Chunk Number (((7 X 4)/(2))-10)=4 of East of Eden

Once Adam returns from his old regiment to the farm, there is a shift in hostility between him and Charles. There is a tremendous change in character superiority, which Steinbeck notes clearly portrays. However, prior to that encounter, Cyrus dies and leaves his children an equal worth of money in his will. Apparently, they each inherit $50,000, however, Charles questions the validity of his father's sudden wealth. Adam insist that they travel to California to pursue a better life.
Furthermore, Steinbeck introduces the audience to a different character, whose behavior seems to contrast the emotional intensity of the first 7 chapters. In chapter 8 we meet Cathy Ames, whose schoolgirl behavior shocks the reader from her promiscuous actions. She develops plots that lead to the punishment of mainly men, that after pursuing their sexual pleasures with her, makes them seem guilty over her innocence. However, after another relationship that leads to the death of her Latin teacher, she murders her parents by burning them in their house, who had prohibited her from moving to Boston. She eventually travels to New England, and joins a prostitution ring, where she changes her name to Catherine Amesbury. She is involved in a manipulative relationship with Mr.Edwards, and ends up in the Trask farm. Charles and Adam remain unresponsive to each, since Adam doesn't cooperate with Charles insisted labor to farm, before Catherine arrives.

Is Charles younger anger toward his brother appear more clear now?

Chunk #2 of "East of Eden"

After Adams enlistment to the military forces, Charles is left wretched at his loneliness, due to his father's departure to Washington to become Secretary of Army. Adams confronts his discomfort towards violence as he is forced to train with military equipment. Charles develops the habit of visiting prostitutes twice a month, as he attempts to forget his conscious depression. At one point, he disfigures his face, as a scar from the result of an accident when moving a boulder. Charles urges Adams to return to the farm, but Adam doesn't concede what he desires. In 1885, he is discharged, but he enlists again. However, he later again gets discharged,and travels to Washington, where he meets his father,Cyrus. Yet, he finds his father is wealthy and successful.

What does Cyrus' wealth reveal about his ambitions?

First Chunk of "East of Eden"

John Steinbeck's novel, "East of Eden" depicts the relationship between two brothers who confront, due to the feeling of selective affection. As the title is metonymous of the book of Genesis in the bible and the story of Adam and Eve's sons, Cain and Abel, Cyrus is the father of Adam and Charles. Adam, is the least fierce, the most patient and compassionate, as well as the most disciplined. Charles is strong, unavoidable, unrestrained and envious. Cyrus is extremely fascinated with the military and armed forces, which is narrated as he intensely reads about the respective subject, without physical experience. Furthermore, with this obsessive behavior, he insists on his children enrollment into the military. Adam and Charles are half brothers; Adams mother died of suicide as she felt ashamed she contracted a sexually transmitted disease from her husband. Charles was the son of the second marriage of his father. Although Charles was the most courageous of the two, his father didn't intend him to enlist, due to his excessively fearless behavior. Yet he encourages Adam to do so, for he feels he will become a man, and might experience something worth while.
Charles, however, feels jealous of Adam, because of his closer relationship with his father. Charles feels less appreciated from his father, because of the praise his father gives to Adam, for simple things, which angers Charles, who feels he is superior. For that reason a strong sentiment of hostility and hate lies between the two brothers, for the feeling of security and love.

What does Cyrus appeal to, in his sons?

Analysis of "It Takes a Village to Raise a Child"

Addressing the issues and conflicts of the modern generation, Hillary Rodham Clinton's It Takes a Village to Raise a Child emphasizes the responsibility of the society to encompass the prosperity of it's children and country. Clinton asserts on the need of America to go to it's prior roots, and utilize the strong moral and ethical values to raise and help develop it's constituents, towards a more secure future. By applying anecdotes of her early memories of discipline, Clinton emphasizes in a greater extent, a commitment of parents to be lovable and understanding, as well as authoritative. From her experience as a daughter, to a her feeling of being a mother, Clinton appeals to the sense of comfort and security, in America that has gradually changed it's sense of family.

I seldom enjoyed this book, because it was centered on the white American, suburban family, which proved quite inapplicable to my community.

How would Clinton define family?

Analysis of "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck

Setting in the American period of the Great Depression John Steinbeck's, Of Mice and Men grants the readers access to a compassionate story of love and effort. Lennie and George, the protagonists of the novel, move to a ranch in California, in search of work. Lennie is large, strong, and mentally disabled. While George, contrary to Lennie is lean, smart, bold and mature. As the move, live and work in a ranch, George and Lennie become acquintated to the surrounding neighborhood. However, at one point, George's naiveness insists him to play with the wife of Curley, where after petting her breaks her neck. As a result, George is obligated to shoot Lennie, for the sake of his life and the regret of letting others kill him.

