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            James Joyce is a beloved Irish writer famous for books like Ulysses and Dubliners. It is also a well-known fact that James Joyce was, well, a pervert. The love letters sent between James Joyce and his wife, Nora Barnacle are filled with graphic details of their intimacy. Although the letters from Nora to Joyce aren’t recovered, the language in Joyce’s letters are shocking even to the modern eye. They are filled with depictions of their sexual relationship, even talking about his love of farts. James Joyce was a man who was fascinated with sexual and sensual love. This fascination can also be found in one of his short stories,  Araby.              Araby is the story of a boy and his first love. What is interesting to note is that we don’t know much about Mangan’s sister, the subject of his love, other than her appearance and body. We don’t even know her name and she is defined with her relationship with another male character. Of course, this can be interpreted with a fem

I have never had the fortune of being in love. Of course, I had my fair share of childish crushes but I have never actually felt love. But after reading  The Lady with the Dog  by Anton Chekhov and   The Trick: Notes toward a Theory of Plot  by Marilyn Abilskov, I got a glimpse at what being crazy in love is. In both stories, the characters find meaning in their otherwise meaningless lives with their love. Both Dmitri and Anna were never in love before meeting each other. Dmitri is married to a wife that he is secretly afraid of and doesn’t care if he is unfaithful to her. “He had never once loved …. And only now when his head was grey he had fallen properly, really in love –for the first time in his life.” To Dmitri, meeting new women was a search for excitement and life. And his search ended when he found Anna. Anna became the center of his universe, unable to live his life without thinking about her, her existence haunting his mind. “In the evenings she peeped out at him from

*This essay was written in 2018 for my English Literature class with the topic: how does the following quote add to your examination of Jane Eyre's character and personal journey? "He is not to them what he is to me", I thought: "he is not of their kind. I believe he is mine;-I am sure he is,-I feel akin to him..." (175) The love between Jane Eyre and Edward Rochester from Charlotte Brontë’s  Jane Eyre is one between two soulmates. It is strong enough to overcome the various obstacles life has thrown in their path, from merely unpleasant appearances to a crazy, blood-thirsty wife. One reason their love is so strong is how fit they are for each other. “’He is not to them what he is to me’ [Jane] thought. ‘he is not of their kind. I believe he is of mine,’” (175) shows how Jane felt for Mr. Rochester. After their earlier conversations and experiences, Jane believes they are similar. Jane “had a keen delight in receiving the new ideas he offered” (146) while L

*This was an in-class essay for my English Debate class in 2017 In the democracy of ancient Athena, women and slaves did all the work leaving the men free to practice politics, study history, and create art. It may be possible to recreate such a utopia in the world we live in now with the help of AI. People dream of a world where machines do all the work while people can focus on creative projects. However, if AI progresses in the direction it is currently going in, the world will turn into a dystopia. People worry the most about the effect AI will have on jobs. It is natural for jobs to appear and disappear. The cycle has gone on for centuries, as jobs go out of fashion and new jobs are created to fill their place. The problem occurs when a massive amount of jobs disappears but there are not enough to replace them. The World Economic Forum predicted a net loss of over 5 million jobs in 15 developed countries by 2020. People working in factories, transportation, retail and many

*This essay was an in-class essay written in my English Debate class in 2017 When I hear of students getting incentives for grades, I think of a guy I knew in in middle school. He used to get good grades but mixed with the wrong crowd, causing his scores to plummet. His parents were desperate and offered to buy him cigarettes and alcohol for him if he raised his grades. Of course, this is an extreme case that would even shock students who receive incentives. But thinking of this case, plus the many drawbacks of incentives for grades makes me grateful that I didn’t receive incentives while growing up. Giving incentives to students has short term benefits but also has long term side effects. Incentives can make students study harder, but they condition the students so they can’t study without them. I had many friends growing up. Many of them actually raised their scores because their parents promised them a new phone, concert tickets, and so on. However, the problems occurred af

*This is a short in-class essay I wrote in my British literature class in 2018 on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Both Victor Frankenstein and his monster made bad choices, endured endless suffering and met a tragic end. However, one can only find their heart leaning towards the monster after reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. After reading about the monster, it is hard to fear it. Rather, thinking of its experience, it seems like a poor creature that never had the privilege of felling loved. From birth, the monster was met with pain, hatred, and fear. Even before he showed wrong actions, he never received any love or care. His kind actions brought violent, hate ridden reactions. After saving a girl, it got shot and after continuously helping a family out, it got a beating. The monster always dreamt of love, longed for a touch of care but was continuously shunned and attacked. Of course, it is portrayed as a villain and has committed many unforgivable crimes. However, one