Laurika Nxumalo

Mark Twain's portrayal of Widow Douglas, another of Huck's guardians, emphasizes the topic of religious hypocrisy. The Widow Douglas represents a respectable, "civilized" society that seeks to reform Huck by imparting Christian moral standards in him. She educates him about prayer, urges that he be "civilized," and opposes his reckless behavior. Twain, on the other hand, gently challenges Widow Douglas' moral authority by exposing her errors. For example, she discourages Huck from smoking yet readily consumes snuff, a type of tobacco. Her own habits reveal the moral contradictions in her faith.

The Story of an Hour illustrates the dual themes of confinement and freedom. Mrs. Mallard's story reveals the restricted roles of women in 19th-century society and the profound yearning for selfhood that lay beneath those constraints. The brief and intense exploration of freedom in Louise's mind highlights both the allure and the cost of autonomy in a world that does not yet recognize a woman's right to it.

Gatsby throws parties to entice Daisy Buchanan, the love of his life. The magnificence of the gatherings underscores Gatsby's attempt to reclaim Daisy by achieving the American Dream of success, fortune, and social position. However, the superficiality of these events highlights the novel's portrayal of the American Dream as empty. Despite the glamor, the parties are attended by people who do not know Gatsby and have no interest in him, underscoring the futility of his quest.

One of the most well-known linguistic innovations in Ulysses is Joyce's use of stream of consciousness, a storytelling method that attempts to recreate the flow of thoughts and experiences in the human mind. This technique captures the fragmented, nonlinear form of mind. Characters' inner dialogues, memories, and immediate experiences combine fluidly, giving the reader a real-time experience of consciousness. For example, the protagonist, Leopold Bloom,'s thoughts are presented without clear distinctions between past and present, fantasy and reality, illustrating the chaotic and associative nature of thinking.

One of the play's protagonists, John Proctor, battles with his own type of deception – self-deception. To protect his reputation, he first avoids involvement in the witch trials, unwilling to expose his connection with Abigail, which would jeopardize his name. However, his moral integrity eventually pushes him to confront his lies, prompting him to publicly confess his faults in an effort to expose Abigail's deception. This act of honesty, while ultimately leads to his demise, reinforces Miller's condemnation of a culture that values appearance over truth, demonstrating that true integrity necessitates confronting hard facts, even at tremendous personal cost.

Pi's storytelling is another method of psychological survival. The narrative itself can be seen as an attempt to make sense of his trauma and find solace in a version of events that is more bearable than the brutal reality.

In 'Macbeth', Shakespeare substantially emphasizes the male-female relationship and gender dynamics. Shakespeare shows the relationship between gender and power which can be related to the patriarchal discourse of early modern England. He portrays women as major determinants in men's actions. Men are portrayed as strong willed and courageous, but a female character such as Lady Macbeth is also given a ruthless and power-hungry personality, which was, in that era, typically associated with masculinity. She is a strong character who is deeply ambitious; her role in 'Macbeth' becomes important because it further explains Shakespeare’s presentation of women characters. Lady Macbeth is associated with supernatural subversion as well as sexual temptation – the question is, how did she use her femininity to disrupt her environment and what does her character teach?

In the 19th century, Oscar Wilde wrote in 'The Decay of Lying' that, "Life imitates art far more than art imitates life… results not merely from life's imitative instinct, but from the fact that the self-conscious aim of life is to find expression, and that art offers it certain beautiful forms through which it may realize that energy." According to Wilde, what people find in life and nature is actually not there, but what people find is what artists have taught them to find through art. So, does life imitate art or does art imitate life? In light of these questions, is it possible for art to predict the future? Which artwork by which artist do you think predicted the future?