5539 samples of this type
Introduction William Shakespeare is known as the author of several great stories about human relationships. He focused on such eternal themes as love, friendship, respect, and family. Each of his plays delivers a serious message to the reader and helps understand the complexity of life. At the beginning of the...
The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house is Audre Lorde’s provocative admonishment, and it is a warning that Black and other academics of color should heed. Lorde uses dismantling the master’s house as a metaphor for intersectional systems and structures of oppression that produced and perpetuated health inequality...
Le Morte d’Arthur retells the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. The medieval setting of the literary piece is traced through the use of outdated language that describes the atmosphere, social relations, and the environment of the medieval times. However, the themes of love, friendship,...
Trifles, a work by Susan Glaspell, follows the structure of a common murder mystery but includes elements of social commentary and issues of great value. It can be summarized as a murder of a husband by a wife and the two connected yet individual investigations that follow. The story’s unique...
The playbook titled Romeo and Juliet is my favourite, and William Shakespeare is the author of this romantic narrative which later ended tragically. The story is so exciting and after reading it, I was interested in watching its movie on the big theatre screen. This essay will first evaluate the...
Introduction The phenomenon of the American Dream appears vague and indeterminate in the American literature. In a broad sense, this term indicates both material and spiritual values of the American citizens. It is a complex of various ideals, inherent for the Americans since their childhood. The American Dream is a...
Kindred is a fictional novel written by Octavia Butler, which touches upon the topic of the value of human life, referring to the horrifying antebellum South events. The female protagonist Dana suddenly experiences the time-traveling to the past and meets her ancestor Rufus, the antagonist of this story. Dana has...
Dulce et Decorum Est is a poem written by Wilfred Owen in 1917 and then published in 1921 after the author’s death (Muttaleb and Hamadneh 3). Its title is the reference to Horace’s words, who once said, “It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.” In his poem,...
Sherman Alexie’s book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a narration about a 14-year-old Arnold Spirit Jr., called Junior in his family and community. The subject of the book is interesting and edifying because it focuses on the coming-of-age story and the feeling of belonging and community....
The poem “The Dignity of Ushers” by Al Maginnes discusses the effects of modernity on the eponymous profession. In this context, the term means people who stand at a church’s doors and open them for people who attend sermons. They also direct visitors to seats to minimize confusion and ensure...
“Motorcycle Ride on the Sea of Tranquility” is written by Patricia Santana and describes the life of a family living in Southern California with poignant sensitivity and beauty. This is a story about love and pain, family unity, and the tension that arises from the desire of its members for...
One of the first books in the memoir series by the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama, is the Dreams From My Father, which raises such issues as family, bonding, and community. The excerpt offered for literary analysis tells a tragic episode in Barack’s life when he learned...
The first part of the trilogy tells about the despotic government, which organizes an annual demonstration game of survival, which is watched from the air by the whole world. The lot to participate in the Games falls to the young Katniss and Pete, who is secretly in love with her....
Thi Bui’s “The Best We Could Do” brings out the theme of family relations and family history. The author explains that she started researching and writing the book to understand their family and better connect with her mom and dad and learn to love them. Although a vast gulf separates...
Introduction A manipulation is a form of influence that is neither rational nor coercion persuasion. This phenomenon can either be psychological or emotional, depending on what motivational factors are used. In most instances, it is aimed at achieving personal interests. Writers use the theme of deceit to teach the reader...
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ has been cited as a feminist piece of writing that stands against an oppressive and exclusionary force by many scholars in the past few decades. The narrator of the story is a woman who is put on a rest cure, a treatment...
It seems reasonable to say that Spanish social poetry of the middle of the twentieth century may be characterized as poetry of tragic sound. This is visible from the very titles of poetry collections of those years; for example, La Soledad Cerrada by Gabriel Celaya, Tierra sin Nosotros by Jose...
Paul’s Case by Willa Cather is a short story full of temperament lessons. It is a narration of a few months’ events in Paul’s life. Paul is a student at Pittsburg High School, who prefers theater and music to class. The story begins when Paul is suspended from school; he...
Human nature, as complicated and mysterious as it is, has been a subject of artists’ expression since the old days. However, frequently, the peculiarities of existence become rather modified in order to create a “wow” effect on the recipient. Driven by the idea that people’s life may be thrilling with...
