Orlando by Virgina Woolf

The relationship between madness and prophecy have been, for so long, a source of contention in literary circles. These two concepts are somewhat difficult to tackle as both are connected to a mystical world that can give meaning to human existence and truth about life. After the Holocaust, people seriously began questioning the existence of a supreme Deity and the lack of divine intervention to such destructive, inhumane war. As a result, the concepts of prophecy and madness are intertwined in several Holocaust stories. Such complexities make one wonder how to differentiate the two concepts; a question that is still perplexing even to specialists.

Over the past 200 years sexual liberation and freedom have become topics of discussions prevalent within western culture and society. With the recent exploration of sexuality a new concept of sexual and gender identity has emerged and is being analyzed in various fields of study. The ideology behind what defines gender and how society explains sex beyond biology has changed at a rapid pace. In response various attempts to create specific and catch all definitions of growing gender and sexual minorities has been on going. This has resulted in the concept of gender becoming a multi- layered shifting hypothesis to which society is adapting. Since the 19th-century, philosophers and theorists have continued to scrutinize gender beyond biological and social interpretation. Margaret Atwood 's The Handmaid 's Tale captures the limitations and social implications forced upon a set gender based on societal expectations. Gender is a social construct that limits the individual to the restrictions and traditions of a society, or if it’s an individually formed self-identification of sex and sexuality that is formed autonomously. Evidence of gender establishment can be seen within literary works and supported by various schools of gender and sexuality theory.

Star War, Star Trek, those are probably the names that pops into your head when you think of science fiction. However, for over a hundred years, artists and philosophers from all around the world, has never been certain of the true definition of Science Fiction. Although, individual definition of science fiction has erupted in the few decades, especially during the 19th century, when the idea of extraterrestrial surged the media. Today, there are numerous definition of science fiction, each different from one another in its own element. For example, science fiction stories, according to Ray Bradbury are a possibility that has happened in the past or will happen in time. This means that science fiction is the past, the present and the

The Modernist skepticism is vivid in Woolf's portrayal of a woman, Isabella, who has not conformed to society's accepted norms and would seem to be - at first glance - all the better for it.  But, upon closer inspection it is with a sigh of resignation that Virginia recognizes the illusion that her fanciful exploration created for her.  Isabella (possibly representative of Virginia herself or of womanhood in general) is elevated and

Claire Standish or “the princess” portrays the stereotypical popular teenage girl in The Breakfast Club. She is in detention with everyone else because she decided to skip class and go shopping, which also plays into the stereotypical teen girl image. It can also be assumed that she is spoiled and rich since her father tried to get her out of detention but failed, and she mentions to the group that her parents only use her to get back at the other one. She brings a fancy lunch of sushi while the other teens either have nothing or the standard lunch one’s parents might pack for them. There are a couple of times in the movie that she brings up her social standing and could even be considered as looking down on those who are not as popular as her. Even closer towards the end of the movie she informs the others that if they were to say hello to her in the hallway in front of her friends, she would have no choice but to ignore them. By the end of the movie, she has opened up to everyone else about her fears of letting her peers down and has formed a close relationship with Bender.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein does not seem like a novel that empowers women. Based on the doormat-esque female characters and entitled male protagonist, one might easily assume that Frankenstein is a typical male-penned, patriarchy-saturated 19th century work. However, when examined with feminist ideals in mind, Shelley’s novel actually makes a progressive argument about the role of women. Though the female characters are certainly lacking in both number and substance, this absence hinders Victor and his goals and does not merely assert that women are useless. In addition, the role of maternity and maternal figures amplifies the meaning of Frankenstein; the creation and caring for of life manifests as an immensely important process with both benefits and consequences, not as merely “women’s work”. Through an analysis of the existing female characters and the lack thereof, as well as by understanding the maternal figures present and how they further the novel, one can see how Shelley’s Frankenstein reveals that feminine roles are necessary for a functional society.

Upon reading the short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Conner, I felt a deep sadness and fear. The thought that there is such evil and darkness in the world chills me to my core. I have watched numerous criminal shows and knew evil existed, however this story includes different aspects of evil that made me realize how it can disguise itself in normal ways. The darkness within this story isn’t just with The Misfit, it also includes the hatefulness and evil aspect of the other characters as well. Pure evil exists among us daily even though we may not recognize it. We, as a society, have numbed ourselves to the darkness that exists, believing that it won’t touch us if we are good people. The truth is that evil can touch any of our lives at any time. This story is like many others where there is good versus evil, however evil was the victor and that was hard to process for me.

Science fiction, or sci-fi for short, is a fiction based genre of a movie or novel in the imagined future scientific or technological advances and major social or environmental changes, frequently portraying space or time travel and life on other planets. The two stories in this synthesis essay, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami are both science fiction stories. Frankenstein, the well known sci-fi story written by Mary Shelley originally written in the year 1817 is a story about an expedition with Robert Walton, who saves and befriends a weary and sick traveler in the Arctic circle. This man was Victor Frankenstein. After becoming closer to Robert Walton, he shared his story of how he had gotten in this predicament. Starting from his birth to how he got into the Arctic.

