Literary Response Essays

  • Literary Response to Gulliver’s Travels

    513 Words  | 2 Pages

    Literary Response to Gulliver’s Travels 1.) Interpret the ending of Book IV in Gulliver’s Travels. How are we to understand Gulliver’s very strange behavior? In Book IV, Lemuel Gulliver’s fourth and final journey places him in the land of the Houyhnhnm, a civilization of intellectual, sensible horses, and senseless, inferior, and indecent humans. As Swift does throughout the novel, he ties his satire closely with Gulliver’s perceptions of the different world around him in his last adventure;

  • A Review of Responses to the National Endowment for the Arts Report, “Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America”

    2313 Words  | 5 Pages

    comparison of literary reading surveys from 1982, 1992, and 2002, the National Endowment for the Arts released the following statement. The accelerating declines in literary reading among all demographic groups of American adults indicate an imminent cultural crisis. The trends among younger adults warrant special concern, suggesting that – unless some effective solution is found – literary culture, and literacy in general, will continue to worsen. Indeed, at the current rate of loss, literary reading

  • Prejudice and Racism in Heart of Darkness, A Grain of Wheat, and A small place

    2977 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Literary Response to Racism in Heart of Darkness, A Grain of Wheat, and A small place Racism and prejudice can be regarded as both societal and individual phenomena, developed and manifested at all levels of society; from government policy through organizational structures, inter-group and interpersonal interactions to intra-personal attitudes and feelings. Media and literature react to these perceptions and have taken part in shaping the attitudes and feelings of society. The novels "Heart

  • Virtue Rewarded

    2234 Words  | 5 Pages

    Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded - Sexuality and the Morally Didactic Novel We have difficulties as a modern audience appreciating the social anxieties reflected in Pamela, especially those surrounding morality and valuation of individuals within the social framework. The radical stance of even using phrases such as virtue and 'fortune' to denote Pamela's virginity are themselves loaded with a questioning of the social stratification in which she resides. The term 'Fortune' is perhaps the most playful

  • literary movie response

    737 Words  | 2 Pages

    Charlie and the Chocolate factory is a remake of the children’s classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, although the acting, setting, and story may seem silly at times, the movie actually have a logical message hidden beneath it all. The emotional connection, credibility, logic, purpose, and setting of the movie are extremely valid, and when you get past the childish cover up, it is really a serious movie. The use of pathos is very strong in the beginning and end of the movie, first with the

  • Lobster Boy Literary Response

    2433 Words  | 5 Pages

    Lobster Boy – Literary Response What is this story about? This classic story is about a twelve year old boy by the name of Samuel “Skiff” Beaman Jr. who has a really big problem. Since his mother passed away, his father has sunk into depression with his backsides attached to his couch and his eyes gazed at the television. Skiff’s pride and joy and his family

  • Literary Response In Drown, By Junot Diaz

    1549 Words  | 4 Pages

    Literary Response 3: Fiesta 1980 In the second story of Drown by Junot Diaz, Yunior and Rafa have already been in the United States of America for about three years. In this story, their mother’s sister came to the United States. They travel to the Bronx in order to celebrate their aunts and uncles’ arrival. In Fiesta 1980, we meet their father and sister, and learn more about their mother. Through the way they all interact, we learn more about each family member’s characteristics and their family

  • Responses to Human Crises Revealed in The Rite by Hiroko Takenishi

    848 Words  | 2 Pages

    Responses to Human Crises Revealed in The Rite In the short story "The Rite," Hiroko Takenishi tells of some of the horrors that took place during and after the bombing of Hiroshima. This story was a creative response to the actual devastation Hiroko witnessed. She may have chosen to write this story as fiction rather than an autobiography in order to distance herself from the pain. This work may have served as a form of therapy, by allowing her to express her feelings without becoming personal

  • Responses to the Challenge of Amoralism

    3555 Words  | 8 Pages

    Responses to the Challenge of Amoralism ABSTRACT: To the question "Why should I be moral?" there is a simple answer (SA) that some philosophers find tempting. There is also a response, common enough to be dubbed the standard response (SR), to the simple answer. In what follows, I show that the SA and SR are unsatisfactory; they share a serious defect. To the question, "Why should I be moral?" there is a simple answer (SA) that some philosophers find tempting. There is also a response, common

  • Responses to the Development of Capitalism DBQ

    1083 Words  | 3 Pages

    Responses to Capitalism DBQ Throughout the 19th century, capitalism seemed like an economic utopia for some, but on the other hand some saw it as a troublesome whirlpool that would lead to bigger problems. The development of capitalism in popular countries such as in England brought the idea that the supply and demand exchange systems could work in most trade based countries. Other countries such as Russia thought that the proletariats and bourgeoisie could not co-exist with demand for power and

