Posts by Nicole Smith | Article Myriad

Themes Summary and Analysis of “The Narrative of Mary Jemison” : Gender and Culture

• Comments Closed • The Narrative of Mary Jemiso

Mary Jemison’s narrative indicates that during the eighteenth century accounts of captivity began to offer two competing narratives of national identity. One narrative equated the English family with English culture and unfolded as if perpetuating the Englishness of Anglo-America depended →

The Book of Margery Kempe and The Role of Women in Medieval Society

• Comments Closed • Wife of Bath, Gender and Affective Piety

Throughout The Book of Margery Kempe the narrow roles for medieval women that were codified by the Church and more generally, the patriarchal society, were hardly negotiable. There were a set of strict expectations defining a woman’s duty both inside the home →

Gender and Affective Piety in The Book of Margery Kempe

• Comments Closed • Pardoner's Prologue and Tale, Wife of Bath

Part of what makes the story of Margery Kempe so interesting is her reliance on dramatic gestures of faith, otherwise known as “affective piety”. While religious movements of the time were all seeking to find new ways to connect with →

Gender and Power in Lysistrata by Aristophanes

• Comments Closed • Powerful Women in Lysistrata and Agamemnon

Lysistrata offers readers several examples of different types of women through dialogue and actions. One the one hand, the main character, Lysistrata, is very powerful and an excellent, moving speaker. The other women that surround Lysistrata are rather the opposite; the →

Anthropomorphism in Literature as Reflected in “The Life of Pi” by Yann Martel

• Comments Closed • Yann Martel

Anthropomorphism in literature is a common theme throughout the ages. While many tales about animals are directed toward children, simply because adult writers feel that young people are better able to connect with animals or simply because they feel that →

Analysis of “A Lesson Before Dying” by Ernest Gaines: Themes of Women and Community

• Comments Closed • Ernest Gaines

The women that surround Grant in “A Lesson Before Dying” by Ernest Gaines are all catalysts for his eventual change away from the bitterness and doubts. Without Miss Emma or Tante Lou, it seems natural to conclude that Grant would →

Full Plot Summary and Analysis of “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne

• Comments Closed • Nathaniel Hawthorne

As in the case with many other works by Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Birthmark” does not take place in his own time, but rather in the past century (although unlike in other works such as The Scarlet Letter or The Minister’s Black Veil, not in →

Full Summary and Analysis of “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne

• Comments Closed • Nathaniel Hawthorne

Click Here to Get Four Exclusive, Never Before Published Literary Analysis Essays on “The Minster’s Black Veil” Written by Our Team of Literature Scholars In The Minister’s Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the reader is introduced to a pleasant scene in →

Lancelot, Guinevere, and the Fair Maiden of Ascolot in Le Morte Darthur

• Comments Closed • Representations of Women, Hospitality in The Odyssey

As this essay on “Le Morte Darthur” seeks to point out, it does not seem to be a mere coincidence that the chapter in “Le Morte Darthur” by Sir Thomas Mallory that deals with Guinevere and Lancelot’s spats also presents →

Identity, Alienation, and Science Fiction: Neuromancer and The Left Hand of Darkness

• Comments Closed • The Girl Who Was Plugged In, When It Changed

When identity cannot be ascertained against the standard measures and “guarantees” such as personality or gender, substitute means must be employed to create a new way of perceiving and processing identity. Without such tactics, life would descend into chaos as →

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