5931 samples of this type
Introduction Western society has been excessively preoccupied with reaching perfection, and the desire to achieve can result in many adverse social and psychological outcomes. The persistence of social media pressures people to present a perfect image of themselves as a way of attaining status and recognition (Wang et al.). In...
Introduction In the short story “Hell-Heaven” by Jhumpa Lahiri, the characters and their actions spoke to me in a profound way. The story revolves around the narrator’s family, particularly her mother, Boudi, who falls in love with Pranab, a foreign student taken in by the family. However, Pranab falls in...
Memory in Wordsworth In Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey,” the poet reflects on the power of memory and its ability to shape one’s perception of the world. The poem begins with the speaker revisiting a natural landscape after a five-year absence, and he is struck by how the memory of the place...
Introduction Literature, mythology, and cultural stories have often depicted the themes of fate and ambition as interconnected. Ambition can be defined as the desire to achieve a particular goal, while fate is a predetermined course beyond human control (Mallah 5). Two literary works, D.H. Lawrence’s The Rocking-Horse Winner and Sophocles’...
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...
Introduction In Dostoyevsky’s “Crime and Punishment,” Raskolnikov’s justification for committing murder raises a complex ethical issue. The character is sure that the old woman is malicious, petty, and useless to society and that her money would only benefit dishonest individuals. While this reasoning may hold some truth, it is essential...
Introduction In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher,” fear is depicted as a powerful force that leads to destruction. This theme is explored through various literary devices, such as symbolism, imagery, and character portrayal. The main argument of this essay is that fear is the catalyst...
Introduction In the translated poem “We Are Many” by Pablo Neruda, the speaker delves into identity and the challenge of self-discovery amid life’s intricacies. Through vivid imagery and a sense of self-deprecation, Neruda conveys the idea that societal expectations and personal insecurities often overshadow one’s true self. The poem reflects...
Introduction Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown” is among the most significant pieces of American literature. The work utilizes a variety of literary techniques to convey its message and provide context, on the characters, the environment they live in, and the depths of their fall to sin. Above all,...
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...
A short fiction story by Nadine Gordimer questions the authority of a white man in Africa. An African landowner and head of a regional party, Marais Van der Vyver, has killed his Black worker. Even though it might appear unacceptable in today’s culture, it is consistent with the image of...
Have you ever imagined living in a dystopian world where the Party rules with an iron fist and there is no way for freedom? Would you oppress such a life and question the oppressive regime? In the novel 1984, Winston Smith is such a person, a middle-aged man who has...
Introduction Neil Gaiman’s short story “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” was nominated for a Hugo Award, won the Locus Award, and is now a film, despite being previously seen as a failure and being rejected inclusion in the anthology for which it was written. Reading Gaiman’s books is...
Introduction Universities are often seen as bastions of meritocracy and social mobility, where students from diverse backgrounds come together to pursue academic excellence and achieve upward social mobility. ZZ Packer’s short story “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere” provides a powerful critique of race expectations in university settings. The report examines the experiences...
Introduction Modernization refers to the transition from a pre-modernistic and agriculture-focused society into an industrialized and modern one. Industrialization is a complex process during which an economy is transformed from a mainly agricultural one to one that depends on the manufacturing of products. Therefore, manual labor can be significantly reduced...
Begun in 1912 but completed only after the First World War, Rilke’s elegies are deplorable and tragic in their reflection of the search for a broader truth than is known to a man. “8th Duino Elegy” is dedicated to displaying the difference between the existence of a human and an...
According to Greek mythology, Achilles is also called Achilles and mainly refers to a Trojan War hero who is considered the greatest of all all-time among the Greek warriors. As a result, he was regarded as a central character of Homer’s Iliad as displayed in mythology. On the other hand,...
According to Meyer, round characters often display the inconsistencies and internal conflicts found in most real people. The term is used in fiction to portray lifelike figures who exhibit multifaceted and complex personalities. They often possess dimension and depth and undergo personal development as the story progresses. Round characters have...
Introduction Phillis Wheatley was the first female African-American writer who was published. When transported from West Africa to America, she was sold into slavery. Later the family that purchased Wheatley assisted her; the woman learned to read and write and mastered several languages. Wheatley’s poems frequently investigate her Christian values,...
In “Sonny’s Blues,” light and dark symbolize the human struggle between good and evil. Symbols in “Sonny’s Blues” frequently conflict: for instance, ice symbolizes fear and dread juxtaposed against the music, which provides warmth and an escape to Sonny, the story’s protagonist. At large, there is a light-darkness dichotomy, which...
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...
Modern society is increasingly concerned about the problems of environmental destruction, which are the consequences of human activity. Although many works have been written in the 21st century describing the possible catastrophic results of long-term human impact on nature, Margaret Atwood in Oryx and Crake does it from a new...
Introduction In the pursuit of knowledge, humankind devised science as an important tool for unveiling the mysteries of life. Through science, it becomes possible to generate requisite knowledge that leads to the creation of communication devices that permit people to share information in real time, provide vaccines, and/or answer any...
Introduction The Odyssey was written at a time when men played a key role in society. During this period of civilization, men controlled society. Women, on the other hand, were identified to hold inferior positions in the community compared to men. Women had no opportunity to comment on the daily...
Introduction The confrontation of good and evil is a common theme in fictional literature. The author uses narration to introduce heroes and villains to readers, prompting them to elaborate on the morality and justification of the character’s actions. In the case of Beowulf‘s characters Beowulf and Grendel, the distinction between...
In many aspects, Gilgamesh and Homer’s Achilles, the main figure of the Iliad, are similar. Achilles is a demigod, like Gilgamesh, born of the goddess Thetis and the human Peleus (Homer 10). Hector, the Trojan prince, is defeated by him in single combat, demonstrating his strength and combat prowess. Additionally,...
Introduction In “The Necklace,” Guy de Maupassant depicts Mathilde’s character transformation through her interactions with various settings. Discussion The protagonist begins the story as an unhappy woman dissatisfied with her life and longs for wealth and luxury. However, as the story progresses and Mathilde experiences the consequences of her actions,...
Introduction Resilience is the capacity to bear and overcome difficulties in one’s life. Every individual is faced with challenges on their path, be it the loss of their loved ones, interpersonal struggles, or an inability to function within their society. Discussion Resilience is a quality and an ability that helps...
Introduction It is hard to disagree that one of the key topics in Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby is money and its role in people’s lives. All key characters in the book are relatively rich, but it is possible to find similarities and differences in how they perceive...
Shakespeare’s works are still highly relevant to modern society and people. Despite the fact that his plots unfold in a historical setting, the poet talks about timeless matters and themes. Firstly, his characters experience the same conflicts and problems as modern people do. Secondly, they have difficulties understanding themselves and...
Introduction The history of crime in Los Angeles (L.A.) is not a matter of class or race alone; instead, it connects both issues. Rodriguez holds this true in his account of La Vida Loca. In America, Los Angeles is considered one of the most culturally diverse states, with a large...
There is a saying that differences between men’s and women’s perceptions make them appear as beings from different planets. The differences may not seem evident in everyday activities and interactions. The theater allows viewers to observe the distinct worlds of men and women. Trifles is a one-act play written by...
Introduction The ability to write a cogent, fair, and harmonic piece depends on several factors. Analysis of how these components were used in the readings The Nature of Things: Biomimicry, Do not Sink My Battleship! and Razzle Dazzle! Fashion ‘Stars’ – in Stripes will aid in determining how vital these...
Gambling addiction has been haunting people for years. It is too difficult to give up the opportunity to make easy money because it seems to every gambler that his day will come and he will win a substantial sum of money. This craving for an easy life without worries and...
Introduction Man’s inescapable fear of death guides his daily choices and decisions from inception. The inevitability of life’s end is a constantly looming reality whose clock is unknown and fundamentally uncontrollable. This sentiment has percolated into works of art and, specifically, literary works of fiction in a bid to demystify...
The novel A Good Man is Hard to Find was first published in 1953, and this work perfectly captures Flannery O’Connor’s style and writing technique. Her atmospheric writing does not leave anyone indifferent. Flannery O’Connor in “A good man is hard to find” uses literary elements such as description of...
Pablo Neruda is a Chilean poet, politician, and diplomat, and the author was born in 1904. As the recipient of several literary prizes, Neruda’s contribution to literature has been significant. Pablo Neruda is the creative pseudonym of the author, which has changed several times. Financial difficulties were the main problem...
The theme of death and revenge is multifaceted in Shakespeare’s works, as it is a classic strand of 16th- and 17th-century poetry. It is worth noting that revenge occupies a special place in the results because of its versatility and innocence. For Hamlet, revenge is an entirely new way of...
The narrator in the story under consideration plays the role of a modernist, interpreting the servant’s consciousness in everything and not just conveying his actions. This story is one of Akutagawa’s shortest works, but it is very memorable because of the complexity and multilevel nature of the narrative. The author...
Cimalová, Natalie. “Feminism in the Poetry of Adrienne Rich: A Comparison of Her Early and Late Poems.” (2015). The present article is devoted to the development of feminism in the poems by Adrienne Rich. The author states that it was strictly formal at the beginning of the 1950s and only...
Introduction Heart of Darkness is a novel written by Joseph Conrad and was first published in 1902. It centers around Marlow, a sailor, and his journey up the Congo River to meet Kurtz. As Marlow travels, he encounters cruelty and inefficiency in the treatment of the black inhabitants in Congo....
Homer’s Odyssey gives readers a heroic narrative about a protagonist on his quest to home from war. The protagonist Odysseus is far from flawless, and the reader explores his personality while he faces various opponents and his stupidity. The epic delves into themes of fate, revenge, humanity, and ferocious powers....
Teenagers often tend to subdue their peers to harm themselves or others as a form of a joke or tease. For the affected students, such an experience is usually associated with fear and the inability to escape the situation. In Roald Dahl’s poem, “The Dentist and the Crocodile”, similar fear...
In literature centered on the heroic quest, the heroic character often becomes an embodiment of the most important ideas and perceptions of the society of the corresponding period in which the literature piece was written. Through defining the culture, the societies and nations established their moral values and virtues, contributing...
In his article, George Orwell details his childhood and early dreams of becoming a writer. He talks about his first poems and plays and how hardy and quick he was as a writer in his youth (Orwell, Great Ideas Why I Write (Penguin Great Ideas)). For George Orwell from childhood,...
Young Goodman Brown and Rip Van Winkle both tell stories of family men, of which each starts their story as one person and becomes completely different by the end of it. The two stories are written in different narrations and settings; however, they have something in common. While it may...
Introduction Othello is a tragedy about heavy and terrible trials that the sublime and deep love of two beautiful people underwent. The noble Moor – Othello – who absorbed the culture of the Italian Renaissance, an experienced warrior, wounded by years and suffering, turns out to be powerless before the...
Introduction A heart seeking love and burdened by traditions can open a doorway into madness. The given analysis focuses on a short story, “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, written in 1930. The plot revolves around a town in the state of Mississippi with central characters Emily Grierson and...
Writers have tackled the theme of tragedy and loss for as long as there was literature itself, contemplating the many different aspects of this hard yet omnipresent experience. In this respect, Alice Elliot Dark’s “In the Gloaming” is hardly a ground-breaker, as it is definitely not the first piece of...
Mythology has influenced the world up to the present time and remains meaningful for modern society as it is one of the most significant elements of culture. Contemporary arts, literature, and science continue using ancient myths, and people can find references to them in almost all the spheres of life....
In Greek mythology, Oedipus, the king of the land of Thebes, portrays a king who brings disaster to himself and to the people he governs by killing his father and making his mother his wife. In search of the truth, Oedipus cares less about the danger his actions are about...
Anne Bradstreet and Mary Rowlandson are American Puritan writers of the 17th century who focused their works on the individual, real-life aspects which were influenced by their spiritual development of personality and religious involvement. This period in literature was primarily associated with the religious influence on writers’ lives by focusing...
Macbeth is called one of Shakespeare’s most “Greek” plays, and it represents a man who destroys his life through a row of sinful and unfair choices. However, there are several discrepancies between a traditional Greek play and Shakespeare’s Macbeth. For example, the majority of Greek plays are based on the...
The number of monarchies in the modern world has undoubtedly been greatly reduced compared to two or three centuries ago and the Middle Ages. Society has gone through many stages of development and the forms of government used have changed. In The Tale of Sinuhe, the author talks about the...
In “Earth Poem,” Darwish shares his love, grief, and expectations for the future in these Palestinian poems with other world peoples. Through his perceptive metaphors and detailed descriptions of the country, the author sounds the voice of the Palestinian Resistance. The main themes of his poetry are his nation and...
Introduction William Blake’s poem Tyger is one of the most remarkable literary examples of animal imaginary-heavy works that touch on the topics of imagination, religion, and life’s purpose. It remains one of the most famous works in the entire bibliography of the poet, and consecutively has been a subject to...
Ishmael, a book written by an American publisher and author Daniel Quinn, can be viewed as a prominent example of a philosophical novel. Book’s setting includes a fantasy element in the shape of a highly intelligent gorilla with telepathic powers; however main points of writing are focused on the current...
Introduction “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” is a collection of interconnected short stories by Sherman Alexie, who published it in 1993 and added two new levels in 2003. It contains 22 short stories with the same characters, Native Americans living on the Spokane Indian Reservation. The book’s...
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 narrative of Homer’s Odyssey is mostly formulated with Odysseus’ travels and triumphs over obstacles, but also makes room for the relationship between Odysseus and his wife, Penelope. The conflicts and limitations both counterparts of the marriage face are integral to the story and their own character. Odysseus spends twenty...
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 During his lifetime and after his death, William Faulkner was widely discussed both by the public and scholars. The latter’s contributions to the reception of this author were primarily connected to the discussion of the characters in his novels and stories, and, in the case of “A Rose for...
Introduction The Goblin Market is a poem published in the 18th century by Christina Rossetti. The poem unfolds the story of two sisters, Laura and Lizzie, who enter the Goblin market when men are selling their fruits in the streets. The fruits represent sexual activities advertised by the merchants in...
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 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...
Eternal love is the main point of Shakespearean sonnet 116. The great poet states that, “Admit impediments. Love is not love/Which alters when it alteration finds” (Shakespeare 251, lines 2-3). Shakespeare also believes that love cannot be shaken or destroyed, and it should serve as the guiding star for the...
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...
Introduction The poetic legacy of Robert Frost, as one of the foremost American poets of the 20th century, is rich and imbued with images and vivid stories. As an example, his poem “Birches” can be analyzed as a work that captivates the reader with its philosophical ideas about eternity and...
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...
In his poem, “Sonnet 116” Shakespeare presents the nature of ideal love. According to Gale Cengage Learning, the write-up was done during the Renaissance era, when there was a significant influence by the Catholic church (14). Additionally, the artists wished to create new standards of what could be regarded as...
The Epic of Son-Jara is an epic set in West Africa in the thirteenth century. It describes the rise to power of Son-Jara, also spelled as Sundiata, who founded the Mali Empire, which was the largest and the most influential state in the region and existed for more than four...
The Misfits depicts a group of friends rejected by others, known as the Gang of Five, despite having only four members. They are Bobby, Joe, Skeezie, and Addie, the only girl in the circle. Each has a distinct personality and certain reasons for being ostracized, and later the quarter joins...
Feminist literature has been in existence for several centuries, which allows researchers and lay people to become familiar with how women were treated during different historical periods. Moreover, by analyzing the sources and accounts of previous epochs, one can gain a better understanding of the current situation and establish certain...
Introduction Jane Austen’s work occupies one of the leading places in British literary history and remains relevant from the Victorian era to the present. The novel “Pride and Prejudice” describes the love story of a young lady Elizabeth Bennett and an aristocrat Mr. Darcy, developing in the complex context of...
Disguise can be defined as a behavior or appearance that conceals an individual’s true identity. Many people fear cloaks because they are mysterious and intangible. Every mask has its uniqueness and is created for a specific purpose. Disguises help to shape the characteristics of different people in the poem, for...
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...
