English 104 - Introduction to Narrative
Niki Alvarez
The Power That Children Have Over Others
Category: 2 Essay: Carroll, Twain, Faulkner, Sebold | Niki Alvarez
Mark Twain and Lewis Carroll, writers of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, share numerous writing techniques which aid them in telling their stories. One striking similarity between the two novels is that they both seem to reverse the roles that children and adults usually...
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Posted by nalvarez on December 08, 2003 at 09:57 PM
Lessons in Heaven
Category: 10 Blog: The Lovely Bones | Niki Alvarez
One of the more surprising ways that Susie’s fate shapes her narration is in the way of how she focuses on relationships and sex in the lives of the people she loves. Susie’s horrible rape would make one think that in her heaven there would be no mention of sex,...
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Posted by nalvarez on December 03, 2003 at 08:32 PM
To Sin Or Not To Sin
Category: 09 Blog: As I Lay Dying | Niki Alvarez
Addie’s one and only monologue placement is very interesting, because it is placed between the two “religious” figures in the novel, and Addie could care less about religion. Cora spends her time judging Addie even though she states that “it is not us that can judge our sins or...
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Posted by nalvarez on November 24, 2003 at 04:51 PM
Unfair Judgments
Category: 08 Blog: As I Lay Dying | Niki Alvarez
A character that is described in two different ways in As I Lay Dying is Jewel. Jewel’s brother Darl describes him as saying things “harshly [and] savagely” and just being an overall angry person. The reason that Jewel is so upset is because he believes one of the reasons his...
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Posted by nalvarez on November 17, 2003 at 09:40 PM
Tactfulness and Sheer Stupidity
Category: 07 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Niki Alvarez
A particularly disturbing fraudulence brought to light at the end of Huck Finn is that Tom purposely kept Jim from knowing that Miss Watson had set him free in her will in order for him to get the adventure he wanted. Tom doesn’t realize that he’s dealing with real people,...
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Posted by nalvarez on November 10, 2003 at 10:16 PM
Watch and Learn
Category: 06 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Niki Alvarez
Since Huck lived with the widow for a while, it could very well be that she instilled in him the need to be accommodating in some way to the robbers even if they are frauds. Huck in a sense feels somewhat sorry for the robbers, and probably wants to aid...
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Posted by nalvarez on November 03, 2003 at 09:29 PM
Old Dog and New Tricks?
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Niki Alvarez
Though Huck complains about living with the widow at first, it is evident that he actually begins to enjoy living in her household, despite Miss Watson’s constant “pecking” (5)* at Huck, and telling him not to “scrunch up like that” (4). Huck says that “by and by, [he] got so...
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Posted by nalvarez on October 27, 2003 at 09:08 PM
The Lucid Bronte vs. the Elusive James
Category: 11 Essay: James and Bronte | Niki Alvarez
Writers Emily Bronte and Henry James are inarguably two of literature’s most amazing writers. Bronte’s Wuthering Heights is one of the best tragic love stories known to mankind, and James’ The Turn of the Screw upholds its reputation as an amazing ghost story. These two novels are rich with...
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Posted by nalvarez on October 22, 2003 at 09:24 PM
Annoyance At Its Best
Category: 04 Blog: Alice in Wonderland | Niki Alvarez
The scene in which Alice is speaking to the Chesire cat is an especially frustrating one. The frustration is aided by both characters, and is predominantly started by Alice. She entices the Cheshire Cat to tell her “then it doesn’t matter which way you go”(64)* in response to her remark...
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Posted by nalvarez on October 06, 2003 at 05:26 PM
Cut Off Your Nose to Spite Your Face
Category: 03 Blog: Wuthering Heights | Niki Alvarez
Little Cathy does indeed replace her mother, yet in some passages she definitely is her mother’s child. Little Cathy was a peaceful, non-problematic child, while her mother, Catherine, was a hellion on wheels. Little Cathy restores Thrushcross Grange to a peaceful atmosphere by obeying her father and overall being “soft...
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Posted by nalvarez on September 28, 2003 at 08:55 PM
Nelly's Jealousy
Category: 02 Blog: Wuthering Heights | Niki Alvarez
Based on the reading through chapter 16, it seems that Nelly is, for the most part, a reliable narrator yet she seems to over exaggerate Catherine’s selfishness and Heathcliff’s “half-civilized ferocity” (87) at times. Throughout the latter chapters, Nelly tries harder and harder to win the approval of Edgar Linton...
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Posted by nalvarez on September 22, 2003 at 09:24 PM
Flora's trip across the lake
Category: 01 Blog: Turn of the Screw | Niki Alvarez
Throughout the book “The Turn of the Screw” the governess seems to misinterpret many situations or conversations, but one that portrays her as a complete nutcase is the scene by the lake when Flora seems to have taken the boat to meet her doom. Why couldn’t Flora just have wanted...
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Posted by nalvarez on September 15, 2003 at 07:24 PM
Practice Entry
Category: Niki Alvarez
This is Niki’s practice entry! Hope everyone is having an easy time with this. See you in class…...
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Posted by nalvarez on September 10, 2003 at 12:28 PM