Gender roles are undeniably a fundamental topic of critique in literature, particularly since expected gender roles have evolved in recent years. More importantly, the transcendence of these gender expectations indicates the possibility for transformation and increasing liberation in society. History explores many different stages for the sexes and their respective roles, from traditional anti-feminist times in which certain roles were strictly enforced, to more modern beliefs entailing free will and a lack of restrictions. In spite of this progress, there are always those who expedite the process while there are others that hinder development from occurring, even when it is necessary. Literary works in particular serve as a showcase

Is sexuality always used to challenge the norm in Carol Ann Duffy’s poem ‘The Devil’s Wife’ and in the novels Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf? I will open my essay with an Oxford English Dictionary definition of the noun ‘norm’. I will argue that all three texts do use sexuality to challenge the norm, however they do not always use sexuality to challenge it. For instance, in ‘The Devil’s Wife’ I will show how Myra Hindley’s sexuality creates empathy for her, even though she is generally a despised figure.

Literature sounds too stuffy and high-browed an descriptor for Science Fiction as a genre. Science fiction is meant to be fantasy, something that is not real and does not strive to meet the literary aspirations of those who would write meaningful prose. Not to say that science fiction writers do not want to something meaningful, but even though the genre may be filled with writers who are degraded by "real" authors as a breed, does not mean that there are not classics that have been recognized as achieving a literary mark. It can be argued, because of the use of literary devices, that there are those science fiction novels that definitely reach the level anyone would consider literature, and among these is a book from Phillip K. Dick called The Man in the High Castle. This paper examines what literary devices were used in this book to make it both a work of science fiction and a work of literature.

In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein the critical essay “Lesbian Panic and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein” (“Lesbian Panic”) by Frann Michel approaches Frankenstein from a gender perspective and applies Adrienne Rich’s lesbian continuum, the “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence” where female relationships, mother-daughter/sisters/female friendships which all fall under the umbrella of lesbian relations, to the relationships that are present in Frankenstein. Frann Michel clarifies through her essay that any work of literature that takes a critical point of view of heterosexual relationships is, in fact, a lesbian text. Michel states that in Frankenstein the motion of lesbian panic is prevalent because lesbian desire is avoided at all costs – during the 1800’s society was rampant with panic, or phobia, amongst those who were afraid of potential sexual desires with one another. Lesbians were considered “Sapphic monstrosities” (Michel 351). In placing female characteristics on all characters in the novel Michel argues, in “Reading Mothers and Lovers”, that Victor Frankenstein’s “maternal anxiety” and his creature’s unfulfilled desire for a female is a doubling of them reflecting with their female counterparts under the lesbian continuum (Michel 355). In “Difference and Desire” Michel claims that Justine and Elizabeth’s tender moments at the end of Justine’s life comes to an end as a result of her unjust confinement and murder. The creature created by Victor is henceforth the

Women in literature have been portrayed in a multitude of ways throughout time. From goddesses to witches, and even prostitutes, women have not been limited in their representations. One challenge, in particular, is repression of their sexuality. In novels by Kate Chopin, George Orwell, and Kazuo Ishiguro, female characters live in societies that seek to regulate their sexuality. Published in 1899, The Awakening by Chopin focuses on Edna Pontellier, a woman who seeks to create a life outside her marriage by pursuing relationships with various lovers. George Orwell’s 1984, which was published in 1949, features Julia, a woman who rebels against her society by having sex for pleasure and not for reproduction. In addition, like Chopin and Orwell,

In the Gynomorphosis article, Dibattista writes that Orlando’s sex was changed which altered her future, but her identity remained the same. In addition, this Gynomorphosis is meant under Woolf as a self-actualizing event. Dibattista claims that Woolf is trying to make us readers understand what is going on inside Orlando’s mind rather than observe the events that are happening to her. An agent that effects our mind is clothes. According to Dibattista, we are molded by our clothing, therefore affecting how we think, feel, and speak. Clothes can mold our exterior but is unreliable on the true person underneath it all, Woolf’s

Virginia Woolf’s novel, Orlando, and Thomas Page McBee’s memoir, Man Alive, aim to define the male and female gender through life experiences. Virginia Woolf uses the eponymous protagonist, Orlando, to define the freedom that men have within society while women face many societal restrictions. Within Man Alive, Thomas, a transgendered man, experiences similar freedoms and restrictions that Orlando experiences through his experiences within society. Man Alive is the journey of Thomas Page McBee’s transition from woman to man; it focuses not on his physical change but on his mental change. Orlando was placed in a predicament that allowed him to experience life both as man and woman. The first thirty years of Orlando’s life was spent as a man then he was permanently transformed into a woman. Almost parallel to Orlando’s transition experience, Thomas was also in a predicament that allowed him to experience life as a man and woman. Thomas, born Page, goes through a transition to become male. Orlando and Thomas both aimed at trying to figure out who they were in society; Thomas was trying to find what kind of man he wanted to become and Orlando was trying to find what kind of woman she was becoming. For example, if female Orlando was promiscuous, she would be heavily criticized by her community while male Orlando received no censure. Man Alive focused, not on the criticism that Thomas received but, on the characteristics of men via