"The Mayor of Casterbridge"
In The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy, a person’s future lies in the hands of his or her past actions. The intelligent or ignorant decision that they make places an immediate or long-term effect on the rest of person’s life. Michael Henchard, whose interactions with the people of Casterbridge lead to his demise, is only one of the people who decide their own destiny through their actions. The decisions that the residents of Casterbridge make affect the rest of their lives. The good and evil characteristics which society possesses determine their fate.
The good qualities which a human holds leads to their future happiness. Initially, a person who understands their natural area results in a happy lifestyle for them. Farfrae, "determined to take him(Henchard) at his word," (105) illustrates his understanding attitude by showing no signs of anger or bitterness when Henchard fires him, and eventually Farfrae lives happily ever after with Elizabeth-Jane. Refusing to hold a grudge with Henchard for lying to him, Newson exhibits his worthy personality which gives Newson a prosperous life as the recognized father of Elizabeth-Jane. Appropriately, honesty provides for a life of pleasure. When Newson admits his plan of letting everyone think that he was lost at sea, it shows he is honest allowing him to live a successful life,. After Farfrae’s dismissal, Farfrae remains loyal to Henchard in that he promises not to detract from He...
The pair of twins sat down in their homeroom class. One was gentle and charming, and the other was intelligent and had a great future in store. Being twins one would think they were very alike but secretly they were different. Sitting in homeroom no classmate would think that they were sitting next to a new definition of evil. In The Devil in the White City by Erick Larson, he decides to include different styles of ambition and appearance vs. reality to illustrate, that ambition can break one or make one and everything is not what it seems. Larson’s style is to add to irreverent stories together so that the two major protagonists highlight each other’s traits, one trait is their ambition. Both Holmes and Burnham are ambitious but in two different ways, which shows that ambition can make one or break one. How do they have different ambitions? Take their jobs as an example Burnham is an architect and Holmes is a doctor. When one has different jobs one strives for different things. Burnham in the novel strived for the Chicago’s World’s Exposition be more striking that the Exposition in Paris, as expressed by him saying, “Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably will themselves not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will not die” (Larson 1). By him saying “no little plans” he is trying to explain that the Exposition could have no limits. His vision is to create a “White City” and was going to accomplished that no matter what. His great ambition was to surpass Paris and at the end he did but Holmes had different plans. Burnham thought that if he made a grand and huge exposition Chicago would always be remembered as a White City...
The Tomorrow City by Monica Hughes The plot of this book centres around two adolescents, David and Caro and an evil supercomputer which aspires to control the futuristic city of Thompsonville. Dr. Henderson, Caro's Father creates the "perfect" computer designed to solve all of the problems of Thompsonville by gaining almost complete power of the city. The computer then begins to make rash decisions of it's own. It decides that humans are incapable of making decisions of there
Unlike Aunt Abby, James offers a more sincere regard for Frado. He buys her a puppy and often protects her from his mother’s brutal thrashings. He even intends to bring her home with him to live. He does not possess the indifference of his father or the cowardice of his sister, Jane. Being one of the few characters who emits a genuine aura of concern James i...
Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides, inner struggles are paralleled with each setting. Taking place in the twentieth century each setting plays a significant role in explaining a theme in the novel. Fleeing Greece in a time of war and entering Detroit Michigan as immigrants parallel later events to the next generation of kin fleeing Grosse Pointe Michigan to San Francisco. These settings compliment a major theme of the novel, society has always believed to be missing something in their life and attempted to fill the missing piece.
Imprisonment is against human nature since God bestowed upon every person the gift of free will in order that they might choose where to go and how to live. Physical prisons are almost always the resulting mental image: dark dank cells where only people accused of severe crime go. Prisons, however, also exist mentally, as a result of the prisoner’s own sin locking the mind away from the unbinding relief freedom provides. The Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is a superb demonstration of prisons both mental and physical and how they affect the personality and choices of the characters. Three such characters under imprisonment in this classic tale situated during the French Revolution include Dr. Manette, Madame Defarge, and Sydney Carton.
In the essay “Stranger in the Village”, by James Baldwin, printed in The Arlington Reader, the author, a black African-American, narrates a personal history of the few times he visited Leukerbad, Switzerland. During his stay there he observes the Swiss culture and the reactions of their encounters with not only an American, but a black African-American. He compares this in contrary to the way White Americans react to his presence. He uses bona fide and particularized description and narration early in the essay. He transitions into comparing and contrasting, traveling, in his thoughts, back and forth from Switzerland to America. His tone is gradually growing more powerful as he progresses into argumentation and exemplification as
Utopia as a text is a clear reflection and representation of More’s passion for ideas and art. Through the character of Raphael, More projects and presents his ideas, concepts and beliefs of politics and society. More’s Utopia aims to create a statement on the operations and effectiveness of the society of England. This text is a general reflection of More’s idea of a perfectly balanced and harmonious society. His ideas and concepts of society somewhat contrast to the rest of 16th century England and indicate a mind that was far ahead of its time. A number of issues and themes are raised throughout the text to which More provides varying views and opinions. These are transmitted and projected through the perspectives of the fictional Raphael, More and Giles.
