Essays on Deathbed

The majority of the narrator’s in Edgar Allan Poe’s stories have at least a little bit wrong with them. Even in “Pit and the Pendulum,” while the narrator appears to be an innocent victim of the Spanish Inquisition, his time below ground has certainly pushed his perspective toward the breaking point. In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the narrator is convinced that he is not insane, and he is bent on convincing the reader that he is not insane. However, the fact that he waits until his murder victim’s eyes are open at night (and that the correct eye ...

Introduction

Thomas Alva Edison famously justified when his 10,000th attempt to invent the incandescent light did not work, “I have not failed 10,000 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 10,000 ways will not work. Failing ten thousand times did not motivate Edison to quit. Instead, he made the failures stepping stones to embrace success waiting for him patiently on the next step. Edison failed ten thousand times to succeed once. In fact, Edison’s success comprised of his journey to success, which was interpreted as failure by the world, and ...

Background

Over the past 100 years, more than 60 percent of world’s wetlands have been destroyed as people search for land to settle on, farm, and establish other types of business investments. Currently, wetlands cover 6 percent of the world’s surface providing a wide array of environmental services, including soil erosion control, water storage and filtration, a buffer against flooding, biodiversity maintenance, nutrient recycling, nursery for fisheries, and carbon storage among others.

However, destruction and drainage of these ecosystems has led to large amounts of carbon emissions equivalent to 40 tons of carbon per hectare per year for degraded swamp ...

The central themes of one’s identity, and strength and skill are interwoven in the characters and the plot of the poem “Beowulf.” The setting of the poem and the time period in which it is set both characterize the identity of individuals is a string of lineage, where individuals are judged in society according to the repute of their ancestors, and the strength and skill they possess. Basically, Beowulf is a record of heroic deeds, so it is not surprising that the theme of identity, which revolves around individual reputation based on ancestral heritage, is central to the poem. Similarly, ...

The Black Veil

The Minister’s Black Veil, by Hawthornes is a short story about a minister who, all of a sudden, starts putting on a black veil. This sudden behavior turns away the people of the town. It has been argued that the minister wanted to show the origin of sin. At the end of the short story, the reader discovers that the veil was used to symbolize the obstacles that we face in the life on earth and eternity. Reverend Hooper wears a veil one Sunday morning. The parishioners and the congregation to ask themselves what Rev. Hooper intended in this new gesture. No one ...

In Katherine Ann Porter's short story "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall," a dying woman lays on her deathbed, considering her life and living in a great deal of denial about whether or not she will pass away. The short story is a wonderful example of literature as a 'patterned' experience; the repeating of these types of events reveals much about her character; in this case, she is an extremely prideful but traumatized woman who has had to endure much in her life thus far. One of her basic character traits is her need to hold on to certain events, which prevent her from ...