Christina Willard

Evolution is something that is not often talked about in the modern world, although it is generally accepted as scientific fact in history. However, there are places where there is a possibility that...

Cisneros' diction, detail, and imagery develop Rachel, showing that she is timid and juvenile and wants desperately to grow up and gain the wisdom of an adult.

The modern stage has, for the most part, moved away from the tragedy. However, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, which made its stage debut in 1949, is very much in line with a couple key elements...

Lewis would argue that there actually are other worlds, or more specifically, that each possible world is definitely real.

One aspect of fiction that keeps the reader motivated to continue is the parallel construction of many elements of narrative that interweave and enhance each other. Snow Falling on Cedars gracefully ...

The modern American novel has taken the liberty of addressing many social and political concerns in unconventional manners. One example is the novel's commentary on political movements such as femini...

Shakespeare was a key writer of tragedies that are well-known in American and British culture, such as Hamlet. But modern writers can take new spins on tragedy, which is what Tom Stoppard does in his...

How do poets go about creating a particular mood in a poem? Clearly it is through the words, but there are more specific terms and techniques that come into play in composing a poem.

In Cry, the Beloved Country, Alan Paton describes the effects apartheid has brought upon the people of South Africa. Although fictional, the novel accurately depicts the effects of apartheid and the ...

One of the most common tools authors use to do this is imagery, or describing the situation in visual senses. Edward Hirsch's poem "My Father's Back" is a great example because the speaker is haunted...

Hamlet begins his soliloquy with the opinion that death would be a peaceful release from his troubled life, but then his attitude shifts to that of an uneasiness towards death because of its unknowns.

The American Dream is an ideal of finding happiness and satisfaction through hard work. In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller suggests that the American Dream is, for the most part, unattainable.

Although the United States were not initially involved in World War I and tried to remain neutral as long as possible, once they entered the war, they had a huge presence and played a fairly large rol...

America's success in the Great War, or World War I, was largely due to the service of many heroic divisions of the army. Three of the men who were instrumental in the war were John Joseph Pershing, E...

Strategically, the majority of the first World War was fought as a stalemate. Both sides dug miles of trenches so that they would not be exposed to enemy fire, and chemical weapons made their first m...

The Great War, also known as World War I, was brought about largely by tensions in Europe that forced countries to seek allies around them in case of conflict.

Rather than thinking something and doing nothing about it, Sartre believes that people should take responsibility for their thoughts and put them into action.

While most of the population of the early American cities was trying to scrape by on their meager wages, the corrupt political leaders were busy grafting money from the city.

Extensive immigration and the rise of the city in the late 19th century led to racial and religious discrimination, which was one of the causes of the progressive reform of the early 20th century.

The average late 19th century city was full of social problems: filth, disease, crime, and other contributors that lowered the quality of life for its inhabitants.

To make ends meet, families had to send their children off to work in the factories.

The role of women in literature has a key role in shaping perceptions of the modern woman, specifically how it is appropriate for her to behave.

The United States went to war with Mexico in order to expand all the way to the Pacific Ocean, providing harbors on the west coast for trade and room for either slavery or non-slavery, depending on ho...

In the mid-nineteenth century, the Americans felt it was their mission to expand their country and infiltrate their ideas into other cultures. This idea, called Manifest Destiny, was the main source ...

Some authors have focused their novels around the idea of narrative credibility, which often leaves the reader puzzled over how much of the story is accurate, and ultimately, if there even is a standa...

The 1920's are largely perceived as a time of materialism, when America woke up to life beyond daily chores and family. F. Scott Fitzgerald, in his book The Great Gatsby develops a character who appe...

Literature for young adults has the important role of exposing them to a variety of ideas that will shape their adult lives, and Amy Tan's writing exposes many children to a culture different from the...

Memento was far from the first story to utilize the narrative storytelling technique of putting parts out of order. Joseph Heller's Catch-22 is a much earlier example of the effective use of jumbled ...

In his poetry, Allen Ginsburg describes the America of his time as a place where it is difficult for the individual to stand alone because of the mass media and culture evolving around him.

The Revolutionary War ended with a the Treaty of Paris that declared the United States of America to be a fully independent nation, granted all rights and privileges of a nation.

Three of the men behind the Revolutionary War success were George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and Nathanial Greene. Their different personalities and strength led the army to defeat the British.

The Revolutionary War, in addition to taking much time and effort from both sides, cost them both money and troops. Britain also lost valuable power in the Americas.