Introduction Hearing impairment affects effective communication between the deaf and other community members. The book Deaf Like Me by Spradley, T. S. and Spradley, J. P. presents a learning journey between parents and their deaf child (Spradley & Spradley, 1985). The book was published in 1985, but its context depicts...
Martin Puchner, the author of the book: Norton Anthology of World Literature, furnishes an overview of the poems from songs of innocence originally authored by William Blakes. Puchner states that Blakes began publishing Songs of Innocence in 1739 to experiment with his poetry’s style, theme, and use of symbols (Puchner...
Educated is a memoir by Tara Westover, where she explicitly describes her challenging way toward education. Born in a conservative family isolated from mainstream society in the mountains of Idaho, Tara decides that a university education is the best way for her to start a new life full of opportunities....
“The Broken Spears” is a fascinating and captivating book that provides an engaging and graphical account of the annihilation of Mexico by the Spanish. The book provides a more expressive and human perspective of the events of the military confrontation between the Spanish and Aztecs (Leon-Portilla 1992). This literary text...
Money and class always played a huge role in the life of any society. Since ancient times, people have been marrying for money, undermining the primary value of love and romance. In The Great Gatsby, possessions and class are the factors that could contribute to the initiation of a relationship...
Poetry often has a way of reaching into the deepest elements of the human soul to expose the underlying natural desires and emotions that are frequently otherwise suppressed in ‘polite’ society. It does this by both appealing specifically to human emotion and by remaining sufficiently general to have broad common...
The first chapter of Twenge’s book is titled “In no hurry: Growing up slowly.” The primary theme is that the iGen is taking longer to become adults. Essentially, Twenge is convincing the readers that, comparing to the previous groups, people who were born between 1995 and 2012 remain dependent on...
After listening to Walt Whitman’s Beat! Beat! Drum! performed by the speaker I received a dubious impression. The free verse used in the poem reminds a quickness of movement that reflects the poet’s enthusiasm, fervor, and passion. There are three stanzas, all of which repeat the same line “Beat! beat!...
Introduction Scholars and writers rely on different literary styles to complete their works and deliver the intended messages to their readers. The works Trifles and A Raisin in the Sun offer powerful insights and analyses of most of the challenges different members of the selected societies encounter. The books provide...
Television shows present gender and communication in a multitude of different ways, which either positively or negatively affect their viewers’ perspectives on many critical issues. They may promote various stereotypes and encourage people to conform or destroy biases and inspire individuals to be independent. It is essential to understand how...
Introduction In the short story Cathedral by Raymond Carver, the narrator is a husband who goes through a life-changing experience that teaches him not to be judgmental and also learns to listen. It is not only a tale of mutual understanding and acceptance, but it is also a cultural narrative....
Different people may subscribe to different types and levels of beliefs due to cultural-religious or social factors. Some of these beliefs may not be straightforward altogether in terms of the meaning and truth they carry, but people may tend to stick to them. What exactly this means is that a...
No species is more deserving of accolades than humans for consistently executing the dual role of creating problems and solving them. While some challenges predate humanity, many wrongs people seek correct are artificial. Mired in the endless maze of thanatophobia, the fear of death, people have grown overly preoccupied with...
The primary theme of the story is rivalry and enmity between Ichabod Crane and Abraham “Brom Bones” Van Brunt. Both characters wished to marry Katrina in order to become wealthy and take a chunk of inheritance. However, this competition for the hand of Katrina put a great strain between Crane...
Introduction Literature as a form of art scopes a wide array of topics that reflect personal struggles and social issues. The concepts of culture and traditions often get intertwined with the characters who are bound by various social and gender constructs. The post-colonial literature seeks to cover these topics more...
Introduction From the poem, the speaker demonstrates an unmatched love and affection for Annabel Lee who died unexpectedly. This love survives considerably after the mentioned death. Poe, the poet, uses literary styles to unveil the theme of lasting love between two characters. It is possible to recognize and understand that...
Introduction The theme of clothing and its impact on people has been depicted in various novels, articles, and other publications. Clothes seem to have a significant effect on how people are perceived and even what roles they should act. The mentioned topic was raised in two notable literary works –...
Introduction There are many essential elements that authors should consider when writing a novel or a stage play. They should build the plot carefully, offering the readers action and mystery, and develop the characters, showing their distinct personalities and motivations. This essay will consider Octavia Butler’s Kindred and Lorraine Hansberry’s...