The works of Anne Spencer, one of the well-known representatives of women’s poetry of the 20th century, are distinguished by their vivid and expressive literary techniques. In her poems, she touches upon serious aspects of interpersonal relationships and universal values. As an object of analysis, her poem “White Things” will...
Common themes connect many seemingly unrelated works of art and literature. This is true for The Illegal by Lawrence Hill, The Step Not Taken by Paul D’Angelo, and the song Get Up Stand Up by The Wailers. Although they revolve around entirely different stories, the two works of literature and...
German myths have always been different from the overall European mythology. Aside from the setting, probably the most remarkable distinction is the hero. A shining example is Siegfried, who is a controversial figure in the medieval German narrative. He definitely acts with valor, fights the dragon, and dies at the...
Introduction Dystopian fiction is gaining popularity due to its deeply reflective nature and futuristic perspectives on the social order. “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley is a dystopian fiction novel written and published in the early 1930s. It presents a society living in the so-called World State, where a strict...
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 The novel Paradise was written in 1997, and it was Morrison’s first book after winning the Nobel Prize in literature in 1993. Paradise stresses the affection of God, and it is the author’s third novel focusing on various kinds of love. All the chapters in the book are dedicated...
Interpreter of Maladies is a collection of nine short stories written by an American author Jhumpa Lahiri. This writing presents its readers with stories about the experiences of Indian Americans who learn to live in the conflict between two distinct cultures. Therefore, in order to understand the life of these...
Arthur Miller’s plays are characterized by the significance of the moral and ethical issues and the application of references to his heroes’ past, where roots of the present behavior lie. The desire to find profound implication in the ordinary, to create an emotional atmosphere from as if insignificant words and...
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...
In the play “A Raisin in the Sun,” several important themes are explored. George Murchison strives towards assimilationism as a way of addressing consistent racial discrimination, while Beneatha sees assimilation as a manifestation of George’s fear of his heritage. Moreover, George sees heritage as “raggedy-assed spirituals and some grass huts!”...
Introduction Frankenstein is the most famous piece of literature by Mary Shelley. The novel tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a scientist, who decided to make a living creature on his own. He successfully coped with the task, but the obtained result was terrible, which made Frankenstein reject his artificially...
A Raisin in the Sun is a story about an African American family trying to overcome poverty and find a place in the middle class written by Lorraine Hansberry. The main plot which the reader can identify in the first half of the work is the conflict between the sixty-year-old...
Introduction Most talented authors have their own style, which is reflected in the topics, structure, and word choices of the writer. Stephen Jay Gould also has a “voice” in literature, which allows readers to recognize his work from the first lines and attracts most of them. This paper will explore...
Notwithstanding that both William Golding and Mary Shelley created hypothetical situations to explore the nature of humans, their approaches and motives significantly differ. However, the given paper will prove that simultaneously they share the research on how the environment influences people and on what the inner nature of these creatures...
“Go Down, Moses” is a poem that became a folk song, calling for the freedom of slaves in the US back in the nineteenth century. It links the story from the Bible with the situation happening in South America before the Civil War. The work constitutes of several poetic form...
How would you sum up what Andre Dubus III is saying in this memoir? Try to express in the sentence or two the significance to him of the events he relates. Dubus focuses on two transformative experiences that affected his childhood. When his father leaves the Marines to become a...
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...
Introduction Love, passion, and romance have always been an inherent part of human history, influencing individual lives and the stories of entire populations. The exploration of various sides of romantic relationships, therefore, lies at the core of the humanities’ research – it helps one understand how people acted towards each...
“Lusus Naturae” by Margaret Atwood describes an unknown creature that everyone renounces at first glance. It is a girl with specific congenital syndromes that make her appearance strange and intimidating. The author uses Point of View (PV) to describe characters and set up a plot in which the main character...
In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, the house of the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard, has a symbolic meaning. It is connected to the main character’s circumstances and the condition of mind, representing her state of being bound, lacking personal freedom. However, she does not realize it until the...
Central Idea of the Story The central idea of the story is to determine why different people carry items that they do. The narrator notes physical objects and metaphysical ideas that the soldiers bring with them. For instance, Lt. Cross carries a tangible picture of Martha and his ephemeral feelings...
Anticipate your Reader’s Responses The story Refresh, Refresh takes place in a small town Crow, which does not have many male citizens. The author describes that the town was populated only by three types of men: old, incapable, and vulturous (Percy 3). All the worthy men left to fight a...
The story about Frankenstein and his monster raises many questions. One of these questions is still unanswered. For example, people cannot decide what is more important in making a person, nature or nurture. The monster people were afraid of felt the beauty of the world with its “cheering warmth” and...
In the world of the 21st century, people seem to have forgotten about the cruelty of being deprived of freedom. With the impression of living as a free man, they have now become more focused on the notions of respect and equality. Only few, however, realize that every human being...
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...
Setting is an element of fiction often used by authors to support the ideas and themes presented in a literary work. Setting refers to the place and time where the story takes place and may include social statuses, weather, historical period, and details about immediate surroundings (Elements of Fiction). The...
The encounter between Gilgamesh and Uta-Utnapishtim teaches the protagonist to accept death’s inevitability and stop searching for eternal life. Afflicted by Enkidu’s death, Gilgamesh immerses into thoughts about his mortality and seeks Uta-Utnapishtim, who was granted everlasting life after the Deluge. Uta-Utnapishtim advises Gilgamesh to abandon the idea and demonstrates...
Quinceanera is a poem by Judith Ortiz Cofer, published in 1991. The poem vividly represents the Hispanic tradition of celebrating a teenage girl’s coming of age. This transition is a rather troublesome and confusing experience, as the narrator balances between the polar opposite emotions. The author applies several literary elements,...
Every person, as a member of society, faces daily choices either confirmed by the culture or against it. The history of humankind is built upon social systems where each person’s individual decisions affect those around them. “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” unravels the paradoxical social interaction, personal and...
The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin belongs to the number of the most popular science fiction novels by writers from the United States. Thanks to her skillful writing and attention to tiny details, Le Guin creates a unique world with its own conflicting cultures and the various social norms. However,...
“We are living in a material world”, says the famous line from Madonna’s song “Material Girl”. Materialistic pursuits seem to be discussed everywhere throughout the whole course of art and culture for centuries. In this vein, the theme of materialism which is so important in western culture is often addressed...
Critical History The ‘Lais of Marie de France’ is an omnibus edition of works by a medieval female writer. The collection consists of twelve narrative poems, among which are Bisclavert, Cheverfoil, and Lanval. Glyn Burgess, who studied her works, notices, that ‘the theme of love is certainly the fundamental preoccupation’...
Introduction The loneliness and isolation of a person can only be redeemed by loving others and this is fully supported in the novel Great Expectations. Throughout the storyline, we find Pip, the protagonist, being encircled by love and rejection, or hate and affection. The aspect of love in this text...
Introduction Sandra Cisneros’ “The House on Mango Street” is an illustration of the problems faced by Latin women in a culture laden with racism, prejudice, and discrimination. Society as depicted in the book is being dominated by men, while the Latin women are treated without equality, akin to second-rate beings....
Perhaps, the fear is one the most widely spread vices of society, as it provokes the intense and negative emotions. The fear and horror is usually generated when people face the Ugly as a social and aesthetic opposition to the Beautiful. Provoked by social prejudices and vices, social fears are...
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 first thing that is sure to burst upon the eye when one takes a look at the front cover of the book “My Year of Meats” by Ruth L. Ozeki is the eloquent quotation taken from the book review by Jane Smiley for ‘Chicago Tribune’ that describes Ozeki’s debut...
Introduction The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People was published in 1989 and is one of the most wonderful books that I have ever come across in my life. It is a self-help book written by Stephen R. Covey. This book has allowed me to look into myself and bring...
Supplication or petitioning can be considered a kind of prayer where a person asking his superior for something. This prayer can be for himself or for someone else. The person who is making the supplication is referred to as a supplicant. Normally the supplicant is the inferior of the person...
Introduction The art of literature is many-faceted thing full of expressive stories and means with which they are illustrated. The characters can be compared and evaluated with an author’s own experience in terms of his main idea implemented into text. The culture of reading is needful for every human being...
