In this blog post, I explored Eugene O’Neill’s ‘Long Day’s Journey Into Night’, focusing on the disintegration of the family, human despair, and the way people are compelled to look at one another until the very end. Eugene O’Neill: The Voice That Shaped Modern American Theater Eugene O’Neill is often introduced as the “foremost American playwright,” a title that signifies...
Why Did Richard Bach Write About Freedom and the Soaring of the Soul?
In this blog post, we’ll explore Richard Bach’s life, his passion for flying, and his thoughts on freedom and the soul as expressed in ‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull’ and ‘No Place Is Far Away’. The Life of Richard Bach: A Pursuit of Love and Personal Freedom Author Richard Bach was born in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1936. In 1941, he moved with his family north of...
How Did Linus Torvalds and Steve Jobs View Open Source Differently?
In this blog post, after reading ‘Linux Just for Fun’ and ‘iCon’, I’ll examine how Linus Torvalds and Steve Jobs understood and utilized open source and disclosure strategies. Tovalz and Jobs: Different Perspectives on Open Source The anecdote that Steve Jobs, making his spectacular return as Apple’s CEO in 1997, offered Linus Tovalz a position at Apple is a...
Book Review – Reflections on Hemingway’s Short Story Collection ‘Men Without Women’
In this blog post, I will focus on Hemingway’s 1927 short story collection ‘Men Without Women’ to explain why this collection should be read in its original form and how each story fits into the overall theme. Work Analysis The book I reviewed this time is ‘Men Without Women’, a collection of fourteen short stories that Hemingway published as a standalone volume on...
Why Does ‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull’ Still Speak to Us About Freedom and Courage?
In this blog post, I’ll discuss the new perspectives on Jonathan Livingston Seagull that I discovered upon rereading Richard Bach’s ‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull’ after a long hiatus, as well as the meanings of freedom and growth that he conveys. Reencountering “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” I first read Richard Bach’s “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” during my college years. It was just...
A Defense of Holden Caulfield?
In this blog post, I’ll summarize the criticisms and defenses of ‘The Catcher in the Rye’. Criticism and Social Controversy ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ was a bestseller and a sort of bible for the younger generation, but it was not welcomed by everyone. Conservatives launched a campaign to remove the book from high school libraries and argued that it should be banned...
Why Did Holden Caulfield Rebel Against a “Fake” World?
In this blog post, I examined the debate surrounding ‘The Catcher in the Rye’—both its critics and its defenders—and reflected on why Holden Caulfield rejected the adult world and sought to preserve the innocence of children. A Banned Novel and Misunderstandings About Holden Although ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ was so widely loved that it was hailed as a “bible” for...
Did Rex, the robot who left for Paul, have feelings of his own?
In this blog post, we’ll examine Lester del Rey’s “The Runaway Robot” to explore whether robots can possess human-like thoughts and emotions, and what ethical issues we must consider for robots to coexist with humans. How did Rex, a robot with a human mind, come to be? Everyone has probably wondered at least once whether a machine, such as a robot, could possess a human mind. While current...
How can Pearl S. Buck serve as a mentor to women today?
In this blog post, I reflect on Pearl S. Buck—whom I encountered at a used bookstore during my middle school years—and the themes she raised—“freedom, happiness, and women”—and what they mean for my life and for women today. In my second year of middle school—a time when I was brimming with curiosity about the world and vaguely pondering how I should live my life as a woman—I encountered...
What Does Salinger’s “Glass Family” Series Tell Us?
In this blog post, we’ll examine J. D. Salinger’s literary world, mysticism, love, and the dilemmas of modern life, focusing on his “Glass Family” series. From 1945 to 1951, Salinger published 16 short stories; five of them were about Holden Caulfield and his family, while three were part of the so-called “Glass Family” series, which is widely regarded as a projection of Salinger himself...