M Ali's English Literature Notes

“When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin.” (Kafka, 12) This jolting narration begins The Metamorphosis which tells the story of  Gregor Samsa’s  transformation into a vermin……………. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is a novel with many levels of meaning. The very title of the novel “Metamorphosis” focuses Kafka’s attention to the theme of transformation or change. Metamorphoses or transformations in the novel occur on several levels. Gregor, the main character, changes mentally, physically and emotionally and attitude to him changes accordingly. First of all there is a physical change to Gregor which is indicated at the very opening of the novel. Transformation occurs to everything and everybody in the novel. After physical change, transformation passes to higher level and changes mental structures of Gregor. In the beginning of story Gregor Samsa, the protagonist, appears as a young ...

There is an obvious debate if Camus is an existentialist and his The Stranger or The Outsider promotes existentialism, because Camus himself disclaimed the label of being an existentialist. Yet we will not be discouraged to evaluate existentialism in The Outsider : very few "existentialist" philosophers were willing to accept the label of "existentialist," starting with "The Father of Existentialism," Søren Kierkegaard . There are two classes of existentialism: the atheistic or secular existentialism and Christian existentialism. Since Camus is an Atheist, he must fall into the category the atheistic existentialism which is seen as a revolt, rebellion, or dissatisfaction against the suffering in human’s life. Sartre, the pioneer of atheistic existentialism, states his famous proposition, "existence precedes essence", ( Quoted in Ahmed, 113) This statement has deep implication to some basic themes of Atheistic Existentialism: Atheis...

"All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way" (1). This aphoristic sentence is the beginning of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina which gives the reader an introduction to the entire novel: the novel is about the happiness or unhappiness in family life. There are stories of three married couples illustrating their attitude and Tolstoy’s views on love, sex and marriage. Therefore, it is often said that Anna Karenina is a novel of love sex and marriage.           The character vigorously driven by love is Anna married to Karenin, 20 years older than her, a bureaucrat, always cold and formal, whom she can not love. She is only in chain with the fetters of a social system. Therefore whenever she finds her demands of her soul, and probably of body also, in Vronosky, Anna, an unfulfilled lady decides to possess him at any cost. She transgresses all familial, social and religious bounds. The result of this...

He [papa] called me his doll-child, …I was simply transferred from papa's hands into yours. […] You and papa have committed a great sin against me. It is your fault that I have made nothing of my life. This is a revolting statement of Nora, the protagonist of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House . Though at first she appears as an ordinary housewife, through her bitter experience in the patriarchal society, finally she turns into a revolting modern woman. Thus, Shuei-may Chang (2004: 18-19) comments, “The character Nora became a representative of the new woman or the modern woman…. Nora’s action of leaving home became a literary motif in writing.” At the beginning of A Doll’s House , Nora seems like a bit of a ditz and completely happy with her family affairs. She does not to mind her doll-like existence, in which she is coddled, pampered, and patronized; in which her husband, Torvald, address her,           Is that my little lark twit...

Title:  L’étranger (translated as  The Stranger or The Outsider ) Author:  Albert Camus Language:  English - Translated from French Genre(s):  Philosophical novel ,  Existential novel; Crime drama Publication: 1943, French 1942 Exploration: The novel explores different philosophical schools of thought, including   absurdism , as well as determinism , nihilism , naturalism, and stoicism . Setting: a) Time:   Slightly before World War II b) Place:   Algeria Themes :  The irrationality of the universe; the meaninglessness of human life; the importance of the physical world ; free will; colonialism Narrator and Point of view: Meursault narrates in the first person and limits his account to his own thoughts and perceptions. His description of the other characters is entirely subjective—that is, he does not attempt to portray them in a neutral light or to understand their thoughts and feelings. Tone:...