There are some books that portray realistic children who have both a sense of mischief and the tendency to display good moral character.

In an examination of freedom in the early American south, I'd like to look at a piece of fiction that unearths many principles of what freedom truly consists.

The British army was almost exactly opposite of the Continental Army, in size of army, style of warfare, and general spirit and motivation.

The colonists were seen as having an extreme military disadvantage when the Revolutionary War began, but their unorthodox tactics proved, in the end, to be enough.

One day, there was a spark that began the revolution, the first major armed conflict between the colonists and the British army that had been steadily increasing its presence over the course of the pa...

Ten words beginning with the letter "M," defined and then used in a story about a young goose by the name of Gretchen.

Some fictional works explore the boundary between fact and fiction, combining real events with embellished details that leave the result ultimately fictional. However, the end result may be more refl...

Like Willy in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, Troy's main goal in life is to support his family financially because he believes that it is his obligation as the man of the house.

Two poems that exemplify the need to understand the speaker are "Keeping Things Whole" by Mark Strand and "Teachers" by W.S. Merwin.

The friendship that develops between a woman and her slave in this time before the civil war has believability because of the characters and historical accuracy.

When he returned to France, Crèvecoeur was in the unique position of being able to present Europeans with a firsthand account of what life in America is like. His ideas on law and freedom, and t...

As Britain tried to tighten their reign on the colonies, the colonists rebelled, boycotting goods and rebelling against the troops stationed in the colonies.

The only way in which the United States may have been saved from war is if the North and South had been able to agree on a compromise.

In addition to the main causes of the war (sectionalism and the desire of the South to have slavery and continue expanding it into the western territories), there were also some other contributing fac...

The United States had always been divided by sectionalism and slavery, but it steadily worsened in the years prior to the Civil War.

The Revolutionary War began as the result of Britain's attempt to gain revenue from the American colonies, seen in the creation of many Acts designed to tax the colonists.

Students managed to find an issue that they felt strongly about and joined the cause. Three of these groups that were the most popular advocated democracy, free speech, and removal of troops from Vie...

The milestone accomplishments of the civil rights movement were the case of Brown v. Board of Education, the Civil Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act, each of which was a government approval of equ...

The American troops were stuck in Vietnam, like quicksand, because of their reluctance to suffer the consequences of a real war and their reluctance to allow the defeat of South Vietnam.

Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal succeeded in bolstering the economy while helping the poor onto their feet again, all without raising too much discontent in either the right or the left.

Transcendentalist themes of thinking for oneself and coming to knowledge through experience are reflected in one of Melville's short stories, "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street."

Emerson expresses his distaste for the "mere thinkers" who obtain their ideas from the work of other men. These other men, called "Men Thinking," are the ones who truly deserve credit because they de...

Ralph Waldo Emerson asserts in "Self-Reliance" that society tries to silence the genius through its encouragement of conformity. The genius should break from this, discarding his fear of what people ...

Because of the personal connection Reverend John Hale develops with the people of Salem, he becomes sympathetic to the accused and doubts his original instinct that witchcraft is the source of the may...

Because The Crucible is historical fiction, it alludes to many issues of the time, namely, how the people of Salem desired their religious life to fit into the practicalities of daily life in America

Arthur Miller's The Crucible is a historical fiction drama based on the Salem witch trials. In it, he examines the possible effects that the trials would have on the community in Salem, particularly ...

Ten words, defined and used in a story. Plus, a few helpful tips for not only memorizing them, but committing them to memory in a way that will stick with you in the long run!

The American Revolution would require a group of people completely abandoned to a cause, and abandonment does not come without reason. Patrick Henry and Thomas Paine were both influential in stirring...

Questions of what place patriotism can and should have in the modern world have plagued modern writers who attempt to outline what patriotism is today.

Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography chronicles many of the experiments in moral perfection that Franklin carried out during his lifetime.

The American Dream is to be perfectly content with every aspect of life, and it is highly present as an impossible ideal in American culture and literature.

Most of the happenings of the Pilgrims, from the journey on the Mayflower to the Pilgrims' establishment of a colony, were compiled in an account that made clear the role that God was playing in their...

One document that sheds much light on the Puritan tradition in schooling is The New England Primer, a book designed for instruction in basic reading that also doubled as religious instruction due to i...

Not only does Anne Bradstreet's poetry reflect the Puritan ideals of the time, but it is a timeless reflection on the issues that many believers have struggled with throughout history.

Much of the cause of the Great Awakening was that people realized their own sin and the mercy offered to them through Christ, as exemplified in Jonathan Edwards' sermons.

