The Nuns Priest's Tale

“Sometimes painful things can teach us lesson we didn’t think we needed to know.” This is an example of the stories; The Monkey’s Paw and Tell-Tale Heart. The story, The Monkey’s Paw, tells you about an old friend of Mr. White coming to visit him and his family. He shows them the monkey’s paw and tells them that it can grant you three wishes. They take it even though the friend warns them not to and the results aren’t what they expected. The story, Tell-Tale Heart, tells you about the narrator who is plotting to kill an old man with the “vulture eye”. The narrator doesn’t realize that what he’s done will cost him. Although The Monkey’s Paw and Tell-Tale Heart stories may be different, they are also very similar

The parents respond to her fear by telling her that the owl is only asking “an odd question…” (4). They say that if she “rightly listened” to the owl, she would be able to hear it merely asking “who cooks for you?” (6). The stanza expresses a humorous tone with phrases such as “[It] was an odd question from a forest bird…” (4), and “Who cooks for you?” (6). On one level, the parents comfort the child by telling a lie in order to get her back to sleep, on another level, this changes the perception the daughter has of the owl. The parents do this by using the term “forest bird”, instead of “owl” to make her feel less intimidated. Through this lie she perceives the owl as a friendly forest creature, rather than a horrid monster from the night. The poem’s “AABBCC” rhyme scheme also helped further establish the tone, giving a child-like feeling to it, because it’s often used in fairy tales which is meant for children. Wilbur believes that the lie is a good way to help the child go to sleep. He justifies it in the

The book shares the same negative views about dreams with the poem “To a Mouse”, by Robert Burns. The poem tells the story of a mouse who has planned for survival through the winter, but his plans were ruined by a farmer who was plowing his field leaving the mouse frightened and fearing for the future. The seventh stanza includes these lines “The best laid schemes of mice and men, go oft astray, and leave us nought but grief and pain to rend our day” (Burns “To a Mouse”). This quote illustrates the fact that both the plans of mice and men will fail leaving them unhappy. The author Robert burns shows in “To a Mouse” his negative opinion directed towards achieving dreams.

In a traditional point of view, humans are “above” animals, but the ability of the merchant to understand the animals defies the traditional hierarchy. This decentralization of the relationship between a human and an animal is significant in the fact that the words of a rooster end up influencing the actions of a person (the merchant). The rooster represents the traditional patriarchal concept of male “superiority” over female since he discusses a stern piece of advice with a dog, after he “jumped on a hen and, finishing with her, jumped down and jumped on another” (Haddawy, 19), displaying a behavior of control and disrespect over the opposite sex. The rooster indirectly advises the merchant, through his conversation with the dog, to “fall on her” (referring to the merchant´s wife) (19) and beat her with an oak branch until she has no desire to question her husband´s actions. The merchant heeds the words of the rooster, and reestablishes the hierarchy of male over female dominance by using impulsive and violent animal like brutality. Yet, the hierarchy of human-reason dominance over animalistic behavior was diminished after the merchant followed the advice of his cock.

The major theme of this story is to some people, animals are more important than any human. The author and his sister love Henry, the parrot, like one of their family member. Sedaris makes his audiences confused. At first, he makes everyone think that Henry is a human being as he says: “My sister’s home didn’t really lend itself to snooping, so I spent my hour in the kitchen, making small talk with Henry”(445).

In the passages The Count of Monte Cristo and Blessings, the theme is discovered in different ways. They both have a great meaning and are delivered in interesting ways. The text includes details that help discover the theme. Although they give clues on the theme, they do not just say what the theme is. Therefore, you must try to figure it out from the clues.

The dream that the narrator has at the end of the story is very important as well. He describes his grandfather as having him open envelope after envelope,

“A dream is a wish your heart makes, when you are fast asleep.” This nostalgic melody sung by Disney’s Cinderella expresses the importance and meanings that dreams can have. In Native American culture, dreams are used as tools to guide one through life. Many big decisions made by Native Americans are influenced by dreams. It is said that supernatural powers or omens from spirits or gods are to be received via dreams or visions. In receiving them, magical abilities, or the ability to look into the future can be bestowed onto one. In Fools Crow, James Welch, illustrates several characters having visions and dreams. Throughout the book the dreams are seen as visions of the future. Welch uses these messages to reflect upon Native American culture and to foreshadow motives or events that will affect the characters later in the book.