While both documents are historical accounts of the Boston Massacre on March 5th, 1770, there are significant differences in the narratives. Unarguably, bias and political motivations are present in both, but from what is known by historians, Captain Preston’s account is more accurate. First, the description of the massacre itself...
An accomplished painter and poet, William Blake, is an influential figure of the Romantic age, which was characterized by people’s reactions to the changes occurring in Europe. His two prominently famous publications, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell and Songs of Innocence and Experience, are among the artistic endeavors espousing...
Nathaniel Hawthorne is a renowned 19th century writer who combined romantic elements with science in his artistic works. For instance, in his stories, “Rappaccini’s Daughter” and “The Birthmark,” he emphasizes similar aspects revolving around human nature and its fascination for perfection (Resetarits, 2012). Hawthorne successfully integrates deep feelings such as...
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...
During the semester, several works were studied. “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson were exciting pieces of literature. The “Everyday Use” is a short story that highlights the plight of African -Americas who were trying to redefine their social, cultural, and political identity. It mainly...
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...
Poem – Back to my Arms In the dark of the midnight, Lay me, eyes open, lacking sleep in the night, Thinking, taxing my mind, wandering the valleys, You crisscross thoughts; within my thoughts are alleys, Wanting to see, hold, and have you again as I remember with nostalgia, The...
\Frankenstein’s monster is, perhaps, one of the most sympathetic characters in the pantheon of monsters that have become emblematic of the horror genre. Although modern readers are unlikely to find the novel quite as chilling as their predecessors did, “Frankenstein” raises quite several disturbing themes that still hold relevance for...
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...
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a novel that was published in 2007 and won the Pulitzer Prize. The author of this work is Juno Diaz – an American writer of Dominican origin, so the work in English contains a large number of inserts in Spanish. The book...
Justice, equality, and fairness are the ideals people from different cultures in different parts of the world have always aspired to achieve. They are the values that not only have inspired people to speak up and fight against oppression, cruelty, discrimination, and abuse but also encouraged innovation and progress, bringing...
In Lee Smith’s novel “Oral History,” the character development of Almarine Cantrell plays a large role. It is a dynamic character since the main difference between a dynamic character and a static one is a change in the structure of thought and feeling within a literary work in one or...
Like most of Ray Bradbury’s works, the story The Veldt is written in the fantasy genre. The plot develops in the most ordinary family of Hadleys: mother, father, and two children. They live in a modern smart house called “The Happylife Home” that does all the work for them (Bradbury...
The Glass Menagerie is a well-known Tennessee Williams’ play which partially relates to his bibliography. The audience thought it to be unusual because of the distorted depiction of reality and the widespread use of symbolism. Moreover, there were only four characters: Tom, Amanda, Laura, and Jim. One of the most...
Introduction Christian stories and parables carry deep meaning and contain valuable discourses about virtues, goodness, and the righteous path that people should follow to live in a healthy and peaceful society. At the same time, in addition to theological texts, works from popular literature also may contain profound truths that...
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a classical Tennessee Williams’ play that examines the themes of an unhappy marriage, social hypocrisy, sexual repression, and masculinity crisis. It follows an unhappily married couple, Brick and Maggie, as they attempt to navigate the rocky phase of their union, Brick’s alcoholism, and...
The book Matteo Ricci and the Catholic Mission to China written by Ronnie Po-Chia Hsia at first seems to be a story about a missionary’s life and achievements. However, as one becomes more acquainted with it, a deeper meaning behind the narrative is revealed. This relates to the uniqueness of...
Who is the Speaker? Wild Nights is known as one of the most thought-provoking poems written by Emily Dickinson in 1891. This verse has captured readers’ attention and imagination due to its ambiguous nature. It narrates about passion, desire, rapture, and ecstasy; yet, it also describes the powerful natural phenomenon....
Introduction The short story The Lottery is one of Shirley Jackson’s most famous works. Its concept revolves around an annual draw in a small village. Although the lottery is usually associated with a winner getting a grand prize, in the story, it is a process of selecting a victim for...
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...
If anyone is asked in a small town, two-hour drive away from New Orleans, whether they know Lucie, their faces will be filled with joy as they begin speaking about the young, but already not so young, girl. Lucie is a brave and proud individual – she can make almost...
