Title: The Scarlet Letter
Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
ISBN: 1442140712
Plot Summary: The narrator of the story, living in what is then the present day in New England, comes across some old belongings of a woman who once lived in the community known as Hester Prynne. Hester, a married woman, had an affair with the Reverend Dimmesdale while her husband was away, and bore his illegitimate child. For this transgression, she was ostracized by the community and forced to wear a large scarlet "A" on her clothing at all times, to symbolize the sin of adultery. She attempts to regain the community's trust by leading a quiet and charitable life, but the reappearance of a mysterious stranger in town throws her world into turmoil. Although both she and her lover attempted to escape their current situation, they found that the ties of duty, obligation, and their mutual child are too great to let them go forever.
Showing posts with label Women's Studies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Women's Studies. Show all posts
The Handmaid's Tale
Title: The Handmaid's Tale
Author: Margaret Atwood
ISBN: 0771008139
Plot Summary: A theocratic dictatorship has overthrown the government of the United States and created the Republic of Gilead, in response to what it perceives as widespread immorality, corruption, and increasing infertility. In this dystopic future, women are not allowed to read, or even venture outside their homes except to run errands. In addition to the wives men already have, they are also allowed to take "handmaids," presumably still-fertile women who can provide them with now desperately needed offspring. A woman known only as Offred, a patronymic indicating only the name of the man she serves, feels stifled by her current life, remembering as she does the way things were before Gilead was founded, when she could live, love, and work as she chose. The only roles available to women in Gilead society are as wife, handmaid, or - for those who want a bit more freedom - prostitute. Offred makes plans to escape, but her ultimate fate remains unknown.
Author: Margaret Atwood
ISBN: 0771008139
Plot Summary: A theocratic dictatorship has overthrown the government of the United States and created the Republic of Gilead, in response to what it perceives as widespread immorality, corruption, and increasing infertility. In this dystopic future, women are not allowed to read, or even venture outside their homes except to run errands. In addition to the wives men already have, they are also allowed to take "handmaids," presumably still-fertile women who can provide them with now desperately needed offspring. A woman known only as Offred, a patronymic indicating only the name of the man she serves, feels stifled by her current life, remembering as she does the way things were before Gilead was founded, when she could live, love, and work as she chose. The only roles available to women in Gilead society are as wife, handmaid, or - for those who want a bit more freedom - prostitute. Offred makes plans to escape, but her ultimate fate remains unknown.
Jane Eyre
Title: Jane Eyre
Author: Charlotte Bronte
ISBN: 0451526554
Plot Summary: Jane Eyre, an intelligent, headstrong girl, is orphaned at a young age. After living with unsympathetic relatives for a while, she is shunted off to an even worse girl's boarding school, where living conditions only improve after a fellow student dies. When Jane comes of age, she seeks employment as a governess, ending up in the employ of the mysterious yet oddly compelling Mr. Rochester. Although she initially develops romantic feelings for her employer, she comes to realize that there are some extremely dark secrets in his past. It is only after a great deal of soul-searching, life decisions, and various personal tragedies that Jane and Mr. Rochester are reunited - but if they are to remain together, Jane must be able to do so on her own terms.
Author: Charlotte Bronte
ISBN: 0451526554
Plot Summary: Jane Eyre, an intelligent, headstrong girl, is orphaned at a young age. After living with unsympathetic relatives for a while, she is shunted off to an even worse girl's boarding school, where living conditions only improve after a fellow student dies. When Jane comes of age, she seeks employment as a governess, ending up in the employ of the mysterious yet oddly compelling Mr. Rochester. Although she initially develops romantic feelings for her employer, she comes to realize that there are some extremely dark secrets in his past. It is only after a great deal of soul-searching, life decisions, and various personal tragedies that Jane and Mr. Rochester are reunited - but if they are to remain together, Jane must be able to do so on her own terms.
Mean Girls
Title: Mean Girls
Director: Mark Waters
Authors: Tina Fey (screenplay), Rosalind Wiseman (book)
Cast: Lindsay Lohan (Cady), Rachel McAdams (Regina), Tina Fey (Ms. Norbury), Tim Meadows (Mr. Duvall), Lacey Chabert (Gretchen), Amanda Seyfried (Karen), Lizzy Caplan (Janis), Daniel Franzese (Damian)
ASIN: B0002IQJ8W (DVD)
Plot Summary: Cady was raised in Africa by her well-meaning yet clueless zoologist parents. Upon relocation to American suburbia, she finds herself totally clueless about how to fit in socially with her peers. She initially becomes friends with two other outcasts, hip, sardonic Janis and her friend Damian, a boy she describes as "almost too gay to function." Cady is soon adopted as a pet project by the popular girls in her class, whom Janis describes as "The Plastics." She initially does so with the intention of bringing down Regina George, the leader of the pack and Janis's former best friend. However, in the process, Cady gets drawn into their web of backstabbing, lies, and passive aggression, unwittingly becoming just as vicious and shallow as they are and abandoning her old friends. When Regina finds out about Cady's plot to ruin her, she makes the contents of a secret "slam book" the Plastics keep public, and the entire school is thrown into pandemonium. Cady eventually mends fences with Damian and Janis, but not before she and the entire school makes an effort to get past its mass avoidance of direct confrontation.
