From the Paper
"Elie Wiesel's autobiographical account of his life through the period of the Holocaust, Night, is a terrifying account of the horrors of that period through the eyes of a child who sees his family killed and whose own spirit is sorely tested even these many years later as he looks back on these events. The book is powerful and affecting, and it also serves as a very strong portrayal of the entire era of which the Holocaust is a part. This book presents the real effects of history, not the changes in leadership and the movements of armies but the changes in the lives of real individuals who become the victims of other people's hatreds an ambitions. The book can also be seen as an exploration of personal identity and an attempt for one man to come to grips with the fact that he has survived while so many did not...."

Tags:JEWISH, STUDIES

Abstract
An analysis of Bertolt Brecht's play 'The Good Woman of Setzuan.' Throughout the play Shen Te juggles her promise to be good with the necessity to be bad. The author finds through the protagonist and the creation of her doppelganger, 'The Good Woman of Setzuan' portrays the struggle to be good while living in a corrupt society, and the delicate balance needed to survive within it as seen in Shen Te's struggle as a good woman leading the life of a prostitute.

From the Paper
"Shen Te, a good woman, a prostitute, and the only one willing to take three gods into her home is rewarded with 1000 silver dollars, with which she is to "above all be good"(712). This mission tears her in two. Shen Te and her doppelganger Shui Ta are in a delicate balance of power. Shen Te needs to keep her promise to the gods by being a good woman, helping those around her in need. Because Shen Te is too good, those she helps threaten to ruin her own survival. To remain a good woman Shen Te must create someone to fight for her. Like parents, both Shui Ta and Shen Te make up the whole of one unit. Shen Te is a nurturing, sweet mother-type while Shui Ta becomes a strict, disciplinarian, father-type. Through the protagonist and the creation of her doppelganger, Brecht's The Good Woman of Setzuan portrays the struggle to be good while living in a corrupt society, and the delicate balance needed to survive within it."

Tags:analysis, doppelganger, drama, good, play, shen, te, woman

From the Paper
"Max Weber was born in 1864 and died in 1920. He was a German social scientist and one of the founders of modern sociology. He studied in several German universities before working for a time as a legal assistant. He completed his doctoral dissertation and became a professor at the University of Freiburg in 1894, then professor at the University of Heidelberg in 1896. When he was in his thirties, he was nearly incapacitated by a nervous breakdown. Still, he managed to turn out a considerable body of work in spite of his infirmity. He is best known for his work in three areas of inquiry. He conducted studies in the sociology of religion and analyzed the influence of Lutheranism and Calvinism on the development of capitalism. He offered a political sociology that has become the foundation for much modern analysis of politics, social stratification, and burea..."

Tags:SOCIOLOGY: WEBER

From the Paper
"This study will compare and contrast two works by Thomas Mann ---"Death in Venice" and "Tonio Kruger "--- in terms of the author's treatment of the quest of the artist. Specifically, the study will focus on the different ways the two artists in the stories think of, feel about, and interact with the "outside" characters --- the unsophisticated, blonde, blue-eyed figures of infatuation. For both artists, these characters have great importance, both personally and artistically, as they attempt to formulate ideas about the relationship between art and life. The essence of the difference between the two tales is found in the ultimate isolation of Aschenbach from other human beings as a result of his quest for beauty, as opposed to the ultimate embracing of others on the part of Tonio as a result of his.

Tonio seeks knowledge of the world in order to come to an ... "

Abstract
A literary analysis of "All Quiet on the Western Front". The author discusses the writer's examination of the horrors of World War I through the eyes of the soldiers involved in the war, as well as the effects of war on society at large.

From the paper:

"All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, is a book that explores the true horrors of World War I through the eyes of a German solider. The author uses the character of Paul to tell a realistic story of what the average WWI solider had to endure. This book raises the issue of how destructive war can be not only to a country, but also to a generation of a nation. One of the major themes in the story is that of the lost generation. An entire generation of men fighting for their country was lost in World War I."

Tags:all, analysis, english, erich, front, literary, maria, novel, quiet, remarque, western

Abstract
This paper addresses the issue of "nationalism" in Ivo Andric's Nobel Prize winning novel, "The Bridge Over the Drina". As the book itself comes in several seemingly- independent sections, the concept of nationalism is expressed in many different ways.

Abstract
This paper discusses whether the play "Danton's Death", which professes a nihilistic philosophy which states that life and specifically political struggle is futile, can be considered political. It examines whether Danton's loss of faith in humanity makes the play existential to the point where it considers politics a pointless endeavor.

