Wang AP Lit

Aristotle once said, “Tragedy is, therefore, an imitation of a noble and complete action which through compassion and fear produces purification of the passions.” Does Death and the King’s Horseman follow the form of a Greek tragedy? If so, who is the tragic figure, and what catharsis is achieved? What other elements in the play follow the form of a Greek tragedy? Both Jane Pilkings and Iyaloja are intelligent, powerful women who serve as foils to patriarchs in their communities. What do their characters reveal about the role of women in each community? How do they function as foils to their male counterparts? 

“They pulled two seats together so Darl could sit by the window to laugh. One of them sat beside him, the other sat on the seat facing him, riding backward. One of them had to ride backward because the state’s money has a face to each backside and a backside to each face, and they are riding on the state’s money which is incest. A nickel has a woman on one side and a buffalo on the other; two faces and no back. I dont know what that is. Darl had a little spy-glass he got in France at the war. In it it had a woman and a pig with two backs and no face. I know what that is. ‘Is that why you are laughing, Darl?’ ‘Yes yes yes yes yes yes’” (254).              Darl’s final chapter in As I Lay Dying is a stark contrast to his previous narration throughout the novel. The narration is not poetic and musing, but rather unorganized and angry. Yet, it seems to provide the most insight into Darl’s character, and the reader begins to see w...

What is the significance of the story about Jewel's late night labor and Addie's deceit? What do Dewey Dell's imaginations about killing Darl reveal about her character? How does Faulkner view Christianity? 

God plays a large role in the lives of the characters in William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying . After all, the characters constantly question how God is omnipotent and how the way they act in the secular world directly influences their afterlives. The idea of God especially plays a large role in the lives of the Tulls, the neighbors of the Bundrens. Both Vernon and Cora Tull believe in God himself, but they differ in their views of his nature. While Vernon believes that God works in ways that can be frustrating to man, Cora puts all her faith in God and fully embraces God’s work and her “Christian” duty. These differing views become apparent as the Vernons aid the Bundrens after the death of Addie. On the surface, Cora seems to be a caring, compassionate neighbor; she constantly visits the Bundrens and offers them aid during a family tragedy. Yet as the reader learns more about Cora, the reader realizes that her “good-nature” is actually superficial. Beneath the graceful Christian layer l...

What role does God play in the lives of Faulkner's characters, and how does Faulkner "use" God to describe the nature of relationships between characters? Darl often describes scenes in which he is not physically present. What does this say about the reliability of his narration? Furthermore, what can we deduce about the nature of his character? Cash paradoxically keeps building Addie's casket because it pleases her and she stays alive to see its completion. Yet Cash, and the other characters, realize that as soon as he finishes the casket, she will die, and thus Cash may indirectly cause her death while trying to please her. What does this paradox convey about the slowly-deteriorating Bundren family?   

Tim O’Brien’s chapters titled “Ambush” and “Speaking of Courage” take the reader away from the thick of the war itself and instead focus on the war’s psychological consequences. According to O’Brien, memories of the war linger in the soldiers’ minds and seem to trap the soldiers in a cycle of remembrance and guilt. We often hear of soldiers who return from war with “shell shock” or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and thus have difficulty re-assimilating into American culture, and O’Brien effectively captures this struggle. In “Ambush,” he draws from his own experiences to describe how the image of the man he killed still haunts him. O’Brien tells how he killed a man whom he believed to pose a threat to the Alpha Company, but now, as he looks back, may have not. O’Brien states, “I did not hate the young man; I did not see him as the enemy; I did not ponder issues of morality or politics or military duty” (126). In the thick of the moment, O’Brien acted instinctually and thus blam...

“Without literature, life is hell.”-Charles Bukowski   Tim O'Brien's novel  The Things They Carried  is a poignant commentary on the Vietnam War. Since its conception, the Vietnam War has been truthfully portrayed as a war of bloody carnage, tragic loss, and horrific violence.  O'Brien recognizes these aspects of the war, but he also brings to light stories  that were not completely hellish; in his novel, he draws upon his own war experiences to chronicle the sense of camaraderie between the soldiers of the Alpha Company. O'Brien notes that writing about the war has become an obsession, but it  also  is therapeutic (33). By f ocusing on his fellow soldiers, O'Brien is able to memorialize those who did not return home and those who changed in the war.   O'Brien's first chapter, "The Things They Carried," serves to describe the literal and figurative burden that the soldiers of Vietnam bear. He describes in detail the weight of the com...

In her short story "Cell One," Adichie chronicles the strife that the family of a Nsukka university professor experiences. On a general level, Adichie details the turmoil that has overcome the university: horrific gang violence. Adichie's narrator describes how the serene Nsukka campus is  transformed into a cult battleground, where boys in rival gangs are  killed almost  every day  and people live in fear for their lives. B eyond this overarching problem, the narrator's family also struggles with a rebellious son, who is named  Nnamabia .  Nnamabia  first displays signs of misbehavior when he robs his parents and runs away with his mother's jewelry .  Nnamabia  does return repentant, and although he promises to change, he becomes caught in the middle of the university's gang conflict and eventually finds  himself in a prison with cruel policemen .  Yet, while imprisoned,  Nnamabia  seems to discover his own moral compas...

         Heart of Darkness has a seemingly simple plot. After all, the novel chronicles a sailor who travels along the Congo River into the heart of Africa. As he does so, the sailor Marlow faces various tribulations, which include repairing his damaged ship and defending himself from fierce African natives. The novel is centered around finding–and meeting–Mr. Kurtz, who is supposedly a charismatic and skilled tradesman. While Marlow succeeds in completing this task, he is disappointed by the selfish, mad Mr. Kurtz he finds and he eventually returns to Europe in order to continue Mr. Kurtz’s legacy. Conrad’s novel does not contain elaborate family dramas and other backstories, as have other novels I have read. Yet the beauty and ingenuity of Conrad’s masterpiece lies not within his plot itself but within his descriptions. His prose is rich in imagery and characterization, and effectively conveys his purpose: to argue that colonization of Africa corrupts the hum...

To any nonwhite person: “Where are you from?” To an Asian: “Are you good at math?” To an African-American: “Do you want to play football when you grow up?” In the United States, minority groups are often asked these types of questions known as micro-aggressions. A micro-aggression is defined as a subtle but offensive comment or action directed at a minority or other nondominant group that is often unintentional or unconsciously reinforces a stereotype. Though not as traumatizing as blatant displays of racism, micro-aggressions can oftentimes be tiring and hurtful when one experiences many of them on a daily basis. As our society becomes increasingly diverse and connected, many people have become outspoken about their experiences with micro-aggressions to raise more awareness about preventing them. In her short story “Jumping Monkey Hill,” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie focuses on the stereotypes and micro-aggressions that native Africans experience. Adichie chronicles the fictional exp...