The young women in this novel are shown dealing with the conflict of choosing what is more important in their lives "self-cultivation, or domestic duties. ... Alcott "saw life whole, saw illness and death, sorrow and trouble and poverty as parts of life to be met with normality and courage- (Meigs, 351). To deal with the darker sides of life, Alcott teaches her young readers to develop the spiritual self, similar to the Transcendentalist movement, to which her father was a part of (Showalter, viii). ... Whereas Alcott seeks to grapple with the hardships of everyday life, putting her ch...

• Word Count: 1473
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Flatland is not only an intriguing and engaging book about geometry itself, it also teaches valuable lessons about what a negatively multicultural society would be like - one with distinct classes who are viewed as "better" or "worse" than others. ... I am really excited to use this book, along with other resources to help with learning activities that correspond to the book's topics, to increase my students' awareness of multiculturalism and provide a platform that presents mathematics in a new and life-application-level way. ... These views are dealt with at the beginning of the no...

• Word Count: 1407
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Gulliver combats this with an infatuating obsession with clothes, believing that people should be clothed and if so, they will remain civilized and human. ... This misfortune is a lesson to Gulliver, teaching him that death is inevitable and that he can be relieved from the fear of death. ... The novel "Robinson Crusoe" focuses on a situation where an individual is stranded and left to fight for survival. ... He believes that his fate has turned into providence, and for this reason he has been punished by God, and left on the island for a lesson in life. ... Despite his misfortune, he beli...

• Word Count: 1742
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The connections, and relevance it has to today's modern society and the lessons that can be learned from it, is what classifies it as being classic. ... However, its concerns with radical social reform, along with the workings of the imagination and an interest in nature, Frankenstein identifies itself as a classic Gothic novel with important links to the Romantic movement. ... It is important to note that the setting in the novel is very much concerned with nature and how it reflects the characters. This aspect links the Gothicism of the novel to the Romantic period, a period closely...

• Word Count: 2218
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Thus the actual cultural identity within the book can therefore be easily defined as one concerned primarily with money. There is a clear separation in the identity of those with old money and the nouveau rich. ... Olaf's College after only two weeks because he could not bear the janitorial job with which he was paying his tuition. ... Another brief history lesson: At the end of the first world war the role of women dramatically changed. ... After the war women generally came to the conclusion that there was more to life than taking care of children and a house. ...

• Word Count: 1946
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The novel follows the tragic story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientific prodigy, who discovers to secret to life and who uses it to bring to life a creature whom he assembled using various dead body parts. ... Yet, later on, as the creature becomes aware of how he came to be and is confronted with the cruelty of society, he decides to seek revenge on Victor Frankenstein's family and wreaks havoc upon the life of his creator. ... "My dreams were therefore undisturbed by reality; and I entered with the greatest diligence  into the search of the philosopher's stone  and the elix...

• Word Count: 1600
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Through his encounter with Ultima's magic, Antonio learns to sympathize with people who believe differently, open his mind to see life from shifting perspectives, and live in harmony with himself and others. ... In conclusion, the old healer Ultima lives and teaches the moral system that the novel espouses. ... Antonio is a man of learning since he understands that his experiences are lessons about life, and he knows that he must take life's lessons to heart, even when they are difficult, painful, or disappointing. At the end of the novel, on her deathbed, Ultima treats Antonio as ...

• Word Count: 1653
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

"(41), he tried to deny the friendship with Hassan. ... In some parts of this novel, readers can know how much Baba cared about Hassan. ... If there was no class structure in Afghanistan, Hassan's life would have been happier, and Baba would not have suffered from his mistake. ... "(40) Based on this idea, Assef also raped Hassan with saying "there's nothing sinful about teaching a lesson to a disrespectful donkey [Hazara]"(75). ... Hossein's novel warns us of this and that these irrational relationships described in the novel can happen not only in Afghanistan, ...

• Word Count: 1558
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Many children find entertainment in "transporting" themselves into mystical realms through reading fiction novels, watching movies, and the creative outlet of pure imagination. ... Each of his movies, however, was centered on moral lessons and the dynamics of good and evil, and Labyrinth is no exception. ... When she reaches her house, she argues with her "wicked " stepmother and is the left home alone with her baby brother, Toby, to tend to him for the night. ... Her quest begins, and with help from many creatures along the way, Sarah learns valuable life lessons and finds her way through the...

• Word Count: 2010
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The land of Corona is a gold mine to any producer bold enough to take it on the journey from an epic of a novel to a masterpiece of a film. This particular novel has enough explosive action to put even an Arnold movie to shame. ... His audacity would be his strong point in the movie and I think the perfect man to play King Aydrian Boudabras would be Orlando Bloom, with his recent popularity and the way women flock to him his role as Aydrian would be quite believable, though he"d need some acting lessons first. ... This movie will yield results like no other, drawing viewers from every crowd ...

• Word Count: 1403
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The scientists of today propose to create life from life. ... Is there a lesson in this for modern Man? ... Learning the secrets to creating life inevitably provides lessons to extending and improving life. ... Like a parent with a problem child, the decisions are generally made with the best intent but may not meet the needs or satisfy the urges of the new individual. ... At the end of the novel Victor relates his story to Walton to prevent him from making the same devastating mistakes that he made. ...

