Ending of Far from the Madding Crowd

The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze the short stories "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allen Poe and "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Specifically it will discuss the phenomenon of evil in the human heart as it appears in these two works. Evil lives in everyone, whether they want to acknowledge it or not. These two chilling tales show two different sides of evil, but they both illustrate how evil can corrupt a person right down to their very heart and soul.

Mental illness and madness is a theme often explored in literature and the range of texts exploring these is tremendously varied. Various factors can threaten a character's sanity, ranging from traumatic events which trigger a decline to pressure from more vast, impersonal sources. Generally speaking, writers have tried to show that most threats to sanity comprise a combination of long-term and short-term factors - the burning of the library in Mervyn Peake's novel 'Titus Groan' precipitated Lord Sepulchrave's descent into madness, but a longer term problem can be discerned in the weight of tradition which caused him to worry 'that with him the line of Groan should

“Loneliness is a common emotion when someone feels alone, separated from others or unsupported and distressed” (Kennedy). A common occurrence of many great authors is to make a theme regarding loneliness or isolation for example, “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Yellow Wallpaper”. “The Fall of the House of Usher”, comparatively speaking, is a very challenging read for most, whereas “The Yellow Wallpaper” is more of a relaxed read. There are many differences between “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Yellow Wallpaper”, however, there is a common occurrence that links the two, loneliness. Throughout the two short fiction pieces both characters, Roderick Usher from “The Fall of the House of Usher and Jane from “The Yellow Wallpaper”, are isolated from the outside world, both characters have an illness that keeps them in isolation, and both characters in some way turn to a form of literature to pass time . All of these aspects contribute significantly to loneliness.

‘The Darkness Out There’ and ‘The Withered Arm’ are both short stories. The characterization techniques they use are contrasting and similar. Each story is from a different time; ‘The Withered Arm’ being 19th century and ‘The Darkness Out There’ being 20th century. Thomas Hardy writes ‘The Withered Arm’ as a 3rd person narrative whereas Penelope Lively uses a mixture between 3rd and 1st person.

Beneath the gore and smoke and loam, this book is about the evanescence of life, and why some men choose to fill their brief allotment of time engaging the impossible, others in the manufacture of sorrow. In the end it is a story of the ineluctable conflict between good and evil, daylight and darkness, the White City and the Black. (Larson

Balance and stability are integral factors of a human life and in maintaining relationships between humans, and can be influenced by whether or not a harmony is found between an individual’s freedom and confinement. These ideas are clearly presented in Mark Haddon’s novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. In this text, Haddon conveys his ideas, through tone and emotive language, that the emotional and mental stability of an individual impact greatly on his or her relationships. Through symbolism, he also describes the way in which a moderate level of isolation is a crucial part in maintaining human relationships. Together, these allow for Haddon’s audience to gain a deeper understanding of humanity and human relationships.

In the final chapter of “The Joy Luck Club”, Jing-Mei is able to finally fulfil her mom´s wishes after her death. By flying to China with her father Jing-Mei is able to meet her twin sisters. During the trip Jing-Mai learns more about her mother and the way she loses the twins. Suyuan, Jing-Mei´s mom always hope about finding her missing daughters. When Jing-Mei is able to see her sisters for the first time, she sees how similar they look to Suyuan. Jing-Mai accepts herself the way she is. At the end Jing-Mai makes peace with her mom´s death.

By all means, death can take on many forms, illness can take the lives of millions, and wars can take the lives of thousands, however, murder is an intimate and decisive choice. While the psychosis of hundreds of killers have been examined, there is not a singular bond that will group them together conclusively. Comparing both murders, Montresor, in The Cask of Amontillado, written by Edgar Allan Poe and The Misfit, in A Good Man is Hard to Find, written by Flannery O’Connor, will shed light on each their motives. In both stories, conflict and vantage points are used to give the reader a different encounter with the murders; however, the themes in each story have significant differences. To explore these differences will allow readers to have a clear understanding of the true morals of the stories; and how life, as well as death, can be viewed.

    "Like all true literary classics, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is still capable of engaging us, both emotionally and intellectually" (Twayne back flap) through its characters and themes. This essay illustrates how Jane Austen uses the characterization of the major characters and irony to portray the theme of societal frailties and vices because of a flawed humanity. Austen writes about the appearance vs. the reality of the characters, the disinclination to believe other characters, the desire to judge others, and the tendency to take people on first impressions.

Each event in one's life whether important, meaningless, joyful or sickening has an impact on that person's character. Harrowing & tragic events occur often as it was for Edgar Allen Poe which left a vast impact on his character. This author's stories focus on his wretched life and obstacles placed in the forms of stories. His unfortunate events turned into eerie, emblematic tales such as “The Raven”, “The Black Cat”, “The cask of amontillado” & more which all have twisted plot lines such as horror, sadness, revenge etc.

Living almost a century apart, Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy each explore similar themes of love through strong female characters. While society strove to keep women’s value directly tied to their marital status, Austen and Hardy wrote the stories of characters who defied these expectations. Bathsheba Everdene of Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd is a fiery young woman who inherits a farm, and Elizabeth Bennet of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is an educated woman who prides herself on speaking her mind regardless of the consequences. Both women are of marrying age, and both novels feature their romantic exploits. Besides their differing socio-economic and temporal settings, Bathsheba’s and Elizabeth’s behaviors indicate that they are facing similar feelings and conflicts when it comes to issues of love and marriage. Bathsheba goes to greater lengths to defy societal pressures than Elizabeth does, but Bathsheba’s circumstances warrant the effort. The real difference between these characters is the way in which they are written. One could not know how similar Bathsheba’s thoughts and feelings are to Elizabeth’s, because the reader rarely sees through Ms. Everdene’s eyes. Bathsheba Everdene is the greater feminist heroine when taken alongside Elizabeth Bennet; however, Hardy writes her story almost exclusively from the perspective of his male characters, leaving her represented as two-dimensional in comparison to

By popular thinking of that day, disorientating violence exacted on the community can only be dealt with through an equal and opposite reaction of violence toward the exacter. An old saying throughout Europe goes ‘Do not hunt monsters, lest you wish to become one yourself.’ Yet, his order and disorder themes lend greatly to the senses of symbolism in the story.

Now to move to the second field on the basis of social rules and dictates within the text, we should elucidate morbid culture of the society with reference to the opening text in which Mrs. Drover visits her house in the shell-shocked England of the Second World War. This is an example of social atmosphere:

The objective of this study is to compare Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" and Stephen King's "Misery". Poe's work entitled "The Tell-Tale Heart" begins with the statement:

     Hemingway's "The Killers" illustrates that unexplained violence is an integrated part of society.  To acknowledge the cruelties of life is to come to terms with horrifying events that can not be denied.  A person may lack the maturity to cope with everyday life if they do not realize that evil can exist in any given society.