I enjoyed reading this book because it possessed the thrill, pity and the excitement that made it entertaining.

Why would George chose to shoot Lennie, instead of allowing him to serve another punishment?

Analysis of "The Hummingbird's Daughter"

Luis Alberto Urrea's, "The Hummingbird's Daughter", accounts the life of Teresa, a bastard child who's independence guides her through out her life. Teresa's father, as detailed by the title, was adulterous man. Wealthy and powerful, he was able to utilize women at his pleasure; meaning that he had children spread out in the a small village in Mexico, where the novel takes place. Teresa's mother dies at her young age,and she develops a relationship with the curandera, Spanish for a witch. Becoming her adopted mother, she instruct Teresa to be resistant to the temptations of men and their pretended dominance over women. Teresa grows up with an empty sentiment towards life, as she views the violence and reality that she confronts; complicating her survival in a society of machismo and women inferiority.

This book was easily readable, and I was able to feel a connection through the novel, due to my Mexican roots

Why would Teresa's relationship with men, stand as contrary to the cycle of the idea of the hummingbird and the flowers?

Analysis of "All But My Life" by Gerda Weissmann Klein

Detailing the pain and the suffering of the Holocaust, Gerda Weissmann Klein's autobiographicalAll But My Life, insights the gravity and the inhumanity of World War 2. Recalling the loses and the difficulty in accepting the fate of the people Klein knew, she uncovered another picture of a face who suffered in the Holocaust. Beginning with a nostalgic scene, Klein flashbacks in her book, the last memory of her complete family; Arthur, her brother, Mama and Papa. Furthermore, her brother is raptured by the German army, and she is separated from her parents, and never sees them again. Her friend, Isle, becomes the only comfort through the march to Czechoslovakia. Eventually, Klein loses everyone she knows, and is rescued by an American soldier Kurt Klein, who marries her. Throughout her book, Klein exerts a hope of freedom and tranquility, through the rough encounters of the holocaust.

I thought this book should be cherished, because it provided the a honest view of the suffering of real people.

Why would Gerda title her book, "All But My Life"?

Analysis of "Night" by Elie Wiesel

Reliving the mortifying events of the Jewish Holocaust, Elie Wiesel's Night, recalls his experiences as a survivor of one of the world's most heartbreaking events. Wiesel addresses the epic of the holocaust, through the eyes of Eliezer, who represents the Wiesel. As he journeys through crematories, Eliezer describes the observations he makes of the casualties and honors that was occurring in Germany. Originally from Hungary, separated from his mother and sister and eventually sent to Buchenwald, where his father dies of inhumane conditions and Eliezer is freed by the American Forces, Eliezer reflects the reality of death and inquires on the existence of God.

I found this book nerve racking, shocking and simply genuine. I felt that Wiesel did a good job at writing the cruelties of hatred, that was the holocaust.

Why wouldn't Wiesel write and autobiography of himself,with no pseudonyms, instead of the novel?

Analysis of "Notes From Underground"

Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Notes From Underground embraces the concept of existentialism, through surreal imaginative thoughts. The protagonists remains unknown through out the novel,and thus reflecting his desire to isolate himself from society. At times, the protagonist becomes quite hysterical at his lack of decisive action. Ignoring love, and driven by self-disgust, the protagonist questions the purpose of life and the existence of God. Apparently, divulging between faith and reasoning, without the attachments of emotion.

This book was deep in thematic ideas and pleasant to read, due to its originality.

Does the absence of the protagonist name, give a sense of no life and identity?

Review of The Davinchi Code

Grasping the audience's thrill as the greatest mystery of all times is generated, Dan Brown's "The Davinchi Code", re defies religious endeavor, and sacrilegious devotion, under the emphasis on feminist and philanthropist perspectives. Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu, the protagonists who are engulfed in the development of their cliche love, journey to discover Neveu's grandfather's past, and his association to the cult of Mary Magdalen. Dealing with pagan rituals, impulsive trips to Europe, and observations of Catholic chapels, Langdon and Neveu uncover the essential need to live, as they envision the sanctified Mary Magdalen. Langdon, the self-conscious, dastardly American, is held back by his ambiguous occupations, and Neveu the emotionally driven and skeptical intellectual, discovers her self as she journeys to know someone else.

I found this book a waste of time, due to it's overly exaggerated emphasis placed in it's plot. Although, it seemed quite thrilling at one point, the closing resolution was extremely weak, which made the book unpleasant.

Why does Dan Brown write anti-biblically compelling books?