Over the past years, the novel “The Joy Luck Club” by Amy Tan has been attracting attention of scholars and researchers interested in cultural studies. A number of scholarly works have been dedicated to the analysis of this novel; the researchers explored such aspects of the novel as mother-and-daughter relations,...
Edna Pontellier, the heroine of “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin, lives in the United States during the 1800s. During those days, men dominated U.S. society while women were considered inferior to them. The Feminism movement that demanded women should be treated equally as men, having the same political, economic, and...
It is a common knowledge that people always thought of something that would make their life easier. Charms and topics related with them have always attracted the attention of different writers who created stories and fairy-tales where people achieved everything they wanted by means of magic not even lifting a...
Things Fall Apart Things Fall Apart: A Novel is the book that can be called a real masterpiece of the African Literature with the appearance of which Chinua Achebe was concerned started writing his novels and glorifying the African culture and Africans. This book can be viewed as the response...
Introduction The issue of insanity has often been uncomfortable, for the average human being as well as for the writer. It often provides a fascinating subject for drama, as has been demonstrated brilliantly by William Shakespeare as insanity plays a key role in Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet. In this play, the...
Introduction The American Civil War, also known as the War Between the States started at 1861 and ended in 1865. It was a civil war in the United States of America when the Southern slave states declared about their desire to get separated from the United States and formed the...
Fitzgerald’s magnum opus The Great Gatsby raises an important question about the legitimacy of the American Dream. The novel centers on Jay Gatsby, a millionaire who came from humble beginnings and spends his time trying to reunite with his former lover, Daisy. Gatsby’s warped perception of success makes him see...
The story of Heathcliff, an enigmatic and vengeful ‘Byronic hero’ of Wuthering Heights, unravels in front of the reader as the novel progresses. The gypsy-like child faces the challenges of growing up as a hated outsider within his own adopted family, developing into a bitter and, ultimately, miserable man. Heathcliff’s...
Introduction The play Antigone is one of the best Greek dramatic works depicting life style of society and human relations between people. Antigone of Sophocles can be characterized as an astonishing achievement of world literature in which people are crushed by the entanglements of law whichever way they turn. Antigone...
Introduction Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald is an American writer whose works were never given proper appreciation to when he was alive. This was a person who died with a firm belief that he was a failure. Most of his works refer to the period of Jazz Age, the name he...
Introduction The book “Life of Pi” by Canadian writer Yann Martel, winner of the 2002 Booker Prize narrates delightfully, the story of Piscine Patel, who shortens his name to Pi. An elderly man in Pondicherry, India, tells the author that he has a story that can make him believe in...
Thomas Hardy’s “The Darkling Thrush” is one of the most well-known poems written on the borderline of the 19th and the 20th centuries. The poet employs a variety of rhetoric devices in the piece, but the most prominent of them is alliteration. Hardy’s use of this rhetorical device helps to...
Change is an inseparable part of existence, yet, when representing a deliberate intention, it becomes a strangely difficult step to take. In his 2018 poem, “American Sonnet for My Past and Future Assassin,” Terrance Hayes addresses the necessity to make a difficult choice, conveying the sense of lingering between inconsequential...
The title of the story is ‘The Overcoat’ published in 1842, authored by Nikolai Gogol, the father of modern Russian pragmatism. A Great Russian novelist, Gogol is acknowledged to have quite a name as a satirist. An artist of words he is known to exert enormous influence over Russian literature....
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a 14th century poem by an unknown author, describing the adventures of the knight Sir Gawain, nephew of King Arthur. The work continues the tradition of Arthurian chivalric romances and most fully reveals Gawain as a character (Florschuetz 158). In addition to the...
Introduction Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House uncovers many unpleasant things about family life and men’s inclination to force women into submission in marriage. However, it is more than merely one of the sad stories of females’ subjugation. In the course of the plot’s development, Ibsen demonstrates the process of...
Introduction Geoffrey Chaucer and Jane Austen belong to two different remarkable periods in English Literature. Chaucer was born in 1334 and Austen in 1775. The birth of the English language and literature in the fourteenth century provided a proper atmosphere in England for the growth of new trends and tendencies...
