Edwin O'Connor's novel The Last Hurrah presents a view of the difficult and hard life of the Irish-American community in Boston of the 1950's. The author uses a number of characterizations to produce themes that relate to the political and social considerations of this era. With a narrative style that holds the reader's interest, O'Connor leads you through the streets and alleys of the old city, giving you a brief look at old-time city politics. He does this through Frank Skeffington who is the main character. One of the characters O’Connor used to make his point is John Gorman.
John Gorman is quiet and somber. Gorman's dedication to social structures and concern for religion and the family differ from the ideas represented by the candidate and the corrupt political leader. When talking with Gorman at a party, Molly Riordan presents her view of Frank Skeffington, and is met with Gorman's skeptical response. Molly says, “He's the best of them all, John, God love him. There's not a night goes by I don't say a little prayer for him.”(O’Connor 85). Gorman's response is a simple non-committal comment about the party and skeptically attempts to avoid demonstrating any commitment to Molly's remarks. Although Gorman and Skeffington have a close association, there is no determination of any loyalty that exists from Gorman's view. He is not dedicated to the cause of Skeffington's election, although that is a primary aspect of many of his interactions. Gorman's odd sense of humor also adds to his presentation of disbelief in regards to Skeffington. When discussing the topic of campaign issues that came up between Skeffington and his nephew, the nephew acknowledges that the topic did come up whenever they were together. Gorham's response, intended to bring up religious symbolism as well as humor, which was, “ Ah well, that's natural enough, If you met the Pope, you'd talk about religion. (O’ Connor 192).
O'Connor's book is powerful because of its complexity of levels. There is a defined consideration for the plot and characterizations, but O'Connor does not stop at this.
Academic colleagues like, David Greenburg, would have been exasperated, part from envy of McCullough’s ability in not only story telling but to sell and he would object to the approach of this book. The colleagues would tear at the lack of compelling rationale for an overused topic, as well as the scene setting, and meager analysis.
Nadal, Marita. "Temporality And Narrative Structure In Flannery O'connor's Tales." Atlantis (0210-6124) 31.1 (2009): 23-39. Fuente Académica. Web. 1 Nov. 2013.
Critics view the books by Pullman and Ransom as examples of literary excellence. In order to evaluate this opinion it is necessary to discuss what aspects critics consider contribute to a good book and how these books illustrate them. The American Library Associate (ALA) uses the term ‘edubrow’ (Kidd, (2009) p158) to mean the middle ground of literature with an educational emphasis. This emphasis is at the centre of the criteria for a good book by increasing the experiences of the reader through varied language, dynamic themes, rounded characterisation with comprehensive plots. The critics favour works that involve the reader in a non-passive manner to gain insights into universal aspects of human existence like love, identity, revenge, sexuality and betrayal.
This is my personal reflection about this book. First and foremost, I would like to say that this book is very thick and long to read. There are about nineteen chapters and 278 pages altogether. As a slow reader, it is a quite hard for me to finish reading it within time. It took me weeks to finish reading it as a whole. Furthermore, it is written in English version. My English is just in average so sometimes I need to refer to dictionary for certain words. Sometimes I use google translate and ask my friends to explain the meaning of certain terms.
A story without style is like a man without personality: useless and boring. However, Flannery O’Connor incorporates various different styles in her narratives. Dark humor, irony, and symbolism are perhaps the utmost powerful and common styles in her writing. From “Revelation” and “Good Country People” to “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” all of O’Connor’s stories consist of different styles in writing.
...ition, she presents the reader with the differing generations of the old and new south, and she illustrates the contrasting views between the two. O’Connor is not afraid to question Christian theology or the Southern culture. Her irony and satire add depth to ther stories, and her deep cultural analysis of the South brings a higher level to her writings. O’Connor also explores the concept of fallen human nature and how it is brought about. Overall, O’Connor’s works prove to be very in depth in both her social and cultural analysis of the South. She is not afraid to critique the society in which she grew up and lived.
Mowat. In this report I will give a brief summary of the novel as well as why I
Reilly, Patrick. Nineteen Eighty Four - A Student's Companion to the Novel. Boston: Twayne, 1989.
David Howarth's writing style is unique. He allows the story to develop on its own. The story flows and the events do not seem forced. The story reads like a historical novel and is easy to follow. Howarth presents his information fully and does not leave anything for the reader to question. The reader does not become confused or lost because of the way that the author reveals his information in the book.
