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Capitalism: the continual encouragement of wants and desires. This definition utterly epitomises the mental psyche of our unwilling protagonist, Willy Loman. Thrust into a constant strive for materialistic and unnecessary items; so typical of an individual embroiled within the prevailing consumerist attitudes of American society.Miller skilfully manipulates the character of Willy Loman into the embodiment […]

Author Miller, a celebrated contemporary dramatist recognized for his empathy towards the mistreated and neglected in society wrote The Crucible. It serves as a noteworthy example of the detrimental effects that arise when people’s covert desires go unchecked, escalating to uncontrollable levels, with severe consequences. Abigail’s infatuation with John Proctor exemplifies this, as although the […]

The word ‘perfect’ is defined in the Chamber’s Dictionary as ‘complete in all essential elements.. .faultless… ..flawless.’ When put into the context of ‘the perfect man’, we are immediately presented with a problem; ideas as to what characteristics represent the ‘complete’ man vary throughout history, between cultures and between classes within some cultures. ‘Captain Corelli’s […]

During his lifetime, Robert Westall has published over thirty books. His first book, The Machine Gunners won the Carnegie Medal in 1975. The author grew up during the Second World War also the book’s setting so his novel, “The Machine Gunners” echoes the author’s experiences and feelings of the war but the book’s plot and […]

In the novel Malarkey, the author Keith Gray has made the theme of conflict prominent through key incidents and characterisation. There are several key events in the story that gradually reveal this conflict as the story goes on. The conflict can also be seen through characterisation. Therefore through these two areas of the novel – […]

In this piece of prose, the protagonist has climbed up to the ringing chamber and finds himself alone with the clanging of the bells. Wanting not ‘to hear anymore’, he finds the bells unbearable as they rip at his eardrums and thus is forced to leave. Sayers uses a combination of literary techniques and particular […]

Don’t worry, (pause) about a thing, (pause) cause every lil’ thing, (pause) is gonna be all right. (Sung) Yeah Bob, Everything turned out all right didn’t it? Life really gets put in perspective when you’re the only person left in New York City, in fact I’m probably the last person left in the world. (Pause)I […]

It was a bitter winter’s night and George was sitting in his big white house. George’s lapdog, Tony, was lying at his owner’s feet. His big pointy ears were jiggling and his huge forehead was creasing up as he breathed in and out. George was watching television. Although he was not really mentally capable of […]

Those women who feature in Michael Frayn’s ‘Spies’ are predominately presented to us through the eyes of the adolescent protagonist; Stephen, whose conflicting feelings relating to them are representative of his evolving maturity. His confusion is intensified by the fact that the women he encounters throughout the novel do not wholly conform to the social […]

Susan Hill’s eclectic use of many aspects of ghost stories makes her own story a typical one, which in the readers’ eyes would work, e. g. having a ‘sensible, rational’ protagonist as well as even using titles of famous books for her chapters (Whistle and I’ll Come To You, taken from M.R. James’ tale Oh, […]

In her moving and astonishing novel Sula, published in 1973, Toni Morrison presents the lives of two black heroines – Nel Wright and Sula Peace. The author pictures their growing up together in a small Ohio town, their sharply divergent paths of womanhood, and their ultimate confrontation and reconciliation. Nel Wright chooses to stay in […]

The narration of Mark Haddon’s ‘Curious Incident of The Dog’ by Christopher Boone, a volatile teenager, plays a significant role in depicting his tumultuous relationship with his father and everyone associated with him. Similarly, Lloyd Jones’s ‘Mister Pip’ uses the island girl Matilda as the narrator to emphasize the challenges faced by the young islander […]

“Murmuring Judges” is a story of a young family man “Gerard McKinnon” who has turned to crime to survive, but has been caught and convicted. The Play revolves around the roles the police, judicial system and prisons play in his life at this time as well as showing us some of the inner working of […]

Suspense is the creation of excitement at the approach of the climax, whether of the whole novel, or just a particular chapter or scene. Tension is the feeling of uneasiness or stress caused by suspense, not knowing what will transpire next. It is clear that the two are very closely interrelated, and when they are […]

While watching a film, we become engrossed in the narrative being presented and accept all on-screen events as natural occurrences. However, the truth is that everything we witness has been meticulously chosen and edited to elicit a desired response from viewers. The camera is manipulated and objects and characters are placed within the shot, costumes […]

Throughout the novel Elfride is viewed through the eyes of those around her Hardy uses them to put across his ideas on the nature of women, by making the thoughts, dialogues and descriptions, a representation to his thoughts and ideas. It is hard to distinguish whether his thoughts on Elfride represent Elfride’s character or the […]

Thomas Hardy creates and maintains mystery and malignant, underlying forces by using symbolic descriptions of the setting, the atmosphere and the strange unguessable plot. Thomas Hardy sets the story in the fictional village of Holmstoke. Holm means home and stoke means fire. This gives two impressions, one of a nice cosy warm story, but it […]

Hardy is very successful and skilful in controlling the reader’s response to “The Withered Arm”. In the very first chapter, we can see how Hardy focuses our attention in order to control our response. We can see that Rhoda Brooks is a lonely figure set aside, but Hardy’s skills make us want to know more […]

The other poem that we have been studying is called “The Voice” and it is about the death of Thomas Hardy’s wife, Emma. The marriage had come to an end and Emma had left Hardy. Later after the split Emma had become ill and she had died tragically. Thomas Hardy had felt remorse and sadness […]

It is in the second chapter that it is first brought up about Candy’s dog being shot. It is Carson that initiates the argument. His first reason for killing Candy’s dog was that it smelt saying “it stinks like hell” and “I can smell that dog a mile away. ” He then backed this up […]

Both The Woman in Black and The Withered Arm are renowned works of modern literature that employ both similar and distinct techniques in presenting a supernatural narrative. As I assess these two books, I will examine elements such as pace, tension, description, structure, style, literary devices, and creative writing. Nevertheless, I will consider the fact […]

‘The Superstitious Man’s Story’ comes from a collection called “Few crusted characters,” and was written in 1894. Great changes that were affecting Britain at the time, such as the development of industry, came quite late to Hardy’s home village. This is why folk traditions and superstitions survived longer in Higher Brock Hampton than in other areas. […]