Kennesaw State University Understanding Passages using Universal Themes Essay

All of the passages can be found on google

The passages below

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe.

Frederick Douglass

William Wordsworth’s The World Is Too Much With US and Composed upon Westminster Bridge

Heinrich Heine (3 Poems) A Pine is Standing Lonely, To Tell the Truth, A Young Man Loves a Maiden.

Henrik Ibsen – Hedda Gabler

Universal themes

1. AESTHETICS – WHAT IS BEAUTIFUL. Definitions and ideals of beautiful and the ugly, the sublime and the grotesque; relation between art, ideal beauty, and reality.
2. ART. Relationship in art and literature. The representation of art (painting, sculpture, music, other literary works, etc.) within literary works, the use of the visual and other arts in the illustration, teaching, analysis, and interpretation of literature.
3. CHANGING WAYS OF THINKING ABOUT THE SELF AND CONSCIOUSNESS. New ideas about individual identity and psychology, perception, the purposes of art, theories about culture.
4. ECONOMICS, WEALTH, POVERTY. Diverse economic classes, class struggle, distribution of wealth; scarcity, and productivity, greed, materialism, money, the exploitation of natural resources, the environment, and economic sustainability.
5. ETHICS. Relationship of morality and values, definitions of good and evil; depictions of living the perfect/ideal life. Struggles of human character.
6. FATE AND FREE WILL. Descriptions and analysis of human nature, choices, values, and effects/consequences of actions. Do human control their fate or destiny or are Higher Powers (God, Fate, Divine Beings) responsible for our actions.
7. FEMINISM. The representation of women in literary works. Issues of exploitation and violence against women; gender as biology and gender as cultural construct; literature by women; female characters portrayed by male authors; struggles and conflict between men and women; textual/sexual politics; ideals of femininity.
8. HUMAN NATURE. The representation and portrayal of human nature in literary works; definitions of what is essentially human; human nature across time, space, and cultures; characterizations of human nature and its connections to the human condition; possibilities of change/evolution/transformation.
9. LAW. The representation of the law, legal systems, and the legal profession in literary works; just and unjust laws; the individual and the law; human law and divine law, legal hierarchies, conflicts of laws; common law and codified law; change and evolution in the law; power structures and legal systems; private property and the law; law and order; legal argumentation, rhetoric; legal and literary language.
10. LOVE AND DESIRE. The representation of the forces of desire and the problem of love in literary works; desire as root of all evil or as transformational force/redeeming impulse; love as giving and love as taking; marriage vs. romantic adventure.
11. MALENESS. The representation of masculinity in literary works; ideals of masculinity, virility, male virtue, and heroism; male chastity and paternity; male priesthood, saints, monks, and religious ideals; patriarchy and male-dominated societies; hunting, war, violence, territoriality, domination, and aggression; heterosexuality and homosexuality; men in interaction with women and with other men; male bonding and fraternity.
12. MEN AND WOMEN. The representation in literary works of the relations between men and women; differences/similarities in male and female nature and character; possibilities of conflict of interests between men and women; equality, subordination, oppression, manipulation, conflict, harmony, happiness, power struggles, submission, and rebellion in the relations between the sexes; love, marriage, family, traditional roles, maternity and paternity; economic aspects of gender interactions; ideals of the relationship between men and women; ideals of masculinity and femininity.
13. NATURE. The representation of nature in literary works; relations between human beings and the natural world; obligations of human beings toward nature; conflicts between ecological and human interests; proper and improper uses of nature; meaning and role of natural forces/phenomena in literature; objects of nature as symbols.
14. PHILOSOPHY. The representation of philosophical ideas and concepts in literary works; the nature of the universe and of being; the place and purpose of human beings in the cosmos; the concepts of good and evil; god as a philosophical concept; body and soul; fate and free will; mind and matter; being and non-being; order and chaos; evolution and change, subjectivity and objectivity; patterns of history; idealism, realism, materialism, empiricism, existentialism, nihilism, etc. and their representation in literary works.
15. SCIENCE. The representation of science and scientific thought and endeavors in literary texts; scientists as literary characters; science, fantasy, and science fiction.
16. RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY, MYTHOLOGY, TRADITION, AND DUTY TO HIGHER POWERS. Religious conformity and salvation. Scientific reasoning, open-mindedness, inquiry into the surrounding world. Relationship between gods and human beings.
17. SEXUALITY. The use of sexual imagery and situations in literary works; literal and symbolic significance of various sexual practices; sexual morality; sexual perversions and sexual normalcy; erotic love, incest, homosexuality, chastity, abstinence, marriage, procreation, etc and their roles and implications in literary narratives.
18. SOCIETY. The representation of the relations between the individual and society; systems of rights and obligations; balancing of individual and societal needs; possibilities of conflict between the individual and the collectivity, the state/government and the citizen/individual; oppression, repression, revolution, and rebellion; social evolution and change.
19. WORLD CULTURES. How do various cultures compare/contrast in their literary works and societal beliefs.