Ann Rinaldi has written a book that weaves history and fiction into a wonderful book, and this is why I have chosen this book. It covers some important parts of history and the reader sees it through the eyes of a thirteen old girl. The book is dark with intrigue and gross medical stuff, so students should love it. While the assignation and arrest of Mary Surratt is the major historical event around which the book is written, it is more about the state of medical science in the US at the end of the war and how it was impacted by the war. For instance, Rinaldi's author's note starts out focused on the history of medical dissections in the united states, and then goes on to describe its history in Europe. She then describes the history of hospitals, medical schools and medicine in the US. She doesn't turn towards the conspiracy to kill Lincoln till later. Emily's best friend is Annie Surratt, the daughter of Mary Surratt who was hung for her part in the conspiracy to murder Lincoln. Students will see this part of history through a different point of view, not just learning about it through their textbook. I also think students will relate with Emily, because she wants to see the good in everything. She wants to believe the world is a good place. She judges her Uncle for something she believes is horrible and doesn’t understand because of her young, innocent age. Then the reader sees her grow as into a young lady, where she isn’t so innocent anymore. Emily realizes the world isn’t perfect and she shouldn’t have judged her Uncle, because he was snatching dead bodies to help medical science and save more lives during a horrible time of war. At the end of Ann Rinaldi’s book, she has questions for teachers to discuss with their students. This will make it easy to have literature circles with students.…
"The Killer Angels" written by Michael Shaara in 1974, published by Ballantine Books, is a story showing the courage and heroism of people involved in the Battle of Gettysburg that took place in 1863. The novel presents the battle in an objective manner, and does not take sides when displaying the position of the two armies on the subject of slavery. It is an outstanding book and is worth reading due to the presence of real characters. In other words, the characters have been brought to life and the audience not only gets to learn about the battle itself, but also about the views and opinions of the participants. One of the most interesting methods is how Shaara presents the narrative through the viewpoints of army personnel, which makes the events come to life. The results are well rounded characters, detailed imagery, and an objectivity that didn’t label either side as the hero.…
The colors of the rooms represent the stages of life. He also makes it a point to arrange the rooms running from east to west. This represents the cycle of a day, because the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, with night representing death. Poe makes the last, black room, as the endpoint, the room the guests fear just as they fear death. The clock that is in there also reminds the guests that death is always a…
Both Poe and Hawthorne focused on the use of detailed descriptions of scenery to create a mood for their stories. In fact, in both stories almost half of what is written is a description of the setting. Poe uses the dungeon in “The Pit and the Pendulum” to create a sense of doom and despair that plays a part throughout his story. Near the beginning of the story he writes, “The blackness of eternal night encompassed me.” (2). This sets the mood right away. He also appeals to the reader’s senses and describes the feel and smells of the dungeon with phrases like”…my forehead seemed bathed in a clammy vapour, and the peculiar smell of decayed fungus arose to my nostrils.” (4). Poe further engages the reader’s senses later in the story, “A suffocating odor pervaded the prison!...A richer tint of crimson diffused itself over the pictured horrors of blood.” (9). By appealing to the senses Poe forces the reader to picture themselves in his story.…
He starts of describing the seven apartments and how bizarre they look “There were seven…while the folding doors…” (234). the fact that there were seven rooms is symbolic in itself due to that there are seven stages in life. Poe uses the number of rooms to describe the stages of life in a way that the first room symbolizes birth and the seventh room symbolizes death. In every room there are decorated stained glass windows along with the carpet that coordinate with the color of the room. The first room, blue symbolizing birth, purple is the developmental stage of life, green for the nourishment. The orange room represents the setting of the sun, the ending of life, leading to the white room for the ascension into heaven. The seventh and final room being black velvet represents death. It is in the seventh room that draws a feeling of fear among the prince’s guests and is avoided. The room is entirely decorated in black except for the window panes which were that of a scarlet. “There stood…a brazier of fire… (235). There is a fire that prominently illuminates the room where an ebony clock stands striking at every hour.…
Budick, E. Miller. "The fall of the house: a reappraisal of Poe 's attitudes toward life and death." The Southern Literary Journal 9.2 (1977): 30+. Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 3 Aug. 2012.…
