A reflection inspired by The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It’s impossible to understand The Scarlet Letter without understanding its location. The story is of a woman named Hester Prynne, one of the members of newly settled Puritan community in 17th century Boston. She came to the New World without her husband and, presuming he …
This is my reflection on Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. Spoilers ahead. “I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.” -George and Lennie Hope. There is immense power in hope. It’s a power that can sustain characters through the miseries of their circumstances …
I have to admit that, until this week, I never realized how popular The Little Prince actually was. It has inspired films, works of opera and ballet, and even a Japanese Museum. In April of 2017, The Little Prince, excluding religious texts, became the most translated book in the world. A copy of this story …
The protagonist of Hemingway’s famous fable is Santiago: an old, hardy fisherman from Havana. The desperation of Santiago’s situation is adequately outlined in the opening line: “He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish.” Hemingway details the …
Sherlock Holmes. Either from the BBC show or from popular culture in general, everyone knows the name, Sherlock Holmes. His methods of deduction have made him one of the most unique and famous literary detectives of all time. This book, Study in Scarlet, is the perfect introduction to the world of London’s greatest detective. It …
“The publishers of the standard novels, in selecting Frankenstein for one of their series, expressed a wish that I should furnish them with some account of the origin of the story. I am the more willing to comply because I shall thus give a general answer to the question so very frequently asked me‒ how …
Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes, tells the story of a mentally handicapped man, Charlie Gordon, and his participation in an experimental procedure to raise his iq. The entire novel is based on the outcome of that experience. During the first twenty pages of this novel, I was awestruck. I was lying on my bed, …
Setting. Setting. Setting. Oh how perfect the setting is for this novel. This novel is set in the wealthy and influential circles of the Victorian era in England. The Victorian era is characterized by Victorian morality: a morality, or at least an appearance of morality, practiced by the people of England at this time. It …
This book was published in December of 1847 so I thinks it’s fair game to give spoilers, but just in case: *spoiler alert* “My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He’s always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any …