From the Paper
"It is Danton's moment of sanguinity, which takes this bleakest of plays into the realm of political theater. For a brief moment Danton believes that all is not lost, even if he can no longer achieve anything himself, there is hope for the future; his acts would not be futile if they inspire revolution after him; his actions have not been worthless. Even if he is dead, buried and forgotten, in this moment he shows that he has some belief in the human race; he believes that there can be others like him that will rebuild the foundations of liberty on the graves of their forefathers."

Tags:humanity, faith

Abstract
This paper shows how the key to understanding Brecht's "Der gute Mensch von Sezuan" and its place in the development of Epic Theatre is to understand the way in which he uses songs and poetic language throughout the action of the play. At certain significant moments, the actors break into song, or speak in blank verse, a style vastly different from their characteristic mode of expression. The essay's discussion of these moments, and explanation of their function within Brecht's dramatic theory, will enable the reader to fully understand the play and its importance. The essay concentrates fully on the text of the work rather than reworking critical literature on the subject.

From the Paper
"As well as the five songs, on around twenty-five occasions the play is "interrupted" by excerpts of free verse, lacking rhyme and meter but distinct in style and vocabulary from the character's normal speech. These interludes form a framework of comment and reflection embracing the action of the play and are usually directed to the audience rather than to the other characters. This commentary intertwined with the action of the play force the audience to consider it immediately whilst still under the direct influence of the playwright instead of reflecting on it later and at a distance. The characters are more perceptive in this altered mood and provide the audience with insight into their behavior, and for this reason as well as because the action of the play is interrupted, the songs and heightened lyrical passages are also an important part of Brecht's Verfremdungeffekt (estrangement effect). The fact that several of the characters break into song at different points in the play is an anti-naturalistic device and the elevated language is also clearly not spontaneous or believable dialogue. Some of the dialogue and songs also have a persuasive function, serving Brechts interests. Many of them could stand alone, indeed some did before Brecht appropriated them for his work, and are simple and memorable excerpts that the audience could take home from the theater."

Tags:bertolt, epic, epische, gute, mensch, theater, theatre, verfremdungseffekt

Abstract
This paper reviews Hartmann's rmedieval poem "Erec" and concentrates on the ways in which the praise of women does not preclude misogyny. It argues that certain modes of praise could be construed as misogynistic by framing woman as passive exchange objects or complements to male heroism. It also analyzes references to femininity as a negative counterpoint to masculinity in relation to a sense of anxiety in medieval texts about defining ideal masculinity. Further to this, it includes a short structural analysis of Arthurian romance with a view to associating agency and interest with masculinity in contrast to the passive, complementary status of the woman in the romance.

From the Paper
"As the first female character to be described in any detail in Erec, Enite certainly seems to attract attention to herself. As in Chretien's version, many verses are devoted to description of her beauty, and Hartmann provides a few new images for this description, describing her white skin showing through her tattered robe as like the lily growing under thorns. We are also told that her wisdom surpasses her great beauty and from what we see of her, it is clear that she is a very efficient and obedient daughter to her father. Interest in a woman does not, however, preclude misogyny, and in a sense, nor does praise - it depends on the context in which the praise is set, and how it positions the woman in relation to men. Enite, though flawless in the terms in which she is described, is given little agency or individuality of her own: her existence and perfection are defined by men."

Tags:chretien, enide, ender, medieval, arthur

Abstract
This paper examines a chapter from Hannah Arendt's "The Origins of Totalitarianism" in which she theorizes about the composition of and relevance of the masses in totalitarian regimes. It looks at how her definition of 'masses' does not include specific classes or citizens, but incorporates the section of the population that does not belong to a class or any other kind of social group. It also discusses how many of the first critiques of the book, first published post World War II, were negative and how more recent texts have seen Arendt's work in its historic context, i.e. as an important piece of post war, totalitarianism historiography.

From the Paper
"A Classless Society appears in the third section of the Origins entitled Totalitarianism. In this chapter, Arendt theorizes about the masses - the people who followed Hitler and Stalin unquestioningly. The masses are politically indifferent or disillusioned men, who had become isolated due to the disintegration of the class system, who did not belong to any professional or social organizations, and who had become atomized, lonely individuals. Arendt claims that this atomization occurred 'naturally' in Germany but that in Russia, Stalin created an atomized society 'by the skillful use of repeated purges' that eliminated social groups who appeared to be stable and therefore threatening to his regime. As Canovan points out, this suggests that while certain
'natural' circumstances led Hitler to totalitarianism, Stalin deliberately anticipated totalitarianism, or perhaps he was merely fulfilling his (Hegelian) historic role."

Tags:fascism, germany, hitler, class