Abstract
This paper discusses the concept of the imaginative journey through Samuel Coleridge's poems, "Lime Tree Bower," "Frost at Midnight" and "Cover of Ivory Trail" and Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie." It explains how all of the texts assert the power of the imaginative journey in evoking the poetic, in moving beyond mere appearance, beyond exhausted realism, to provoke new insights into reality and creative processes.

From the Paper
"The Glass Menagerie invites the reader on an imaginative journey. Williams' surrealist technique of magic lantern slides produces quite hazy, unfixed images, reinforcing Tom's assertion in his opening monologue that the play "is not realistic". Williams suggests a series of titles and images which evoke the evocative and illogical logic of dreams. For example, the images of blue roses at the beginning of scene 2- the projection of this surrealist image prior to any mention of 'blue roses' in the dialogue itself provokes the reader's imagination. However, when the image is finally referred to, the viewer's mind is likely to float back to the poetic image. Hence, Williams subverts the linear narrative and creates a strange, elliptical link between past and present moments. This technique is an attempt to engage the viewer in an imaginative journey to connect with reality in a more penetrating and fresh way and gain a more vivid understanding of things the way they are."

Tags:technique, imagination, style

Abstract
The paper examines Arthur Miller's play "Death of a Salesman" and Sam Mendes' "American Beauty" and focuses on how the characters are compelled to commit self-sacrifice in order to fulfill social expectations of affluence and wealth. The paper goes on to show how the main characters sacrifice their personal happiness, interpersonal relationships and identity for the ideals of wealth and social status within American society.

From the Paper
"Both Miller and Mendes potently comment on the common man's sacrifice of personal happiness in pursuit of social status and its cornerstone - material wealth. Mendes' Caroline lives by the mantra 'in order to be successful one must project an image of success at all times', yet her immaculate rose-beds and white picket fence are just that; an 'image' or facade that proves symbolic for the sacrifice of her personal happiness in exchange for a mere 'image of success', projected to attain social status. This is mirrored in Mendes use of noirish lighting in scene three; just like Caroline's inner landscape, the house is dark and joyless while attempting to maintain an image of worth for the sake of public approval."

Tags:affluence, wealth, American, Dream, alienation, identity, relationships

Abstract
This paper looks how Susan Glaspell's play "Trifles" uses many ideas found in feminist criticism and explores the three main tools Susan Glaspell uses in driving her point home: the experience of the woman, the traditional roles of men and women, and the use of binary oppositions.

From the Paper
"One idea of feminist criticism is that literature is based on womens? experience, and ?it is specifically the connective, the accumulative details of experience, that provide the structural key for the comprehension of this story (Alkalay-Gut 1).? Upon entering her home, Mrs. Hale notices that Mrs. Wright left certain things undone, such as dirty dishes in the sink, the half-wiped table, and the half-poured sugar. Being a farmer's wife herself she understands this, and defends Mrs. Wright when the men criticize her untidiness by replying, ?There's a great deal of work to be done on a farm (Glaspell, 401).? She understands what it's like to have a million things to do and not enough time to do them. Women often make the job look so easy that men like these believe there isn't much to it. She also knows that these men do not appreciate the effort put forth to manage a household, but more importantly she speaks her mind, asserting her views firmly."

Tags:feminism, symbolism, criticism, woman

Abstract
This paper takes a look at the differences between the two characters, Walter and Beneth, and their outlook on life.

From the Paper
"Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun is a brilliant play about family, money, and power. The characters Walter and Beneatha have conflicting ideas on everything including; who the head of the family is and what it means to be successful, the role of women in society, and assimilation. "A Raisin in the Sun is about dreams, ironically enough. And how those psychological projections of human life can come into conflict like any other product of that life." Throughout history, we have been taught that you have to be flexible and compromise-especially in a family situation."

Tags:benetha, characters, compare, contrast, hansbury, in, loraine, raisin, sun, the, walter

Abstract
This paper discusses how both "American Beauty" and "The Crucible" are texts written to emphasize flaws within the American society at different periods in history. The paper first looks at how "American Beauty", which was created at the end of the 20th century when there was an increasing dissatisfaction with the American Dream, depicts Alan Ball and Sam Mendes', the composers, contemporary opinions of Western society and is an illustration of how the American Dream is often a facade for dysfunctional relationships. In comparison, the paper then examines how "The Crucible", which is set in 1692, during the unstable times of the Salem Witch trials, was written as an allegory by Arthur Miller, and demonstrates the similarities between the situation in Salem and McCarthyism in the 1950s.

