A five page paper looking at this short story by John Updike in terms of the author s development of the story s theme, a young man s moment of self-discovery. The paper traces Updike s use of contrast and detail to paint a picture of an oppressively narrow-minded small town and its people. No additional sources. A five page paper looking at the importance of these three themes in James Joyce s classic short story. The paper maintains that Joyce views Ireland as a nation essentially dead, whose greatest power lays in its memories and imagination.
Bibliography lists two sources.
A six page paper looking at Francis Ford Coppola s 1979 film in the light of its relationship to Joseph Conrad s 1902 novel. The paper argues that although Coppola s film was billed as a remake of Heart of Darkness, it actually makes Conrad s novel much easier to understand. No additional sources. A five page paper analyzing how Kurtz, the enigmatic central figure in Joseph Conrad s novel, represents the failure of Western civilization. The paper asserts that society has a light side and a dark side, and by constantly harping on the optimism of rationalism and progress and denying the existence of any dark side at all, society unwittingly becomes the dark side s prey.