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Argument: Coupland illustrates the characters in Girlfriend in a Coma as confident and collected while simultaneously demonstrating their struggle to find their place in the world. Each chapter interrupts the flow of the story, often jumping from one major event to another, skipping the minor details in between. Hamilton is concerned that they are not doing anything to change the world on their own but rather wasting their time with careers such as modeling that have no positive impacts in the world around them. Karen's fears transform into a reality when she falls into a coma for seventeen years. As time passes, her friends lose all of their dreams, hopes, and passions for their careers. An apocalyptic event has not taken place so Coupland takes his story Girlfriend in a Coma to the extreme by inventing and transforming the book from a story about teenagers into a story about teenagers whom are trapped in adult bodies. Evidence: "And they don't cope well. "There's nothing at the centre of what we do," Hamilton complains, and Coupland homes in on his true subject. Waking from her coma, Karen is alarmed that her friends mirror the new soullessness she sees in society: "Their dreams are forgotten, or were never formulated to begin with...they seem at best insular, and without a central core, which might give purpose to their lives." "Coupland successfully raises the pitch to the apocalyptic with his sarin-style, X Files-ish mass sleeping, but then stumbles headlong into adult fable by pursuing his Big Moral Question. Why are our lives empty? Jared, a ghost, takes over from Richard as narrator, introducing a dangerously glutinous, pan-Christian murk of cosmology as he leads the adult-kids though fumbling dissolution towards an ethical gravitas." "Such chapter headings as "Reject Every Idea" (familiar from Generation X) slice across the continuity of Couplan

Argument: The feministic bildungsroman that establishes itself throughout the novel seems to be contradictory towards the Christian commitments of the young Jane Eyre. It argues that the character St. John symbolized the patriarchal religious system, which was in the end rejected by Jane. Furthermore, this rejection defies the expectations of marriage at the time and symbolizes a more feminist emphasis. Evidence: This point is suggested primarily throughout the closing passage of the novel. The rhetoric of this may seem to be slightly confusing, because it basically challenges the feministic viewpoint that was built in the novel. The final paragraph casts a light over St. John and all of his endeavors throughout the novel, Lamonaca states, "Classic feminist readings have tended to view St. John as one-dimensional patriarchal villain; accordingly, Jane rejects not only her pious cousin, but also the Christian worldview he represents." Further explication in the novel is shown in the rejection of St. John, for "Jane effectively resists Rochester's and St. John's attempts to possess her spirit as well as her body." This further promotes the protagonist's struggle against male control, and a lockdown patriarchal marriage. The contradiction in the closing statements however "leaves open the possibility that Jane, despite her efforts, has failed to reconcile the conflicting demands of domesticity and faith." Thoughts: I think that Charlotte Bronte basically wanted to make a clear cut statement against the patriarchal and male run events in her society. However, as the writing came to a close she didn't want to make it seem as if the novel was meant to be an anti-Christian sentiment. So she was able to subdue the super strong feministic thoughts and instead decided to create a conclusion that makes the patriarchal society still seem to have some notoriety when in reality she may have believed different. The fact that Jane chose to marry out of societyâ€

Argument: In his criticism, Froelich states that the novel Going After Cacciato gives the true realities of war through the experiences of the main characters in the story. He believes that O'Brien described the events in way that actual veterans of the war would. He also appreciates the technique where O'Brien combines the confusion in the story where the characters go back and forth between actuality and imagination. He would go onto agree that the book was well deserving of the National Book Award it received. Evidence: "…it innovatively combines experiential realism of war with surrealism, primarily implemented in the fantasy journey of escape by the novel's protagonist, thoughtful and sympathetic soldier Paul Berlin." Thoughts: I would go onto agree with all of the claims that Froelich made in his criticism. I believe that the way O'Brien explained the events, as if a veteran was telling the story, brought much life to the novel and characters. He showed true confusion, emotions, and thoughts that shows how truly harsh war is and was in Vietnam.