The nun acted like a fox to undo the chastity of Devasmita. The nun chose to act like a fox to deceive Devasmita and make her trust her. She wants to seduce her to bed with the merchant’s sons. The Machiavellian concept of being a fox and lion means to succeed in a battle you have to know who are you dealing with like a fox and act aggressively like a lion to frighten them. “Since, then, it is necessary for a prince to understand how to make good used of conduct of the animals, he should select among the fox and the lion, because the lion cannot protect himself from traps and the fox cannot protect him self from the

Because of the supposed similarities between humans and birds, birds are a useful tool for authors wishing to symbolize human emotions or thoughts. Mynott offers that birds are often “distinguished partly by the different human emotions they seem to be revealing” (Mynott 282). He references several examples of the use of human-specific traits in the description of birds, such as “kind,” “stern,” and “astonished” (282). It is not such a huge leap from the attribution of such human characteristics, to “anthropomorphic misdescription” (282). The birds in The Ant of the Self are said to be looking “as though they [had] placed bets” on who would lose Spurgeon’s and his father’s confrontation. While Spurgeon is taking a stand against his father by ordering him out of the car and onto the shoulder of the road, the birds’ curious glances are exposing Spurgeon’s own thoughts. The birds, a symbol for Spurgeon, wonder whether he or his father will “go down in flames” (Packer 95). The caged birds, which are so capable of human expressions, are expressing Spurgeon’s thoughts. ZZ Packer endows the birds with a look of human quizzicality, having them glance from the nervous Spurgeon to his angered father. Spurgeon wonders whether he or his father will win, and the birds, as his symbol, express this.

The man recognizes how easy it is to surrender to the mirage of good dreams, where the richness of color and variety of detail provides a dangerous contrast to the grey monotony of both his and his son’s reality. Often, he awakens “in the black and freezing waste out of softly colored worlds of human love, the songs of birds, the sun,” (272). Those dreams are an invitation to rest in some nonexistent land. The man recognizes this as a dangerous temptation so he forces himself to wake up and face the cruel world rather than deteriorate in a world that no longer exists. His philosophy is that “the right dreams for a man in peril were dreams of peril and all else was the call of languor and of death.” (18). Only bad dreams belong in his mind because all good dreams are a reminder of valuable days that cannot be lived

Portraying sex as a power that women exert over men rather than the marital bond of “making

“The Nun’s Priest’s Tale” primarily revolves around Chanticleer’s dream. However, the importance of the story was not in the dream but rather in his actual encounter with the fox. Chanticleer notices the fox while watching a butterfly, and the fox confronts him with dissimulating courtesy, telling the rooster not to be afraid. “Sir! Wither so fast away? / Are you afraid of me, that I am your friend?” (227). As a way to trap Chanticleer the fox praises him on his magnificent voice. “Truly I came to do no other thing/ Than just to lie and listen to you sing. / You have as merry a voice as God has given/ To any angel in the courts of Heaven” (227). Chanticleer relishes the fox's flattery of his singing. He beats his wings with pride, stands on his toes, stretches his neck, closes his eyes, and crows loudly. The fox reaches out

The Friar is a man of many traits, but trickery is one of his best traits. The Friar is a character in the poem The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. The Friar was in a religious Order, and he was loved by many people. He is a character that appears to be graceful and elegant, but he abuses his power as a clergyman, which was a common theme in the church during this time. The author, Geoffrey Chaucer, uses this poem to inform his audience of the practices in the Middle Ages. He uses the characters of the stories to show some of these practices. The Friar is one of the characters in which Geoffrey Chaucer shows the corruption of the church during the Middle Ages. The Friar is a prime example of one who used his position to get

In the beginning, he distrusts the dream; he is unsure if he has to follow and accomplish the dream. But, later on, as he gets a prophecy from an old woman, who interprets his dream and confirms him to follow just his dream. Despite the confirmation, he is not so interested of the dream. This is mainly because of two reasons. One, he hasn’t enough courage to sell his sheep or leave them behind. Second, he falls for a beauty of a girl who