• Word Count: 1596
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

He used his own personal experiences, as well as Richard Hoggart's definition of a scholarship boy, to describe himself as someone who constantly struggled with balancing his life between his family responsibilities and his need for a better education. ... He was so focused on getting a good education that he failed to realize the lessons that were put in front of him. ... He read many non-fiction books, textbooks, and fictional novels, and asked himself why he read them. ... As he read Robinson Crusoe, for example, he knew that the main theme or lesson of the story was "the value of lear...

• Word Count: 1364
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The lack of a nuclear, loving family compelled Mary to desire the life of those who had what her family was unpredictable in giving. ... Her most famous novel, Frankenstein, Or, The Modern Prometheus, is the prime example of her depressing life. ... Benson the music master who gave the children weekly half-hour lessons in singing and reading music"(11) Mellor states. ... Mary Godwin, first introduced to Percy on November 11th when she was just fifteen years old, fled with him only two years later along with her stepsister, Jane. ... Traveling the country with Percy and others, Mary grew mo...

• Word Count: 1927
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The novel takes place in pre-Civil War America where slavery still exists, and it tells a story of a boy who goes on a quest to free Jim, a slave. ... In "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," by reversing the black-white paradigm, Huck ultimately learns of the invalidity of the ideology behind slavery and racism that has governed his beliefs about whites and blacks his entire life. ... Using this existing idea of whites, Mark Twain instead characterizes them by rather opposing traits, evidently criticizing their supposed "goodness " throughout the novel. ... The scam has surely confounded Huc...

• Word Count: 1798
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

In her novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley simultaneously spins both a gripping horror story and an intense line of philosophical questioning - specifically, what it means to be human. After the titular character imbues his gargantuan experiment with life, he is overcome with the repulsiveness of his creature and flees, rejecting it as a demon. ... Though his time with the DeLacys first incited his desire to share in the feelings of others' joy, he left feeling bitter, cursing his creator for granting him a life of solitude. ... Next, in his time with the DeLacys, the creature begins develo...

• Word Count: 1509
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

In her novel "Frankenstein," Mary Shelley asks her audience to consider the limits to which we can expand the category of human nature, and if her creature might be best understood as "human". ... Victor questions the principle of the cause of life, and realizes that, "to examine the causes of life, we must first have recourse to death. ... Upon his successful discovery of life, he collects numerous body parts and begins the creation of his creature. ... It is then that the creature begins to pay close attention to the lessons that the cottagers give the woman on their languag...

• Word Count: 2008
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Kurt Vonnegut's 1973 novel Breakfast of Champions satirizes many aspects of American ideology. ... Moreover, these crises are indicative of what Vonnegut sees as the flaws in American life. ... To begin with, color is the most innocent judgment that people used to indentify everything; especially, the U.S. is filled with ethnic culture diversity. ... Vonnegut almost denounced as follows, "make people believe that life had leading characters, minor characters, significant details, that it has lessons to be learned, tests to be passed, and a beginning, a middle, and an end" (215)....

• Word Count: 2114
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Niccolo Machiavelli' s novel The Prince, he envisions himself as a ruler and through his successes and failures at political strategy, he achieves greatness through his final achievement of writing a masterpiece. ... Born into an established Florentine family in the late 1400's, Machiavelli enjoyed an affluent life. ... It is important for us to learn from the mistakes from the past because it provides lessons for the future. ... Niccolo began with history but morality is an even bigger issue that plays an important part in the life of a ruler. ... The reason comes from the lesson...

• Word Count: 1926
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

With the struggle of trying to organize a major life decisions, it's often difficult for a couple to maintain a family-life balance. ... "Gone Girl" is a dramatic film that was created after the novel written by Gillian Flynn. ... At the end of the film, Amy decides to come home and continues to play mind games with Nick. ... This typical romantic comedy ends in a positive way with a big wedding, but left me relating to Toula's overbearing family. ... While this ideal isn't intended to be a negative, it's obstructing Toula's efforts in using the life course a...

• Word Count: 1752
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

When looking at the life of one of history's greatest men, the lessons we might learn are countless, despite Irving Stone's fictional twists. ... Michelangelo's life can likewise be paralleled to Genesis. ... Yet another of the many clear themes is the majesty and divinity of art but most importantly its required devotion and incapability with business and social life. ... Moreover, just as his father, Michelangelo Buonarroti would inherit a longevity of life during which he would encounter great people, making long-lasting friendships with some of the most famous in Europe,...

• Word Count: 1898
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

In the 1930's, a 'back to the land' movement, known then as the 'Country Life Movement,' began in which city dwellers chose to move to the country in favor of a simpler life. ... One of the most successful American authors of his time, Bromfield received a Pulitzer Prize in 1927, at the age of 31, for his acclaimed novel "Early Autumn." ... He proclaimed that to be "organic" was more than just a way to know and understand the lessons of nature in all ways, and to use that knowledge to evaluate all of the "blessings" of science and technology. ... If it goes through a f...

• Word Count: 2486
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Freedom brings, according to Washington, the "responsibility of freedom", which means that an individual who adheres to Washington's concept of Freedom is in a sense propelled through life by it. ... This is what Washington sees, or chooses to see, and what he bases his life's work upon. ... This is not to say that the lesson DuBois teaches is superior to Washington's; it is only to point out a difference between their use of discourse. Washington's autobiography reads like a "How-To" manual; DuBois" thoughts are much more abstract and novelized, in a sense. ... One hesitat...

• Word Count: 2122
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate