5902 samples of this type
Introduction In works of literature, authors rely on several stylistic devices to convey their message. One of Edgar Allan Poe’s literary devices in “The Cask of Amontillado” is the combination of horror and humor. Poe is a witty author who uses literary elements like point of view, place, and word...
Homer’s Odyssey is an excellent piece of literature that inspires many people to this day. Its story is well-known, but it does not cease to be retold in various forms. Movies, cartoons, books, and comic books appear from time to time, honoring the original Odyssey. The Odyssey: A Graphic Novel,...
“To Winter” and “After the Winter Rain” are both related to the same topic of the winter period. However, they display this season from different aspects: Claude McKay expresses his desire for winter to stay and Ina Coolbrith explains how spring comes after winter. In addition, the poems are visibly...
Introduction Numerous various texts exist in the world, representing different characters, ideas, and issues. Often, those texts address troublesome but significant topics, widely discussed in public. One such example is Shirley Jackson’s short story, The Lottery. First published in 1948, the text describes a small fictional village and one of...
Introduction Literature reflects the author’s world, showing their unique experience and illuminating the daily affairs of the members of their communities. Thus, in her novel Myal, Jamaican-born writer Erna Brodber explores Afro-Caribbean spirituality and culture and the effect colonization by the British Empire had on them. Furthermore, the author discusses...
“The Princess on the Pea” is one of the shortest and most well-known classic fairy-tales, and its plot may seem quite simple to some. I believe that there are two ways to answer the question why it was so important for the royal family to find a “real princess”. First,...
Introduction Sam Shepard wrote the play Buried Child in the year 1978. The play is an extraordinary piece of work, and it received the Pulitzer award in 1979. Buried child is part of a family trilogy by Shepard, and it gives us a clear glance into a broken American family....
The symbolism of Margaret Atwood’s book The Handmaid’s Tale is strong: the role of women is reduced to their reproductive functions, and the author emphasizes that it is not a dystopia since some things characteristic of Gilead are already happening in American society. This paper analyses the changes that happened...
The narrative Hills like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway commences in a valley in Spain. The story is about a protagonist, the American, and the antagonist is the girlfriend, Jinn. The narrative revolves around the American man’s suggestion to the girlfriend to have an operation that she later agrees with...
Introduction Research that seeks to examine literary sources in-depth to identify hidden meanings, messages, and applied rhetorical tools is part of an effective strategy for the academic study of the literary sciences. A great variety of artistic and poetic works have traditionally been classified into works closely associated with the...
In Speak, the author, Laurie Halse Anderson, illustrates the idea that people can recover after trauma and become stronger. The writer utilizes the first-person point of view to show the path protagonist goes through to her transformation. The first-person point of view is the type of narrative in which events...
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz is a satirical novel written by Canadian writer Mordecai Richler, which describes Duddy Kravitz’s life. The main character, a Jew from Montreal, Quebec, tries his best to become rich, not paying attention to all the sacrifices made for this purpose. The author of the novel...
Introduction The medieval theater originated in the deep layers of folk culture. Its roots are associated with ancient ritual games, folklore, and the creative work of wandering actors. Their performances gave viewers a cheerful spirit and amused them. Actors and jugglers made fun shows where everyone was ridiculed. Some of...
The Garden Party is a short story by Catherine Mansfield that depicts the family of Sheridan and their workingmen from the point of Laura, the daughter of Mrs. Sheridan. The events occur in the 20th century in England, where the differences between upper-class and lower-class families were especially pronounced. The...
Introduction Racial and cultural identity are among the most prominent themes of Langston Hughes’s literary works. It is important to point out that many of his poems explore different aspects of African American identity in regards to the overall culture and race as well as the intricate topics on social...
Introduction To be truly happy, an individual should have or, at least, seek a genuine value that makes his or her life full-fledged and gives it a significant meaning. Undoubtedly, one of such worth is unconditional, real, and sincere love that can be manifested in different forms, including friendship, intimate...
Introduction “A Rose for Emily” is a story about the decline of Southern aristocracy during the early 20th century. The titular character, Emily, declines alongside her house, eventually becoming mentally ill, murdering her lover and sleeping alongside his decaying body. However, while she may have been predisposed to such a...
Introduction Raising a child in the turbulent modern world is not an easy matter, especially if it is a girl. Being more sensitive and vulnerable, girls often find it more difficult to accommodate to the realities of the environment and circumstances in which they find themselves. In her poem “B...
Introduction A reliable narrator is a speaker in the story or test who can be trusted. It means that it can also be a person who has values close to the values of the author of the novel and can offer it to readers and other individuals. Thus, the discussed...
Introduction Susan Glaspell is a celebrated American writer, and Trifles, a one-act play, is among the many works that she wrote in the early twentieth century. At the time, women in American society were facing various challenges and Glaspell used her literary skills to highlight the same, albeit dramatically. In...
The Three Prophecies and Meaning of Each Prophecies in Shakespeare’s Macbeth occurs in act 1 and act 4. These prophecies play a significant role in advancing the themes of good and evil, treachery and betrayal, loyalty, crime, and violence, which are common in the play. Shakespeare used various characters and...
Women have always played central roles in literature as they impacted the development of the plot, motivated main characters, and affected their actions. However, because of the patriarchal system of values and the adherence to the stereotypic perspective on females’ duties and rights, their position in stories was mainly passive....
Introduction Arguably, William Shakespeare’s works are a critical way of thinking about the different contemporary subjects existing today. In Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello, various issues affecting society during the 16th century are discussed. Writers, historians, sociologists, linguists, and the public, in general, use Shakespeare’s works as a vital reference point and...
In Lynn Nottage’s play Sweat, there are no characters that do not play a vital role in storytelling, even the minor ones. For instance, Jason’s interactions with a parole officer Evan become significant in his development. The author manages to successfully use this character to advance the drama in the...
The text under consideration is The Decameron, written by Giovanni Boccaccio in the middle of the fourteenth century when Europe was affected by one of the most devastating epidemics of the Middle Ages. The exact number of the deceased has not been estimated so far, but some researchers note that...
The story recounts the friendship of two girls, Twyla and Roberta who meet at the St. Bonny’s shelter after being abandoned by their families. Their relationship experiences both ups and downs highlight the dynamics of their respective characters as well as external circumstances. At first, they dislike each other given...
Joyce Carol Oates utilizes her fictional story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have Your Been,” to present the reader with a thrilling narrative that revolves around the controversial life of Connie. The main character in question is a 15-year old girl. She can be described as a vain, as well...
Introduction Kafka’s The Metamorphosis is oftentimes seen as an allegorical, psychological, and quintessential exploration of the author’s inner state. However, despite the core of the story centering on the physical transformation of Gregor Samsa, the real metamorphosis occurs in his family which demonstrate a dramatic shift in attitudes at his...
Several people in the tragedy are guilty of Mercutio and Tybalt’s deaths, including Romeo and these two men themselves. Tybalt is the first to blame since he was an instigator of the fight. If he had correctly understood the reason for Romeo’s presence at the party, he would not have...
Harsh realities of war may make many people question their views, and literary characters are not an exception to this rule. Henry from Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms is initially eager to play his part in the war, but then is almost executed for no fault, and this lack of...
Opening the essay with personal experience proves to be an efficient introduction. The author starts the novel with the story of his first favorite sports teams at the age of two or three. He then jumps to the description of his high school games and the first time paying attention...
The fascination with death, darkness, and moral corruption seems intrinsic to the human experience. Macabre areas of life attract substantial attention, especially in works of fiction – Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” belong to this category. The explanations for the phenomenon could be found...
Introduction In his book, Bruce Knauft describes the life and culture of the Gebusi, a people living in Papua New Guinea. His anthropological research is deep and covers various aspects of the development of this unique culture. The evaluation of life, religion, social relations, spirituality, and other features of the...
Introduction The following study reviews in brief three literary works; their authors, the historical and other influences that inspired their composition, the main primary literary devices that were used in their writing, and the major themes that were addressed in these works. The three literary works are then compared and...
Introduction “A&P” is a short story written by John Updike, an American novelist, poet, and literary critic. The story was initially published in 1961 in The New Yorker. Updike tells the story of Sammy, a nineteen-year-old working in a small-town grocery store. The central conflict in the plot revolves around...
Art Spiegelman depicts each nationality in his book as a specific animal: Jews as mice, Germans as cats, Poles as pigs. This form of representation shows the absurdity and horror of Nazi ideologies of dividing people into different species. However, the insert Prisoner on Hell Planet differs in style from...
Introduction A challenging task faces writers who want to evoke readers’ emotions and provoke them into thinking about crucial life issues. They need to make readers believe their characters, sympathize with them, and identify with them; otherwise, the audience’s attention will be lost. Joseph Conrad once stated his opinion about...
Introduction A comparative study of mythology is essential for understanding the specifics of cultural and historical areas in the ancient world. Mythology was not only an arsenal for literature but also a direct predecessor of religious and philosophical thought. Moreover, the evolution of myth-making reflected the main stages of ancient...
Introduction Life has many turning moments that make people realize that there are on the wrong path, and that allows them to change their lives for the better. “Hills Like White Elephants” written by E. Hemingway and “The Story of an Hour” by K. Chopin both tell stories of such...
Introduction The short story A Good Man is Hard to Find, written by Flannery O’Connor, which holds the same title as her debut collection of short stories published in 1955, is deemed as her most disturbing work of fiction given its content. It is dark, and it centers upon two...
Introduction The book All That Is Solid Melts Into Air is about Marshall Berman’s views on the relationship between different manifestations of modernity, and the concept of modernism as an approach to understanding the world. This academic text talks about the changes that the world is constantly experiencing and the...
The injustice of life is widely spread across the world and throughout time. Poverty and disparity are the critical elements of societal distress, and numerous national and ideological attempts have been made in order to eliminate societal and financial inequalities. However, most of these attempts have failed to exempt people...
Introduction “Song of myself” is written by American poet, humanist, essayist and journalist, Walt Whitman. Whitman is considered famous among American poets and his poetry collection, “leaves of grass” and many of his works were highly controversial during it’s time. (Carew 545) Furthermore, his sexuality was also unclear and it...
The majority of people view other cultures from the perspective of their own one, which can partially be referred to as ethnocentrism. When it comes to such cultures as the Lebanese one, ethnocentrism is peculiar to almost all the people who regard modern society as equal and non-discriminatory. Sitt Marie...
To begin with, I would like to say that the story “Some are born to sweet delight” written by Nadine Gordimer and the poem “When the towers fell” by Galway Kinnell penetrate the readers with their gravity, compassion and feeling of death. In these two works the authors raise such...
Richard Connell, a revered novelist and playwright, is the author of the short story, “The Most Dangerous Game” which has proved to be a literal masterpiece. Its first edition was published in 1924 by Collier’s Weekly but since then the book has on various occasions been anthologized to symbolize a...
Introduction Aldous Leonard Huxley was born in the year 1824 and died in the year 1963 at the age of 69 years. He was born in England but spent several years in United States in his latter life from 1937 till his death. He was a humanist and in later...
This essay depicts the self tribulations that two men, Gregor Samsa and Meursault deal with in their separate yet similar lives. It also depicts their tragic ends and their attitudes towards men, law, religion and society. The two gives the expectations that man, religion, law and society have on fellow...
The Shakespearean play ‘As You like it’ is an exploration of love and marriage presented in a comic setting. The main characters of the play are active participants in what some might classify as the typical love/hate relationship. The relationship among these characters reflects vastly on the bard’s own feelings...
Almost every joke contains a hint of truth. For this reason, comedy can be the perfect medium to effect social reform. Clearly, Aristophanes understood this concept quite well when he penned his farcical-humored play Lysistrata. Lysistrata focuses on the story of a young woman of the same name who attempted...
Romeo and Juliet is perhaps one of Shakespeare’s most well known and renowned of plays. It is story of love’s attempts to unite and bring together two lovers who can fathom nothing else but their love (Shakespeare). In Romeo and Juliet, we see two lovers bent on becoming one and...
The literature inheritance leaves many works that reflect the history and culture of people that lived in that period. While studying the cultural and social conditions we come across some peculiar feature of each peoples and subconsciously identify them with new character traits of the modernized society. In that regard,...
Introduction The play “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller depicts life and destiny of an American family which dreams about prosperity and high social position in society. in this play, Miller tries to escape social contradictions and economic situation in society but portrays psychological difficulties experienced by the family....
The play “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller depicts life and destiny of an American family which dreams about prosperity and high social position in society. in this play, Miller tries to escape social contradictions by using a dramatic form. Fundamental in this play is the fact that Miller...
The novel Crime and Punishment written by Fyodor Dostoevsky concentrates on the moral issues and highlights the urgent problems of society in the nineteenth century. The protagonists of the novel embody different features of characters who find comfort through redemption. In addition, the novel presents the reader with a great...
Introduction Feminism is a contradictory phenomenon, and thus, the views on feminism differ in their analysis as the phenomenon itself differs in meaning. Feminism can be understood in general, except for its most radical appearances. The most common representation of feminism in literature can be seen through the introduction of...
Over the years, society has advanced to such an extent that we all live in a multi-cultural environment that seems to have enough space for everyone. However, with the growth, certain values, beliefs, and standards that have evolved with society have led to greater alienation of individuals within the society....
Introduction This is the story of a green super being that goes to a party with an ax and proposes a game. The Green Knight then demands anyone among the people in the party challenges him on the condition that he would return the blow in a year and a...
Introduction John Webster’s works give an idea that powerful women were an anomaly in the XVI and XVII centuries. Indeed, during the early modern period, powerful women were not welcome in society, they were considered to be unnatural and dangerous. Female dominance could not be accepted as it symbolized social...
‘That Evening Sun Go Down’, a short story written by William Faulkner, portrays the pathetic condition of African Americans in South America. One can identify the hidden hatred that the white men harbour towards the Negro community in America. A Unique Feature of the Story is that it can be...
Introduction The conflict has been one of the central themes of Hamlet, the celebrated play by Shakespeare, and the conflict between seeming and constituting a major part of the conflict theme. “The theme that remains constant throughout the play is appearance versus reality. Things within the play appear to be...
It is difficult to identify as to who was the first feminist in the world and as to when the feminist movements had started, but majority of such movements can be traced during the last two centuries. However, there have been women feminists who have proved their abilities in this...
The focal point of the paper is to explain how “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel García Marquez can be regarded as a biblical allegory and what this reveals about Marquez’s views on religion. For this, the first measure would be to understand the biblical allegory presented in the...
The monsters are numerous and distinct in The Odyssey, serving as the main antagonists in the epic journey of Odysseus. They symbolize many things, from divine punishment to spiritual guidance and difficult choices. The beasts come in many forms: ruthless chthonic creatures like Scylla and Charybdis, more human-looking beings represented by...
Introduction William Faulkner is one of the great authors of American History. “Barn Burning” and “A Rose for Emily” are counted as his best pieces in American literature. Both stories reflect the values pertaining to a typical Old Southern American society. Faulkner, through these two stories, has very intellectually illustrated...
Welcome to our essay sample on the lessons from The Metamorphosis! Here, you’ll find The Metamorphosis summary and analysis. Keep reading to get a better understanding of Kafka’s story. The Metamorphosis: Summary The major change in Gregor’s life was the transformation from the human life to that of an insect...
Introduction Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, which is also called by its opening line How do I love thee, is a prominent example of English poetry. This sonnet reveals the selfless and pure love of the poetess to her husband. Despite all difficulties on her life journey, despite a...
Introduction Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s most outstanding works. Feigned and real madness, incest, revenge, treachery, and moral corruption are some of the societal vices that the play depicts (Shakespeare, 19). Driven by a singular goal to avenge his father’s death, Hamlet lets his emotions cloud his judgments. This led...
Updike’s “A&P” can be read fast but the understanding does not come unless one learns to read such texts deeply. On the first scanning, “A&P” seems to offer simple symbolism of freedom and bondage, class, and power through the characters, their looks, and actions. However, the setting itself is a...
The book “The Inheritance of Loss” by Kiran Desai talks about an important world issue of class division and the differences between the social layers. The Soviet times are analyzed as the period when there was a race for satellite and space control between nations, which created even more division...
The mastery of a writer can make the readers sympathize for the characters’ destinies and their overcoming many difficulties in life according to the writer’s intentions but in spite of the traditional opinions and prevalent public’s visions. Blanche DuBois is the main character of Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named...
The Time Machine is a science fiction story by Herbert George Wells, and it was published in 1895. The story involves fascinating narratives with unparalleled implications on contemporary social concerns, and it gives insight to numerous scientific theories. Wells wrote the novel based on personal social and political views that...
Introduction Night is a captivating piece of literal work that is the brainchild of Elie Wiesel, which gives a personal account of his experiences in the Nazi concentration camps at Buchenwald and Auschwitz, at the sunset of the Second World War, and the apex of the holocaust in 1945. He...
The first six chapters of the novel by Emily Bronte called “Withering Heights” are designed to present the reader with the set of characters dwelling in a mention called Wuthering Heights. The people living in Wuthering heights are very unusual and the relationships between them are non-typical. For an unfamiliar...
The one-act play Trifles by Susan Glaspell, presents both a riveting murder mystery and commentary on social justice at the same time..This play reflects the status of women in the era of 1916. It makes fun of the attitudes of men towards the women who share their world, at a...
Some time ago I reread one of the most famous novels of the 20th century, Franz Kafka’s The Trial (Kafka, 1925). Unlike my first experience of reading it, this occasion of reading, along with some other information I run across soon after, has driven me to many conclusions about the...
Introduction “Slaughterhouse-Five” by Kurt Vonnegut is a potent anti-war book that still has readers today. The semi-autobiographical book, first published in 1969, details Vonnegut’s time as a prisoner of war in World War II. Vonnegut tackles the catastrophic repercussions of war on society and individuals through the figure of Billy...
Introduction Haruki Murakami is a renowned Japanese novelist, short-story writer, and essayist known for his unique blend of magical realism, surrealism, and existentialism. He was born in Kyoto, Japan, and grew up in Kobe, where his parents owned a library (Ali 442). This environment exposed him to various literature, including...
Introduction James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” was initially released in 1957 and is renowned for its moving representation of the difficulties of being black in the United States. Set in 1950s Harlem, this short story focuses on the lives of two brothers, an algebra educator and a jazz artist. The narrative...
Introduction The poem “Punishment” by Seamus Heaney explores the layered human reaction to violence and the interconnectivity of past and present wrongs. The poem spins a story that links prehistoric Ireland’s bog corpses with the Troubles’ crimes. Heaney examines the conflict between social judgment and an appreciation of the deeply...
The Role of Religion in the Story In Chinua Achebe’s “Marriage Is a Private Affair,” religion significantly shapes the characters’ beliefs, actions, and conflicts. The story presents two main types of religious beliefs: traditional Igbo religion and Christianity. These differing religious views cause a rift between the older and younger...
Use of Personal Information In Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Arnold Friend can be argued to be an incarnation of the devil or some fairytale villain. The evidence lies in how Arnold manipulates and preys on Connie’s vulnerabilities, using his charm and cunning to...
The Intended Impact of the Advice in Girl Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” is a powerful piece that captures a stream of advice and admonitions from a mother to her daughter. The narrative style is distinctive, with a near absence of traditional dialogue and the mother’s long, uninterrupted list of directives that...
Introduction Geoffrey Chaucer’s portrayal of gender roles in The Wife of Bath’s Tale differs significantly from other sources from that period. The author puts women in charge of judging men’s actions throughout the text. While the story begins with sexual assault that is later dismissed, it contains elements that present...
Introduction Following the hero Odysseus as he seeks to return home after the Trojan War, Homer’s epic poem “The Odyssey” takes readers on a trip laden with both physical and emotional hardships. Odysseus and Penelope, two important characters in the story, stand out for their distinct characteristics and hardships. While...
Introduction World wars became the reason why a man was considered a savage. My friend’s family still does not live according to the rule of partnership that is promoted and used today but follows the rules of patriarchy. They faced a backlash when their son went to school and started...
Although John Updike’s story is extremely short, it is long enough to reveal the character of the protagonist, Sammy, fully. As the narrative moves, the reader can see how the hero grows up – he becomes ready to accept the outcomes of his actions and matures. His cynical attitude toward...
It seems reasonable to state that black oppression in “Sonny’s Blues” and “Battle Royal” is the primary theme. The latter will be a good option to focus on within the scope of comparing the mentioned stories. In these pieces of writing, despite the liberation of slavery, black people are still...
Introduction Charlotte Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper is a haunting first-person narrative that tells a story of a twenty-six-year-old woman who is suffering with postpartum depression. The storyline is relatively simple: a nameless woman is put in an attic of an isolated country mansion by her physician husband to help her...
Albert Camus is a classic of French literature, his works are recognized as the finest examples of the genre. Camus considered himself an existentialist, like Franz Kafka, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Thomas Stearns Eliot. Still, Camus’s prose differs due to his great optimism, and the lack of a tendency to...
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is one of the famous novels which influenced the development of the science fiction and horror genres. Numerous generations of readers were inspired by it and appreciated the atmosphere created by the author. Thus, Frankenstein: The Graphic Novel represents the story from another angle using specific...
Aeneas is the main character of the Aeneid; he is the son of Trojan ruler Anchises and Venus, the Roman goddess of fertility and beauty. In IV’s book of Aeneid, he is depicted as “the most handsome of them all,” who “walks, as lightly, beauty like the god’s shining from...
Bad Indians A Tribal Memoir is a book by a modern American writer named Deborah Miranda. The life of native citizens of Californian lands was difficult during the period of Spanish Missions. Mission Indians, as they are called nowadays, faced much cruelty and injustice, and Miranda, whose ancestors were Indians,...
Alexander Pope is considered one of the greatest English poets and an outstanding poet of the early 18th century. He is best known for his satirical and discursive poems. In England, at the time of Alexander’s birth, there were still quite strict laws against Catholics. They could not hold public...
Introduction Some of the notions that people have always tried to define are good and bad. For example, when thinking about what can be associated with good things, words like kindness, care, and generosity come to mind. And when thinking about bad things, the word monster comes to mind. However,...
The Iliad, which was allegedly written by Homer, is one of the oldest and simultaneously greatest works of the past. It presents a story that tells readers the story of Achilles, who fights on the side of Achaeans in the Trojan War. An epic often contains elements that show the...
Introduction Returning to the completed writing and considering its primary characteristics is necessary for creating a comprehensive understanding of the work. My chosen novel, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, is an intriguing piece that regards the subjects of surreality, human alienation, and betrayal within the story of Gregor Samsa. The...
Introduction During her short literary race, Flannery O’Connor managed to fall into the spotlight of many influential literature experts and critiques and conquer the minds of millions of people. Her status as a devout Catholic woman dwelling in the predominantly protestant South and the times of World War II and...
One of the scenes that exemplify Aristotle’s “Poetics” in “Oedipus the King” is the one where the citizens have congregated in the King’s court asking for his help. The citizens are concerned about the plague that has struck Thebes. The king then informs the crowd that he has already sent...
Introduction From the very beginning of Pride and Prejudice, written by Jane Austen, the readers understand that Elizabeth Bennet is a person with a high standard of integrity. Nevertheless, it seems more of a burden for her because life is majorly disappointing to Elizabeth when she sees other people’s behaviors....
Introduction Room by Emma Donoghue is a novel that reveals the essential aspects of child abuse, psychological trauma, and social adaptation through a child’s eyes. The events in this book are fictional, although the experiences that the author put in her work require a thorough examination and comprehension. Depicting such...
Sociology has long been concerned with the matter of human interaction and the essence of communities and their unity. While the general public does not pay much attention to such issues, many sociologists and psychologists have long been concerned with the question regarding the most comfortable conditions of human beings...
Introduction King Lear, a tragedy by William Shakespeare, is a play that creates an alarming mental picture of different societal structures, for instance, the political, social, and familial. These reflect the other broken orders in the whole play. For example, earlier in space, King Lear breaks the order of a...
Introduction It is important to note that the author uses the strategies of logos, ethos, pathos, and kairos to convince the reader of the arguments in the essay. At the beginning of the essay, the author uses ethos because she immediately states that she is not a researcher of the...
Introduction The “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” calls readers on a heart-wrenching journey through the life of Frederick Douglass. This memoir is about Douglass’s years in slavery and his resolution to escape freedom. It was published in 1845 and played a significant role in winning the minds and...
Introduction “A Rose for Emily,” written by William Faulkner, and “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor are two short stories that illustrate the complex relationship between the past and the present. Namely, common topics highlighted in both literature pieces are the time and location setting and...
Introduction The Pillow Book and the List of Hateful Things, written by Sei Shonagon, is a portrayal of the Heian culture in regard to elitist approaches to etiquette, social interactions, and gatherings. Namely, one of the hateful elements that the author highlights is “One is telling a story about old...
A sonnet is a special kind of poetry expression dedicated to the inner workings of the heart and mind. They explore what it implies to give love using a wide range of emotions and various tools. To define true love, William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 first explains what it is not...
“She would have been a good woman,” The Misfit said, “if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.” – Flannery O’ Connor. Literature has been a source of knowledge and a means for the author to convey the moods and problems of the time...
Introduction In modern civilizations, the rising fear of solitude among women is undermining social order. There is a need for assistance, especially among women with domestic obligations. This essay investigates the relationship between insanity and neglect as described in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper. The primary objective is to...
The play Fences by August Wilson covers a variety of complex themes, such as race, family relationships, history, identity, change, morality, culture, dreams, duty, and others. Written in 1986, this literary work “clearly displayed the tensions among blacks who wanted to clutch their African legacy” (Ali 1). One of the...
Oedipus by Sophocles satisfies the requirements for a character to be classified as a tragic hero and serves as an example of the Aristotelian theory of tragedy. According to Aristotle, tragic heroes must be distinguished individuals who exhibit noble traits and possess a hamartia or a fatal flaw. An illustration...
