Study Aids

The Bear is one of the greatest hunting stories of all time, but is also one of the finest stories about the initiation of a young man into adulthood. Faulkner deals with sin, tainted wealth, duty to fellow human, and many other significant social issues. more...

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Notes and commentary on David Guterson's best-selling novel, now a popular movie, enhance understanding of this World War II-era saga. A murder trial forces the residents of an island in the Pacific Northwest to revisit the time in our history when both the Japanese and Japanese-Americans were discriminated against. Through many layers of memory, love, kinship, and national pride, the fabric of this tale is woven. more...

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The stories of this turn-of-the-century writer concern the disillusionment of modern man. To Kafka and to the people in his stories, life is often absurd and meaningless, with only a faint ray of fleeting hope. This concise supplement to Kafka's The Metamorphosis and other stories helps students understand the overall structure of the works, actions and motivations of the characters, and the social and cultural perspectives of the author. more...

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Jonas, the protagonist in Lois Lowry's novel The Giver , lives in what appears to be a safe, predictable, familiar community. Members of this utopia, which is void of disease, hunger, poverty, war, or lasting pain, have given up all emotions and memories of experience to attain Sameness and the illusion of social order. In the end, Jonas recognizes the hypocrisy on which the community is based and crafts a way to 'free' everyone from this Sameness. more...

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Who is John Galt? This famous rhetorical question rings through Ayn Rand's best-selling novel as the people's anthem of despair in depressed economic times. Set in the future, the novel follows capitalist magnates as they battle looters, strikers, and the impending ruin of the United States' economy. The romantic and intellectual relationship between Dagny Taggart, the heroine, and John Galt, whose identity as the leader of the strike is eventually revealed, carries the novel to its climax. more...

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