Do aliens exist? For eons, mankind has pondered over this peculiar question and a revealing truth has yet to be answered. However, one thing is known for sure, the discovery of intelligent alien life outside of Earth would provide support to prove and/or disprove fundamental beliefs that have been held for centuries. In any case, the discovery would serve as a cornerstone for humanity to make the quantum leap in understanding the purpose of our existence. Based on numerous examples, it is impossible
Lenin's Death as the Beginning of a Period of Struggle for Leadership between the Leading Bolsheviks Lenin’s death marked the beginning of a period of struggle for leadership between the leading Bolsheviks, at the end of which Stalin emerged as the undisputed and unchallenged dictator. Divisions in the party over the future of the Revolution enabled Stalin to position himself in a place of power, providing
The Overcoat by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol The hero of “The Overcoat”, Akaky Akakievich, engenders both hatred and pity from the reader. His meekness and his pathetic life deserve sympathy, while his utter detachment from his peers and his singular obsession with a coat are often despised. He is drastically different from any of his peers, but there is a certain purity in his way of life which the overcoat defiles. Akaky’s world is completely devoid of any excitement; his sole source of pleasure
Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” grabs its readers from the start and creates an unexpected twist at the end of the short story. Louise Mallard is given the news that her husband has died in a terrible train accident. To her surprise, he arrives home and “did not even know there had been one” (Chopin, 607). Upon the death of Louise who once believes she was a widow only to find that her husband is still alive, the confusion begins. The death of Louise is questioned by many critics as a state
Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise’s West Side Story (USA, 1961), a classic American film, and Mira Nair’s The Namesake (USA, 2006), a more contemporary film, both tell the story of young adults seeking out the American Dream. In both West Side Story and The Namesake, we see young people taking chances at love, while living out their lives and the American Dream. We experience the challenges that come with interracial relationships and the cultural influences that sadly put an end to the relationships
The setting in the short story “Shiloh” by Bobbie Ann Mason works well to accentuate the theme of the story. The theme portrayed by Mason is that most people change along with their environment, with the exception of the few who are unwilling to adapt making it difficult for things such as marriage to work out successfully. These difficulties are apparent in Norma Jean and Leroy’s marriage. As Norma Jean advances herself, their marriage ultimately collapses due to Leroy’s unwillingness to adapt with
In the short story "The Story of an Hour", Kate Chopin describes an hour of a woman, a new widow seems to be who incidentally recognizes a new free life and enjoys it just in a short moment; one hour right after getting a news of her husbands death in an accident. She has everything and nothing all in the same moment "an hour." At the beginning of the story, we know that Mrs. Mallard has a heart trouble. Why the author builds the central character with a heart disease? The heart trouble of Mrs
Stalin's Defeat of Both His Left and Right Opponents There were many combining factors that enabled Josef Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, better known as Josef Stalin, to so easily slip into the role of successor to Lenin. His path the leadership of the Communist party of the Soviet Union,(the CPSU) can be attributed to many factors and certainly cannot be put down to inevitable occurrence as Stalin was by no means the natural choice for leader following the death of Lenin in 1924 especially
work. “We all came out of Gogol’s Overcoat” (TN 78).7-17 Search of identity in, the “Namesake”. In an interview, Lahiri acknowledged the influence of Nikolai Gogol’s ‘The Overcoat’: ‘The Overcoat’ is such a superb story. It really does haunt me the way it haunts the character of Ashoke in the novel… Of course, without the inspiration of Nikolai Gogo...
Pyotr “Peter” Ilyich Tchaikovsky was one of the greatest and popular Russian composers of all time. Even though he died very mysteriously at the age of 53. His musical talent was so stellar, which led him to composing numerous symphonies, chamber compositions, vocal compositions, and dramatic works. With great musical ability comes great struggles within his personal life, much like other composers. Depression and love affairs were a constant struggle, but his music helped overcome those issues
There are many cultures that place a huge importance in names and the naming of their child. In these cultures a name is more than a nice-sounding label, a name can tell a story and pave way for a destiny. Many believe that while it might be easy to brush off names as less important than personality or parenting, it's not so far-fetched to say that a name is one's destiny. There is a fair amount of research in our society that backs up something called "nominative determinism.” This is the theory
The way of life in America and India are very different, making it hard for Indians to immigrate to America. They are two different worlds and trying to live both may become difficult. Jhumpa Lahiri has experienced the struggle of balancing the two worlds. In America, most people have table manners and eat with a spoon, fork, and or knife. While in India, food is mostly eaten with your bare hands. The hardships to fit in America as an immigrant are possessed in The Namesake written by Jhumpa Lahiri
“Symbols and Signs” by Vladimir Nabokov and “Dance in America” by Lorrie Moore are short stories that revolve around the theme of illness. Often times, when the affected individual with illness is young, the main characters are the parents who struggle with love, hopelessness, sorrow, and fear. The primary characters are the parents, even as their own stories are about their ill children. The families in the two stories are similar in ways that the parents cope with their child’s illness. However
A sportsman sketches, by Ivan Turgenev, tells several short stories about himself traveling around Russia. In some of these short stories, he writes about the treatment of the serfs. In the short story called The Agent, Turgenev tells us about an acquaintance of his named Arkady Pavlitch Pyenotchkin. A landowner and retired officer of the Guards, Arkady like many nobles of the time spends his life looking after his estate. In the treatment of his peasants he considers himself harsh but just, believing
One’s home often becomes an integral part of one’s identity. Since Gogol constantly struggles with his identity as a blend of both Bengali and American cultures, he also struggles to determine his home. It seems that he never truly feels at home, despite the great diversity among the places in which he lives. In The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri shows that one’s home and one’s identity are interconnected; consequently, Gogol’s struggles throughout the novel to determine his identity parallel his difficulty
Anton Chekhov’s short story The Lady with the Dog focuses on a temporary affair between two married lovers. This short story illustrates the abnormal things that normal people will do when they get put in certain environments. This short story was written in the late 1890’s, but demonstrates deep insight into how people behave and react when they are exposed to different social dynamics and different social environments. The field of social psychology didn’t formally start until the 1950’s, but
"The Nose" is a satirical short story by Nikolai Gogol written during his time living in St. Petersburg, Russia. During this time, Gogol's works were primarily focused on surrealism and the grotesque, with a romantic twist. "The Nose" tells the story of a St. Petersburg official whose nose leaves his face and develops a life of its own. The use of a nose as the main source of conflict in the story could have been due to Gogol's own experience with an oddly shaped nose, which was often the subject
The Secret of Identity In the book “The Namesake” Jhumpa Lahiri uses the psychoanalytical lens to show the reader that a western culture society, can challenge an Asian individual’s cultural identity in a negative manner. This is shown through Ashima, and Gogol, the conflicts between Gogol and society, and the technique of foreshadowing and flashback. Firstly, Gogol and Ashima start to confront society as Ashima starts to avoid growing accustomed to the new world, she has “the oldest address book
Relationships between friends and family helps a person shape their identity to who they want to become. Different generations all have different knowledge and their interactions with each other help shape who they become as an individual. The relationships between the different generations show the quest Ashima and Gogol went onto finding their identity, in America. In the novel, The Namesake written by Jhumpa Lahiri shows the interactions between generations and how they affect each other. Ashima
Nature regularly plays an integral role in all forms of literature whether it be novels, short stories, poetry, or screenplays. Ilfat Idilbi uses nature to the same extent in The Charm very effectively. In Idilbi's short story, nature is given the task of depicting the mood through the descriptions of the events as well as supplying symbolism that relates directly to the story line and the characters.. It also is a very important contributor to the depiction of the development of the main character