5956 samples of this type
Introduction Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound combines the literary forms of lyrical drama and poetry to recreate and reanimate a classical mythological story. In the opening episode of the play, Jupiter, Shelley’s symbol of religious and political tyranny, punishes the heroic Prometheus for stealing fire from heaven and giving it...
The research on Owen’s life helps understand the motivation for writing “Dulce et Decorum Est.” Wilfred Owen was born in Shropshire, England, in 1893 (“Wilfred Owen”). As a young adult, he was forced to join the army in 1916 because the WW1 began. Hence, the understanding of Owens’s life journey...
“How To Tell a True War Story” shows the connection between storytelling and the experiences people go through while at war. This story intends to investigate the reality of war stories told by those from Vietnam. The story is narrated from O’Brien’s experience, who acts as a soldier and a...
Set in a village background, Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” illustrates the height of human potential to execute violence, although, it is depicted as ritual practices, tradition, and community order. The story reflects the society of the ancient time, but it has remained relevant even to today’s society. Through the use...
“The Lottery” is a short story by Shirley Jackson, describing the events in an unnamed town where villagers gather for a mysterious annual lottery that ends unexpectedly, tragically, and meaninglessly. “Sonny’s Blues” is a short story by James Baldwin that presents Sonny, a blues musician and heroin addict, and his...
Introduction Walt Whitman was a poet that changed it all for the field of poetry across the United States and beyond its borders. He did not identify himself with any other poet while also conveying the idea that an ideal poet should never stay above anyone else. Walt Whitman’s audacity...
Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American novelist, poet, literary critic, and editor who represented American romanticism, the forerunner of symbolism and decadence. When “with the help of some money raised by his West Point friends, he published Poems by Edgar A. Poe,” he...
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...
Kindred significantly contribute to the character, values, beliefs, identity and status of an individual. When kindred suffer loss due to divorce, illness or death of an individual the impact is felt by others. In Toni Cade Bambara’s short story, “Raymond’s Run,” the protagonist shows how she relates with her brother...
The Lifted Veil is a novella by George Eliot. At the center of the story is Latimer, who is a dying man with an assumed ability to see the future. However, the text allows different interpretations, which imply that he is not a reliable narrator. Understanding how Eliot portrays the...
Overview of the Novel Atlas Shrugged is a novel by Ayn Rand, founder of the liberal philosophy of objectivism. It was her fourth book, the last, and the longest. It was published on 10th October 1957 by Random House Publishers and lies within the science fiction, mystery, and romance genres....
Introduction It is impossible to imagine the world without literature and its advancements. It is so because all peoples create some writing pieces, meaning that this field has many universally acknowledged features. Archetypes are one of them, and Carl Jung developed this term to denote a pattern or model that...
The Iliad is a classic work of literature, which has withstood the test of time and become one of the essential art pieces in human history. In ancient times, scholars have already started to question whether including Book 10, often referred to as the Doloneia, was the right choice. Modern...
Introduction Strong convictions pave the way for great actions. In his play Othello, Shakespeare explores the extent to which characters display strength of conviction when confronted with societal expectations from them by developing ideas around constructs such as objectification of women, prejudiced pride, and warped masculinity. The struggles of the...
This essay will review the book of Graciela Limon ‘Song of the Hummingbird’, which describes the story of the Aztecs’ fall told from the perspective of a Huitzitzilin, a Hummingbird. The main point of the book is in uncovering the similarities and differences of Christian and pagan culture. Moreover, it...
Introduction Scientific fiction constitutes a fictional genre that addresses the effect accrued to imaginative innovation(s) which occur in science/technology, and several times in settings that are futuristic. It is different from fantasy within the story context due to the fact that its component of imagination is to a vast extent...
Shakespeare’s Hamlet has attracted abiding interest due to its aesthetics and the exceptional complexity of the author’s masterpiece. Deep reflections on life and death invariably attract the readers’ attention and push each to their interpretations. Every generation can identify with the problems touched upon in the play. Shakespeare’s work remains...
The short stories “Mericans” by Sandra Cisneros and “In Response to Executive Order 9066: All Americans of Japanese Descent Must Report to Relocation Centers” by Dwight Okita develop a common theme of cultural differences. Specifically, the differences experienced between the American culture and the home cultures of the protagonists. The...
Introduction The Reader, a novel written by Bernhard Schlink, is one of the heartbreaking books in the last 30 years. The author discusses many topics relevant to people born in the 20th century and analyzes one of the worst events during this period, the Holocaust. Topics include first love, male...
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...
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...
Introduction It might be stated that both realism and naturalism played a substantial role in the history of Spanish literature. Hence, the approaches of the founders of these genres are an appropriate theme to discover. It should be mentioned that French authors – such as Balzac and Zola – affected...
Introduction It is hard to disagree that most people like specific genres of books and usually read only them. One of the reasons for that is that texts share certain elements, which make them rather similar but still different. Precisely repetitive narrative elements, including plot, theme, characters, and setting, allow...
In Life in the Iron Mills by Davis (1861), the possible function of mixing two modes of fiction is to highlight the moral importance of the story for readers while making it very real to the audience. Being focused on the truthful representations of life, realism supports the author in...
The human body has always been an important topic for people. Its representation and attitude to it changed throughout the history of humanity, and the literature belonging to different epochs proves it. Writers tried to respond to topical ideas and speak about the topic from different perspectives. One of the...
Hospitality, the relationship between a host and a guest, is one of the most important themes that Homer portrays in his epic “The Odyssey”. In particular, Homer’s work provides excellent examples of how the ancient Greek societies had institutionalized hospitality. Indeed, hospitality was one of the most effective ways of...
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...
Positive Analysis One of the main strengths of the book is the fact that it provides an invaluable insight into Heian Japan and how regular women lived at that time. It is a well-composed historical document in regards to reflecting the lifestyles and interests of both royal family members and...
In the book The Carpenter’s Gift, the author expresses the idea that kind actions do not go unnoticed and make the world better. Rubel (2011) uses symbolism in order to illustrate this suggestion. Symbolism is a literary device when a particular element of the narrative conveys a broader message. In...
The What You Pawn I Will Redeem presents the message of cultural identity through the setting, symbolism, and historical context of the story. Skwiot, E., & Clugston, W. (2019). Journey into literature (3rd ed.). Web. First, the essential reference for this literary analysis is the primary source. What You Pawn...
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...
Introduction Mrs. Hale is the protagonist of Susan Glaspell’s Trifles, and her actions as such constitute the main driving force of the plot. She is involved in both person vs. person and person vs. society conflicts, as she opposes patriarchy on an individual level and then realizes the need for...
In the Poem “The Mother,” the writer Gwendolyn Brooke speaks out on the highly debatable topic of abortion. The second poem, “Disabled” by Wilfred Owen, portrays different kinds of pain – physical and psychological trauma of a young man fighting for Britain in World War One. Both pieces express deep...
Introduction The short horror stories “A Rose for Emily” and “The Yellow Wall-Paper” have similar and different features, which are manifested through the authors’ use of the elements of gothic literature. “A Rose for Emily” is a short story by William Faulkner that was first published in 1930. The story...
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...
Joseph Conrad wrote the “Heart of Darkness” to portray a Congo River journey during colonial times. The “Heart of Darkness” shares themes of oppression and imperialism with “The Epic of Gilgamesh” and “The Tempest.” Oppression can be defined as an act of treating a person with no respect for their...
In The Fall of the House of Usher, the storyteller visits a mansion, which belongs to his sick friend, Roderick Usher. The house is creepy and the narrator feels depressed upon arrival (Poe, 2003). Usher is hypersensitivity to tactile sensations, sound, light, and taste, he needed the writer’s company during...
Robert Frost was a prolific American poet born on March 26, 1874, in San Francisco. Although he holds the absolute record for the number of Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry awarded to a single person, Frost struggled to find any recognition in his early years. In fact, he had to work...
Introduction As one of the most prolific and innovative science fiction writers, Ursula K. Le Guin has definitely left her mark on the landscape of science fiction as a genre. Adding humanity to it and placing the emphasis on societal issues, she revolutionized the sci-fi realm and introduced a range...
Most people would likely agree that preserving one’s cultural heritage is a meaningful and worthy pursuit. However, people also tend to disagree on what is the best way to proceed with it. Maintaining African American cultural legacy features prominently as a theme in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use.” The author uses...
The Greeks are some of the renowned writers who have ever been known. Although most of their works were done in the past, scholars still use their poems up to date. The Greeks seemed to have mastered the art of poetry and tales since the pieces were done in a...
Jennifer Egan’s “The Black Box” has emerged as a unique short science fiction about future citizen espionage. Published in 2012, the story is a bold and triumphant experiment of narrative presented in new media. Besides Egan’s ability to embrace the wide-ranging virtues, forms, and pleasures that accompany traditional storytelling in...
“Dulce et Decorum Est” is a poem written by Wilfred Owen after his experience of fighting in World War I. The title is a Latin clause meaning it is worthy to die for one’s country. However, Wilfred Owen shares the reverse opinion, implying that it is an awful death. Due...
Most literary writers try to achieve realism in their work to reach the hearts of their readers. They use different tools, such as similes, metaphors, characterization, and imagery that may help them sound more realistic. On the contrary, these techniques can create an unrealistic tale depending on the author’s intention....
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...
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...
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...
The House of the Seven Gables is a romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne, an American novelist of the first half of the XIX century. The romance tells the story of the Pyncheon family and the life of the family members in the mansion in the small town in New England. This...
Theodore Roethke is a renowned American writer whose poetry is figurative and melodic. My Papa’s Waltz is one of the most known poems by the poet, and it deals with a moment in a boy’s life. The relationship between the father and the son is the primary theme of the...
The play “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller is a story of a salesman, Willy, who is trapped by his daydreams. The story revolves around flashbacks of Willy’s dreams and reality, which reveal a lot of symbolism about Willy’s failure to fulfill the American dream. In the “Death of...
Ancient Greek plots and motives are commonly reflected in the European literature of the New Age, which makes the heritage of different epochs comparable. One of the plotlines – discovering the reason for the death of a protagonist’s father. One of the aspects frequently discussed in this context is resilience....
Introduction Reading poems can always be a daunting way of studying, but can also be fulfilling. I have had a first-hand experience reading Epic of Gilgamesh as part of my classwork. While it was a generally enjoyable experience, I did make certain mistakes during the action. However, I gained some...
It is believed that childhood is one of the happiest moments in the life of any person. They are protected by their parents and do not have fears or worries. Unfortunately, there are many cases when the situation contradicts the given stereotypes, and children might suffer from various issues. Thus,...
Introduction Inspiration is a normal process in art creation, moreover, one can argue that all art pieces were created as a result of the artist being inspired by other works or by the world around them. The inspiration for the poem “Autumn” was a poem by Robert Frost titled “Nothing...
Sunny’s magical journey is closely related to the Harry Potter books’ plot and its character regarding the heroes and the action. However, the author excellently opens up about African ideas of magic, creating an engaging plot story, and educating on a rich cultural heritage; the following essay will discuss the...
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 The Namesake is a debut novel by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri. Originally, a part of the novel was published in a magazine and only later extended to a full-length novel. It investigates the themes of multiculturalism, self-discovery, and isolation common in the lives of immigrants and their...
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...
The Old Man and the Sea is the last complete work published by Ernest Hemingway, a genius author who won both the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize in a matter of a couple of years. His novella about an old fisherman named Santiago is an example of the masterful...
The Nature of Schooling is an essay addressing the issue of economic inequality and its impact on children’s educational achievements. Entwisle, the author, argues with misinterpretation of the critical studies on the issue that were understood as proof that knowledge is more genetically related than based on environmental factors. She...
Paul Laurence Dunbar was born into a family of former slaves. He is considered the first African-American writer in the United States to be widely known. His poems written in dialect, a folk speech of the American South, were most popular. They reflect all the ambivalence, torment, and contradictions that...
Introduction Writers and artists employ different tools, techniques, and literary devices to pass the intended message to the readers. Individuals should follow such works in an effort to acquire additional insights and relate them to some of the challenges they might encounter in their lives. While analysts and scholars will...
“Skylark,” written by an outstanding Hungarian author Dezso Kosztolanyi, is a novel about the change of one senior couple’s life during the impermanent absence of their unattractive and unmarried daughter. At the same time, this work provides essential information about Hungary, especially its political environment, at the end of the...
Opportunities to convey one’s ideas to society through literature are effective tools that allow not only leaving a personal mark on history but also indicating an individual position on a specific topic or issue. However, when taking into account modern social norms and foundations, not all the categories of the...
The Lottery was written by Shirley Jackson in 1948 and contains many notable themes. It has an exciting plot that, simultaneously, can cause a contradictable sense of averse for the events that take place. It might be rational to suggest that The Lottery is significant and relevant to discuss. The...
Authors often utilize symbols to signify the importance of events, objects, or relationships in their works. Indeed, the majority of the great poetic or literature works use some degree of symbolism to allow readers to visualize the writers’ messages. Correspondingly, in the play Macbeth, Shakespeare uses symbolism to portray the...
