Self Improvement Site
On The Internet! Take the Self Improvement Tour
On The Internet! Take the Self Improvement Tour
Articles from Paul Thompson | Selfgrowth.com
- Old Money vs. New Money in the Great Gatsby - by Submitted on Mar 25, 2011 from Paul ThompsonThe concept of “new” and “old” money is hard for the average modern reader to understand. In most parts of the country, the term “nouveau riche” isn’t often used, and with the onslaught of new Internet millionaires and billionaires in the last decade, the judgment is certainly no longer there. ...
Views: 15146 - Visions of Dystopia in The Giver and “The Lottery” - by Submitted on Jul 23, 2009 from Paul ThompsonLois Lowry’s The Giver is only one in a huge series of classic “dystopian” literature. (Think “utopia,” then think Third Reich.) What makes it stand out from novels like 1984 or Brave New World – aside from the iconic grizzled-old-man cover – is that you might have memories of reading it already ...
Views: 8820 - Bittersweet Redemption in The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter - by Submitted on Mar 25, 2011 from Paul ThompsonThe concept of redemption is a popular one in literature. Perhaps the very first story of redemption is the story of the Prodigal Son. It comes from the New Testament, and is a story of two brothers. The older brother is obedient and hardworking; the other leaves the family home, squanders his ...
Views: 6148 - Lifestyles of the Fabulously Rich and Dissatisfied in The Great Gatsby - by Submitted on May 18, 2010 from Paul ThompsonAs America’s most famous novel about the Roaring Twenties, The Great Gatsby helped create an image of the 1920’s as a ten-year party ranking high in the list of eras to visit given time-traveling capabilities. The decade is now synonymous with fringed flappers, bobbed hair, and glamorous ...
Views: 4838 - Minor Characters, Major Impact: A Look at the Minor Characters in Hamlet, Macbeth and To Kill a Mockingbird - by Submitted on Mar 25, 2011 from Paul ThompsonMinor characters serve an important role in literature. Frequently, it’s the minor characters in novels that the reader will connect with and especially enjoy, even more than the protagonist. Mansfield Park’s deliciously manipulative Mary Crawford is infinitely more intriguing than the painfully ...
Views: 4367 - The Columbian Exchange Beginning with Spanish Colonization - by Submitted on Aug 10, 2009 from Paul ThompsonThe Europeans’ so-called discovery of the so-called New World goes down in history as one of the most important and earth-shattering moments in human history, ranking right up there with the advent of agriculture, the domestication of animals, and the discovery of the use of fire. Although the ...
Views: 4261(2 votes) - Forget Romeo And Juliet: Hamlet’s teen-like angst a better way to reach teenager readers - by Submitted on Jul 29, 2011 from Paul ThompsonFor high school students, the works of William Shakespeare are not the easiest literature to grasp, much less to get them to care about. The first hurdle, of course, is the language. With all the “LOLs,” “ridics,” and “OMGs” used in a teen’s daily vernacular, Shakespearean verse such as “to be, ...
Views: 3542 - Teenage Behavior in Romeo and Juliet, Catcher in the Rye and Selection of Romeo and Juliet Quotes - by Submitted on Aug 30, 2011 from Paul ThompsonTeens are notorious for being impulsive, hormone-driven and conflicted human beings. Though such a statement smacks of stereotyping, such portrayals have been justified by science—just ask any neuroscientist how the teen brain reacts to a deluge of testosterone or estrogen.Yet, this idea is ...
Views: 3035 - Great American Novel Contenders: To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, and The Scarlet Letter - by Submitted on Dec 21, 2010 from Paul ThompsonAmongst many clichés in the world of literature is the concept of the Great American Novel. Some argue that it is still waiting to be written, and some argue that it was written long ago and no piece of fiction that follows will ever touch it. This article aims to examine some of the novels that ...
Views: 2939 - Depictions of Racism in To Kill a Mockingbird and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the Social Psychology of Prejudice - by Submitted on Nov 17, 2011 from Paul ThompsonRight around the age of 10, there is a marked shift in a child's perspective. The world is no longer simply a wonderland of curiosities, but a popularity contest. Girls begin to wear makeup and form cliques, and boys become showmen, proving themselves with their fists. Think of Mean Girls or ...
