But, in the recent years it has been noticed that a very large majority of the students, without reading the original texts, rely on the guide books or notes prepared by their teachers or others. This is definitely not a healthy habit because students do pass their exams with the help of such notes; they miss so many things which haunt them in their later lives.I would strongly advise all students to read the original text once again even if you have...

Guide books or book notes are primarily written to make students understand the original text better, especially from all those angles which are often overlooked by a casual reader. But, in the recent years it has been noticed that a very large majority of the students, without reading the original texts, rely on the guide books or notes prepared by their teachers or others. This is definitely not a healthy habit because students do pass their exams...

The author had a very difficult childhood. It was full of prejudice and ostracism and there were several reasons for that. There were several things which were against her in that prejudiced society. First of all, she was black. She was the child of a single mother, and lastly she was very outspoken at her young age. At the age of seven she started going to school owing to a generous benefactor. However, she left the school only after two years because...

Charlie Gordon happens to be the first human test subject for the surgery. He writes a series of progress reports and tells the story. There are several moral and ethical themes in the novel. One of the most significant themes of the novel is the treatment of the mentally disabled people. It has always been a controversial novel and it has often been removed from libraries in America and Canada. However, it is regularly prescribed in the course of...

Little Women" was particularly written for female readers; however, it became equally popular with male readers. True love, work, and domesticity are the three noticeable themes of the novel. These three themes are interdependent."Little Women" is also said to be a romance novel. It is also read as a quest. It is also considered as a classic family drama which proves that virtue is higher than wealth. It is also quote that Alcott created a new form...

Midaq Alley" by Naguib Mahfouz was first published in English in 1966. It is the English translation of the novel "Zuqaq al Midaq."The book "Zuqaq al Midaq" was first published in Arabic, in Egypt, in the year 1847. Midaq Ally is a back street in Cairo, Egypt. The place teems with crowds. It is presented as a microcosm of the world. The setting of the story is in the Gamaliya neighborhood of Cairo, where the author and his family used to live during...

The play is not set in modern times. It is set during the Thirty Years' War of 1618-1648. The play revolves around a wily canteen woman, nicknamed Mother Courage. She works with the Swedish Army. She is quite courageous and she has decided to make her living from the war. Anna Fierling or Mother Courage loses her three children to the same war from which she happens to have sought to earn profit. Her three children were Swiss Cheese, Eilif, and Kattrin...

According to Harold Pinter, he wrote "The Caretaker" while he and his wife were living in Chiswick. There are some events in the play which clearly seem to be drawn on those events which had taken place in Pinter's own life at the time. The owner of the flat where Pinter lived was like Mick, a character in the play. The owner of that house had a brother who was quite an introvert and very secretive. His brother had a history of mental illness and...

The story is told through a retrospective narration by Balram Halwai. He is a village boy. The novel follows this village boy's first journey to Delhi where he works as driver of a rich landlord. From there he goes to Bangalore. He kills his master in Delhi and flees from there. He escapes with his master's money and reaches Bangalore. He starts his new life and becomes a successful businessman over the years. The story is in the form of letters which...

Although it is a complete novel, it is divided into five short stories or novella. There is a preface written by the author in the second edition of the novel. The novel has three major narrators. The first narrator is an unnamed young officer in the Russian army. He happens to be travelling through the Caucasus Mountains. During his journey he documents his travel detains to be published later. At the opening of the novel, the young unnamed narrator...