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Brave New World can be viewed as a reflection of the attitudes and issues that were collectively held by individuals during the 1930s era. The twenties and thirties were marked by a crisis and loss of faith, exemplified by the political fallout following the 1929 crash in New York. Huxley was deeply reflective of the […]

A young Amish boy called Samuel is witness to a brutal murder in a toilet at a train station. After a line up where Samuel does not identify the killer, he identifies a picture of an ex policeman, Mc Fee in a display cabinet at the police station. A policeman called John Book links him […]

In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’, we are prompted to consider the relationship between John and the female speaker. The speaker feels compelled to write down her thoughts and emotions, but John considers her writing to be ‘absurd’. This raises questions about why writing is important to the speaker and whether the […]

Kitty Kelley really lacerates into the pretenses Nancy Reagan in her unauthorized biography. Kelley tells many personal secrets that Reagan thought would make people may judge her. The writer may be trying to show people “The Real” Nancy Reagan. The many examples she uses would overall, have people disliking Reagan due to her pretenses. The […]

Alan Bennett’s exceptional creative talent is on full display in The Cream Cracker Under the Settee, as he skillfully produces an original and well-written script that weaves an amusing yet touching story around the remarkable character of Doris. Despite having just twenty minutes of screen time, Bennett expertly develops her persona by revealing that she […]

Both poems ‘Presents from my aunts in Pakistan’ and ‘Hurricane Hits England’, deal with an alien culture and hoe the two poets find it hard to adapt to, to Pakistan in Presents from my aunts, and England in Hurricane hits England. ‘Presents from my aunts’ is about a young Pakistani girl who moved from Pakistan […]

As this is a radio production not a stage play there are certain restrictions on the director: Firstly there are no facial expressions or body language, Secondly there are no props therefore we cannot tell where the setting is; Thirdly, to overcome these problems the director must use: Tone which conveys the loudness and softness […]

“Cream cracker under the settee” is one of Alan Bennett’s well-known monologues from the collection called “talking heads”. These monologues depict the lives of average individuals living ordinary, uneventful lives. Typically, Bennett’s characters experience a crisis or life event that results in a learning experience. The play, Cream Cracker under the Settee, made its television […]

Grace Nichols was born and brought up in Georgetown, Guyana. She was moved to London where she still lives. Due to the history of invasions the people from the Caribbean Islands are a mixture of races. Most of the original Caribbean people were killed off by disease brought to the Islands by western explorers. As […]

Brave New World is the world in the future. It contains castes of different people, each of a different level of intelligence, and each wearing as different colour. Everything is clean, ordered and pre-destined. An area of Mexico contains a reservation full of ‘savages’ who are humans who do not belong to the Brave New […]

Paul Zindel’s book “The Pigman” is a novel about two children, Lorraine and John, and an old man called Mr. Pignati. The two children are young and are growing up in the United States of America, around the 19th century. The novel states this because it uses American expressions and the whole atmosphere of it […]

This is a poem written by a Caribbean poet named Grace Nichols. It shows what it means to her as a black women living in England, and she tells us how the Caribbean merges with the English hurricane. The structure of this poem is made up of 8 stanzas consisting of varying lengths. The poem […]

Grace Nichols is a poet of Carribean origin, after living in Guyana for the first 27 years of her life working as a freelance journalist, Grace decided to move to England. In England she has written many poems, mainly dealing with the troubles which face imigrants when they enter a country (for instance in some […]

The two poets Grace Nichols and Sujata Bhatt have experienced cultural alienation. The three poems ‘Island Man, Hurricane Hits England’ and ‘Search For My Tongue’ all explain how the poets immigrated and felt about the new surroundings which were distant from her homeland and culture. The poets all had a secondary theme, for example in […]

Alan Bennett’s characters (in Lady of Letters, Her Big Chance and Bed Among the Lentils) possess similar qualities of being ‘ordinary, uneventful and desperate’ as their lives can be viewed as being dull, mundane and monotonous. Using dramatic monologue, not only is Bennett able to explore the different aspects of life, but also make it […]

Grace Nichols is a poet who has written poems about immigration. These three poems that will be compared in these essays are all written by her and about the experience of immigration. However not all of them are necessarily from her point of view. ‘Island Man’ has been from a man’s point of view. In […]

Allan Bennett wrote a series of six monologues for television in 1987. We have been concentrating on two of these, “A chip in the sugar” and “A lady of letters”. Even though the two stories are different there are many similarities between the characters, both characters are lonely and isolated from most human contact, with […]

The Talking Heads series features recurring themes, including loneliness (as seen in “A Cream Cracker under the settee”) and exaggerated pride or self-confidence (as depicted in “Her Big Chance”). Despite this, none of the characters experience genuine happiness. However, they occasionally find small moments of happiness through unexpected circumstances. For instance, Graham finds happiness when […]

An extract from this document… In ‘A Lady of Letters’ how does Alan Bennett sustain the audience’s interest in a play with only one character? ‘A Lady of Letters’ is a dramatic monologue by Alan Bennett produced in 1988 and was a part of a series called ‘Talking heads’ which was written for the BBC. […]

Grace Nichols’ poetry revolves around her culture and the foundations from before she moved to England. She was born in Guyana, then moved to a place where her lifestyle was dramatically changed. Here she could not share her culture. This may have caused a stronger standpoint on her feelings as she has had a chance […]

Grace Nichols employs a unique and distinct poetic voice that sets her apart from other poets like Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney. Unlike these poets, Nichols does not adhere to a formal poem structure. Rather, her poem is written in free verse, adopting a conversational style. Notably, the fifth and sixth stanzas commence with ‘and’ […]

The section “Back Home Contemplation” represents an important section n of the entire novel. It pulls together the idea of the black woman from Africa to the Caribbean. It embodies all the experiences, emotions and feelings by showing her memories of the childhood she experienced and sharing them with the reader. “Back Home Contemplation” discusses […]