do with a dark twist to signal the different tone the story has taken. By comparing how Gatsby, the advertisement of Doctor T.J. Eckleberg, and the theme-- the uninhibited pursuit of wealth
In Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the reader has the experience to understand what it was like to live in an insane asylum during the 1960’s. Kesey shows the reader the world within the asylum of Portland Oregon and all the relationships and social standings that happen within it. The three major characters’ groups, Nurse Ratched, the Black Boys, and McMurphy show how their level of power effects how they are treated in the asylum. Nurse Ratched is the head of the ward and controls everything that goes on in it, as she has the highest authority in the ward and sabotages the patients with her daily rules and rituals. These rituals include her servants, the Black Boys, doing anything she tells them to do with the patients.
“You can’t repeat the past?... Why of course you can.” (110 This enduring quote from the famous novel The Great Gatsby by none other than F. Scott Fitzgerald stirs the mind and imagination in wonder of the very character who had uttered these words. Infamous Gatsby is the mysterious man behind the lavish and enthralling parties; a man who made his money and his image in that of a king. But, who is this mysterious man? How did he receive the great fortune of developing all of which he had possessed? He had it all, but we are on the outside looking in; did this man with everything really have nothing at all? If Jay Gatsby is the real person we see him to be, then James Gatz is nonexistent. The day that the world had gained Gatsby, it had also lost James Gatz. There is a mysterious motive behind every move Jay Gatsby makes; these meticulously planned out moves will ultimately lead to an unfortunate and untimely demise.
“Now, at last, Virgil is allowed not to see, allowed to escape from the glaring, confusing world of sight and space, and to return to his own true being, the touch world that has been his home for almost 50 years.” (Sacks, “To See and Not See” (41)
The story of The Great Gatsby is told through the narration of Nick Carraway. It is apparent from the first chapter of the book, that the events Nick writes about had a profound impact on him and caused a tremendous shift in his views of the world. Nick Carraway is as much a symbol as the green light or blue eyes. Nick Carraway is unreliable because Fitzgerald intended him to be, he is heavily biased, extremely dishonest and a hypocrite.
In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, there is an abundance of minor characters. Three of these characters, Dill, Alexandra, and Calpurnia are especially significant because of the influence they had on Scout.
When looking at Jay Gatsby, one sees many different personalities and ideals. There is the gracious host, the ruthless bootlegger, the hopeless romantic, and beneath it all, there is James Gatz of North Dakota. The many faces of Gatsby make a reader question whether they truly know Gatsby as a person. Many people question what exactly made Jay Gatsby so “great.” These different personas, when viewed separately, are quite unremarkable in their own ways. When you take them together, however, you discover the complicated and unique individual that is Jay Gatsby.
As the eras changed, American culture did as well. Literary works including The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne reveal to us two main characters that were alienated by their societies and not valued for their true worth as individuals. Both main characters in these novels endure an identity crisis which then leads to them becoming their own tragic hero/heroine. Both F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby and Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The Scarlett Letter, depict characters that reinvent themselves to conform to their own ideas of how they should live and how people should perceive them. In both contexts, the main characters are both, in a way, trapped in their lifestyles. Jay Gatsby of The Great Gatsby had spent his whole life dedicating himself to win a beautiful girl (not of the same status) and Hester Prynne of The Scarlett Letter not being able to be herself because her perfect Puritan society didn’t accept the fact that she was an individual. In the end, both characters leave their marks and leave us as readers to decipher our thoughts and opinions on them.
The Great Gatsby, Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, was first published in 1925. It is a tale of love, loss, and betrayal set in New York in the mid 1920’s. It follows Nick Carraway, the narrator, who moves to Long Island where he spends time with his cousin, Daisy Buchanan, and meets his mysterious neighbor, Jay Gatsby. Nick can be viewed as the voice of reason in this novel. He is a static character that readers can rely on to tell the truth, as he sees it. But not only the readers rely on him. Daisy, Gatsby, Tom, and Jordan all confide in him and trust that he will do the right thing. Nick Carraway is the backbone of the book and its main characters.
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a peculiar story about boys stranded on an island, and the plot and characters relate to many prevailing events and problems. A specific problem that is currently occurring is the mutual hatred and enmity between North Korea and South Korea. This is a current event, but the North and South’s hostility has been ongoing since 1945, when Korea was split into North and South, Communist and Capitalist. When the 38th parallel(Border between North and South Korea) was created, Kim Il-Sung ruled the North, and Syngman Rhee ruled the South. As of now, a power hungry dictator, Kim Jong-un rules the north, and an optimistic president who wants to see change was recently elected in the South, named Moon Jae-in. In Golding’s book, Ralph is a character who aimed to keep everyone alive and to stay together. Jack on the other hand, wanted to have fun and hunt, and although he also wanted to be rescued, he made no effort to help. In this sense, North Korea is a clear representation of the character Jack and his quest for power, and opposingly, South Korea is a representation of Ralph and his strive for order, democracy, and civilization.
The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is known for having themes of wealth and luxury. However, in chapter 2, the reader is exposed to an opposite theme. The narrator, Nick Carraway, describes the valley of ashes a place as “fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens”. Shifting to today’s terms, the valley of ashes can be as a “dumpster”, not only physically, but socially, picturing the desolation and poverty found in that place. The author also introduces the figure of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg’s eyes, which represent the eyes of God watching the decay of human morals and the increase in iniquities during the 1920’s. There lives Mr. Wilson and Mrs. Wilson a couple that are bound to frustration
According to Aristotle, a tragic hero character can be defined to be of noble status, but not necessarily virtuous. There is some aspect of his personality that he has in great abundance but it is this that becomes his tragic flaw and leads to his ultimate demise. However, his tragic ending should not simply sadden the reader, but teach him or her a life lesson. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby is the tragic hero who portrays the corruption of the American dream through his tragic flaw. His devastating death at the end of the novel portrays the dangers of centering one’s life on money and other materialistic things and warns the reader not to follow his foolish steps. Jay Gatsby is the epitome of a tragic hero; his greatest attribute of enterprise and ambition contributes to his ultimate demise but his tragic story inspires fear amongst the audience and showcases the dangers of allowing money to consume one’s life.
Crooks was the loneliest person because of the segregated ranch. Crooks, in Ch.4, was excited to have company because himself and everybody else are in separate bunkhouses. Steinbeck describes Crooks as a smart african american that reads. Pretty much was a huge controversial topic. This actually shows what time period it is, so about the 30’s ish. Since the ranch is segregated, then that means that He is treated differently because the color of his skin.
Is everybody born purely good inside? Or are we all filled with certain amounts of good and evil? In Lord of the Flies by William Golding a plane full of school boys lands on a deserted island, killing all the adults. With no adult supervision or civilization the boys descend back into the madness and savagery that is human nature. In Lord of the Flies by william Golding his character Simon uses spiritual power by finding out what the beast really is, showing how he failed to warn the others, how his use of the power affected the book as a whole, and how spiritual power is in the real world.