Views: 2852 - To Kill a Mockingbird: The Effect of Racist Influences on the Young - by Submitted on Oct 20, 2011 from Paul ThompsonAmerica has a long history of racism. Unless you’ve spent your entire life with your head under a watermelon, you should be well aware of the negative stereotypes that African Americans have long had to endure, and the discrimination with which they continue to be faced. Believe it or not, there ...
Views: 2840 - Female characters in Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth - by Submitted on Dec 21, 2010 from Paul ThompsonWilliam Shakespeare is generally considered an avant-garde writer with progressive ideas about gender. Because of the era in which he wrote, the women in his plays generally had to be wives, servants, or a woman of some type of ill repute. But an examination of the female characters of three of ...
Views: 2713 - What the Female Catcher in the Rye Characters Tell Us About Holden Caulfield - by Submitted on Dec 30, 2009 from Paul ThompsonThe main theme of The Catcher in the Rye is isolation, which is interesting coming from a guy who spills his guts to the world for 200 pages. Nevertheless, the contradiction characterizes Holden Caulfield perfectly; he can’t decide whether to call all his buddies together for a round of drinks ...
Views: 2670(3 votes) - Madness, Futility, and Death: A Shakespearean Take on Poe’s “The Raven” - by Submitted on Jul 24, 2009 from Paul ThompsonEdgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” is one of the most easily recognizable poems in the world, ranking it right up there with “Beans, Beans, the Musical Fruit.” Written from a first-person perspective, the poem chronicles its narrator’s rapid descent into madness, paranoia, and the macabre after a ...
Views: 2459 - Manly Men…or not: Comparing Masculine Strength and Weakness in Beowulf and of Mice and Men - by Submitted on Aug 30, 2011 from Paul ThompsonSocietal gender norms tell us men that are supposed to be strong, virile and masculine. They are not supposed to be weak, indecisive or—god forbid—sensitive.At least that’s what stereotypes and gender binaries tell us. But such norms are human conventions, and humans are of course imperfect ...
Views: 2260 - Death, Dating, and Crazy Shut-Ins: Southern Gothic Writing in “A Rose for Emily” and To Kill a Mockingbird - by Submitted on Jul 20, 2009 from Paul ThompsonSouthern Gothic is an American subgenre of the Gothic style, which is probably most familiar to you from the Brontë sisters of Victorian England. (No, we’re not talking Hot Topic here.) Like its European progenitor, the Southern Gothic style relies heavily on the supernatural – only with less ...
Views: 2135 - Quotes from Macbeth and a Look at Hamlet in Exploring Gender Roles - by Submitted on Nov 17, 2011 from Paul ThompsonWhat does it mean to be a man or a woman in today’s society? None of us can fit into a neat, tiny, little, stereotypical box based on anything, including our gender. How do we define gender and how are these roles presented in literature? Often, many of our favorite characters defy gender ...
Views: 1902 - Favorite Book as Personality Test The Catcher in the Rye, The Lord of the Flies and The Outsiders - by Submitted on Dec 21, 2010 from Paul ThompsonA person's favorite book says a lot about who they are. For one, it may be an example of the last time he or she read something. Avid readers tend to place a lot of value on other people's books of choice, but what do certain books say about the people who love them?J.D. Salinger's famous novel ...
Views: 1877 - Reading Romeo and Juliet and Romeo Juliet quotes as a story of typical teen and parent tension - by Submitted on Aug 30, 2011 from Paul ThompsonWill Smith was right: sometimes parents just don’t understand. Of course, he said that before he himself was a parent of Karate Kid Jayden and Whip-My-Hair Willow, but we digress. Parental misunderstanding is a common angst-ridden teen’s complaint, but it is a complaint that is well founded. ...
Views: 1866 - Gender-Bending in Twelfth Night and To Kill a Mockingbird - by Submitted on Nov 17, 2011 from Paul ThompsonMuch stress there is a difference between gender and sex. And there certainly is. Sex is essentially biology, the male and female manifestations or to put it more plainly, the physical parts that come with being male or female. Gender, on the other hand, are the social norms, roles and ideals ...