Biography Burns’ family was relatively poor, and he had to work at the farm as a child. His father, William Burnes, taught him writing, reading, and arithmetic at home (Crawford 50). Later, he received lessons in French, Latin, and mathematics from John Murdoch, a student hired by his father (Carswell...
Introduction Literature has a unique connection with the real world as, through literary works, writers reflect the complexity of human nature and relations. Especially through a first-person perspective, readers have an opportunity to understand a different mindset and culture better. In particular, in Alexie’s short story What You Pawn I...
‘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...
Oedipus the King by Sophocles and Hamlet by William Shakespeare belong to the most famous tragedies in the world. Even though the creations belong to different historical periods, they have a few common concepts. The ground for this is that both works explore human feelings, actions, and desires and the...
The discussion of the history of Mexican identity in the US is not possible without the mentioning of the Chicano movement. A series “Chicano! A History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement” provides an extensive overview of the movement, and the current paper will address the first episode of...
Introduction Both of the selected stories, Kawai Strong Washburn’s “What the Ocean Eats” and Bryan Stevenson’s “The High Road,” are interesting to read and focus on important topics resorting to one’s emotions and feelings. However, a detailed analysis of the two pieces allows noticing structural differences and making conclusions as...
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...
Representing a strictly patriarchal society, where the rights of women are heavily infringed upon, postcolonial Senegal is one of the places where women suffer particularly harsh injustices. In her semi-autobiographical novel, “So Long a Letter,” Mariama Bâ depicts the struggles of Senegal women in a disturbingly vivid and realistic manner,...
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...
In today’s rational and pragmatic world, interest in mythology is growing and becoming more profound. Myths, like centuries ago, enchant and fascinate, and ancient tales become relevant. Campbell’s work is dedicated to the most frequently encountered mythological plot – the story of a hero, his miraculous birth, deeds, marriage to...
A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen is an interesting play that considers a variety of themes, including morality, law, social standing, and gender equality. However, the central theme of the play – and the one reflected in its name – is marriage. Torvald and Nora appear to be a happy...
Introduction In the middle of the 1900s, the United States of America survived hard times when racism, poverty, and inequality shaped human standards. There are many literary works where authors tried to share their opinions and describe specific situations, conflicts, and lessons. One of them is Sula, a novel written...
The poem Richard Cory by Edwin Arlington Robinson is one of these works which overthrow readers’ expectations. At the very beginning, the main character is presented as a successful and wealthy man who can afford anything he wants. Richard is envied by people he meets every day in the streets...
Introduction People have a tendency to develop various attitudes towards the concepts of honor, respect, and loyalty. On the one hand, an idea of honorable behavior pervades human activities, and it is necessary to rely on personal knowledge and skills to demonstrate the best examples. On the other hand, honor...
The fascination with death, darkness, and moral corruption seems intrinsic to the human experience. Macabre areas of life attract substantial attention, especially in works of fiction – Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” belong to this category. The explanations for the phenomenon could be found...
Introduction The “Odyssey” is an epic poem depicting Odysseus’s ten-year journey after the fall of Troy. The narrative has more than one perspective, following both Odysseus retelling his story and the view of his son, Telemachus. The “Odyssey” is an example of ancient poetry that had a despicable influence on...
The Second World War is usually remembered as a political endeavor intended to promote a specific set of ideals. Personal experiences are often omitted from historical accounts, with many authors focusing on tactical maneuvers and legislative principles. Two books take a different approach when evaluating these events. The first is...
The story of Frankenstein and his creation has been popular for many years. It was a base for movies, and the monster character was included in many other stories. This is not surprising since this monster is ambiguous and arouses many feelings and emotions. Many contradictions exist in this monster,...
Brief and simple in its language, Raymond Carver’s short story Cathedral is packed with imagery and themes that vividly and powerfully depict real life issues. The immediate impressions of the text were that Carver successfully uses an unlikely scenario- a casual interaction between the narrator and a blind man- to...
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...
“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....
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...
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...
Fences written by August Wilson is a play that revolves around the conflict within an African American family that takes place in the year 1957 in Pennsylvania. The play’s title has a metaphorical meaning, and the unfinished fence the audience sees on stage symbolizes the uneasy relationship of the main...
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...
Introduction Jamel Brinkley’s “A Family” starts on a note that immediately raises concerns in the reader. Curtis, a convict who spent twelve years in prison, is discreetly following what appears to be a single mother with a teenage son under the pretext of being interested in the son. The two...
