The opening of Pride and Prejudice Essay Example for Free

The opening of Pride and Prejudice Essay How does Jane Austen in the opening of Pride and Prejudice decide the subject and the tone of the novel? How does this prepare the reader for rest of the book? Pride and prejudice is Jane Austen most popular Novel. In this novel Jane Austen has portrayed the book on a real life story and tells us about the initial misunderstanding between Elizabeth and Darcy. Darcy is a handsome, rich man, and full of attitude, this is what Elizabeths point of view is Elizabeth thinks like this of him because he was being very mean and arrogant on their first meeting this can be a misunderstanding, its possible that Mr Darcy will take some time to get along with her or he is acting like this maybe because he is finding the atmosphere very annoying. Mrs Bennet can be the cause of that, because they way she acts show how desperate she is about getting her daughters married and Mr Darcy finds it very annoying. Mr Bringleys sisters husband offers Mr Darcy to dance with many ladies but he refuses to because he doesnt find anyone much attractive, he also refuses to dance with Elizabeth and when says that she, in particular, is not pretty enough for him to ask her to dance. Mrs Bennets daughter Elizabeth heard that, but being a very simple and down to Earth kind of a person she ignored it. The Novel starts with showing how curious and crazy Mrs Bennet is about getting all her daughters married to rich men, which is not good for her daughters future. This way they might find men who are rich but they wont be able to stay happy with them later on in life. On the other hand Mr Bennet being the father of all these girls shows no interest in what Mrs Bennet is up to. He is a very sensible man and is going to let his daughters decide who they want to marry. In the beginning of the novel when Mrs Bennet finds out that Mr Bringley is moving to their neighbourhood she tells Mr Bennet to go meet him so he could get close to the family, (because she wants Mr bringley to see one of her daughters and marry them) but Mr Bennet doesnt want to and shows no interest in this. As the novel moves on we will see that Mrs Bennets pressure is going to cause her daughters to marry guys they wont be happy with, later on in life. They might marry these guys because of their mother wants them to, and because of that they wont stay happy with them. Elizabeth Bennet is a very simple girl and would want to marry someone who is very simple and has no attitude unlike Mr Darcy. She would want a loving and caring husband, but as I see it she might end up marring Mr Darcy because of her mothers pressure on her, or it can be possible that she would herself want to marry Mr Darcy because they both might fall in love and build up good relationship.

Exploration of Values in Robinson Crusoe, Odyssey, Tempest and Gulliver

Exploration of Values in Robinson Crusoe, The Odyssey, The Tempest and Gulliver’s Travels In the novels and epics of Robinson Crusoe, The Odyssey, The Tempest and Gulliver’s Travels the reader encounters an adventurer who ends up on an island for many years and then returns back home.   These four stories have another point in common: they are all unusually popular.   There is something very appealing to the popular imagination about such narratives. In this essay I will explore the vision of life (or at least some aspects of it) which this novel holds out to us and which is significantly different from the others, no matter how apparently similar the narrative form might be.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Very simply put, these four stories have a similar general narrative structure which goes something like this: (a) a member of a sophisticated European society is accidentally cast adrift into the wilderness, where everything is unfamiliar and there are no apparent aids of normal society; (b) the hero must adjust to this strange environment, find some means of coping with the physical and the psychological dislocation; (c) the hero must find a way off the island, and (d) the hero must reintegrate himself into the society from which he unwillingly was alienated.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The casting adrift can happen in any number of ways.   Typically it is the result of a shipwreck, a mutiny, or a misadventure of some kind.   Adapting to the new environment may or may not involve adjusting to the people who live there.   It almost always will require the hero to cope with a very different vision of nature, and he will be forced to confront the fact that in this place things run very differently from what he is used to.   This, in turn, may produce al... ...t what really matters and what does not.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Thus, adventures with isolatos are, or can easily become, an exploration of moral values forced into the awareness of the hero by an unusual circumstance.   And this development brings with it inevitably a criticism or a confirmation of the social values (or some of them) of the society of which he is a representative, whose values he brings with him to the island, and to which he returns.   Prospero’s rejection of the island and of the magic he so loves, like Odysseus’ rejection of Calypso for his own Penelope, is not just a manifestation of the hero’s moral nature; it is also a confirmation of certain values in the society to which they are returning.   Gulliver’s rejection of European society upon his return at the end of the fourth voyage is, in large part, a very severe criticism of the moral laxity of Europe.

