“The Devil and Tom Walker” and “The Devil and Daniel Webster”-- these Faust legends tell stories of ordinary men with thirsts for wealth and luck only in exchange for their very souls. Both were written in different time periods, where certain events and happenings influenced each of the stories and their conflicts. Washington Irving wrote “The Devil and Tom Walker” during a time of economic boom (1824). Stephen Vincent Benet wrote “The Devil and Daniel Webster” during a time of economic depression (1937). Despite the stories’ titles, both have different resolutions, depictions of the devil, and saving graces in the end.
Mary Oliver’s The Black Walnut Tree displays a relationship between a family (the mother and daughter) and their tree. In the beginning of the poem towards the middle , both the mother and daughter are conflicted with the decision of tearing down the tree , and in return being able to pay off their mortgage. On the contrary , if the family decides to cut the tree they are afraid they may lose the strong family ties, and past generations that are connected to the tree. Ultimately the family of two has to make the decision to cut the tree or allow the tree to stay along with it’s symbolism. Mary Oliver utilizes figurative language devices such as imagery in reference to the appearance of the tree ; symbolism which corresponds to the symbolic
The earth is a valuable place that should be kept safe by those who live in it. Joseph Bruchac in “The Sky Tree” and Barry Lopez in “Coyote Finishes His Work” are both Native American literatures that demonstrate the importance of earth. In the “Sky Tree” a sick man asked his wife Aataentic to cut down a tree because he believed that the fruit that grew from the tree would heal him. When the tree was cut it fell through a hole; eventually, the tree grows in a new earth. In “Coyote finishes his Work” Coyote the main character teaches the Indians how to survive. An old man comes to earth and informs Coyote that his work is done. He says that coyote will be back first and then the old man will come after him. Using numerous literary techniques-symbolism, imagery, and archetype- Bruchac and Lopez emphasize the theme that the earth as our mother and provider needs to be honored and respected and can never be owned.
Writing allows people to communicate and reflect on their thoughts. To write out one’s ideas allows the writer to reflect upon and reinterpret their interpretations. To feel a feeling, to think a thought is only surface level - to really explore the thought or feeling one must write it down and look at it objectively - not as their own as an idea removed. It is like evaluating someone else’s answer to a question. The removal from one’s self allows a writer to be more free. To remove context gives space in between the writer and the writing, which allows the writer to be more honest, or to take on a different perspective. While writing gives a person the opportunity to hone their ideas in a communicable way, it also lets them
This is the story of two great men in two different eras. Joseph, a biblical man with great power and authority sold from the land of Canaan to the land of Egypt. The other, a man named Gilgamesh, a strong and handsome man from an epic story of the Ancient Babylonian time. These men were very different but, at some point very powerful times in their lives and then also had some challenging times. Gilgamesh starts off with a powerful live and then goes through some turbulence and Joseph start out with turbulence and becomes powerful. Joseph was bullied or disliked by his brothers, while Gilgamesh was the bully and had people afraid of him. This story will tell the comparisons and differences in their life’s journeys.
Donkeyskin is a fairy tale about a princess who faces difficult challenges but manages to overcome them in the end. The King’s wife dies and with the intention of keeping the king unmarried for the rest of his life, she makes him to promise that he will marry an awesome woman like her. The situation forces the king to propose to her daughter who is even better than the queen. The tale focusses on the idea that good can always triumph over evil. It revolves around the flight of the princess to escape the awful marriage to his father (Perrault, 1977).
The two main oldest epic tales in the world, ‘Epic of the Gilgamesh’ and Homer’s ‘Iliad’ deals with many significant issues that pose a meaning in the life of an individual and communities. The Epic of Gilgamesh was written 1500 years before Homer wrote the Iliad. It tells the story of mighty hero Gilgamesh, the hero king of Uruk, and his adventures. The Iliad is an epic poem written in the mid-8th Century BCE. It describes the main events in the final weeks of the Trojan War and the Greek siege of the city of Troy. The wrath of Achilles, themes of glory and fate are portrayed in the subject matter of the epic.
Speak, a novel written by Laurie Halse Anderson, is a memorable story about a girl who overcomes a horrific experience, rape, and with it, injustice. Melinda, the main protagonist, has an emotional journey, and with the help of her art teacher, Mr. Freeman, survives through this excursion. As Mr. Freeman says, “‘Welcome to the journey’” (12). Mr. Freeman assists Melinda, by constantly questioning her emotional being, turning an art project into a pool of her feelings, and forcing Melinda to see the light in her heart. With Mr. Freeman lifting her emotional baggage, Melinda can finally be free and with that, experience happiness once again.
