He also began to question why blacks' accepted Christianity. ... He supported himself by performing a variety of odd jobs: handyman, porter, elevator operator, office boy, factory, worker, dishwasher, and a file clerk. ... In his novels he suggested that whites, as well as blacks, suffer in a racist environment. ... Although he wrote in favor of blacks, he was often put down by black critics for being biased and one-sided. ... The novel became controversial because he was one of the first black writers to discuss homosexuality in a novel. ...

• Word Count: 2515
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49 is a very deep, complex, and demanding novel, requiring the wide breadth of knowledge. One of the most fascinating aspects of the novel is Pynchon's choice -- or rather, invention -- of the names he gives the characters and organizations described in the novel. ...

• Word Count: 2590
• Approx Pages: 10

After all, they were much more accepting of and caring towards the blacks in the town; which was also unheard of in that time. ... When she goes to Georgia and threatens Frank Bennett in the barbershop, even the barber thinks that Idgie is a guy, "He looked Frank in the mirror and said, That boy must be crazy.- (FGT 189). ...

• Word Count: 2942
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: High School

"The victor belongs to the spoils" -Anthony Patch (p.188) "There is only one lesson to be learned from life... That there's no lesson to be learned from life." -Gloria Patch (p. l34) F. Scott Fitzgerald began his second novel in l920. It was published when he was just twenty-five years old in l922. ...

• Word Count: 2828
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: High School