Introduction Eirik Saethre believes that the illnesses of people can become their weapons. The author sees the rejection of medical advice as a manifestation of a disenfranchised people’s identity. The inhabitants of Lajamanu, a former Australian Aboriginal settlement, face chronic illnesses. Their town is a place where they experience oppression,...
The book “Teach Us Your Name” by Huda Essa is a story about diversity, and the author teaches children to pay attention to the cultural differences between themselves and their peers. This is achieved by outlining a lesson for children, where they ask other students to introduce themselves and discuss...
In human life, lies are found in various forms and for many reasons. However, often, if not always, deceiving other people leads to lying to oneself. Guy de Maupassant’s “The Necklace,” tells about the senselessness of the pursuit of pretentiousness and brilliance of high society, which can turn out to...
The main theme of the play “Riders of the sea” is to represent conflicts between religion and nature. The sea is a representation of fate and tragedies in the play. It is a great factor for the people living on Aran Island. It is a source of living as it...
Stella passing for white in The Vanishing Half is an act of conformity. The term refers to behaving in accordance with some standard or authority. In the narrative, Stella acknowledges the power that the white population had in the novel which reflects the discussed concept (“Conformity”). She decides to escape...
Introduction In the play “Death of a Salesman,” written by Arthur Miller, the main themes are portrayed with the help of a variety of symbols. They are intertwined with the memories of the main character, Willy Loman, who reflects on his failure as an employee, a husband, and a father....
The Plot The story begins with a young man getting stopped by an old Mariner on his way to a wedding with two of his friends. The young man, referred to as the Wedding Guest, “cannot choose but hear” Mariner’s narrative, even though he is anxious to get to the...
Introduction “The Odyssey” is one of the famous and classic poems of the ancient Greek poet Homer, familiar to every thinking person. The book’s plot is built around the main character – Odysseus, the king of Ithaca. He is clever, innovative, and resourceful, and these character traits help the man...
Mary Poppins can be viewed from the point of view of Marxism as there are aspects such as social class, bourgeoisie, and proletariat. Earp (2021) notes that this piece is rife with hidden socialist ideas. The central figure, nanny Mary Poppins, is a representative of the proletariat. Chimney sweep Bert...
An example of free indirect style in Atonement by Ian McEwan can be found in chapter six as the author describes the acts and thoughts of Emily Tallis. The author takes on Emily’s thoughts and expressing that she considered it important not to provoke the pain in his head lest...
The book Guests of the Sheik: An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village raises the topic of relationships and existence in the society of people in El Nahra. The subject of interaction between men and women is emphasized. While having different daily activities, men try to have complete control over women....
Literary works created by African American writers during the era of angry social complaints against racial profiling share many similarities in terms of structure and themes. This interrelationship has resulted in literature characterized by expressive social insight, providing informative evaluations of American histories and identities. Moreover, the black American literature...
Balzac’s short tale “The Unknown Masterpiece” contains several allusions to art. Porbus and Frenhofer have rationally presented two diametrically opposed concepts in the most aesthetically reflective manner imaginable. The two facets of an artist’s existence are depicted, namely love and art. Thus, this conflict is exemplified in the novel Gillette,...
For the most part, Daniel Deoe’s Robinson Crusoe tells a story of a man who lives on an island where the class of a person does not matter. Nevertheless, the concept of the middle class still plays a significant role in the book and its narrative. Robinson’s father is a...
James Baldwin is a novelist, publicist, playwright, and human rights defender. Born to a priestly stepfather, he was the oldest of nine children. Baldwin never knew his father and partly suffered from it. Nevertheless, he followed in his stepfather’s way and helped him in the church until he graduated from...
The civilization of Ancient Greece marks one of the most important chapters in the history of the world. This period has provided humanity with an array of important achievements, including the principles of democracy, theater, art, and sciences. These accomplishments have had an immense impact on the development of the...
Despite its shortness, the story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne contains a number of educative lessons. One of them is the possibility to understand the nature of evil better. On the one hand, all people are free and happy due to many options and choices. On the other hand,...
Introduction A Rose for Emily by William Faulker is among the best 20th-century stories in American literature. It is his first published work in a magazine due to its influence on society. The author presents his story in a mid-20th century community in South America. The story occurs in a...
A&P is a short story by the American writer John Updike published in 1962. It recounts an episode from the life of Sammy, a cashier working for the local A&P grocery store during the summer to help provide for his family. He contemptuously observes and narrates the inner life of...
Introduction Although Odyssey is an Ancient Greek poem, it is interesting to read even nowadays, when people got used to twisted plots. There are several basic topics in the poem, several of which are still actual for a modern person. The first topic is free will, which is reflected through...