Once upon a time there was a story about a girl named Cinderella. There have been many versions of this story written. There is a version for almost every culture, but they all lead back to the original version told by the Brother’s Grimm. Although the story has changed through time, the main plot stays the same. Cinderella is a young girl who is forced into being a servant for her family. She longs for love and affection. She finds it when at the ball, but when she has to leave, she leaves in a hurry and one of the slippers that she is wearing gets left behind at the ball and the Prince finds and starts to look for her. Even though they were separated for short periods of time they still find each other in the end.The Prince takes her to his palace and they get married. This general plot stays the same for all versions of the story, but the differences between Disney’s Cinderella and Grimm’s Cinderella are striking, and they deserve through examination.
In Mary Oliver’s, The Black Walnut Tree, she exhibits a figurative and literal understanding on the importance of family and its history. The poem is showing that your emotional value is what’s more important than your physical value (money). By using symbolism and imagery the poet illustrates an intricate relationship between the “Black Walnut Tree” to the mother and daughter being both rooted deeply in the earth and past trying to reach for the sun and the fruit it will bring. Symbolism constitutes the allusion that the tree is the family both old and new. Imagery portrays the image that the tree and family are connected by similar trails and burdens. Her uses of metaphor, diction, tone, onomatopoeia, and alliteration shows how passionate and personal her and her mother’s connection is with this tree and how it holds them together.
It is nearly impossible for a tale to be passed down generations and still stay the same. The fairy tale “Cinderella” told by the Grimm brothers is almost 206 years old, and differences can be seen between the modern “Cinderella” story and the original. In “Cinderella,” by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, a young girl named Cinderella is treated like a servant by her family. Luckily she is gifted with beautiful clothing, enabling her to attend a festival, meeting her one true love. Cinderella gets married to the prince, and the step-sisters are punished by getting pecked in the eyes by birds. Similarly, in Walt Disney’s “Cinderella,” she is also treated horribly, and awarded a beautiful outfit by her fairy godmother, letting her attend a ball, encountering her true love. Cinderella gets married to the prince, however, the step-sisters are forgiven and live with Cinderella at the castle unlike the original story. Both stories have many similarities, especially in the climax. However, the
The poems “The Gift” by Li-Young Lee and “The Lanyard” by Billy Collins both discuss the identity and relationship of parents and children. “The Gift” discusses how sometimes physical things have deeper, more metaphorical meanings. “The Lanyard” discusses the relationship of a mother and child and the identity of being a parent. “The Gift” and “The Lanyard” both speak about parents, their children, and the love between them, but have different tones and situations.
The poems in this essay both talk about being a woman. “Phenomenal Woman” by Maya Angelou is about more of a confident woman while “Woman” by Nikki Giovanni is about a woman who wants a man to change for her. The poems though very different, are also similar because they both talk about confidence as a woman. By the end of both poems the narrators both know that they are women who are strong and do not need anyone else 's acceptance but their own. They know their own self worth and that is enough for them.
There are many times humans act differently because of someone else. The outlooks of human behaviors depend on the negative or positive influences that surround a person. People act the way they are because of the external forces that affect them. Likewise throughout history, many authors and poets create their work of literatures based on the external forces. Often times, the message that these authors and poets reveals not only has universal themes, but also can connect to people’s life stories. The external forces in the poem “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” translated by John Gardner particularly relate the story of my own life.
Cinderella is perhaps one of the most famous childhood fairy tale stories of all time. Over the years, numerous versions of the story have been recreated and have been told to children all over the world. The original story of Cinderella follows the life of a young girl who is mistreated by her step mother and stepsisters. Cinderella is magically converted into a gorgeous princess with the assistance of her fairy godmother. She then goes to the ball to meet the prince. However, she has to leave the ball at midnight as the magic wears off and she turns back into her former self. She leaves behind a glass slipper that the prince uses to find her and they both live happily ever after. The main focus of this comparison essay is to analyze the similarities and differences of two movie versions of Cinderella: Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s Cinderella and A Cinderella Story.There are a number of similarities in both versions of the movie. Both movies illustrate the mistreatment of step children, the importance of young girls having a father figure in their lives, and the hope of finding true love and living happily ever after.