The Bonfire of the Vanities is a novel by Tom Wolfe about a trial of a wealthy New York bond trader named Sherman McCoy for a hit and run accident involving a black boy in the Bronx. Over the course of the novel, McCoy's mistress Maria Ruskin is investigated as an accomplice after escaping the country. Eventually Ruskin escapes prosecution and McCoy is tried for vehicular manslaughter. The novel deals with issues of class and race in the 1980s.
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is a novel by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn about Ivan Denisovich, a falsely-convicted prisoner serving a ten-year sentence in the gulag, a forced labor camp. The book recounts the horrible conditions suffered by gulag prisoners: harsh punishments, extreme cold, lack of proper clothing, lack of food, brutal physical labor and sickness. Though Ivan Denisovich wakes up sick and is punished, then sent off to work, he survives the day and even goes to bed feeling OK.
Rip Van Winkle and Other Stories contains several classic early American tales, including that of Ichabod Crane, the nervous schoolteacher who is frightened by the Headless Horseman, and Rip Van Winkle, who falls asleep for 20 years only to awaken and discover that his nagging wife has died. These stories often delve into class issues and display an affection for poorer, virtuous characters; colonial America, English tradition, greed, imagination, and death are also explored in these stories.
The Death of Ivan Ilych is a novella by the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy that tells the story of a dying man's moral and spiritual vacillations and eventual religious epiphany. Ivan Ilych is a wealthy judge dying after an accidental injury. As he approaches death, he reflects on his own life full of self-interest, superficiality and a fear of death, and, on the other hand, the life of a peasant named Gerasim who is compassionate and does not fear death.
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich Aleksandr Solzhenitsyns Faith Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is a professed Christian However according to some critics this does not necessarily make his writings Christian Schmemann 39 Biblical principles can clearly be identified in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich They can be seen through Solzhenitsyns views on the world as a divine creation the nature of evil and faith in the future The Christian faith is rooted in the belief that God created everything
Vanity Fair How does Thackeray present Rebecca Sharp and Amelia Sedley in the opening chapters of Vanity Fair The novel takes place during the Napoleonic Wars and concerns the lives of two starkly contrasted girls Becky Sharp orphaned and poor but ingenious and Amelia Sedley sheltered daughter of a rich City merchant These two meet at Miss Pinkertons Academy for young ladies Sharps adventures begin with an attempt to marry Jos Sedley Amelias brother who is rich but dim She soon finds her way to
Rip Van Winkle was known to be the man who slept for 20 years Rips sleep caused him to miss the Revolutionary War and Americas transition from colony to nation When he awakens he finds out that everything and everyone has changed During his 20 year sleep Rip misses events such as the Revolutionary War in which some of his friends fought and died for Rip also missed out on Americas transition from colony to nation so that when he enters the village and yells I am a poor quiet man a native of the
Washington Irving wrote Rip Van Winkle with the American people in mind At this time society was changing drastically America was attempting to go through a struggle with forming their own identity America was wanting to have an identity that would set them free from English culture and rule Irving uses his main character Rip Van Winkle symbolize America Rip goes through the same struggles that America was going through at this time before and after the Revolution Irving uses such great symboli