...e possible consequences of a swift assessment of a person with the whole elopement fiasco with Wickham and Lydia. While Wickham is evil for being ignorant to his wrongdoings, Austen wants the reader to see that Elizabeth and society is also wrong in being ignorant to Wickham’s true nature.
Through attention to detail, repeated comparison, shifting tone, and dialogue that gives the characters an opportunity to voice their feelings, Elizabeth Gaskell creates a divide between the poor working class and the rich higher class in Mary Barton. Gaskell places emphasis on the differences that separate both classes by describing the lavish, comfortable, and extravagant life that the wealthy enjoy and compares it to the impoverished and miserable life that the poor have to survive through. Though Gaskell displays the inequality that is present between both social classes, she also shows that there are similarities between them. The tone and diction change halfway through the novel to highlight the factors that unify the poor and rich. In the beginning of the story John Barton exclaims that, “The rich know nothing of the trials of the poor…” (11), showing that besides the amount of material possessions that one owns, what divides the two social classes is ability to feel and experience hardship. John Barton views those of the upper class as cold individuals incapable of experiencing pain and sorrow. Gaskell, however proves Barton wrong and demonstrates that though there are various differences that divide the two social classes, they are unified through their ability to feel emotions and to go through times of hardship. Gaskell’s novel reveals the problematic tension between the two social classes, but also offers a solution to this problem in the form of communication, which would allow both sides to speak of their concerns and worries as well as eliminate misunderstandings.
Thomas Hardy was a famous author and poet he lived from 1840 to 1928. During his long life of 88 years he wrote fifteen novels and one thousand poems. He lived for the majority of his life near Dorchester. Hardy got many ideas for his stories while he was growing up. An example of this was that he knew of a lady who had had her blood turned by a convict’s corpse and he used this in the story ‘The Withered Arm’. The existence of witches and witchcraft was accepted in his lifetime and it was not unusual for several people to be killed for crimes of witchcraft every year.
During the French Revolution there were many stories of tragedy. One of the stories of tremendous tragedy that was written about the French Revolution is called, A Tale of Two Cities. This is a touching story that ends in the amazing sacrifice of a man for his friend. The name of the man who sacrificed himself is Sydney Carton, and the man he saves was called Charles Draney. Each man was innocent, so should Sidney Carton have lied to the revolutionaries and sacrificed himself to save Charles Draney from execution? Sydney Carton should have given his life for Charles Draney and lied to revolutionaries. He should have done this for several reasons. First, Sydney Carton had less to lose then Charles Draney. Second, it was right to lie to the revolutionaries to save an innocent man. Third, sacrificing himself for Charles Draney gave Sidney Carton the chance to change his life and do a great deed.
Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge does an excellent job of displaying Casterbridge's realistic Western England setting through the architectural buildings, the behavior of the townspeople, and the speech used throughout the novel. All of these aspects combined provide a particular environment Hardy called "Wessex" which infuses the work with reality and a life.
Farfrae's position as Mayor is representative of modernization being welcomed into Casterbridge. Tradition has been replaced by the progression of modernism and those that try to hold on and maintain the traditional ways, like Henchard, can only fall behind and be forgotten. Both Henchard and Farfrae are representational of how modernization progresses over tradition and how the advance of technology makes us lose the traditional skills we once treasured. Henchard builds his whole life on such values and methods only to be left behind when Farfrae and his modern methods are accepted in Casterbridge. Just as England went through the change in agriculture due to industrialization, Thomas Hardy's Casterbridge society saw modernism progress over tradition; an inevitable change that will continue to happen until we run out of things to learn.
Austen's view of true love is clearly evident in the relationship between Darcy and Elizabeth. Elizabeth Bennet is an unfailingly attractive character, but what everybody notices about her is her spirited wit and good sense. She has a keen, critical mind when expressing her opinions and is unwilling to believe only the best of everyone. It is this intelligence that brings Mr. Darcy's admiration of her and her sense that she can rely on both mind and heart. Darcy carries the persona of a snobbish, arrogant, and self-assured man who assumes that he can get everything he wants. He explains his attitude by stating, " I was spoiled by my parents, who though good themselves … allowed, encouraged, almost taught me to be selfish and overbearing." However, his arrogance is challenged when he is faced to deal with the fact that ...
The Mayor of Casterbridge, which was subtitled The Life and Death of a Man of Character, was written by Thomas Hardy. The book’s main focus is “the spiritual and material career of Micheal Henchard, whose governing inclinations are tragically at war with each other” (Penguin Classics, Blurb). Henchard, in a fit of drunkenness, has decided to sell his wife and daughter at a fair. Afterwards, Henchard becomes a wealthy man and the mayor of the town Casterbridge. His wife and child seek him out years later. In the end, it is neither his supposed child, Elizebeth-Jane, nor his wife, Susan, who ruins him but his own self-destructive nature.