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Vonnegut’s Galápagos and Dual Inheritance Theory

Kurt Vonnegut’s Galápagos, published in 1985, is a novel whose events take place between 1986 and 1,001,986. It is narrated by a spirit following a group of people who would eventually become the progenitors of all of humanity. These people embark on the “Nature Cruise of the Century” to the Galapagos Islands and, having shipwrecked […]

Outta the Way Dummy: Examining the Importance of Educational Reform in Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthurs Court

Unlike the future utopia that Edward Bellamy created in Looking Backward, in which he sought to fix perceived social problems of the late 19th century, Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court instead looks to highlight the positive aspects of the United States in 1889 by placing all that knowledge in the time […]

Little Rascals: Representations of the Hitler Youth in George Orwell’s 1984

In George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, the reader is introduced to Winston Smith, an outsider in a society under totalitarian rule by Big Brother.  Though Smith works for the Party he feels himself outside of it, relishing in small rebellions against the state.  Smith, like many dystopian protagonists, begins his downfall by writing in a […]

Twain’s Ideology Within the Text

Mark Twain’s “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” is a clear illustration of a feudalistic form of government dating back to the early 6th century. Twain had his own thoughts on this particular way of rule and because of that, creates a fictitious utopian society to explore his views. Certain themes and quotes truly […]

Progressivism in Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain, published in 1889, is an often anachronistic portrayal of the middle ages through the eyes of a 19th century engineer. The engineer, Hank Morgan, suffers a blow to the head by a man named Hercules and awakens from his stupor in the 6th century. What […]

Panopticons in Orwell’s 1984

Written by British novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic George Orwell, the novel Nineteen Eight- Four (often written 1984) was first published in 1949. It is a dystopian novel that follows in the tradition of Zamyatin’s We, Wells’ The Time Machine, and Rand’s novella Anthem. In 1984, Orwell examines the consequences of oligarchy, totalitarianism, and collectivism […]