Born in 1860, Anton Chekhov wrote extensively on the complexities of human nature and the hidden importance of how day-to-day interactions impacts human life (Kirk 43-56). He is famously known for such stories as “The Steppe”, “The Lady with the Dog”, “The Seagull”,” A living Chattel”, and” Uncle Vanya”. Even...
It is a common practice in many nations to create things by hand and pass them from generation to generation. Whether these items are used daily or kept closed in a chest as the most precious possessions, they are meant to bear the history of several generations within them. However,...
Introduction Anti-slavery is one of the central aspects of Mark Twain’s iconic novel, “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” Given the years when the novel was written, Twain’s thoughts and beliefs regarding slavery channeled through the book’s main characters were quite revolutionary and ahead of their time. First things first, the writer...
Introduction Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path” is a short story about an elderly woman of African-American origin, named Phoenix, who rushes to a city to buy medications for her grandson. The work portrays the protagonist’s pain, sacrifice, commitment, selflessness, and devotion, as, during the trip, she was struggling to get...
Introduction Suzan-Lori Parks is an African American playwright of the 20th century who transformed American theatre with her mythic plays. She has won the acclaim of dramatists, critics, and the public around the globe as a provocative and influential author. At the same time, her innovative approach to language and...
Fyodor Dostoevsky became a classic of Russian and world literature due to his ability to feel the subtle psychology of broken people, to create them in his works so that they seem frighteningly real. In the novel Crime and Punishment, the author tells readers about the tragic events in the...
Introduction In rhetoric, the use of Aristotle’s three appeals is often viewed as a crucial component of any discourse. Implying that every argument must have ethos, logos, and pathos, the specified principle allows identifying a strong statement and determining the goals of a particular message. In Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare...
Introduction Werewolves are one of the most recognizable types of monsters in modern culture. They are almost constantly featured in both mainstream and niche fiction, and the number of interpretations of the same creature grows every year. While the details of the stories vary, the core idea of a werewolf...
Sissy In the story, Sissy is the protagonist and the narrator. In the first summer (or the first episode of the story), Sissy is a child, accompanying her parents and brothers at a tavern near an unnamed lake. She is dependent on her parents because she is quite young. For...
M. Butterfly is probably one of the most controversial still rather popular works by an American playwright, David Henry Hwang. This story consists of several captivating details and examples with the help of which it is possible to understand the essence of western and eastern women, define the benefits which...
Introduction Children’s literature can be defined as that form of literature that is designed for readers and listeners of about twelve years or below. Barry (2009) is of the view that children’s literature can be viewed from four perspectives. The first perspective defines children’s literature as that form of literature...
While reading the critical response on Ha Jin’s short story Saboteur, I’ve realized that the critic Nicola McAllister has a low opinion of the Chinese government and knows nothing about the policy of China. On the other hand, he is just ignorant of the historical changes that took place in...
Philosophical ideas about the meaning of life, the role of death, and causes of war are discussed by many writers and thinkers in their works because of the importance of the mentioned issues. However, writers often use different effective approaches in order to attract the readers’ attention to the discussion...
Symbolism is a unique literary device that conveys depth within a story. It is difficult to implement as readers should be aware of the author’s meaning behind a symbol. The most memorable symbolism in literature could interweave the plot with the thematic elements, generating complex ideas that cannot be easily...
Comedy of Errors has been traditionally critiqued as a comical unfolding of laughable incidents. However, closer examination of the text reveals that the root of the plot and the contexts demonstrated in the drama associates closely with the politics involved in the church-state discourse. Shakespeare has used the form of...
Renaissance poetry has become influential in many ways. While not being followed directly, it has been incorporated in many areas of art and served as a source of inspiration to several generations of poets. A great example of this is Francesco Petrarch, whose poetry of the early Renaissance was both...
The Tempest is believed to be the last play William Shakespeare wrote alone. It was written at the times when a big part of our world was still unknown and European people were fascinated to discover what is hidden in these mysterious faraway lands and islands. Many different ideas and...
