When the strict path the characters are forced to follow is reveled they attempt to escape ". . . the plots which entrap them, and then proceed to create their own story by exercising a freedom controlled by personal morality" (Thoms 56). ... Norton defines theme as "a generalized, abstract paraphrase of the inferred central or dominant idea of a story" (228). ... The quest for freedom is the principal idea expressed in both narratives. ... The English novel of the nineteenth century depended highly upon the structure of the narrative. ... Gaskell's characters are crucial to binding t...

• Word Count: 1673
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

We read fiction not to gain new information so much as to experience the ideas and feelings a story inspires within us. ... Fiction evokes ideas and feelings indirectly by triggering emotional responses and mental pictures. ... The meaning of fictional works is personal. ... Characters are the invented, imaginary persons in a dramatic or narrative work, which are given human qualities and behavior. ...

• Word Count: 879
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

They can be comprised of only one narrative or a collection of short individual stories. ... A third type is the personal narrative. ... The book contains ideas that may be inappropriate or misunderstood by younger readers and would be better utilized by high school students who can interpret and appreciate the material. ...

• Word Count: 1310
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Apart from this, even the over- didacticism of its first person narrative "it is as didactic as modern pop songs "comes off the page with such absorbed conviction, such persuasive truth and emotional power that one accepts it. ... The part that says that the first person narrative is as didactic or informative as modern pop songs is such an ill-advised statement. ... Throughout The Outsiders, Hinton's own ideas and opinions surface. I got the feeling that it was a very personal novel for Hinton and at the end of the book it was almost like I had gotten to know the author. ...

• Word Count: 1477
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

When the audience is able to draw it's own story around an author's narrative, the experience is more satisfying than when every detail is presented through the cinematic medium - an active audience is happier than a passive one. ... The novel installs all these ideas, but it also allows the reader to use their creativity. ... Portrayed in both the novel and movie is Mary Anne's change in personal hygiene. ...

• Word Count: 1208
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

A recurring theme in Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations," is the reversal of stereotypical gender roles. Victorian women were seen as kind and nurturing, men were seen as strong, imposing and tolerant; Mrs Joe is mean, coldhearted and chastising (pp 11) while Joe is caring, submissive and gentle (...

• Word Count: 1179
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

The capacity to choose what we integrate into our personal repertoire of images and ideas is both a central function of the moral imagination and a central feature of one's own personal character formation. ... Her reasoning and emotions are kept internal, while she does portrays her ideas in her letter to Mrs. ... The narrative technique of psychonarration helps the reader understand how Mr. ...

• Word Count: 2048
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Spark covers ideas like the psychology of people and how they react to situations that impact their life negatively. In The Bachelors (1960), the narrative revolves around a group of young bachelors who seem normal until the readers are introduced to Patrick Seton, a spiritualist whose morals are inhumane. ... Spark shows her ideas of the psychology of people by using Patrick and Wanda and how they respond to situations that they are stuck in. ... Aside from this, we also learn that he has personal problems. ... Here, Spark relates to the idea of paranoia and madness because it shows how Pa...

• Word Count: 2565
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

The personal experience of the characters displays the hope one has for something new with hidden truth. ... Pynchon uses word choice and personal dialogue to display Oedipa's optimism as she travels to talk more with John Nesfastis: She had caught site of the historical marker only because she"d gone back, deliberately, to Lake Inverarity one day, owing to this, what you might have to call, growing obsession, with "bringing something of herself" - even if that something was just her presence - to the scatter of business interest that had survived Inverarity. (72) Pynchon exhibits Oed...

• Word Count: 3055
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: High School