One of the fears described in dystopian fiction is the loss of individuality. People become uniformed cogs in an oppressive society, so the government could completely control them. Therefore, individualism can contribute greatly to maintaining freedom and independent thinking. In Harrison Bergeron, the author shares his vision of the future...
Identity encompasses the unique signature that differentiates different works of literature. Essentially, this identity can be utilized to differentiate different works originating from different authors. Jack Turner is an author that has created an identity for himself, by not only writing interactive works on wildlife but also incorporating various figures...
Introduction Shirley Jackson’s story “The Lottery” was published in 1948 during the rebuilding of the world after World War II. Almost all the post-war period literature is, to one degree or another, devoted to understanding the consequences of what happened during 1939-1945. One of the cruelest and most inhumane episodes...
The plot of the story is focused around Casey Singleton who is a single mom and the quality assurance vice-president of Norton Aircraft, a company that deals with the manufacture of airplanes. Casey is called in to investigate the crash of one of Norton’s wide-body aircraft, the Norton N-22 after...
Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare can be viewed as a message from a man to his beloved women. The speaker talks to a girl describing her beauty and her importance to him. For this reason, the tone is solemn, inspirational, and at the same time, it is full of warmth...
The book review on “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow them and people will follow you” is a subject to criticism based on many view points. First, the title of the book stands to be questioned itself; it shows some sense of rigidity and also some form of forced...
It is evident that people have mortal bodies, and life is not internal; thus, passing away is a normal and unavoidable process. Nevertheless, such biological and philosophical ideas would be clueless to comfort people experiencing the loss of loved ones. Bereaved individuals usually undergo a hard time of distress, and...
With the help of sarcastic irony, Bulgakov in his book The Heart of a Dog creates a world full of large and small conflicts that arise whenever a person is not in his place. The most profound conflict in the story arises between Professor Preobrazhensky and a new Soviet society....
The importance of each character in a literary work can be either revealed explicitly by the author or implied by the character’s interactions with other individuals or relations to some events. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, there is one character that does exist in the same dimension as all the others. The...
Interpreter of Maladies is included in the collection of short stories of the same name. The plot of the story is built around the trip of the couple Das and their children – Indian immigrants of the second and third generation, who grew up in America – to the Sun...
Beowulf is a famous epic poem that was created between the end of the 7th and the first part of the 8th century. At that time, the Anglo-Saxons were already experiencing the emergence of feudal ties (Heaney 1). The poem, however, is characterized by an epic archaization and depicts reality...
Argument The central argument that Michel Foucault puts forward in the Order of Things: An Archaeology of Human Sciences is that relevant points of history, knowledge, and humankind come in a specific order. By discussing the order, the author points to a series of assumptions that make up the relevant...
Brief Biography John Updike was born on March 18, 1932, in Reading, Pennsylvania. He spent his early childhood in Shillington, Pennsylvania, where his father taught math to high school students. Updike’s mother was a novelist, from whom he inherited such passion for writing. During their high school years, John Updike...
Introduction Dystopian literature is a popular form of fiction today, which explores the possible unfavorable outcomes for humanity in the future. This paper is a rhetorical analysis of Margaret Atwood’s essay “Why readers and writers are so fixated with dystopian visions,” in which the author discusses the reasons behind such...
Hind Swaraj is a book written by Gandhi, which represents his view on modern civilization. The Reader and The Editor are the main characters who engage in a dialogue, where the latter explains his understanding of self-governance in the Indian state. In this book, Gandhi summarizes his view on the...
The symbolism of the poem “I Heard a Fly Buzz – When I Died” by Emily Dickinson is the most striking aspect of this literary work. Stillness stands for the end of human life, which is something grand and frightening. The poet manages to make the reader see the picture...
Introduction In the current research paper, the main aim is to answer the question of which conflict does August Wilson uses most to drive all the other elements of the story in his play “Fences.” To address the problem adequately, the following plan is followed. First of all, a brief...
When pondering upon the notion of democracy, the vast majority of people will inevitably think of the United States of America. Since the US declaration of independence in 1776, the state itself became the synonym with the idea of the public will. In fact, researchers who spend years on investigating...
Introduction In literary works, many elements strengthen the position chosen by an author, improve storytelling, and provoke critical thinking among readers. According to Mays, “the language of poetry is often visual and pictorial,” which makes poems dependent on specific words and their creative meanings (834). Metaphors, allusions, flashbacks, similes, and...
