Research Paper on:
Italian Literature and the Themes of Escape, Alienation, and Entrapment

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
and sometimes they are primarily internal struggles that relate to the conditions of alienation, entrapment, and escape. In two particular Italian novels we see the two sides of these conditions.  In "The Garden of the Finzi-Contini" by Giorgio Bassani we are presented with the oppressive and life threatening realities of cultures and war. In "The Secret Diary" by Alba De  Cespedes we are offered up a look at a woman who is experiencing the conditions due to her marriage and due to her position as a woman in the society  of men. In the following paper we examine each story and discuss its presentation of the conditions of alienation, entrapment, and escape. The paper follows up with a discussion.  The Garden of Finzi-Contini As mentioned, "The Garden of the Finzi-Contini" by Giorgio Bassani offers us perspectives of the oppressive and life threatening realities of cultures and war. "Giorgio  Bassanis best-known work, The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, aspired to portray an aristocratic Jewish family in Ferrara during the years before 1943, when its members were deported to extermination camps  in Germany. It offered a historical chronicle redolent of the coming destruction, in which the stages of fascist persecution were clearly marked: first the expulsion from the tennis club, then  from the fascist party, then academic anti-Semitism, then more and more direct insult" (Ellmann Google+Search). As we can readily see, the simplest explanation of the plot provides us with  a great deal of material that relates to the issues being discussed. Anyone familiar with history in even the most basic understanding knows that the times of WWII were hideous  as they involved issues of alienation, entrapment, and escape. The Jewish people, no matter their social class, were alienated due to their faith. They were looked upon with distrusting eyes,