African-American Literature

When comparing Mrs. Dalloway  to The Sun Also Rises , a notable difference that I noticed was how people influenced characters' personalities in Mrs. Dalloway but the setting plays a much bigger role in changing characters in The Sun Also Rises . In The Sun Also Rises , the first part of the book takes place in Paris. During this time, Robert Cohn, as portrayed through Jake's eyes, is a somewhat shy, self-conscious man who takes part in boxing to cover up his low self-esteem. Although some of what we see about Cohn is biased because we are introduced to him negatively from Jake, there is evidence in the text that shows how Cohn isn't as "strong" as a person as Jake. This idea is further proven on page 47 when Jake is joking around and tells Cohn to go to hell and Cohn gets upset by that. As I was reading that scene, I thought about how Cohn reminds me of a kid who hasn't really experienced "reality" and gets upset by trivial things. Another fact a...

We kind of touched on this idea in class, but I was interested in comparing Clarissa's relationship with Sally, Peter, and Richard, especially how Clarissa acts and feels differently with each of them. Going off of our discussion in class, Richard reminds me of how a teenage boy would act when he likes someone but is afraid to tell the girl. The fact that Mrs. Dalloway is a third person narration makes us as readers like Richard more because we get to read about how he truly does love Clarissa, but he just can't find the courage to express it to her. Richard and Clarissa's relationship is tame in the sense that there is no passion between them. Earlier on, we read that part of the reason Clarissa likes her relationship with Richard is because he gives her space, but I also think that might be part of the reason she doesn't feel "fulfilled" with Richard. On the surface, Clarissa thinks that she would be happier with Peter and regrets saying no to his propos...