An Analysis of "A Great Day" by Frank Sargeson

In his story “The Lamp at Noon”, Sinclair Ross writes about the great depression and how it effects a couple and their baby as they live through it. The purpose of the story is to display the importance of decisions and how choosing the right one can effect us heavily. Ross does a great job to convey his message by showing us the severe consequences of some decisions. Everyday each of us are faced with decisions that in time produce an outcome that will affect our futures.

The 1950’s were called the “Happy Days” for multiple reasons. We were finished with a huge war, and our economy was booming. Social, political and economic policies were popping up everywhere. Many things define why the 1950’s were the “Happy Days” in the U.S. Whether it was the end of the Korean War for the U.S. or the economic boom that helped define what we call the “American Dream” the 1950’s were great times for America.

Like the American population during Great Depression, the characters in the story faced many hardships they had to overcome, including but not limited to those mentioned previously. In brief, the Great Depression was a devastating event in the history of America’s economy and Capitalistic standpoint, that had the potential to abolish the United States’ world power status

The poem Tuesday 9:00 AM by Denver Butson is a beautiful piece of writing that uses metaphors to describe the baggage everyone carries throughout life. The setting is extremely plain and ordinary, a bus stop on a Tuesday morning, but the word choice is very dramatic. The narrator tells the story from an omniscient point of view, while describing the various people and their personal afflictions who wait at the bus stop. However, the only descriptions are metaphors, that explain the emotional state each character is in. The poem itself is a short free verse with four stanzas and only one use of punctuation. Due to this lack of punctuation a stream of consciousness effect is created for the reader. Overall, the tone of the poem is morbid

The book Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s by Frederick Lewis Allen recounts all the events leading up to the stock market crash in 1929, beginning with the end of World War I in 1918. The story, told chronologically, contrasts the changing social and political views of the American people throughout the “Roaring Twenties,” as the time period came to be known. Allen makes history enjoyable, vividly describing the creases in Al Capon’s shirt and the painted faces of the young generation.

April Morning, is a novel written by Howard Fast. It is a young adult story that is about the American Revolutionary War. The novel is narrated through the perspective of Adam Cooper and is about the horrors of war. This novel takes place in twenty-four hours before the battle of Lexington and Concord. This book is about how the characters of this story figure out that all their dreams of independence from the British are about to begin. But they also realized that their dream has a high price and most colonist refuses to pay that. Most of the men were ordinary like Moses Cooper and Simmons who were not trained in the art of battle. Another

In the beginning of the book, Frederick talks about a horrible situation that he experienced

While reading the poem “Daystar,” written by Rita Dove, its readers most likely do not ask thought-provoking questions like “Why did Dove write this?” or “What is the true meaning behind this poem?” but the poem has deeper meaning than what its outside layer portrays. Dove, an African American woman born in 1952, has not only viewed the racism of the United States society, but she has also seen how gender can or cannot play a role in the advancement of a person’s life (Rita Dove: The Poetry Foundation). The poem “Daystar” not only takes an outside perspective on the everyday life of a woman, but it closely relates to Dove’s family history. Dove uses the experiences of her life as a woman, and the knowledge gained from living in countries

In the book, Day by Elie Wiesel, the author talks about a man name Eliezer who is faced with issues weather if he can embrace his holocaust survival. Eliezer is a survivor from the holocaust who faces emotional struggle with life or death. This will begin his journey in which he will embark challenges he shall face. A challenge that’s a major part in this novel is having to deal with physical and metal issues which were conflicted by the world he once lived thru that causes suicidal thoughts and an end to his life.

When first reading Kate Chopin's "Story of an Hour," one may not typically be surprised at its ending, write it off as one of those creepy "back from the dead" horror stories and forget about it. There is more to this story than simply horror. The author is making a very strong, however subtle, statement towards humanity and women's rights. Through subtle symbolism, Kate Chopin shows how marriage is more like a confining role of servitude rather than a loving partnership.

“Daystar” by Rita Dove is an expressive poem, which centers on the main character, a young mother and wife, who internally struggles with her burdensome, daily duties, which creates a lack of freedom in her world.   Dove’s choice of words lets the reader empathize with her confined life.  In this poem, irony exists for the mere fact that from birth to adulthood the female population is brought up to feel fulfilled by simply becoming a wife and mother; however, this poem describes the monotonous duties and the joyless bond that can be between husband and wife.

“That Evening Sun” by William Faulkner is a good example of a great emotional turmoil transferred directly to the readers through the words of a narrator who does not seem to grasp the severity of the turmoil. It is a story of an African American laundress who lives in the fear of her common-law husband Jesus who suspects her of carrying a white man's child in her womb and seems hell bent on killing her.

In “The Story of an Hour” (1894), Kate Chopin presents a woman in the last hour of her life and the emotional and psychological changes that occur upon hearing of her husbands’ death. Chopin sends the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard, on a roller coaster of emotional up’s and down’s, and self-actualizing psychological hairpin turns, which is all set in motion by the news of her husband’s death. This extreme “joy ride” comes to an abrupt and ultimately final halt for Mrs. Mallard when she sees her husband walk through the door unscathed. Chopin ends her short story ambiguously with the death of Mrs. Mallard, imploring her reader to determine the true cause of her death.

In “On the Pulse of Morning”, Angelou uses visual imagery and symbolism to argue that people must learn from the past to eliminate racial injustice in society today. The vivid descriptions found in the poem evoke feelings of injustice through the emotionally painful pictures that they paint. Americans as a whole are described in the poem to have “crouched too long in / The bruising darkness, [...] / Face down in ignorance” (“On the Pulse of Morning” 15-18). The speaker of the poem insinuates that “humans have been hiding, [...] afraid of what they might learn” from history (“On the Pulse of Morning”, 1998, 3: 276). The bestial visual of a person “crouching” takes away the humanity of the subjects, and the description of “bruising darkness” calls to mind the dark times of slavery over a hundred years prior. The image evokes a feeling that Americans have made terrible mistakes in the past that have not yet been corrected. They have committed terrible, animalistic acts in the blackened cover of history. These people refuse to look up and accept what has been done. The shadows of slavery and the pain caused by it are still ubiquitous in modern society, and if humans do not stop hiding from the truth, they cannot right the wrongs that have been committed. In order for the ignorance to end, people must accept the continuing prevalence of injustice. Not only does Angelou use detailed descriptions, but her use of symbolism allows the reader to see the injustice in society through

"Sunday Morning" by Wallace Stevens is a piece of work that represents a struggle with the loss of belief in the Christian God. The woman in this piece concludes that nature, instead of religion, is divine and religious. Wallace Stevens expresses this through his statements about the woman's actions and thoughts.