How Vampirism Is Depicted in Dracula by Stoker and I Am a Legend by Richard Matheson Essay

Vampires are creatures that are believed to feed on flesh blood of living things and especially human beings. From the novels, vampires evolved from dead human beings and came back to life with more powers than them making them super humans. To understand vampires’ evolution, different myths were developed across the world. Ancient Persia recorded their first history as most Greek and Roman myths tried to expound further on their evolution. In the history recordings, vampires were depicted as huge creatures who struggled with human beings to feed on their blood. They further differed with human being in that; they could not age or contract diseases. Their immunity to diseases prevented them infections from human beings when they fed on their flesh and blood. Although many history recordings argued on traditional history, there existed some modern vampires that first appeared in Europe. In contrast, myths also recorded a different category of vampires whose origin was not from dead human beings but with temporal incarnation between humans and vampire. This category included blood thirsty goddesses, who were classified as Stinges, Lamiae and Empusae that fed on blood occasionally. Vampirism                  Vampirism can be defined as the act of feeding on flesh and blood of living things other than vampires. When feeding the blood of human beings, vampires bite the victims’ neck sucking out large volumes of blood. Through neck biting, they are able to injure the carotid artery, which is the major artery that transports blood to the brain hence paralyzing the victim and sucking the whole blood. Vampirism is regarded as a belief of one gaining supernatural powers and feeding on human beings blood in the folklore and popular culture. Stoker tried to expound on vampires by using them as characters in his book Dracula. In this book, Dracula, who is a vampire, is the main character. The author explained how the vampire had lived for many years, which was atypical for a normal human being. Similarly, Richard Matheson book was dominated by vampires who were created by infusion of viruses. Although people could be infected with vampirism virus, Matheson brings out the nature of immunity where one of his characters Robert Neville never contracted vampirism despite being infected. He was immune to the virus though he had unique human characteristics such as blond hair and blue eyes. Matheson described Neville as an educated medical researcher who concentrated on the research on vampirism only to find out that his blood was infected though immune to the virus. Vampires in the Text                  Stoker used different vampire characters to construct his book story. Dracula, the most dominant vampire in the story was described as the king by other characters such as Van Heslin. He was very powerful and he could control nature as well as living creatures such as wild animals. In addition, Dracula has the ability to incarnate to a bat, werewolf and change his victims into vampires through infections. His ability to hypnotize his victims gave him control over them and avoided being hurt by others. Despite his powerful nature, Dracula had a number of weaknesses as described herein. His powers were limited by reflecting him on reflective objects such as mirrors. This was evidenced when Jonathan tried to reflect his image on a shaving mirror. He lost his powers and became weak to the extent of being controlled by another person. Stoker emphasized in his book, despite the weakness, it was hard to fully destroy Dracula. More weaknesses emerged as holy symb ols and garlic repelled him and his sleep was on the fate of ancestors and the native land. He did not have ability to cross river, which water was following unless supported my men or the luck of the water. This showed how he could be controlled or destroyed in cases he became so dangerous. Matheson classified vampires in two categories, which included the dead and the living ones. Similarly, as Stokers described, he depicts vampires as being repulsive to garlic and holy symbols. For example, Christian vampires feared the cross as it was a sign of holiness. Matheson explained how Neville destroyed vampires by exposing them to sunlight, inflicting large wounds and staking them with wooden spike. Comparison between the Two Works                  Both authors acknowledged garlic and religious symbols as repellant to vampires. For example, Ruth recoiled violently when Neville handed garlic over her in Matheson book and Dracula when dining with Jonathan avoided feeding on garlic. In both texts, vampires relied on flesh and blood as their main food that strengthened them. For example, Dracula in the first paragraph almost attacks Jonathan when he cuts himself. Vampires are depicted feeding on blood by Matheson and he uses the phrase blood thirst to emphasize on their need of blood. Superstition is also another theme that was described in both books. Stocker explained how Van Helsing and Seward followed the garlic superstitions from the old country where they were believed to ward off spirits by protecting themselves by them. Religious symbols such as bread and cross represented Christ and his Body (stoker 123). Despite Neville’s ability to destroy vampires, he still used garlic to protect himself strengthening the theme of superstitions in the text. Both authors described vampirism as contagious from vampires to normal people. People who survived attack by vampires were infected through bites and insects. For example, Neville was infected by vampirism and his immune ability prevented him from transformation to vampire. In both books, vampires appeared to be enemies of the normal people. In I Am a Legend, the human race was insignificant as most of them were destroyed and killed by vampires. Moreover, Neville struggles with vampires and kill most of his encounters at nights. Stoker explained how Helsing had lived wanting to conquer and destroy the Dracula and how people continuously warned him and Jonathan against close association with the monster Dracula. The conspiracy, fights, and killings between vampires and the normal human beings is an evidence of enmity between the two races. In both books, vampires’ body circulations were totally different from those of normal human beings. For example, when Neville killed a woman vampire for research in Matheson’s book, he found that her body contained rows of salt and pepper mixed the same ratios (Matheson 60). Similarly, Stoker explained how vampirism victims could not be transfused with blood from normal people and their fate was solely on supernatural powers to heal them. On the other hand both books described contrasting characters on vampire and discussed below. Vampires described by Stoker were difficult to destroy and kill and were only destabilized by refection. On contrary, vampires described by Matheson were easily killed by exposure of sunlight and infliction of wound that were staked. According to stoker, vampires