Views: 1816 - The Allure of Wealth in The Great Gatsby - by Submitted on Oct 21, 2011 from Paul ThompsonThe vast majority of popular literature has long revolved around the lives of the rich and powerful. Until recently (the last couple of centuries or so), it was almost exclusively just that. Books and plays about kings and queens, princes and princesses, knights, wizards, famous warriors and a ...
Views: 1726 - Girl Power: Sourcing the Feminine Strength in To Kill a Mockingbird quotes and Antigone - by Submitted on Jul 29, 2011 from Paul ThompsonWhen it comes to being a girl, To Kill a Mockingbird’s Scout is more spice than sugar. In fact, she is particularly sugar-free. No frilly pink dresses, pretty baby dolls, or sweet make-believe tea parties for her. She is more likely to punch you in the face than smile sweetly at you, especially ...
Views: 1721 - Great Gatsby setting as a Prequel to the Great Depression - by Submitted on Nov 17, 2011 from Paul ThompsonF.Scott Fitzgerald’s the Great Gatsby can be considered as a sort of prequel to the Great Depression. Its tale of social-climbing Midwesterners, illicit money making activities, lavish parties and economic class distinctions makes the novel appear as a critical study of the wealth and excess ...
Views: 1610 - Why Shakespeare Breaks Basic Writing Rules in “Sonnet 18,” “Hamlet,” and “Romeo and Juliet” - by Submitted on Jul 22, 2009 from Paul ThompsonShakespeare famously opens his “Sonnet 18” with the question, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” and then proceeds to do exactly that. Aside from establishing rhythmic continuity and rhyme scheme, this may not seem like the best use of the reader’s time – especially considering that ...
Views: 1578 - Losing Their Heads: Inner Beasts in Lord of the Flies and Macbeth Summary - by Submitted on Jul 29, 2011 from Paul ThompsonWilliam Golding’s classic Lord of the Flies is probably not the best book to read if you want to feel good about humanity or feel comfortable about babysitting a family of little boys all by yourself on a Friday night. It is also not a good beach read for pig lovers. Instead, it is a blunt ...
Views: 1566 - Lies, Innuendo and Oneupmanship in Shakespeare's Poetry - by Submitted on Aug 17, 2009 from Paul ThompsonShakespeare’s “Sonnet 130” is unique in its unglamorous portrayal of the so-called “Dark Lady” to whom it is addressed. In it, the narrator offers us a startlingly generous list of differences between the Dark Lady and your stereotypical beauty: she has ugly lips, a bad complexion, frizzy hair, ...
Views: 1551(3 votes) - Mythology, Zeus, the Raven, and the Future of the Written Word - by Submitted on Nov 17, 2011 from Paul ThompsonTechnology seems to be advancing faster than we can keep up with it in these modern times. With bookstores closing and kindles and ipads flying off the shelves, we have to wonder how it will change the world of print. It is certainly affecting the way books are read. Will this technology impact ...
Views: 1545 - FDR and Mark Twain Quotes, and Why We Love to Quote Them - by Submitted on Oct 12, 2009 from Paul ThompsonSamuel Langhorn Clemens (better known as Mark Twain) and Franklin Delano Roosevelt don't seem to have especially much in common except for the fact that they are both as American as apple pie – which, true to form, is actually a British concoction. Both have cool nicknames ("Mark Twain" and ...
Views: 1519(2 votes) - The Literary Benefits of Having an Orphan for A Protagonist in Tom Sawyer and Jane Eyre - by Submitted on Jul 29, 2011 from Paul ThompsonOrphans are a go-to favorite for some authors. Think Harry Potter or Cinderella. Or perhaps Charles Dicken’s Oliver Twist, the boy who never could get enough of that slop his caretakers called porridge. Then, there is Dicken’s Great Expectations in which an orphan named Pip who falls in love ...
Views: 1496 - Endurance as a virtue in The Scarlett Letter, Antigone and To Kill a Mockingbird quotes - by Submitted on Aug 30, 2011 from Paul ThompsonEndurance is a virtue that we, as a Westernized society, place a great deal of worth in. To withstand intense pain, strife or just plain unpleasantness—or even muster up the strength to resist an endlessly tempting pint of Ben & Jerry’s Chubby Hubby—is to be respected, appreciated and at times, ...
