Friday, February 11, 2011

A Raisin in the Sun - Assessment

Lorraine Hansberry has written such a inspirational novel of a family living in poverty, through hard times, trying to become something better for themselves. When money gets to the man of the house's head, they end up losing it all. With such enticing scenes and an emotional plot, this book not only deserves five stars but should be taught in schools all around the world. Readers can really relate to the life that this family goes through which is why it grasps the readers attention with only the first page. This book is a great read and is well recommended.

A Raisin in the Sun - Summary

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry takes place during the aftermath of World War II. It essentially describes an African American family living in poverty, and the trials and tribulations they face. The first problem is that they live in an apartment way to small for them. There is over four people living in a one bedroom apartment. Walter, who is the man of the house, has an attitude of a leader. He believes that what he wants and what he thinks is right, is the way things should be. However this is not the case. After his father dies, his mother and his family await the arrival of a $10,000 dollar check. Walter has his own use for the money, but it belongs to his mother Lena and only she can decide what to do with it. In the end, Lena buys a house in which they are paid to move out because it is an all white neighborhood. Lena decides to give all the money to Walter hoping for him to do the right thing and save money for Beaneatha's, his sister, college fund. However he decides to invest all of it and the plan goes wrong. The person takes off with his money and his family, including himself, have to continue living life as poor as they were before.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

The Lovely Bones - Assessment

The Lovely Bones is a very descriptive piece of literature that is more suitable for mature readers. This book captivates the reader in an emotional thrill ride and at times will have you not being able to put the book down. The way Alice depicts each scene and each character truly puts you in the place of the character and allows the reader to see things that they would.

The Lovely Bones - Summary

The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold, is a very disturbing but intriguing story. A young girl named Susie Salmon gets raped and murdered by her neighbor Mr. Harvey which is discussed off the bat in the first chapter. The book is told in the perspective of Susie. Throughout the story Susie reflects on her life and watches over her family and her murderer Mr. Harvey and how he covers his tracks. Susie's father suspects that Mr. Harvey did kill his daughter. He reports it to the police but they didn't have any hard evidence that convinced him that he was the murderer. Susie's family starts to get tared apart. As the father gets more obsessed on proving Mr. Harvey to be the killer Susie's mother slowly drifts away and cheats on him with one of the detectives named Len. She later leaves him giving him all this guilt on him about his daughters death and his wife leaving. In the end Mr. Harvey in the act of trying to get another girl to murder an icicle falls and kills him.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Romeo and Juliet - Assessment

Romeo and Juliet is a truly heartfelt play that allows the reader to really feel the love and the strong bond between the two main characters. The fact that their love is forbidden and that they must keep it a secret only make for a more dramatic play. Readers who enjoy tragedies and exhilarating drama will definitely enjoy this play. Once again William Shakespeare has written another wonderful read that has been placed in the Hall of Fame of books.

Romeo and Juliet - Summary

Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, is truly a classic love story. In this play, Romeo and Juliet have families who are enemies, so any love between them would not be accepted. This is what makes this play so enticing. In the beginning, Romeo is in love with a girl already but when Romeo attends a party at Juliet's house and sees Juliet, he automatically falls in love with her. And the feeling is mutual. So he secretly stays around her house climbing up to her window just so that he could protest his love for her. They decide to secretly get married but problems occur and Juliet has to fake her death just so that they can be left alone. However, Romeo is unaware of this and he ends up killing himself so that he can be with her. When she awakens she finds him dead next to her so she immediately kills herself. All because of a forbidden love.

Fences - Assessment

Fences is a captivating play, though the terms used in this play may not be suitable for every reader, it definitely defines how African Americans felt a while ago. Many of the characters and situations that happen in the play are things that can happen today so in a way this play opens the reader's eyes to the realities of life and the consequences that may follow. Overall readers can expect to enjoy a down to Earth play that is often used and taught in school's around the world.

Fences - Summary

Fences, by August B. Wilson, is about an African American man named Troy. Troy is a typical black man who believes that black people need to work hard in order to live comfortably. In the play, Troy has a wife and two kids. His son is very passionate about football but Troy thinks that that life will never come true because his baseball career wasn't successful. In the play, Troy cheats on his wife with another woman who ends up pregnant. This then leads to the separation from him and his wife. Everything all goes down hill from there. When his "lover" has the baby she ends up passing away and Troy is forced to ask her to raise his child. She does because she thinks that the child deserves a mother. In the end Troy dies and his son comes from the military to see him.

As You Like It - Assessment

As You Like It is a fantastic, comical play that will engage the reader into the lives of misfits and arrogant people. This play would get two thumbs up and is a read that many people can relate to even though it was written over a century ago. Overall it is a perfect ten out of ten and is very well recommended.

As You Like It - Summary

As You Like It by the infamous William Shakespeare, is a play that truly exhibits the Universal Human Experience. In the beginning of the play, Orlando is feeling mistreated, unwanted, and unloved. Because of this, he leaves to go live in the forest with Adam, his brothers faithful servant, but what turns out to be his best friend. In the next seen we learn of Rosalind and Celia. Both are cousins to each other who have a bond so strong that not even their own fathers can break it. When Rosalind's father was banned and sent to the forest, Celia's father took over and allowed Rosalind to stay there. But things turned bad and the new Duke kicked Rosalind out. Of course Celia went with her, but they took Touchstone with them simply because of the knowledge he had of the forest. For their own protection and so no one would recognize them, they dressed up as guys. Rosalind called herself Ganymede. As the play progresses Ganymede teaches Orlando how to love Rosalind correctly. And in the end they get married, as do all the other characters in the play, and the old Duke who was banished to the forest was allowed to become Duke again and live in the palace.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Othello - Assessment

Othello is a very famous play that revolves around a black military general and his revengeful "right hand man." Othello not only has a serious tone to it but can also be described as a disturbing play. Readers who enjoy tragedies and drama would greatly enjoy this play. The fact that it is full of things that aren't suppose to be (basically frowned upon, to put it nicely), is only but a bonus. Other than that Othello would not only pull the reader off their seat but also knock them down with such a great ending.

