The Marriage of Science and Art in Carson’s Silent Spring
As an environmentalist, living in the 21st Century, I have come across the idea of connectedness time and time again. I have come to understand how the universe is a whole, and made of countless components. Rachel Carson played a large role in the environmental movement, and she carried this out with the use of her poetic, yet scientifically accurate account of how humans have caused significant damage to their environment, specifically through the use of pesticides.
The Silence of God
Death is the most prominent theme in Don DeLillo’s White Noise, manifested in the lives of Jack and Babette, primarily in the form of constant noise in the background. There is always someone humming (DeLillo 27) or the TV is left on with nobody watching (DeLillo 249) and this continuous ‘white’ noise is representative of the couple’s constant thoughts about dying.
The Feminist Façade
Women maintain a constant presence in Dorothy L. Sayers’ Gaudy Night, and they all seem to have achieved positions of power through various means. This image of an empowered woman might seemingly contribute to the novel’s feminist nature. However, behind the façade reside the women’s inner demons: suppression of their own thoughts, an inability to be positively self-assertive, and sexist tendencies.
Of Virginity and Violence
Certain qualities of classical fairytales and myths beg for feminist adaptations. The blatant misogyny and unapologetic reinforcement of patriarchal values they display has prompted a host of contemporized re-imaginations such as those of The Bloody Chamber.
Marriage, Magic and Invisibility
Rulers must make clear the distinction between their subordinates and themselves if they are to demonstrate believable authority, and Prospero in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest is no exception.