It has become common today to view the most notable literary works in the light of their reflection of the specific era. Paradise Lost, the epic poem written by 17th-century English poet John Milton in 1667, represents the political and historical events of this period. Still, it can be argued...
In chapter 8 of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, Mr. Beaver talks about the experiences of Tumnus. He explains that Tumnus was arrested by Secret police under the White Witch’s spell (Lewis, 1950). Children, to whom Mr. Beaver was talking were scared and wanted to...
Introduction Postcolonial theory claims that the members of decolonized cultures develop a specific postcolonial identity, shaped by the unequal power dynamics of their colonial past. This identity is based on the collective trauma and exists in response to the oppression the identity holders had experienced in the darker parts of...
Introduction William Shakespeare once again successfully maneuvers between various human emotions, constantly changing the reader’s attitude to what is happening. The play’s structure implies a division into actions and scenes, where each subsequent element of the story may well be contrasting. The work shows and indicates what the people around...
Introduction Beloved by Toni Morrison is an allegory of emotional and physical trauma caused by slavery. It is illustrated through the story of a black woman haunted by her daughter’s ghost that she murdered to save her from servantry’s fate. The genre used in this novel is called magical realism,...
The Epic of Gilgamesh is an interesting work to analyze on the topic of life and death. It is one of the oldest literary works that have survived to this day, extremely psychological in its essence. This epic is composed of old material, but the old legends were woven into...
Introduction The imagery of hybrid species, encompassing a wide array of bizarre anatomical combinations feature in numerous Greco-Roman myths. These hybrid creatures typically possess humanoid parts alongside beastly characteristics, which intuitively seem to exhibit a certain principle. The true nature of the creatures remains unclear; they may have inhabited alternate...
In “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1981), Gilman describes the wallpaper using different epithets, metaphors, and comparisons. Among the most interesting ones, there were phrases concerning the pattern, It “commits suicide” and “destroys itself in unheard of contradictions” (78) as if it were a living creature. The paper is the cause of...
Introduction All ethnic groups, especially in ancient times, had their heroes and iconized characters. In ancient Mesopotamia, such a hero was Gilgamesh- a warlike and wise king bent on immortality. The found tablets with the story of his life can be identified as the first memorial of literary skill. It...
Anne Bradstreet, born in 1612 in England, was married to Simon Bradstreet and graduated from the University of Cambridge at 16. A couple of years later, after moving to America and having eight children, she became one of the first poets in the American colonies. Phillis Wheatley Peters was a...
Introduction The great epic poem of Gilgamesh explores a vast number of themes, but the one that sets the epic into motion is the subject of friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu. The effect their friendship imposes on the reader has to deal with the unusual circumstances of their acquaintance –...
From ancient times, people composed stories to entertain themselves and to teach others certain lessons. Over time, genres appeared to which each story could be assigned, which significantly facilitated the process of creation of new art since writers now had certain templates to build upon. Tragedy has always been recognized...
In Albert Camus’s The Plague, a classical masterpiece, a deadly outbreak begins with rats and spreads to humans, decimating half of Oran’s population but sparing the least likely: Joseph Grand. Readers meet Joseph early in the novel, just about the same time news breaks about rats supposedly having an epidemic,...
Family relations, in particular between parents and children, are often complex and ambiguous. Moreover, the connection established with the mother and with the father also contrasts. Most modern adults were probably closer to mothers who took care of the home well-being, while fathers worked daily for the benefit of the...
Introduction The works of Shirley Jackson are well-known in literary society. Even though the issues addressed by the author appear to be diverse, special attention is drawn to the subject of conformity. In “The Lottery,” the writer delivers her unique understanding of the dangers of excessive conservatism. In this essay,...
The power of words negatively or positively impacts people. Languages have a significant impact as people are typically affected by reading the words. The power contained in words can be used to build, create or destroy in equal measure. Encouraging words can be used constructively as well as destructive words...
Introduction Macbeth tells the story of Macbeth, a royal general who, following the prophecy that he will become king, kills many on his way to the royal throne and becomes a paranoid tyrant and loses everything at the and. Summary of Act I and II Two royal generals, one is...
One of the overarching themes in Amy Tan’s “A Pair of Tickets” and Jhumpa Lahiri’s “Interpreter of Maladies” is the theme of cultural heritage and identity. The main characters in both stories were born and raised in America, and both stories show them traveling to their motherlands: China and India....
