Finally, redemption is possible and is achieved by some: when Hester, Pearl and Dimmesdale all stand on the public scaffold, Dimmesdale falls fatally ill and Pearl kisses him, the spell of sinfulness is broken for them (Hawthorne 175), while Chillingworth "positively withered up, shrivelled away and almost vanished from mortal sight" because his plan to destroy Dimmesdale were simultaneously broken (Hawthorne 175). In sum, Puritan religious views are highly

John Steinbeck's 1942 novel The Moon is Down can be interpreted as a propaganda piece, aimed at emboldening and comforting the conquered peoples of Europe during the Second World War. However, admitting this pragmatic objective of the book does not necessarily detract from the value of the arguments or themes found within. Steinbeck manages to convey a comprehensive picture of contrasting world perspectives though his depiction of a fictitious

They work when they can picking crops, but agitators create a violent atmosphere, after wages are cut due to the overabundance of pickers. People are starving and the law is harsh with locked out strikers who fight with desperate workers who become "scabs." This is a forceful story about how a proud family survives, and about the humanity in even the meanest of men. Of Mice and Men George and

Pearl, by John Steinbeck, has been noted as one of the most highly regarded novels in United States since World War II. Its appealing characters and obvious allegory have helped to make it a mainstay in American literature. A parable is a short work, usually fictitious, that illustrates a lesson, often on the subject of good and evil and the novel reads like a one; rich in religious overtones of

Mice and Men Isolation in Steinbeck's of Mice and Men Of Mice and Men is a novelette by John Steinbeck that is filled with isolated characters desperate to latch onto the American dream. The dream of the protagonists, George and Lennie, is to have a place of their own in Depression-Era southern California. Things look promising as the itinerant workers get jobs on a farm, make friends, and devise a plan

In this novel, class has more to do with breeding and background than it does with simple wealth. Class is a complex concept, and this has made it very difficult to negotiate shifts and changes in one's class status. The Great Gatsby illustrates that class is capable of producing deep-seated prejudices that cannot simply be altered by external factors like money. Another very famous novel that affirms these class divisions