Othello - Summary

Othello, by the famous William Shakespeare, is a play that is focused on the universal human experience. Othello was a black man who was highly ranked in the military and respected by white people. Because of such high rankings, Othello was put in the position to promote one of his fellow military men to become a lieutenant. Iago, who was his right hand man, assumed that he would automatically get the promotion, but that wasn't the case. Othello gave the job to Cassio, infuriating Iago and causing him to seek revenge. So throughout the play, you see Iago secretly ruining Othello's life, while Othello believes that Iago is the only person he can trust. In the end, Othello ends up killing himself because he found out that he wrongfully murdered his wife. Iago's true colors are shown and he is taken to be tortured for the rest of his life.

The Crucible - Assessment

The Crucible is a compelling play that puts the reader in the lives of colonial people during the Salem Witch Trials. Just the pure tone and choice of words really set the mood of how real and horrible times were. The killings and hangings of all these innocent people really exhibit a time where everyone had to fear for their life, no one was exempt from death. This book is more then suspenseful and comes highly recommended.

The Crucible - Summary

The Crucible by Arthur Miller was a play written during the Salem Witch Trials. In the play, a married man names John Proctor and a young girl named Abigail williams engaged in adultery, a sin of passion. More so John then Abligail. When they finally get caught, Abigail loses her lover and immediately wants him back. This causes her to not only seek revenge on him but ultimately seek revenge on those who get in her way. Abigail starts calling witchery out on many innocent people. She is believed because she has a group of girls that follow her everywhere and play along with her lies. Abigail and her little pack continue to do this until the lives of many people are either taken or ruined, including John's. John, however, did not want his name to be dishonored, and with that, he chose death over allowing others to believe he once practiced witchery.

Night - Assessment

Night is an autobiography that would truly bring its readers to tears. It is an excellent book that not only leaves the reader on the edge of their seat but really allows the reader to experience what he's gone through with such excellent imagery. It also shows the reader that they should be aware of the things that go on around them so that they can speak their minds on a situation and not let anything like this ever happen again. This is truly an inspiring story.

Night - Summary

Night, an autobiography by Elie Wiesel, goes through the trials and tribulations that a young Elie had to face being a Jewish child during the Holocaust. He tells us of how him and his family were sent to the dirty, diseased filled ghettos before taking the most horrible train ride to the concentration camps. You can really feel his emotions when describing how him and his father had to be separated from his mother and sisters. He described how brutal they treated him at the camp, making him shower and stand naked in almost freezing temperatures, sleeping in disease filled bunk beds with two or three people in it already, and of course being starved to death while forced to do hard labor. This is all through the duration of six months. Towards the end, he tells us of his father's death and how he is later freed by the enemies of the Nazi's.

The Great Gatsby - Assessment

In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald really captured the essence of the term "love is blind." The novel is a great read the really engages the reader into the life of a man who has devoted and based his whole entire life on the love of a young women. With such a drama filled plot and unexpected ending, this novel leaves you in such awe and is well recommended.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

The Great Gatsby - Summary

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a novel that is about a man named Nick who moves to West Egg in Long Island and happens to move right next to a man named James Gatz, who is known simply as Gatsby. The story is told through Nick's point of view where he visits Daisy and Tom (old friends of his), meets Tom's secret lover and her husband, and learns a lot about Gatsby, his friends, and even himself. Gatsby is a man who came from nothing, and yet he tells Tom that he has come from such a great background. Now Daisy and Tom used to be madly in love when they were young, but due to Gatsby going into the military, they had to separate. But when Gatsby came back, he was sad to find out she moved on. Still in love with her, he bought a house on West Egg just so that he can see the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. Gatsby always through these huge extravagant parties parties so that he could see if anyone knew Daisy, but that was to no avail. However, through Nick he was able to meet up with Daisy and it seemed as if a spark was created. In the end, Gatsby ends up getting shot and killed because him and Daisy hit Tom's lover whose husband became furious and murdered him in the pool. Nick plans his funeral and everything. only for no one to show up. And Gatsby made so much money because he was a bootlegger.

The Catcher in the Rye - Assesment

The Catcher in the Rye is a compelling and somewhat unusual story that engages the reader into the mind of a mental teenager. Throughout the story, the reader can visualize certain situations the protagonist encounters and can really get a feel of what he thinks. It is a book that leaves the reader wanting more and in a nutshell, The Catcher in the Rye is a piece of literature worth reading.

The Catcher in the Rye - Summary

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger is a story about a sort of depressed teen named Holden Caulfield. It is based within a time frame of three days, where Holden ends up leaving school and running through the streets of New York City. It depicts how Holden is very cynical and like to criticize others. He has a certain state of mind that is not always positive. Holden likes very few things and very few people. He thinks that almost every one he surrounds himself with is fake. But when Holden actually loves something or someone, he makes it very obvious. For example, Holden truly loves and cares about his younger sister Phoebe and his dead younger brother. He shows this love by talking highly of his sister and explaining all the good qualities of his brother. He also has an older brother that he doesn't care too much for. It turns out in the end that Holden was actually telling this story from the inside of a mental institution.