Views: 1467 - Hamlet, The Catcher in the Rye, and the Age-Old Story of Teen Angst - by Submitted on Apr 20, 2010 from Paul ThompsonDespite what marketers would have you believe, angst is not just a gelled, chiseled, perfectly unkempt product of the Twilight phenomenon. Holden Caulfield is king of twentieth-century angst, and he was kicking around with a buzz cut back in the 1950’s. Søren Kierkegaard set the philosophical ...
Views: 1448(1 vote) - J. Alfred Prufrock, and the Dilemma of Teaching 21st Century Students - by Submitted on Aug 17, 2009 from Paul ThompsonNow that the fall semester is gearing up, you’re probably cooking up new ways of getting today’s students engaged in their studies. And since conducting class via Twitter sounds neither feasible nor appealing, it might be time to look into your other options.With more and more sites like ...
Views: 1424(2 votes) - What's Your Great Gatsby? Love story, 1920s story or money story? - by Submitted on Jan 07, 2011 from Paul ThompsonF. Scott Fitzgerald's classic American novel, The Great Gatsby, like a lot of novels that have withstood the test f time, means a lot of different things to different people. To some, it's a love story. Jay Gatsby is in love with Daisy, but if unable to pursue her because he doesn't have enough ...
Views: 1404(1 vote) - Finding Utopia in Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies (Like Acing your AP Calculus Exam without Knowing Addition) - by Submitted on Nov 17, 2011 from Paul ThompsonSince the beginning of time human beings have imagined living in a utopia. It seems simple enough. In a perfect world everyone would live together in harmony, help each other out, there would be no war, no hunger, and no hate. It sounds pretty simple on the surface. Writers William Golding and ...
Views: 1402 - The Cautionary Tale of Shakespeare’s Macbeth - by Submitted on Aug 30, 2011 from Paul ThompsonWilliam Shakespeare’s Macbeth contains a lotof life lessons. Number one: Don’t listen to stranger bearded women when wandering through a fog. Number two: Never let anyone bully you into doing something you don’t want to, even if it’s your wife. And Number 3? If you want to become king, the ...
Views: 1363 - Movin' On Up: Reading Education as Social Mobility in Great Gatsby Quotes and Jane Eyre - by Submitted on Aug 30, 2011 from Paul ThompsonPink Floyd was wrong. Very wrong. So wrong in fact that its famous lyric, “We don’t need no education,” is an assault on the ears of anyone who considers themselves to be grammar aficionados.As ironically implied by its error-laden sentence, Pink Floyd was definitely wrong about needing ...
Views: 1344 - Romeo and Juliet, Sweat, and the Value of Vulgarity in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - by Submitted on Aug 10, 2009 from Paul Thompson“To be, or not to be; that is the bare bodkin.” Okay, so maybe this isn’t the first line that jumps to mind when you think of the great American classic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but it’s a darn important one.Ernest Hemingway wrote that Huck Finn is “the best book we've had. All American ...
Views: 1319(3 votes) - ‘Fear Itself’ in The Diary of Anne Frank - by Submitted on Oct 20, 2011 from Paul ThompsonHundreds of fantastic novels, essays and other writings have been penned about Nazi Germany. Gruesome, shocking portrayals of what went on in the concentration camps, how many lives were lost, the aftermath and prospect of dealing with indescribable grief that followed. But The Diary of Anne ...
Views: 1272 - Boys Will Be Boys: Tales of Mischief in Tom Sawyer and Lord of the Flies - by Submitted on Jul 29, 2011 from Paul ThompsonEveryone loves a good bad boy. Our media-driven society is obsessed with them, those rebels without causes, those paragons of the uber-masculine and virile. Think Charlie Sheen, George Clooney or Russell Crowe. They challenge society with a sly, charismatic smile. We’re drawn to them. In ...
Views: 1254 - Life is Not Futile if You Are Not Macbeth: You Have More Than One Chance on the SAT - by Submitted on Nov 16, 2011 from Paul ThompsonAlthough Macbeth is not exactly an idol for the ages, given that he committed murder in a crazed pursuit of power, he certainly does have some notable words to impart through the illustrious voice of Shakespeare. Catch this monologue:To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty ...
