Free Great Books Essays and Papers

Throughout the Great Books pantheon we have read and discussed the works of various individuals who aim to answer important questions such as, how should one live a life of virtue, what does the most functional society look like, is there any meaning to life at all?, and as students we have been challenged to do more than to take each of these works at face value. In reading any book, it is important to evaluate the content so that the author’s purpose in writing is properly ascertained and so that

Between Good Books and Great Books Reading is fundamental, but some books are more so than others. Surely Daniel Steele is a far cry from William Shakespeare, but what exactly is the difference? Even in the realm of quality literature there are still "good" books and "great" books. The difference between the importance of good and great books is also why it is so important to read great literature: Great books have a scope much larger than good ones. Good and great books differ by nature

the book and read, it is that simple", stated Mortimer J. Adler (...). This can be appliable though, in people who know how to read. Frederick Douglass, a black slave, desired to be educated and literate but he had to face many obstacles to achieve this. His essay "Learning to Read and Write" describes his attempts of getting literate and how he finally achieved his goal. Douglass' essay should not be included in Adler's list of Great Books, but instead it should be considered a good book, because

Banned Book Essay “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald This sentence is a very famous quote that has helped change the meaning of literature today. Many times throughout history books such as a classic like The Great Gatsby have been banned for an assortment of reasons. Such fine literature as The Great Gatsby should not be banned. Although it may have some vulgar language doesn’t mean it is not a book that will

Good to Great Book Review To transform a good company to great company is all manages’ dream, but only few of them make it. To find out the core factors which lead to a good company became a great company is very difficult, because in different era, different industry companies face different opportunities and threats. To begin the research for the Good-to-Great study, Jim Collins and his research team searched for companies that: performed at or below the general stock market for at least fifteen

Great Expectation The book that I read is called Great Expectation By Charles Dickens. It is based mainly in London but also has scenes in Pip's home town. Which is a small village in the country? Where he and his sister Mrs. Joe and her husband Joe Gargary live and Pips was raised. The setting of where Pips is is not as important as what is there with him. There are many contrasts to good and evil or more justice and innocence. There are so many important characters in this book that it

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1995. A seemingly easy read, The Great Gatsby has won over critics around the world, and rightfully so, has become one of today's greatest classics due to its complex literary content. The narrator of the novel, Nick Carraway, grew up in the Midwestern United States and went to school at Yale University. Returning home after traveling a great deal, he is discontent and decides to move to the East in 1922, renting a house

The Wars of Alexander the Great 336-323 BC The book I have chosen to preview is The Wars of Alexander the Great by Waldemar Heckel. The purpose of this essay is to inform the reader of the value of this book. I would like the reader to understand if this book would be a good “go to” book for an assignment about Alexander the Great. The purpose of this book is to give more information about Alexander the Great’s life during his war time and also what transpired before his reign. This essay will explain

F. Scott Fitzgerald 's well recognized novel The Great Gatsby has been converted into different film throughout the years. Its most recent version is the 2013 film which carries the same name. The book describes aspects throughout the story and the book displays them in a very common manner. Two of the terms that are similar are symbolism and its protagonists. In the same way, symbolism is emphasized equally in the book as well as the 2013 film. The symbols that are described in these two publications

Introduction The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a historical fiction novel which revolves around Jay Gatsby’s struggle to earn back his love, Daisy, after 5 years without seeing her. Published in 1925, the story is set during the “Jazz Age” right after World War 1. You will most likely enjoy this book if you find historical fiction books with romance and action interesting. Because this book is a pillar of American literature, many people adore The Great Gatsby. Characters The

Book review of Great Expectations ================================= Great Expectations is a tale of a young man raised high above his position in society by a mysterious person. Despite the book lacking in length, it more than makes up for in its remarkable characters and gripping story. It was published serially in 1860 and issued in book form in 1861. The third person mixed with first person narrative takes Pip (Philip Pirrip) through a journey he would never forget. He was brought

Within or Without? In the second chapter of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway states, “I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life” (Fitzgerald 36). While this quote is used in both the novel and Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 movie adaptation, it bears different context between the two. In the novel, Nick is presented as one of, if not the most pivotal character of the story. He is indisputably “within” and has countless key interactions

The Great Depression America 1929-1941 by Robert S. McElvaine The Great Depression America 1929-1941 by Robert S. McElvaine covers many topics of American history during the "Great Depression" through 1941. The topic that I have selected to compare to the text of American, Past and Present, written by Robert A. Divine, T.H. Breen, George M. Frederickson and R. Hal Williams, is Herbert Hoover, the thirty-first president of the United States and America's president during the horrible "Great Depression"

Summary At the onset of this book, the reader is introduced to the narrator, Nick Carraway, who relates the past happenings that construct the story of Jay Gatsby and Nick during the summer of 1922. After fighting in World War I, or the Great War as Nick called it, Nick left his prominent family in the West of America for the North where he intended to learn the bond business. Nick was originally supposed to share a house in West Egg near New York City with an associate of his, but the man backed

novel The Great Divorce, the characters become ghosts traveling through heaven and hell and are faced with the decision on where they will spend eternity. When readers go through Lewis’s novel, some might ask the question, why do the ghosts refuse to stay in heaven and choose to go to hell? When analyzing the novel on the surface, this question can ponder a reader with confusion. But the way to answer this

The Great Gatsby is a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in the 1920s. The story is narrated by Nick Carraway as he moves from the Midwest to New York City, in the fictional town of West Egg along Long Island. The story is primarily focused on the attractive, young and mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his love for Daisy Buchanan. Pursuing the American Dream, Nick lived next door to Jay Gatsby, and across the bay from his cousin, Daisy, and her husband,Tom Buchanan. It is then that Nick is

Luhrmaan’s movie. The Great Gatsby movie is large and showy. The parties are larger than life and the dramatic scenes are too drawn out. The Great Gatsby, directed by Baz Luhrmaan is a completely enjoyable film, but it is nowhere as significant as the book by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The casting of some outstanding actors and actresses is one of the redeemable qualities of the overdone and noisy movie. Leonardo DiCaprio embodies Gatsby as he is described in the book. Gatsby always seems to

while a tip that one may be on decline might entice people to sell. The fact that no one really knows what is going to happen one way or the other is inconsequential. John Kenneth Galbraith uses the concept of speculation as a major theme in his book The Great Crash 1929. Galbraith’s portrayal of the market before the crash focuses largely on massive speculation of overvalued stocks which were inevitably going to topple and take the wealth of the shareholders down with it. After all, the prices could

Undeniably, Jay Gatsby feels a strong connection to Daisy in both film and novel versions of The Great Gatsby. However, we receive the impression that Daisy does not reciprocate his feelings as strongly. "He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: ‘I never loved you,’” (Fitzgerald 109). As we know, Daisy never could leave Tom. Gatsby expected Daisy to forget her life and run into his arms. Nick then confronts Gatsby, telling him he cannot repair the past. To that, Gatsby

Too Simple The Great Gatsby, a timeless literary classic, has failed time and time again to achieve success in Hollywood. Over the years countless famous directors have tried, and subsequently failed, to incorporate the complex emotions, colorful characters, and vivid plot of the novel into a short 90 minute feature. Baz Luhrmann recently took on the task in his 2013 rendition of The Great Gatsby, in which he tries to capture the essence of the novel. However, Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby over-simplifies