Director: Mark Waters
Authors: Tina Fey (screenplay), Rosalind Wiseman (book)
Cast: Lindsay Lohan (Cady), Rachel McAdams (Regina), Tina Fey (Ms. Norbury), Tim Meadows (Mr. Duvall), Lacey Chabert (Gretchen), Amanda Seyfried (Karen), Lizzy Caplan (Janis), Daniel Franzese (Damian)
ASIN: B0002IQJ8W (DVD)
Plot Summary: Cady was raised in Africa by her well-meaning yet clueless zoologist parents. Upon relocation to American suburbia, she finds herself totally clueless about how to fit in socially with her peers. She initially becomes friends with two other outcasts, hip, sardonic Janis and her friend Damian, a boy she describes as "almost too gay to function." Cady is soon adopted as a pet project by the popular girls in her class, whom Janis describes as "The Plastics." She initially does so with the intention of bringing down Regina George, the leader of the pack and Janis's former best friend. However, in the process, Cady gets drawn into their web of backstabbing, lies, and passive aggression, unwittingly becoming just as vicious and shallow as they are and abandoning her old friends. When Regina finds out about Cady's plot to ruin her, she makes the contents of a secret "slam book" the Plastics keep public, and the entire school is thrown into pandemonium. Cady eventually mends fences with Damian and Janis, but not before she and the entire school makes an effort to get past its mass avoidance of direct confrontation.
Three Cups of Tea
Title: Three Cups of Tea
Author: Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
ISBN: 0670034827
Plot Summary: Greg Mortenson, a young American mountain climber, becomes stranded in a remote Pakistani village while attempting to climb K2. After the villagers nurse him back to health, he comes to see how the village childrens' lack of education has negatively impacted their community. Promising to come back and help them build and finance a school, he sells his possessions back in the United States and begins the long, arduous process of securing funding, materials, construction, teachers, and materials for the school. This quest eventually turns into an organization devoted to building non-denominational schools for boys and girls alike across areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan that are most subject to targeting by terrorist organizations looking for recruits. Although outnumbered and outfinanced by the Taliban and Al Quaeda, Mortensen's Central Asia Institute begins to bring about positive change in these remote, unstable areas.
Author: Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
ISBN: 0670034827
Plot Summary: Greg Mortenson, a young American mountain climber, becomes stranded in a remote Pakistani village while attempting to climb K2. After the villagers nurse him back to health, he comes to see how the village childrens' lack of education has negatively impacted their community. Promising to come back and help them build and finance a school, he sells his possessions back in the United States and begins the long, arduous process of securing funding, materials, construction, teachers, and materials for the school. This quest eventually turns into an organization devoted to building non-denominational schools for boys and girls alike across areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan that are most subject to targeting by terrorist organizations looking for recruits. Although outnumbered and outfinanced by the Taliban and Al Quaeda, Mortensen's Central Asia Institute begins to bring about positive change in these remote, unstable areas.
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things
Title: The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things
Author: Carolyn Mackler
ISBN: 0763620912
Plot Summary: Virginia is a blonde, overweight ugly ducking born into a family of over-achieving swans. She deals with her negative emotions by either eating them away or engaging in various forms of self-injury. She carries on a romance with a classmate, Froggy, but hides it for fear of public ridicule, and misses her best friend, Shannon, a chronic stutterer, who has moved across the country with her parents. When her golden-boy brother is toppled off his pedestal, Virginia tries to find better ways of coping with her feelings about his mistakes, her life, and the world in general. In doing so, she must confront not only her family's bad habit of denial, but her own feelings of inadequacy and low self-worth, if she is to finally become more comfortable in her own skin.
Author: Carolyn Mackler
ISBN: 0763620912
Plot Summary: Virginia is a blonde, overweight ugly ducking born into a family of over-achieving swans. She deals with her negative emotions by either eating them away or engaging in various forms of self-injury. She carries on a romance with a classmate, Froggy, but hides it for fear of public ridicule, and misses her best friend, Shannon, a chronic stutterer, who has moved across the country with her parents. When her golden-boy brother is toppled off his pedestal, Virginia tries to find better ways of coping with her feelings about his mistakes, her life, and the world in general. In doing so, she must confront not only her family's bad habit of denial, but her own feelings of inadequacy and low self-worth, if she is to finally become more comfortable in her own skin.