From the Paper
"American Beauty was produced at a time when people were beginning to realize that the American Dream is full of unfulfilled desires, repressed dreams and shattered hopes. Alan Ball and Sam Mendes highlight the flaws of this vision through characters in the text. Lester Burnham, the main protagonist of the text, is not content with his suburban life. "Look at me, jerking off in the shower -- this will be the high point of my day. It's all downhill from here." He has a respectable occupation as a magazine executive and a family he once enjoyed the company of however he feels that his he lives a meaningless existence, "in a way, I am dead already." His only daughter Jane has issues with her body image and wishes her father would take interest in her life. "I need a father who's a role model, not some horny geek-boy who's gonna spray his shorts every time I bring a girlfriend home from school." And his wife is stuck in a loveless marriage and doesn't allow her husband to touch her. "Our marriage is just for show. "

Tags:McCarthyism, salem, witch, trial, dream

Abstract
The following paper is a short analytical and interpretive essay of the views and values of "A Streetcar Named Desire" in terms of the ideas, conventions and beliefs that the text appears to explore, endorse, challenge or leave unquestioned. Themes that are touched on in this paper are-- truth versus fiction, reality verses fantasy, ambition verses imagination, and lust verses love. The way in which Williams uses symbolism to parallel the conflict within a character and between characters, to the conflict in American society's views and values, invites the reader to draw their own conclusions from the text.

From the Paper
"The rape seems to signify the final destruction of Blanche's fantasy world. As Stanley acknowledges, the two were on a collision course from the beginning. Blanche is neither adaptable nor one of the strong. Blanche enters entirely into her world of self-deception. Fate is cruel, and human desire often leads to death. Everything that Blanche wants from life seems to crumble in front of her. She fights to save her Old Southern roots and the family mansion, but loses them both. She fights to regain her self-respect and Stanley destroy all attempts at this. She fights to hold on to her sanity amidst mounting disasters, but loses that battle as well."

Tags:brutality, modern, age, sexuality, powerful, genteel, literature, play, drama

Abstract
This paper examines the play "The Piano Lesson" by August Wilson set in 1936 which looks into the worldly affairs of a black family that struggles to maintain the family heritage. It analyzes how the piano ,which is central to the story, serves as a potential metaphor for the history of the past pertaining to the enslavement of those ancestors that were chained in slavery. It looks at how the play is based on the legacy of the piano and what the protagonists Boy Willie and Berniece decide to do with it.

From the Paper
"From the title of this learned victory by August Wilson, it is evident that there comes a profound understanding of the sense of family values, morals and cohesiveness of the black Americans along with the title of the play. Every scholarly effort is geared towards conveying a message appended with an insightful moral and The Piano Lesson is no exception. The soul-searching lesson that we have learned all along is that past injustices and tormenting experiences leave a strong adverse impact on the lives of the people who suffer the blow of racial discrimination and other prejudices. "

Tags:slavery, blacks, south

Abstract
The writer interprets the stylistic elements in Dubus' writing that reveal his position about the social and individual consequences of murder. According to the paper, this is done through the title, plot, and the characters of the play which strengthen the connection between the story and its reader.

From the Paper
"The play's title also points to the suffering of Frank's loved ones. The victim's death was so disturbing for his parents that the father's heart was dying to kill Strout. Matt tells his friend "(Ruth) can't even go out for cigarettes and aspirin" without seeing Strout, "it's killing her" (Dubus 64). The constant daydreaming of Frank's murder killed Matt and Ruth from inside until they took out their revenge on Strout and calmed their emotions. Simultaneously, the playwright also reflects through the thoughts of Matt Fowler, how the loved ones of Richard Strout would be killed inside by his murder. Thus, the writer builds on a deeper meaning for the play's title by depicting how the emotions of families are killed on the deaths of their beloveds."

Tags:play, style, murder, character, plot

Abstract
This paper explores the theme of violence in Pinter's play. There are instances of both physical violence and psychological violence the play, and in the centre of the play, we are shown a mixture of the two. This essay discusses each of these types of violence, and also the effect of the tone of menace and violence that underlies the whole play.

From the Paper
"Physical violence is the most obvious type of violence in the play. The play begins with Davies, a man of age about sixty and from, what we can gather, homeless, having just been in a brawl in the caf? at which he worked. So right from the outset, Pinter establishes a feel of violence and menace, emphasises by Davies? insults of "Black, Greeks and Poles"."

Tags:menace, physical

Abstract
This paper examines how in "A Streetcar Named Desire", the American Dream is contrastingly represented in two key characters: Blanche DuBois and Stanley Kowalski, the latter holding Southern ideals and hoping for a life of privilege, comfort and protection; the former believing in a life characterised by toil, an impulsive and reckless sense of spontaneity, and eventual reward and success. It looks at how by adopting an intriguing setting in New Orleans, a series of crucial and symbolic minor characters, and a plot which slowly but meaningfully unravels itself, Tennessee Williams creates content for a screenplay which provides a fascinating interpretation of the American Dream.

From the Paper
"Firstly, the characters of Blanche DuBois and Stanley Kowalski provide a differing interpretation of the American Dream. Blanche was born and raised in the deep American South, into a world where her every need, wish and desire would be catered for. She would dwell in a lavish mansion with her family, receive a quality education, be waited upon by coloured servants, and, furthermore, would eventually marry an equally privileged young man who could provide for her the protection which she was accustomed to. This is not so much protection in a physical sense, but rather, the guardianship of her honour. This would involve preventing her from being exposed to cursing, abuse cruelty, and anything else that would seem improper in an upper class Southern society. "

Tags:blanche, dubois, stanley, kowalski