Introduction Mother Tongue by Amy Tan, and Learning to Read and Write by Frederick Douglass are examples of the genre of literacy narrative. In the articles, both authors describe their relations with reading and writing, and their role of them, as well as education in general, in their lives. The...
In the poem After great pain, a formal feeling comes from Emily Dickinson describes the innermost experiences of a person who has gone through a tragic loss. It focuses on mental anguish and sorrow. Emily Dickinson wrote many poems that described pain, grief, and death. Her shyness and sensitivity made...
The theme of alienation is clearly expressed in the Asian-American literature of the 20th century. Asian writers who immigrated to the United States in the late 19th century lived a challenging life. Most Korean-American and Chinese-American authors were formed in cultural isolation, which influenced their worldview to find their identity....
Today, an Akkadian epic poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh is regarded as the earliest surviving great literary work. The poem describes the life of Gilgamesh who was an actual historical king of an ancient Sumerian city-state of Uruk, deified post-mortem by its citizens. Of special interest for scholars is the...
Every poem is unique in the way it portrays emotions and experiences that have already been reported in the literature. For instance, it may employ different tropes to create a lasting impression. The narrator’s personality, their perspective, is another important tool that allows conveying the message of the poet. This...
Introduction Greek history is frequently discussed in many literary works, and Homer’s Iliad is probably the most famous and successful story about the Trojan War and its participants. In this epic poem, heroic motifs are determined by harsh social obligations and definite cultural beliefs, underlining the role of gods and...
The topic of mental health is not only studied by psychologists but is also widely used by authors in fiction. Psychological problems and mental disorders are complicated and understood differently by various authors. The following essay will examine and explain the differences and similarities in “A Rose for Emily” by...
“The brain is fundamentally unlike the hardware in our digital computers. Instead, it’s “liveware”. It reconfigures its circuitry. Although the adult brain isn’t quite as flexible as a child’s, it still retains an astonishing ability to adapt and change” (Eagleman, 2015, ch. 6). The quote by the book’s author David...
The “Salvation,” a short story by Langston Hughes, describes a young boy’s journey of searching for religion and redemption, which eventually ends unachievable. The boy abandons his pursuit for religion after realizing that the physical deliverance which he is looking for cannot be apprehended easily. The narrator loses hope after...
Introduction Poetry about nature and its features occupies a significant part of the world’s poetic heritage. At the same time, in addition to describing the world, many poets resort to the analysis of such a phenomenon as human nature that conveys aspects of people’s characters and their outlook on life....
The history of literature has seen renowned masters of short stories, and Ernest Hemingway is one of them. “Soldier’s Home” is a classic example of such a story, as it depicts the United States of America in the fallout of the First World War (WWI) through the prism of a...
How all occasions do inform against me, And spur my bitter binge! What is a man, If his chief good and passing of his time Be but to cry and feed? A wreck, no more. Sure, during this godly feast I gorged Myself to slumber, and forgot That capability and...
Introduction The Space Merchants extrapolates the highly capitalist world of the 22 century driven by consumerism and greed. The privileged class consists of top traders, business people, and “star class” copywriters who continuously deploy tricky advertisement campaigns to manipulate others, so-called ordinary consumers. The authors mainly show and criticize the...
Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Charge of the Light Brigade” and John Wilmot’s “The Disabled Debauchee” are two pieces of poetry belonging to different eras and styles. The poems have little in common, diverging in the most fundamental aspects. The first text is written in the nineteenth century to celebrate heroic deeds,...
The biggest problem of our life is its ending. However, this can happen either when the time comes or undesirable due to some disease. The Plague is a perfect representation of a horror that took many people’s lives. The book represents the circumstances that a town in Algeria had to...
Mental health is an important aspect of people’s lives that requires immediate attention and careful consideration. However, the topic of mental illnesses has been a taboo to discuss and portray for many years. Today it becomes more and more acceptable to talk about one’s health freely, especially in art. The...
Introduction In the short story “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”, Gabriel Garcia Marquez describes the life of Pelayo who discovers an old man with large wings. He accommodates him in a chicken coop and capitalizes on his condition to amass wealth from villagers who come to see him....
The purpose of this work is to compare journeys of the main characters of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown” and Washington Irving’s short story “Rip Van Winkle.” The first story takes place in Puritan New England at the end of the 17th century. A young man named Brown...