were as a result of the work with supernatural evil spirits that were connected to dead. In contrast, Matheson wrote that vampires were created by infusion of microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses. Matheson described the evolution and development of vampires as progressive. That is, they grew from young to strong creatures that mutated at some points and they could spend some times in the sun. Stoker described vampires’ development as retrogressive, growing from old weak creature to young strong creature through feeding of blood. Stoker work was based on religious beliefs and his main aim was to strengthen and restore r eligious faith in the society. He did this by creating a scenario where vampires who were believed to be evil became afraid of holy symbols and supreme powers. It was learnt from the text that, vampires feared holy waters and for that reasons people could protect themselves from them. Dracula represented devil and this was expressed more by name of his home in London, Piccadilly. The word appears to be close to the word peccadillo â€Å"a slight offence† or sin (Merriam-Webster 530). Matheson work in contrary was not based on spirituality. His entire book denounces the interrelationship between God and humanity as evidenced by Neville when he did not depend on invisible beings when trying to destroy and kill vampires. He was more dependent on his vampire research, which was facilitated by his medical research career. According to science, the reliance on invisible being appears absurd and science does not validate it. In both books, the concepts of vampirism indicate the wickedness of humankind as it is concerned with termination of life and shedding of blood. This is against the societies norms and values and the books were written to address the evils. Matheson brought out vampires in his book as unique and modified enabling them to be more alluring to the intended target audience. This was contradictory to those in Stoker’s book where they were depicted as monsters of devil’s associates thus attracting believers as the main audience. This would help the believers appreciate the mighty power of God that made devil afraid as evidence by Dracula avoiding religious symbols. On the other hand, the target audiences for Matheson work are mainly non-believers as most of the characters such as Neville were never afraid of super beings or supernatural powers. He uses the assumption that the doctoring of individuals affects what they fear and what they do not (Matheson123). Neville discovered the reflective character of vampires in Matheson book, which was opposed to those described by Stoker (Matheson 16). In the book, I Am a Legend, Neville searches a scientific cure for vampirism from his blood due to its immunity unique character on vampirism. Although his initial trials to heal vampires had aborted, he continued to search for a solution ceaselessly. Fortunately, he found the cure, which could depress the vampires thirst for blood thus reducing their threats on human beings. This was the not the case in the text of Dracula. Vampires in both books appear as creatures, societies uphold their beliefs and norms without permitting vampires to despise them. Despite the vampires being hostile to people, they struggled to push the out of the society and denounced their evil deed across the society through eliminating them. Society struggled to push Dracula out of the society but his unnatural power defended him and the society attempts were in vain. Their fear of evil spirits prevented them from his attack and instead hoped for a savior who will come for their help. The society saw Helsing as their savior and their belief in God. He was a well-learned doctor who had an open mind and thus was probable the person to save them (Stoker 109). The two books targeted the evils in the society by addressing them and trying to bring people closer to a supreme being, God. Perhaps, the society was full of evils at the time of writing and so it was necessary to address the issues through text. It can also be assumed that, people used texts or books to learn most of the things in the societies and thus there was need to use the medium to communicate exclusively to the people. From the fact that Christianity (Church) was evident in the texts, the authors revolved their writings around it acknowledging God as the protector of human race from all sources of evils such as vampires in the book society. The individuals were protected by religious artifacts that was evidenced by possession of religious symbols by Helsing had religious items such as holy waters, which helped to protect the society from evils. Matheson described Neville as having tattoo of a cross which served as vampire repellant thus to some extent having religious belie fs. Not much was explained in the about Christianity and the church. Some of the people in the society were enlightened and had both scientific knowledge and religious beliefs to deal with the evils associated with the vampires. The authors of the books were skilled and considered perception of the people when writing so that they could be able reach and impact on the people’s ways of life. For a typical author, he or she must be able to understand his or her audience in order to deliver a relevant message and in an appropriate way without provoking them. Matheson and Stoker used this aspect and combined it with the knowledge of vampires and their attitude in the society. The use of vampires in both books was fundamental as they depicted the evils in the modern that are caused by various abnormalities as Matheson explained one of the cause to be the second world war. Therefore, by use of reality and fiction, the authors were able to prove their worthiness in literature and society. Conclusion                  Both books used vampires to deliver their messages to the respective societies. They depicted societies that were full of hostilities and blood spilling between vampires and normal human race. Although the vampires in both books had common characteristics such as feeding on human blood, they exhibited slight differences on their evolution and development. The books attracted varied audiences with Dracula attracting audience of vampires who knew Dracula as the best vampire in history. The books addressed the political views of the time with Stocker in being more concerned on Europe where the church was prominent in the political scene with believers as rulers such kings and queens. In the Matheson book, the issue of the world war was described as politically influenced and depicted how mankind would be swept off on earth by stronger weapons than nuclear if wars were to recur. References Dunnigan, James F. How to Make War. New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 2003. Print Matheson, Richard. I am Legend. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, 1954. Print Stoker, Bram, and Leonard Wolf, ed. The Annotated Dracula. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. Publisher, 1975. Print Source document

