11th Grade

Philip Larkin: Poems

Larkin's idealised image of nostalgia of 1914 is reiterated through the use of the roman numerals, 'MCMXIV' to represent the Roman Empire. The title gives the overriding impression that although Larkin was not born until 1922 – subsequent to the...

College

Sweat

Delia Jones is a weak protagonist who goes through unfortunate events with her husband to emerge as a strong protagonist in the end of the story “Sweat”. Delia starts off emotionally weak at the beginning of the story because she cannot stand up...

College

Germinal

As a naturalist, Emile Zola’s use of symbolism is often eschewed in favor of his overall themes and plots. Zola believed in the strictly observational approach to novels and his novels set out to depict the industrialization of sex, violence,...

College

Evil Dead 2

In 1986, Sam Raimi released Evil Dead 2, which became the quintessential shock and gore movie. News shows like 20/20 would use the movie to scare parents with visions of their teenage children renting it from the local video store. Even though...

College

Beloved

It seems strange that of all the characters in Beloved, that Nicole Coonradt would focus on the white woman. Amy Denver is not a woman that is terribly prominent in the narrative and in fact, it’s extremely easy to forget her in the interaction...

College

The History of the Franks

The portrayal of heretics in Gregory of Tours’ History of the Franks suggests that those who do not subscribe to the orthodox Christian system of beliefs and practices are akin to being a plague upon the entire world. It is Gregory’s belief that...

College

Bran Nue Dae

Jimmy Chi’s 1990 musical Bran Nue Dae is widely credited with and lauded for being the first truly aboriginal musical. It was a cultural breakthrough in Australia that achieved great success by bringing the aboriginal experience into the spotlight...

12th Grade

Cloudstreet

It is through Tim Winton’s primary characters, including Quick and Rose, as well as the manipulation of other literary elements that concepts such as family and identity are explored within Cloudstreet (1991).

The concept of family is universal...

College

Elizabeth Bishop: Poems

In their poems “At the Fishhouses” and “For the Union Dead”, Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell respectively examine the landscapes of their childhoods as a means of determining what is lost in mankind’s strives towards modernity and what...

College

Utilitarianism

In the mind of John Stuart Mill, free education for children is one of the major duties of society in order to maximize not only happiness but a higher form of pleasure. In fact, John Stuart Mill’s version of utilitarianism was the basis of most...