August Wilson is an American playwright awarded for his exemplary work that illuminated the struggles that African Americans faced in the U.S. He wrote the Pittsburgh Cycle of Plays, encompassing ten texts produced during different periods of time explaining the issue of racism in the U.S. Wilson was born in...
In his poem “My Last Duchess”, Robert Browning narrates a story of a proud man, whose evil nature and wicked character traits become the reason of his wife’s tragic death. The Duke, who is both the main character in the poem, and is its narrator, tries to prove his innocence...
Chapter 8 in the book discusses forming a cohesive whole out of the disparate thoughts gathered by the author for their writing. Graff and Birkenstein (2014) recommend using transitions and pointing words as well as repeating key terms, phrases, and longer passages (in a different manner). The aim of all...
Baldwin’s “A Talk to Teachers” explores the reality of growing up and being brought up as an African American in the United States of the 1950s. Yet even though race features prominently in the text, the essay is about more than just racial matters. At the core of “A Talk...
In the graphic novel They Called Us Enemy, George Takei provides his memoir after the presidential proclamation ordering all people of Japanese origin to be relocated to isolated camps. The title of the book and its cover page sums the struggles illustrated inside. The image of a policeman holding a...
War stories are one of the primary sources of historical memory about the significant events of the past wars. However, they regularly contain personal exaggerations, either for dramatic effect or as simple attention grab. Despite that, they provide an insight into one of the most crucial moments of modern history....
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...
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a long poem that tells the story of the adventures of the brave knight Sir Gawain. This story is a fairy tale that shows the bravery and courage of the knights, which were popular at the time of its writing; however, it also...
I vividly remember the day I realized life was too short and unexpected not to wish for more. It was April, and I sweet-talked my mom to take me to the amusement park on the weekend. I was eight years old, and I had never been to the amusement park...
Introduction Words, especially sincere and true ones, are people’s most powerful and influential weapons. They can go deep into humans’ hearts and souls and touch the innermost and most essential parts. Some crucial concepts, including dreams, freedom, equality, fairness, and family, are sometimes so difficult to discuss that persons decide...
Introduction Philip Barry wrote Holiday in 1928. The stock market crashed in 1929 leading to the Great Depression of the 1930. Perhaps these events brought out better what Barry’s work criticized about the American society of that time – the affluent and nobles had a false face. Additionally, the play...
‘The Laughing Man’ is a fictitious story told by Chief John Gedsudski to the Comanche Club members, a twenty-five-member group of baseball players, in between breaks from their regular sports. The Laughing Man was an only child to a rich missionary couple, abducted in childhood by Chinese bandits. His parents...
The story presented in Louise Erdrich’s novel under the title Future Home of the Living God is an example of a hero’s story. Being set in pre-apocalyptic America, the dystopian novel is written from the first-person perspective. It conveys a journey of a pregnant twenty-six-year-old Native American woman named Cedar...
“The Raven” is one of the most well-known poems by Edgar Allan Poe. This work of art can be seen as a hymn to remorse and emotional distress. The story starts with a description of a man who is “weak and weary” whose negative emotions and despair intensify with every...
Introduction Great works of literature remain in history for a variety of reasons. Some of them represent a particular era masterfully, leaving the reader with strong, vivid impressions. This objective is attained through accurate use of specific symbols, strengthening the work’s relation to a particular epoch, and contributing to its...
Introduction George Orwell’s book, Road to Wigan Pier, depicts the struggles of the British underclass, unemployed, and poverty-stricken nationals in the post-World War 1 period. The authors’ target audience was the wealthy and affluent people seeking to understand the lifestyle of the poor beyond formal reports. The author uses a...
Classics are literary works that are considered the gage and main point of reference for their era or a particular genre. Previously, this term referred to certain authors of ancient literature, and later it was used to refer to all ancient Greek and Roman literature. This concept is now used...
At first glance, Othello seems simply a tragedy of jealousy, just as Macbeth is a tragedy of ambition. It is easy to imagine that Shakespeare decided to explore several exciting and dangerous passions and warn the audience against them. However, the ideas ingrained in the play seem to be broader...
This paper will analyze the graphic strategies used by Art Spiegelman on page 13 of his graphic novel, Maus: A Survivor’s Tale. This page represents a part of the narration when a father tells his son about his past, so it includes both the current timeline of the story and...
