.... an understanding of the characters leads to the understanding of ourselves. Oedipa Mass, just like us, is forced to either involve herself in the deciphering of clues or not to participate at all in what she suspects to be a conspiracy. Her role is comparable to the role of Maxwell¡¦s Demon. ¡§As the Demon sat and sorted his molecules into hot and cold, the system was said to lose entropy. But somehow the loss was offset by the information the Demon gained about what molecules were where¡¨ (p.105). Oedipa¡¦s purpose in the novel, besides executing a will, is to find meaning in a life dominated by assaults on people¡¦s perceptions through the use of d .....

.... their sides, eyes slightly downcast, and their mouths were to be shut unless otherwise asked to speak. It is not surprising that the girls would find this type of lifestyle very constricting. To rebel against it, they played pranks, such as dancing in the woods, listening to slaves' magic stories and pretending that other villagers were bewitching them. starts after the girls in the village have been caught dancing in the woods. As one of them falls sick, rumors start to fly that there is witchcraft going on in the woods, and that the sick girl is bewitched. Once the girls talk to each other, they become more and more frightened of being accused as witches, .....

.... was one of these things which Gene envied. One incident of Finny’s openness was when he wore the pink shirt. By wearing this he was “symbolizing the first U.S. bombing in Europe.” Gene simply replied to the shirt by calling Finny “nuts,” but deep down inside Gene was jealous of Finny’s boldness. Another incident of Finny’s openness, or boldness is when he wore the school tie as a belt. Gene was anxiously waiting for Finny to get yelled at, but because of his openness he was able to talk his way out of getting into trouble. Finny claimed that he wore the tie as a belt because it represented “Devon in the War.” Again, Gene was envious of Finny’s o .....

.... notion of culture which is founded upon his study of Goethe and Schiller" (19). He believed many other cultures are based on the thought of curiosity and on scientific expansion. Arnold believed culture was based on the expansion of the individual's mind; only through education can a perfect culture be reached. In his writings, Arnold stated that for a man to be cultured he has to be versed in both religion and classic literature. Although Arnold's culture sought the advancement of the human mind; he did not want people to get wrapped up in technology. "Faith in machinery is, I said, our besetting danger; often in machinery most absurdly dispropo .....

.... so the storm can therefore he seen as symbolic of sexuality and passion. And the image of the storm will be returned to again and again throughout the story. At the beginning of the story Bobinot and his young son, Bibi decide to wait out a rapidly approaching storm at the store. Bobinot's wife, Calixta, is home alone, tending to the household chores. Calixta's is not aware of the storm approaching, although she is married and has a child, she is unaware of the sexuality and passion within her. As Calixta is gathering up the laundry, Alcee Laballiere enters the yard, seeking shelter from the coming storm. My first impression of Alcee is that he is pre .....

.... of life in colonial America. A shift from theism to deism was occurring. The Puritans of this time were fleeing the Church of England. Their hope was to return to the more primitive ways, to reject the churches hierarchy and ritual. Mary Rowlandson, a puritan in Lancaster, Massachusetts was captured by Indians, along with three of her children in the year 1676. In her narrative she relates the story of her survival in the wilderness for a period of three months. She is taken away from her home and husband, "all was gone (except my life); and I knew not but the next moment that might go too" (127). Benjamin Franklin's The Autobiography is an account o .....

.... he sets out to sea. After being told by many he was not a sea worthy he kept moving on. Soon he finds himself a slave on a ship, but against the odds he escapes and starts a sugar plantation in Brazil. He sets out to sea once again but this time he is going to Africa to get slaves for his plantation. On his way he meets some bad luck and his ship gets wrecked. Crusoe, being the only survivor swims, to a island and is stuck there for 15 years before he finds other human life. During the 15 years he builds a home and tries to survive as best as he can. He keeps track of the days by writing in his journal. He also wonders why he was chosen by god to be the on .....

.... and evil, a person may only choose one. Teiresias, prophet of Phoebus, was stricken with blindness to the physical world, but, as a result, gained the gift of sight into the spiritual world. This great gift allowed him to become a superior prophet, praised by the people as "god like" and as a person "in whom the truth lives." Therefore, it was no surprise that Oedipus asked the old prophet to come before the people to enlighten them as to who or what the cause of the plague decimating their country was. What Oedipus was not expecting, however, was that the sin he could not see himself was to blame for the judgement being poured out up .....