American Revolutionary War - 781 Words

AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR It all started at Jamestown when people first started to colonize America. When the 13 colonies were formed America wanted to separate from Great Britain. The former King George III wouldn’t allow this though. With the onset of the ministry, Britain increased its political power in the colonies in more direct ways. Colonists were bombarded with such policies that many considered to be unjust. Policies such as the Sugar Act of 1764 brought an increased awareness of British power. Later policies such as the Stamp Act brought out the idea that the Grenville program was a threat basically to every member of colonial society from the poorest of poorest in the lower classes to the elite of the upper classes. When economic slumps began to occur that influenced every aspect of the colonies, a true sign of unity was displayed. Even though this unity did not begin as a whole, it developed a strong foundation in the various classes. The unity among Americans began to grow when boycotts w ere formed in response to the Stamp Act. Boycotts were a true sign of unity leading up to the resistance due to the fact that a boycott involved large segments of the population and almost every colony in America. Groups such as the Sons of Liberty were formed in this turmoil with Britain to bring about a larger sense of unity among the colonists. Unity was again displayed when in 1768, merchants of Philadelphia and New York joined with Boston on a non-importation agreement.Show MoreRelatedThe American Revolutionary War796 Words   |  3 PagesThe American Revolutionary War was a long hard fought war that lasted about 8 years. Many Countries were involved in the war, such as The United States, France, Great Britain, Spain, and The Dutch Republic. Not all countries actually fought but they provided either side with weapons and supplies to help them have a greater chance of winning the war. More than 70,000 people were killed during the great American Revolutionary War. The Americans were tired of the loyalist British taking advantage ofRead MoreThe American Revolutionary War1223 Words   |  5 Pagesabout the American Revolutionary War, however, the answer is clear. While the War certainly brought about change within the United States, it wasn’t necessarily very revolutionary. The most important aspects of the colonies, such as ideas about government, various types of societal equality, slavery and freed blacks, and the rights of women remained for the most part, unaffected. The theories and ideas about government that initially gave the war a purpose were definitely revolutionary. One notableRead MoreAmerican Revolutionary War2411 Words   |  10 Pagesthe revolution was the American embrace of a political ideology called republicanism, which was dominant in the colonies by 1775. 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