The Irish Famine is a controversial debate, addressing the response to the English government’s malfeasance. The debate concerns whether the English government should be held liable for the hunger and sorrows of Irishmen. Liam O’Flaherty contributes to this debate through his novel Famine; in it he defines who is to blame for the hunger of the 1840’s. Through his depiction, he suggests that the best response to ease the problem of the famine is by rebelling against the English government. In the novel, there are characters that choose to live in a passive matter and fail at attaining prosperity, while those who rebel get it. O’Flaherty presents three Kilmartin generations, in which we witness differences in character traits and beliefs. For instance Martin Kilmartin, second generation, takes on the role of a rebel and chooses to defy Black Valley’s tycoon, Chadwick. Siding with a solution of aggression to meet justice, O’Flaherty identifies survivors as rebellions, and victims of the famine as pacifists. Furthermore, in his novel, O’Flaherty suggests that the best response to the Irish Famine is through aggression.
Raising the pay for minimum wage workers will be the proper way to create effective results, yet there exists those who oppose an increase. Neal Asbury, an American entrepreneur, writes “Raising the Minimum Wage Brings Minimum Benefits” to express how a hike in wages will increase unemployment levels. The author introduces a survey done in 1992 regarding economists’ beliefs towards an increase in minimum wage, where 72 percent claim it would hurt unemployment levels (Asbury). According to this claim, more than half of economists argue that if a rise in minimum wage is to occur, unemployment will soar among the country. Businesses will be prone to lay off employees or hire fewer workers because of higher costs and will lead low-skilled workers to be jobless. An increase in pay will lea...
A collection of short stories published in 1907, Dubliners, by James Joyce, revolves around the everyday lives of ordinary citizens in Dublin, Ireland (Freidrich 166). According to Joyce himself, his intention was to "write a chapter of the moral history of [his] country and [he] chose Dublin for the scene because the city seemed to [b]e the centre of paralysis" (Friedrich 166). True to his goal, each of the fifteen stories are tales of disappointment, darkness, captivity, frustration, and flaw. The book is divided into four sections: childhood, adolescence, maturity, and public life (Levin 159). The structure of the book shows that gradually, citizens become trapped in Dublin society (Stone 140). The stories portray Joyce's feeling that Dublin is the epitome of paralysis and all of the citizens are victims (Levin 159). Although each story from Dubliners is a unique and separate depiction, they all have similarities with each other. In addition, because the first three stories -- The Sisters, An Encounter, and Araby parallel each other in many ways, they can be seen as a set in and of themselves. The purpose of this essay is to explore one particular similarity in order to prove that the childhood stories can be seen as specific section of Dubliners. By examining the characters of Father Flynn in The Sisters, Father Butler in An Encounter, and Mangan's sister in Araby, I will demonstrate that the idea of being held captive by religion is felt by the protagonist of each story. In this paper, I argue that because religion played such a significant role in the lives of the middle class, it was something that many citizens felt was suffocating and from which it was impossible to get away. Each of the three childhood stories uses religion to keep the protagonist captive. In The Sisters, Father Flynn plays an important role in making the narrator feel like a prisoner. Mr. Cotter's comment that "… a young lad [should] run about and play with young lads of his own age…" suggests that the narrator has spent a great deal of time with the priest. Even in death, the boy can not free himself from the presence of Father Flynn (Stone 169) as is illustrated in the following passage: "But the grey face still followed me. It murmured; and I understood that it desired to confess something.
The main recurring theme in Flannery O’Connor’s stories is the use of violence towards characters in order to give them an eye-opening moment in which they finally realize their true self in relation to the rest of society and openly accept insight into how they should act or think. This theme of violence can clearly be seen in three works by Flannery O’Connor: A Good Man is Hard to Find, Good Country People, and Everything That Rises Must Converge.
of the book. New York: Penguin, 2008. Print. The. Ferguson, Niall. "
One of the present and current implications of an increased minimum wage will be the workforce it attracts. Even with the increased minimum wage the job is still a minimum skill job, but with more applicants. Students out of high school unaware of the current workforce situation see a shining hourly wage and would rather start making money now than two to four years later. Economics Dr. John Perry explains the economic principle, Law of Demand in the realm of minimum wage, “The Law of Demand tells us that as the wage (price) of low-skilled/unskilled is artificially increased through legislation, the quantity demanded for those labor services by employers will fall,” and says this isn’t the main contributor to the jobless rate (Perry, aei.org). Dr. Perry goes into more depth about the economic principle, Law of Supply, which would primarily affect high school aged