John Smith viewed America as a place of prosperity for all who came, but he was threatened by the presence of the Native Americans who might stand in the way between the settlers and their dreams.

Although some names seem to be harsh and exaggerated, they actually provide a good representation of not only the event that happened, but the general reaction of people to the event.

Although the stock market crash of October 1929 is probably the factor that made the Great Depression worse than the average economic recession of the time, it is not the sole cause.

The "Roaring Twenties" were a time when American culture came into its own, suddenly breaking away from a working country into a place where people enjoyed themselves.

Maya Angelou and John Steinbeck's writings both address the issue of the reality of the American Dream, and the writers agree that it is a false hope.

The "melting pot" description of America as a place to come adopt a set of ideals and lose a heritage is a common one, and Maya Angelou and Richard Rodriguez are two modern writers who have taken hold...

This vocabulary builder features another furry creature, Chippy the Chipmunk, and his adventures full of words beginning with the letter "i".

Ten new words, all beginning with the letter f, defined and used in a story about a lovely guinea pig, appropriately named Frank.

Thomas Paine was a great revolutionary writer who brought many ideas on politics and government to the common people through the pamphlets he published, shaping the nation by involving the common man ...

At the end of the 19th century, the United States began to realize the potential they had as a world power. They were the leading producers of wheat and cotton, an industrial nation, and experiencing...

The progressive presidents contributed to the movement mainly through their dedication to breaking trusts and regulating the railroads, in addition to improving conditions in the workplace.

This paper assesses the impact of some factors that affected African American life after the civil war: the 14th Amendment, black codes, Plessy vs. Ferguson and The Atlanta Compromise.

Together, the Monroe Doctrine and the Roosevelt Corollary provided reasoning behind the attitude of the United States towards the rest of the Americas.

How did American politics develop in early years? This essay outlines the hot issues of that time: states' rights and the national bank, and the stances that the Federalists and Democratic-Republican...

The Great War forced Britain to turn to the American colonies as a source of revenue, and they tried, quite unsuccessfully, to centralize their administration of the colonies by sending an army to ena...

With the rise of the family car, intersections were chaotic until Garrett Morgan's invention of the traffic signal hit the streets. This African American inventor was also responsible for an early ve...

Even the commoners could understand Paine's simple writing in Common Sense, and many colonists became convinced that the only way to solve their problems with England was to completely break away.

In the late 1700's, Tecumseh gave a speech to the Osage tribe when looking for allies. He was hoping that if the tribes united, they could hold back the white men trying to take their land.

Abigail Smith Adams, the wife of president John Adams, was a first lady whose life provided a model for many women to come.

The inclusion of doubt as a crucial first step in faith reveal the ways in which Buddhism exemplifies Paul Tillich's definition of a true faith.

The role women play in traditional religious communities is essential for the continuation of the religion in the modern world.

The black church and the white evangelical church are tackling racism in different ways because of their different views on the role of God in ending racism, but neither is exacting change.

After a broad examination of what religion is, as is done by Paul Tillich in Dynamics of Faith, the Afro-Cuban religion of Santería can be seen as a true religion.

For a book to become a classic, it must have a timeless theme, one that all people of all eras are able to relate to. Classics also may have an element of novelty, and most of all, they have proven to...

Prejudice is an evident theme in the two novels as a black man and a retarded man are looked down on because of their differences.

The Whiskey Rebellion, a series of rogue attacks on the government by settlers in Western Pennsylvania, was a frontier in American government because they crossed the border into the new territory of ...

Although Tillich exhibits intolerance towards other symbols and religions when he defends the special nature of Christianity and its symbol of the cross, he does not, by his own definition, commit ido...

The Populists, the people's party, was formed to bring the government back into the hands of the common man and to make the necessary reforms to help farmers to profit in the new industrial society.

Installment number two in the series of fun and educational stories using ten newly-defined vocabulary words.

This article provides ten words that can be commonly found on the SAT and other standardized tests, defined and then used in context in a story about a puppy named Furball. In this article: the lette...

The poem supports developing thought through nature, because that is what the speaker did to discover his idea, paralleling the ideas of the transcendentalists, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Although the definition of patriotism outlined by John Schaar in "The Case for Patriotism" and Thomas Paine in "The American Crisis" are similar in idea, Schaar's source of loyalty is rooted in the pa...

The differences between the Chesapeake and New England regions sprung mainly out of the people who settled in them, who took advantage of the opportunity handed to them and managed to create two very ...