When most are asked to name a famous poet, a majority of people instantly think of the great Edgar Allan Poe. He was also an author, editor, and literary critic during the early nineteenth century, but his reputation today rests primarily on his dark, lyric poetry. "The Haunted Palace" is one such poem that Poe is remembered for, and is actually part of "The Fall of the House of Usher," one of his most famous short stories. In the poem, Poe uses a decrepit and haunted palace as a metaphor for insanity. Ironically, Poe himself was speculated to have suffered from the mind-altering effects of alcoholism, drug usage, brain congestion and possibly rabies. The physical decline of the mansion depicted in "The Haunted Palace," in my opinion, was the foreshadowing of Poe 's own mental and physical decline.…
In Emily Dickinson’s poem “I am afraid to own a Body” the speaker primarily uses sound to posit the overall theme of the poem. More specifically, she uses incoherent and disjointed repetition (notably alliteration and assonance) and slant rhymes that scatter the poem but do not fall into any pattern to suggest her own inability to conform to expected or desired patterns of being a human. The background imagery of inheritance to which the poem alludes complements these expected patterns.…
Edgar Allen Poe’s “The House of Usher” and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” use imagery and metaphors to convey different ideas about their characters’ mental and physical health. Both Poe and Gilman use a similar metaphor where a character is linked to the setting, but Poe’s metaphor is more straightforward, whereas Gilman’s tends to beat around the bush.…
Poe’s characters display an illness in their mind that they cannot tolerate. These characters struggle to make sense of their experiences, but the readers unknowingly will find the explanations the characters are looking for. The dismay tales Poe portrays in his characters is mental illnesses and self-destruction to the point of madness, which leads the characters to risk their own well-being as a person (Magistrate 13). Thus makes the readers highly aware of the characters own senses before the actual character. The true terror is death and nevertheless if one puts into effect dark and gloomy castles, secret passageways, and closed spaces that make one trapped is will cause anxiety due to a threat. (Kennedy 115).…
Edgar Allen Poe’s poems represented his everyday life. Some were about the sad lonely nights and some were about the good nights of his life. He always used chamber rather than bedroom to make poems sound more historic. The Bells was most people’s favorite poem. Poe’s poem words went so well together people just didn’t know how he did it. As of today there are still fans of Edgar Allan Poe.…
The human condition is a term which references our complicated existence by highlighting our ongoing ability to adapt and change both our perceptions and values. Through our mental capabilities of both creativity and imagination, humanity is able to achieve a sense of both self-actualisation and liberation, resulting in them acting as the core of our existence where, without them we would become susceptible to the overwhelming flaws of the human condition. Evidencing this are the three texts, ‘Dejection: an Ode’, ‘This Lime Tree Bower my Prison’ and ‘Focus’, which…
Edgar Allan Poe’s poetry seems to always carry a heavy tone of sadness, themes of a longing for lost love, death, and isolation. In his poems “A dream within a dream” and “Alone” the tone and themes previously stated are undoubtedly represented. Both poems also feature a first-person narrator and that suggest it is Poe himself. Poe had a distinct style in his poems that use vivid imagery, metaphors, rhythm, and repetitive tone that pulls the reader into a world that is very dark and extremely sad. While both poems share the same theme of isolation, a struggle between reality and thought, and the use of first person narrator there are some differences on how Poe chooses to represent the feeling of isolation and how it occurs. I will be using the similarities of both poems and also some of their differences to prove…
“And laugh-but smile no more” (Poe 1191), show us that being an heir will make unhappy lives. The palace is similar to “the features and vitality of both Usher and his house” (Abel 381). Just like the poem, Usher went mad when he is isolated and had to inherit the house. Similarity, the king in the poem had inherit the palace yet, he never smiled. Poe also added a story to make a dark atmosphere. As the narrator read the story to Roderick, “…I became aware of distinct, hollow, metallic, and dangerous, yet apparently muffled reverberation” (Poe 1196). The narrator knew something bad would happen but he ignored it. But, as the narrator reads on, “…sounds continues more noticeably, Roderick suddenly informs the narrator that he has been listening to noises…” (Carpenter). The sounds were Madeline coming out of her coffin and going toward their…
Human Nature: good, evil, or neutral. All ideas could be firmly argued, but I think the essence of humanity is at its core evil. “Surely there is not a righteous man on Earth who does good and never sins” – Ecclesiastes 7:20. This verse from the Bible merely states that every being on this Earth sins; it is our nature. In my opinion, sinning is what makes us human. Hsun Tzu believed that rules and regulations were necessary to keep humans in check, and I absolutely agree. Think about it, without rules, everything would be totally chaotic. Although I think human nature is inherently evil, I don’t fully disagree with the other philosophers. There is some good in humanity. I personally believe that the concepts of good and bad are co-requisite (meaning there cannot be one without the other).…