  • Journey To My Past: Responses to Silent Dancing Story

    1927 Words  | 4 Pages

    Journey To My Past: Responses to Silent Dancing Story 1 Journal of Reading Silent Dancing Many people say, "Do not judge a book by its cover," but the cover of this book drew me into a journey of reading. The line of the letters Silent Dancing is on top; just below that is a picture of a beautiful four-year old girl. Perhaps she lives with a wealthy family; the girl looks so cute and pretty in her dress. Like many other young girls who usually love toys, she is holding a rattlebox; however

  • The Explanatory Gap: The Responses of Horgan and Papineau

    2935 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Explanatory Gap: The Responses of Horgan and Papineau The what it is like to undergo an experience is essential to understanding that experience. Known by philosophers as subjective qualia, these characteristics are part of what makes a felt experience exactly that experience. If we introspect our own mental states, this seems apparent and incontrovertible. Most philosophers are unwilling to grant that subjective qualia are non-physical states, and attempts to face this problem and maintain

  • Responses to the Doctrine of Mind-Brain Identity

    2365 Words  | 5 Pages

    Responses to the Doctrine of Mind-Brain Identity To be in pain is, for example, is to have one's c-fibres, or more likely a-fibres, firing in the central nervous system; to believe that broccoli will kill you is to have one's B(bk)-fibres firing, and so on. The Blackwell Companion to Philosophy:Chapter 5 'Philosophy of Mind' by William G. Lycan The theory or doctrine of mind-brain identity, as its name implies, denies the claim of dualists that mind and brain (or consciousness and matter)

  • Cameron’s The Terminator and Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale as Responses to Neo-conservatism

    1619 Words  | 4 Pages

    From abortion to pornography, the “war on drugs” to the end of the Cold War, the 1980s played host to considerable controversy; amidst such political uneasiness, then, it seems that Reagan Era rejuvenated middle-America’s latent conservatism. This return to the traditional Puritan values of the “nuclear family” also sponsored heightened State intervention and policing of the private sphere, thereby buttressing cultural myths of the dangerous, unknown “Other”. As such a fear of the Other was socially

  • Literary Response Essay 2 Happy Endings?

    623 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are different kinds of relationships that at a young age, we were taught that if we find love, we will reach of happy ending. I support Atwood’s point-of-view of love, and happiness categorize couples into unusual scenarios: they both fall in love and have a happy life; only one loves the other and they are unhappy or a love triangle. Consequently, death is the result of any scenario. To begin with, Atwood starts with a couple Mary and John that meets, and she gives scenario “A” as the happy

  • Jean-Paul Sartre and Louis Althusser as Responses to Vichy France

    1910 Words  | 4 Pages

    Jean-Paul Sartre and Louis Althusser as Responses to Vichy France The Second World War seems to have had an enormous impact on theorists writing on literary theory. While their arguments are usually confined to a structure that at first blush seems to only apply to theory, a closer examination finds that they contain an inherently political aspect. Driven by the psychological trauma of the war, theorists, particularly French theorists, find themselves questioning the structures that led to

  • Personal Response to Marge Piercy's A Work of Artifice

    1323 Words  | 3 Pages

    Personal Response to Marge Piercy's A Work of Artifice My initial response to "A Work of Artifice" by Marge Piercy, was one of profound sadness. In defining myself as the actual reader of this poem, my background becomes significant in my emotional response. "It is this reader who comes to the text shaped by cultural and personal norms and prejudices." (Bressler, p. 72) I come from a family of poets and published writers and have been reading and composing poetry since the age of 4. My first

  • Reader-Response to The Masque of the Red Death

    864 Words  | 2 Pages

    Reader-Response to The Masque of the Red Death Some major concepts of reader-response criticism, as discussed by Ross Murfin in The Scarlet Letter: Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism, are these: (1) reading is a temporal process in which the reader lives through the experience of the text and (2) the experience that the reader undergoes may mirror the subject of the story. One reader's experience of "The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe can exemplify these two concepts.

  • Writing Well by Donald Hall

    699 Words  | 2 Pages

    the second passage to be dull and watered-down, over-edited, and false sounding. Although the first passage could be improved by explaining where he was, what the disaster entailed, and who the funny-looking guy was, its honesty far outweighs the literary correctness of the second passage. Once again, in Hall's analysis of the narratives of Nina Chan, he seems to be putting too much focus on what is correct, and not enough on what makes an interesting work of literature. The impromptu theme does rely

  • The Writing Style and Beliefs of Kate Chopin

    2044 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Writing Style and Beliefs of Kate Chopin Kate Chopin was an extraordinary writer of the nineteenth century. Despite failure to receive positive critical response, she became one of the most powerful and controversial writers of her time. She dared to write her thoughts on topics considered radical: the institution of marriage and women's desire for social, economic, and political equality. With a focus on the reality of relationships between men and women, she draws stunning and intelligent