As soon as she learned how to read, it became one of her favorite things to do; she read the works of great authors such as Jane Austen, Leo Tolstoy, and Gustave Flaubert, who all impressed her in different ways. Their talents helped to motivate Morrison to write about the things that she is most familiar with, such as her African American culture. ... Morrison then moved to Syracuse, New York and began to work as an editor for Random House, which gave her free time in the evenings to raise her two small children as well as write novels. ... Expanding on the representation of Jesus or God i...

• Word Count: 2626
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

These names function as metaphors for the people and things they represent, thus enabling us to understand the hidden meaning of the novel. ... Sigmund Freud took the legend of Oedipus as a metaphor for the wish of every small boy to get his father out of the way so he could have his mother all to himself. ... First, notice that this religious moment has nothing to do with God, at least not directly. It is a type of secular religion that deals with a pagan god of batteries and small towns--a type of order and structure. ... In layering the scene with Freudian images through the comedic ven...

• Word Count: 2590
• Approx Pages: 10

The comical temperament of this chapter is not only the embarrassment for the doctor of finding that the cause was a small vegetable, but his method of removing the impediment with a hammer and fish hook seems absurd and in turn contradicts his earlier actions of maintaining respect for his profession. ... It seems that only Yossarian (and then later, the Chaplain) protest about the way things are; the catch in which of course is Catch-22 and the absolute power of bureaucracy behind it. Early on in the novel Yossarian briefly experiences power - the narrators religious description of Yossarian...

• Word Count: 2754
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

In the mid-1980s, just as the new historicists, with their invocation of "the historicity of texts and the textuality of history," were transforming the way readers understood the English Renaissance, Umberto Eco's novel The Name of the Rose became both a critical success and a bestseller. (1983...

• Word Count: 4697
• Approx Pages: 19
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Seeking and Maintaining Balance: Rohinton Mistry's Fiction. (Critical Essay) Abstract: Balance is an important quality in the fiction of Rohinton Mistry, as suggested by the title of his second novel, 'A Fine Balance.' Mistry was born in India, a member of the Parsi community, and immigrated to Canada in 1975. Mistry's short story collection 'Tales from Firozsha Baag' and his two novels, 'Such a Long Journey' and 'A FIne Balance' focus on the Parsi community in India rather than on the immigrant experience. The Parsis and India become metap...

• Word Count: 4675
• Approx Pages: 19
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Seeking and Maintaining Balance: Rohinton Mistry's Fiction. (Critical Essay) Abstract: Balance is an important quality in the fiction of Rohinton Mistry, as suggested by the title of his second novel, 'A Fine Balance.' Mistry was born in India, a member of the Parsi community, and immigrated to Canada in 1975. Mistry's short story collection 'Tales from Firozsha Baag' and his two novels, 'Such a Long Journey' and 'A FIne Balance' focus on the Parsi community in India rather than on the immigrant experience. The Parsis and India become me...

• Word Count: 4673
• Approx Pages: 19
• Grade Level: Undergraduate