Views: 1244 - Lyrical Contradictions in Sweet Home Alabana, Livin’ on a Prayer, and Paper Plans - by Submitted on Apr 23, 2010 from Paul ThompsonSweet Home Alabama is the ubiquitous feel-good song. It lends itself to everything from summer road trips to drunken frat parties to scenes of Forrest Gump dancing inflexibly with his Jenny. Its easy mix of blues, country, and rock tends to obscure the fact that it’s been a politically-charged ...
Views: 1241(1 vote) - What Your Favorite American Author Says About You - by Submitted on Aug 30, 2011 from Paul ThompsonIn his best-selling novel High Fidelity, Nick Hornby asserts that what a person likes (books, movies, music, etc.) is more important that what a person is like. No need to get to know someone well, observe her in a variety of situations and truly judge her character; no, all anyone needs to do ...
Views: 1233 - Party Time: Party Settings in Romeo and Juliet and Great Gatsby quotes - by Submitted on Aug 30, 2011 from Paul ThompsonAh, parties. Who doesn’t love a good party? You’ve got awesome food, drinks, cool people, loud music and unrestrained hijinks abound. Beyond being an opportunity to go buck wild or to be a social animal, parties also serve a purpose of potential serendipity. What we mean is that the human ...
Views: 1223 - Know Your Roosevelts: a Look at the Lives of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Teddy Roosevelt - by Submitted on Apr 23, 2010 from Paul ThompsonFranklin Delano Roosevelt was born in 1882 into an extremely wealthy family. We’re talking townhouse in Hyde Park, summer home in Maine, private railroad car wealthy. Contrary to what you might expect, however, his upbringing was extremely disciplined. As a child he had a strict daily routine, ...
Views: 1194(1 vote) - Macbeth, AP Calculus and Soccer: The Stressful Life of a High School Senior - by Submitted on Apr 08, 2011 from Paul ThompsonThere’s been a lot of research conducted lately about the amount of stress that high school seniors are enduring. Apparently it’s skyrocketed recently, and researchers and social scientists are trying to figure out why this is and what can be done.This is pretty shocking, considering that ...
Views: 1182 - Double Double, Toil and Trouble: Assessing the Supernatural through the Macbeth Summary and Quotes - by Submitted on Jul 29, 2011 from Paul ThompsonThe supernatural is big these days. The Harry Potter film franchise just wrapped up, Twilight is still on the boy-crazed minds of adolescent girls (and a handful of older woman), while the ever popular True Blood book and TV show series is satisfying the grown-up purveyors of the magical and ...
Views: 1140 - More Than a Summary of Their Parts: Hamlet, Macbeth, and Catcher in the Rye - by Submitted on Feb 05, 2011 from Paul ThompsonWhile opinions on literature differ significantly, most scholars agree on which works of literature can be considered “great.” Not necessarily “great reads” but great as in the effort the author made to create them, the impact they had on the world around them, and their likelihood of standing ...
Views: 1127 - Why there are no female versions of The Outsiders or Catcher in the Rye - by Submitted on Jan 07, 2011 from Paul ThompsonIt's rare that a story featuring an adolescent girl is considered a "classic" novel. Sure, there are tons of books that star teenage girls. They get made into television series like Gossip Girl or movie franchises like the Sisterhood of Travelling Pants or The Princess Diaries. There's nothing ...
Views: 1106 - Persistent Characters in the Old Man and the Sea Could Take On Zeus or AP Macroeconomics - by Submitted on Nov 17, 2011 from Paul ThompsonPersistent, passionate characters make good stories. We love passionate characters that fight tooth and nail for what they want. Those characters that believe they would take on Thor to get their prize are the ones we return to again and again. Great Gatsby is a clear example of this; Jay ...
Views: 1103 - The Frailty of Dreams in Of Mice and Men - by Submitted on Oct 20, 2011 from Paul ThompsonYou’re still young, so we’re sure you still have plenty of dreams. That’s not to say that we, your elders (hey - some of us are barely thirty!) have lost the ability to dream or no longer have any good ones. It’s just that, after you’ve lived a number of years out there in the real world, you’re ...
Views: 1089