Clueless
Title: Clueless
Author/Director: Amy Heckerling
Cast: Alicia Silverstone (Cher), Stacey Dash (Dionne), Paul Rudd (Josh), Donald Faison (Murray), Elisa Donovan (Amber), Breckin Myer (Travis), Jeremy Sisto (Elton), Dan Hedaya (Mr. Horowitz), Wallace Shawn (Mr. Hall), Twink Caplan (Miss Geist), Brittany Murphy (Tai).
ASIN: B00001MXXE (DVD)
Plot Summary: Cher Horowitz, a rich, spoiled Beverly Hills teen, enjoys shopping, hanging out with her friend Dionne, and playing matchmaker to all the people in her life. However, she's not as good at it as she thinks. Although Cher successfully matches two of her teachers together, when she tries to get Tai, the new girl in town, together with Elton, an obnoxious rich kid with a famous father, she finds out too late that Elton is interested in her instead, and Tai only has eyes for Travis, a good-hearted if slightly dim slacker. When Cher tries to pick out a love interest for herself, Christian, the object of her affections, turns out not to be as interested in her - or in her gender - as she had hoped. Throughout Cher's matchmaking misadventures, Josh, her ex-stepbrother who is living with Cher and her lawyer father, provides sardonic commentary, often provoking Cher into arguments in the process. However, it is not until Tai sets her sights on Josh that Cher realizes two things: first, that she has less of a clue than she thought about matchmaking, and second, that she may not hate Josh so much after all.
Author/Director: Amy Heckerling
Cast: Alicia Silverstone (Cher), Stacey Dash (Dionne), Paul Rudd (Josh), Donald Faison (Murray), Elisa Donovan (Amber), Breckin Myer (Travis), Jeremy Sisto (Elton), Dan Hedaya (Mr. Horowitz), Wallace Shawn (Mr. Hall), Twink Caplan (Miss Geist), Brittany Murphy (Tai).
ASIN: B00001MXXE (DVD)
Plot Summary: Cher Horowitz, a rich, spoiled Beverly Hills teen, enjoys shopping, hanging out with her friend Dionne, and playing matchmaker to all the people in her life. However, she's not as good at it as she thinks. Although Cher successfully matches two of her teachers together, when she tries to get Tai, the new girl in town, together with Elton, an obnoxious rich kid with a famous father, she finds out too late that Elton is interested in her instead, and Tai only has eyes for Travis, a good-hearted if slightly dim slacker. When Cher tries to pick out a love interest for herself, Christian, the object of her affections, turns out not to be as interested in her - or in her gender - as she had hoped. Throughout Cher's matchmaking misadventures, Josh, her ex-stepbrother who is living with Cher and her lawyer father, provides sardonic commentary, often provoking Cher into arguments in the process. However, it is not until Tai sets her sights on Josh that Cher realizes two things: first, that she has less of a clue than she thought about matchmaking, and second, that she may not hate Josh so much after all.
The Complete Persepolis
Title: The Complete Persepolis
Author: Marjane Satrapi
ISBN: 0375714839
Plot Summary: The first half of the book deal's with the author's life as a young girl in pre- and post-Revolution Iran, during the Iran-Iraq War, and as a student at a time when there were many restrictions on what female students could and could not do. Her parents, initially in favor of the Revolution, become disillusioned when the result is not the socialist government they had hoped for, and eventually send Marjane to Europe, as they feel it is too dangerous for her in Iran. The second half deals with Marjane struggling to adjust to life, love and school in Europe at a time when few people truly understood what was happening in her home country. When she returns home after a disastrous romance, she finds that she too has changed, and Iran is no longer the home she remembers. She still loves her parents and they her, but ultimately departs again for Europe, this time for good.
Author: Marjane Satrapi
ISBN: 0375714839
Plot Summary: The first half of the book deal's with the author's life as a young girl in pre- and post-Revolution Iran, during the Iran-Iraq War, and as a student at a time when there were many restrictions on what female students could and could not do. Her parents, initially in favor of the Revolution, become disillusioned when the result is not the socialist government they had hoped for, and eventually send Marjane to Europe, as they feel it is too dangerous for her in Iran. The second half deals with Marjane struggling to adjust to life, love and school in Europe at a time when few people truly understood what was happening in her home country. When she returns home after a disastrous romance, she finds that she too has changed, and Iran is no longer the home she remembers. She still loves her parents and they her, but ultimately departs again for Europe, this time for good.
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