Historical Background The book of Ruth is set during the time of the Judges, as a family from Bethlehem moves to Moab to avoid famine. The nation of Moab, along with Ammon, had its genealogical roots in Lot’s intercourse with his daughters (Gen. 19:30-38). After the Exodus, the Israelites returning...
Introduction At the end of the 14th century, Geoffrey Chaucer introduced his Canterbury Tales, where several people share their stories about British history, identities, and values. Each tale has a narrator and main characters who make mistakes, develop relationships, and analyze their achievements through the prism of the already established...
Introduction Literature has always been as much a commentary on society as an examination of human nature. Political authority and resistance against it have become a central theme of many literary works that attempt to ascribe the relations of power between structures, societies, and its subjects. Such works can inspire...
Introduction The central idea of the Recitatif by Toni Morrison is race and racism, the “black-white” conflict. It must be noticed that the author’s approach to this subject is nonconventional, and the first sign of it is that she makes the reader guess who between the two protagonists of the...
Reasons Why The Pursuit of Daisy Buchanan Was Justified “Great Gatsby” is a novel written by F.S. Fitzerald and published in 1925. The book follows the narrator as he enters the world of the American socialite after returning from war and meets the eponymous main character. Jay Gatsby gained his...
The Odyssey is a world literature masterpiece, one of the two epic poems written by Homer. It was composed around the 8th century BC, and its plot focuses on Odysseus’s journey home after the Troy’s fall. This essay aims at analyzing several peculiarities of The Odyssey that show its significance...
Literary art began to develop in ancient times, many centuries before our era. People recorded the events they experienced, described natural phenomena that they saw, and passed on their wisdom to future generations. Later, they started adding fantasy to literary works to make them more interesting and let impossible become...
Introduction Chinua Achebe is a renowned author not just in Africa but also in international literature. With the help of his writings, Chinua Achebe thrills readers across the globe with the creative application of language, structure, form, and precise insider accounts of modern African history and way of life. With...
Introduction The perceptions of love and relationship are continuously changing, and one of the easiest ways to trace this shift is through consideration of love poems. To convey the imagery of love, poets use a variety of literary techniques that allow them to share not only their views but also...
Despite the endeavors of Gilgamesh and Enkidu to be similar to gods, the two heroes overestimated their power and neglected the fact that they were both mortals, which led to tragic consequences. By the end of the epic, it becomes evident to Gilgamesh that every human being is bound to...
Introduction The success of any article and scientific work also depends on the written skills of the author. If the text is captivating from the first paragraph, the audience continues to read. The most challenging thing is to encourage the readers to finish the article to the end. The persuasiveness...
“To His Coy Mistress” is a well-known poem by Andrew Marvell, in which the speaker addresses his lover, who is reluctant to be intimate with him. Even though the speaker seduces his lady, it is mostly a carpe diem poem full of profound contemplation about the brevity of life. “Had...
Nowadays, mental health is a significant concern in the United States, as more and more people become affected by psychological conditions. However, the discourse around this topic, especially that of schizophrenia, has existed for a considerable time. The main characters of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper and Edgar Allan...
Society’s influence on people and their way of life has two outcomes: liberating or oppressing them. It all depends on which standards one accepts at any given time. Most women live unsatisfied lives full of oppression in patriarchal societies that believe in male dominance and female inferiority in marriage. This...
Romantic love stories typically end with a blissful moment, but it is not the case in Romeo and Juliet, the author of which preferred a tragedy rather than a happy ending. William Shakespeare puts a different vision of a love story by writing his most famous play Romeo and Juliet....
The theme of happiness is derived from the life of Helga Crane, a protagonist whose journey to seek happiness has been disrupted by racial discrimination. Helga’s life is full of phenomenal shifts that leave her unhappy and disgruntled. Nonetheless, the novel conveys that one should act persistently and attempt to...
Death is a controversial topic for many people since its perception varies from person to person. Some see it as liberation from earthly shackles while others dread it and try to postpone the final moment of life for as long as physically possible. Nonetheless, human lives are finite, and at...
Song of Solomon is a novel written by Toni Morrison in 1977 and belongs to African American literature. Although this text is one of the writer’s first works, the book brought Morrison great fame. The story of a young African American Macon Dead has raised many questions about black people’s...
