A Farewell to Arms is a historical novel which incorporates romance into the story line. Ernest Miller Hemingway wrote this story through his own experience in World War 1. [adsense:336x280:1:1] The story is about a man who is American but is serving as an Italian ambulance driver who falls in love with a nurse. He gets wounded in the war and resulting in him returning and spending even more time with his girlfriend. He finds out she is carrying his baby but finds he has to leave for war again. After a while, the officials accuse him of treason, so he escapes. He goes to find his wife and after he does, they both seek refuge somewhere else. In the end, when his wife is delivering the baby, not only does the baby die but so does his wife. And he stands alone in the world. As the story is wonderful to read for the modern age especially when we still have wars in many countries today, it is important to see how people lived during these times and even ask ourselves if someone in this huge world would still has to experience something like this.

In the play, “The Merchant of Venice” a Shakespearean comedy by William Shakespeare, the author expresses the idea of appearances versus the intentions in reality through Bassanio’s speech (3.2.73-107). This speech takes place when Bassanio is deciding which of the three caskets: contains the portrait of Portia but more importantly the grant to marry Portia and to be given all her inheritance. Bassanio reveals that the gold and silver caskets are too threatening based on the caskets’ looks and picks the lead casket which as we know did have the portrait of Portia. Through the use of literary devices such as figurative language, symbols, imagery, tone, form of the passage, and narrative voice, Shakespeare reveals the idea of appearance versus the intensions behind the characters and significant objects in The Merchant of Venice. He also discusses that first impressions can be deceiving by covering up the truth or intentions behind the people or objects.