“But the bright little girl soon enough recognizes that the cultivated inner life can be a much more powerful and dangerous weapon with which to repel intruders than any baseball bat. It may be in her diary that she discovers how to keep part of herself back, and to take revenge on those who have wounded what part of her has been exposed. She learns about herself faster than her brother”. This quote was written by Thomas Mallon in 1984. The quote refers to Anne Frank being the “little girl”. I think that Thomas Mallon thought the confessional diary that Anne Frank kept was very powerful. Anne Frank did not need any weapons to fight off her enemies because she had the powers of words. The diary Anne kept did not only disparage her enemies. A lot of the time she would criticize herself and talk about her flaws. The diary was not all bad things either. Anne talked about how she understood her relationship with others. She talks about her personal growth and the development of her private and public self. Anne’s diary was published and soon everyone in the world knew of her secrets. The idea that Anne’s words are more powerful that a bat are supported by all of Anne’s writings, which is as simple as it sounds. (more…)
July 27, 2010
July 14, 2010
Madness in A Streetcar Named Desire Essay
A Streetcar Named Desire revolves around a theme of progressing madness. Blanche is the focal point of the madness because she has a low self esteem and her behavior is delusional. Her delusional behavior consists of her alcoholism, promiscuity, and compulsive lying. She constantly tries to cope with the madness, but the people around her drive her deeper into a delusional mental state. Many aspects of her life; however, make her madness more justifiable. Blanche’s increasingly unstable state culminates in her being committed to an asylum. The cause and effect of Blanche’s madness are used to bring the play together as a whole and show how madness affects everyone in the play. (more…)
June 16, 2010
Shogun Essay
The novel Shogun, by James Clavell is not just a book, but a cultural insight into a country that has flourished for over a thousand years, and is as rich, diverse and beautiful, as it is violent and cruel. The novel deals with themes and issues such as cultural acceptance, death, tradition and religion, to mention a few, and the story progresses through the eyes of numerous characters, both Japanese and European.
The setting for Shogun is Japan in the year 1600. The main characters are John Blackthorne, whose dream is to be the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe, to break the monopoly the Portuguese and Spanish have on trade between Japan and China and to return home famous and wealthy; Toranaga, the most powerful lord in Japan, who’s burning desire is become the Shogun, (the supreme military dictator) and to unite the waring samurai clans under his own leadership; and the Lady Mariko, who is a Catholic convert who must decide whether to support the Church or her own county – these loyalties however, are confused when she falls in love with Blackthorne. The novel begins when Blackthorn’s ship hits a reef while trying desperately to escape a storm. Incidentally, the ship is wrecked and Blackthorne and his crew are stranded on an uncharted landmass. Over the next few days, Blackthorne discovers that he is in Nihon or Japan and that his crew is being held captive. He whiteness first had the extremes of violence akin to the Japanese, when a Samurai hacks off a man’s head for being impolite. (more…)