This book has comprised several simple truths that help an individual to figure out their main purpose in life. It is addressed to those who burn out at work spending numerous hours doing things they do not enjoy. Those activities do not bring them closer to the desired future. The...
In the story “My Almighty Grandmother” by Gabriela Roy, the narrator is a six-year-old girl who unwillingly spends time with her grandmother in the summer. Through her eyes, I can see an old lady with failing memory. Also, the story revolves around three women who are separated by belonging to...
“A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” is a short story written by Ernest Hemingway, a prominent American writer. It describes the night’s late hours when an old deaf man is sitting in a café while two waiters are waiting him to leave as they want to close the place and go home....
Introduction The feeling of a personal loss is one of the emotional experiences that transcend all cultures and are easily understood by the members of any cultural environment. Moreover, the concepts of love and loss, as well as those of life and death, transcend not only cultures but time as...
Measuring the literary value of a text is a complex process. The worth of a piece of literature to human civilization is a notion that, for instance, the postmodernist worldview negates, as well as the need for literary idols. Nevertheless, some texts became deeply ingrained in social consciousness as those...
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri is a novel that demonstrates all the difficulties of adapting a person to a new cultural environment, as well as the search for his or her identity. The older generation has its problems because they need to accustom to the differences of the new culture...
Setting The first part of the book focuses mainly on the theme of identity and introducing the characters. The identity of the main character, Poirot, is not presented in the first chapters. Perhaps, the author used this method to emphasize his detective capabilities instead of merely stating his talent. Poirot...
Most Western societies have been predominantly patriarchal for most of history. Gender roles and many societal restrictions bounded women for centuries. Fundamental human rights like voting, abortion, and equal pay had to be fought for. Therefore, it is no wonder why many literary works reflect the unfair reality of gender...
Justin Torres debut novel We are the Animals is a rather excellent book, transforming the cruelness of upbringing and life events into an adventurous journey. Such a combination brought the novel popularity amongst contemporary readers, providing an escape from reality. The story is centered on three brothers whose childhood in...
Fleabag is a British novel that was written by Phoebe Waller-Bridge in 2013. Subsequently, the book was screened in the film of the same name, in which the writer played the primary role. The plot describes Fleabag’s daily life, whose non-trivial behavioral pattern leads to dramatic and comic episodes. A...
The embodiment of the rival for Oedipus is Creon who does not represent the same interpretation that takes place in Sophocles’ Antigone. In Oedipus the King, this character does not want to obtain power and aspires rather a share of it. The chorus reaffirms the reliability of Creon’s words, as...
The plays, Oedipus Rex by Sophocles and Hamlet by William Shakespeare was written centuries apart but they share common themes, specifically that of a tragic hero, as shown by the protagonists in these two chefs-oeuvres. Both Oedipus and Hamlet seek to avenge the death of their fathers, but in the...
Argument The main argument laid out by Freud in The Uncanny is that there is strangeness in the ordinary. Psychoanalysts rarely investigate the subject of aesthetics understood as a feeling of the qualities of feeling. However, the uncanny interested Freud as something belonging to all that is terrible, which arouses...
Kanjincho is one of the most famous plays of the Japanese kabuki theater. The kabuki genre is a classic dance drama; kabuki theater plots usually reveal historical events. Kanjincho story happens in the mid-to-late 12th century; the main characters are Togashi Saemon, the guardian of the gates, Yoshitsune, the emperor’s...
The ways of how a person’s psychological state and attitudes to everyday situations change in response to traumatic experiences, such as war or violence, have been an inspirational topic for multiple generations of writers. “Soldier’s Home,” a short story by Ernest Hemingway, is an excellent example of works that reflect...
Introduction Images of the Scandinavian epic had a significant impact on the European culture of the XIX-XX centuries. R. Wagner created the four operas of “The Ring of the Nibelung,” and J. R. R. Tolkien wrote, “The Silmarillion” based on Old Norse literary works. The popularity of the characters and...
Poetry is a universal language that has always been used by people to express their feelings and emotions. Such concepts as love, devotion, and passion have also been important for all history of humanity. For this reason, regardless of the epoch and time, some similar motifs can be found both...
The activity of civil rights activists was one of the indicative marks of the 20th century, which was largely reflected in the literature. A bias against such themes as culture and conflict appeared, and it is portrayed in Two Kinds and Everyday Use. Both of the stories focuses on culture...