Introduction The Street is a novel by Ann Petry, an AAfrican American writer, whose other famous works include novels Country Place and The Narrows. The Street was first published in 1946 and sold more than a million copies. The main character of the novel, Lutie Johnson, decides to build a...
Introduction Candide, ou l’Optimisme is an 18th-century novel written by Voltaire, the French philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment. Focused on the story of a young man named Candide who was taught by his tutor, Professor Pangloss, in the spirit of Leibnizian optimism, it satirizes religion, the optimistic beliefs of...
Poems “We Old Dudes” by Joan Murray and “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks are going to be the primary focus of this essay. It might be easy to draw comparisons between the pieces as the poem by Murray derives its leading themes and literary elements from “We Real Cool.”...
The importance of love and affection in literature is permanently reinforced by secondary ideas that emphasize the eternal influence of higher feelings on the human race. The idea of pure love has been investigated by many authors, and Shakespeare’s Othello and Kalidasa’s Shakuntala may be considered rather similar in terms...
The European colonists dominated over the Africans by disempowering them by introducing religious ideas that openly challenged their beliefs from an outside perspective. These white settlers managed to cause conflicts between those who are learned and then plant in those new Christian ideas. They also established a government that harassed...
Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery,” starts jovial and seemingly happy, with the population of a village gathering for the titular event. The event is annual, and the name describes it accurately, with it consisting of the drawing of lots by every resident of the town. However, as the process...
The poem I chose for this essay is “The Man He Killed” by Thomas Hardy. It was written in 1902, and published at the time of the Second Boer War between the British Empire and combined forces of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State. The poem examines...
Love of the parents tends to be appreciated after a long period of time, sometimes when it is too late. Those Winter Sundays is a poem by Robert Hayden, in which he describes the relationship between a father and his son. The writing is made from the son’s perspective, where...
Summary On November 13, 2001, a group of three police officers, Ed Volz, Bill Jarmon, and Charlie Pudwill, watch a well-concealed scuba diving boat at the Puget Sound in the Pacific Northwest. All there are serving in the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, mainly investigating the cases of sea...
“The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” is a story about an octogenarian lady named Granny Weatherall. The woman suffers from a fatal disease and the whole narrative describes the process of her dying. The author of the story, Katherine Anne Porter, covers the topics of the strength of women, the dichotomy...
For my literary research paper, I am going to write about “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin. Analyzing this story, I will focus on the characters of two brothers: the narrator and Sonny, and their conflicts. Both brothers lived two completely different lifestyles and yet they both feel spiritually trapped. I...
Fat girl is a non-fiction novel based on the abusive life of a young girl who is obese for as long as she can remember. She is mentally and physically abused by her mother and grandmother and her body size is one of the reasons why she faces constant and...
Introduction Dawn Powell’s play “Big Night” portrays controversial relationships both within a particular family and in society in general. The author uncovers the sad but true reversal of values in 1930s America, when love, friendship, kindness, and other aspects of ordinary life were replaced by the desire to make a...
Over the years of its existence, Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” may have lost its edge as a horror novel, yet it has entered the pantheon of horror classics due to the unique nature of its conflict. On the one hand, the story of an insane scientist trying to play God and...
The poem Howl by Allen Ginsberg was written in a highly peculiar period of the Beat Generation. The latter was comprised of a number of authors who reevaluated the established norms of society and adhered to non-conformism. Allen himself was highly opposed to repression, exploitation, and capitalism because he perceived...
Introduction The two stories created by Amy Tan and Alice Walker depict the similar paths of girls that explore their heritage. Both characters have their concerns regarding the history of their families that are initiated from different parts of the world. Girls go through the process of evaluation of their...
Run by Ann Patchett is a piece of fiction writing. The book deals with the life of an American family of a former mayor of Boston, Bernard Doyle, who recently lost his wife, Bernadette. Ann Patchett has chosen a very symbolic title for the novel, Run, for all the characters...
Introduction In the novel “Night” the protagonist, Eliezer, is a Jew, who lives in Sighet. He is a devoted believer who studies Holy Scriptures such as Torah and Cabbala. Unfortunately, the Nazi militants terminate his religious studies when they deport his instructor, Moshe. The story is set during the infamous...
Introduction ‘Night’ is an autobiographical story written by Wiesel Elie. The short story details the plight of a Jewish family during the holocaust. In the course of World War 2, the Nazi regime under Adolf Hitler unleashed unimaginable and horrifying atrocities against members of the Jewish community living in Germany...
A complex plot with a sophisticated system of characters. Shakespeare’s work Henry ΙV part Ι is considered to be the greatest historical play. A complex plot with a sophisticated system of characters has become the subject of the research of many scholars. Two worlds come into collision in the play...
Robert Frost’s “Birches” is one of the most widely appreciated poems. It is a fine example of the poet’s power to fuse observation and imagination. Frost belongs to the pastoral tradition. Most of his poems reveal the beautiful countryside of New England. They also express the national spirit of America....
Introduction The book, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is the work of Harriet A Jacobs. In this sentimental work that with sheer plain language manages to bring out the life of slaves in the slave-holding Southern states of the United States of America, Harriet has managed to...
No one wants to die. Understanding this fact is what enables a connection between seemingly opposite human viewpoints. Taking this extreme into consideration is most important now in struggles with the environment, because these struggles mean life or death for generations to come. “A study published in the journal Science...
Introduction The family has remained as the only functional unit of the society where children can get love, guidance and acceptance. However, parents who are supposed to give guidance to children have neglected this role leaving young people with the only option of learning from their peers. In fact, many...
As it is well-known nowadays, a special artistic technique is meant under the term “defamiliarization”. Its main meaning is that the audience is forced to perceive the suggested things and actions from a distance, in an unfamiliar way, as if they were strangers there. The technique is aimed at the...
First passage In this passage Wariinga who is the main protagonist in this play talks about her material and emotional problems. In this case, it can be argued that Wariinga had been abandoned by her lover, which resulted in her emotional problems. From the passage, it can be argued that...
Introduction In 1739 a slave revolt took place in South Carolina. It is referred to as the Stono Rebellion or the Catos Rebellion. It is not clear what actually triggered the rebellion by the slaves in South Carolina. On the fateful day of 29 September 1739, the slaves in South...
In the story Barn Burning by William Faulkner and in the poem Nighttime Fires By Regina Barreca we encounter fathers who react to their situation using fires. Their need for revenge against society affects their families as they become involved. The fathers are disappointed by society and fire helps them...
Love has many faces, and each aesthetic work presents it in its way. Still, a narration about love’s nature is endless as long as people are unable to word it; it is an infinite way of cognition that often sets its own rules. Homer’s famous character, Odysseus had to pass...
In the novel In His Steps, Charles M. Sheldon explores the problems in society by observing the city of Raymond through the eyes of different characters. Sheldon’s goal was to “urge Christians to join forces to ameliorate social ills” (Smith 114). This essay examines the characters’ thoughts on Raymond. The...
Introduction Ever since Freud’s methodology of psychoanalysis has gained an academic validity, during the first part of twentieth century, it became possible for psychiatrists to get an insight onto the actual roots of their clients’ mental anxieties, which were revealed as such that reside deep in people’s subconsciousness. In its...
Literature has often been described as the representation of human life and his social, cultural, religious and ethical backgrounds. One can consider Macbeth, as a Shakespearean play and Tess of the D’Urbervilles, as a Hadrian novel. Literary works of most of the writers demonstrate various identity based concepts such as...
The Invisible Heart: By Robert Russel The book combines fiction and economic realities found within society. It combines Romance and ideas of economics. The author uses the book to radiate economic polemic in the form of an imaginary tale. The whole book is about a romance story that is intertwined...
Bonnie George Campbell is a very good child ballade that you actually do not understand when at childhood so deeply and thoroughly as you do when being a grown-up. Partially, because there are those words you do not understand and partially because adults apply more personal life experience. Overall, it...
Tom Wolf in his book ‘The Right Stuff’ 1979 attempts to talk about the commitment of the pilots in US postwar research with the experimental speed-planes. The title, The Right Stuff dwells around the idea of having the right stuff. Wolfe also documents the tales of the initial development of...
Introduction By portraying the relationship between a young white boy {Huck} and a black slave {Jim} – a relationship that sees the racially prejudiced suspicion of the former dissolve and replaced by a warm friendship with the black slave – Mark Twain does well to depict the gross injustice of...
This story commences in Manhattan at the beginning of the 17th century but it is written from Paris. It is a very interesting story talking about an American setting with American characters. It has several themes including family betrayal, deception, truth, and imagination, and family domesticity among others. However, the...
Introduction Elizabeth Bishop has often been portrayed as being detached from her poetry, partly because she often takes an exterior view. However, this is merely her artist’s eye coming through as she uses very co0ncrete imagery to convey her meaning and expects the reader to create most of the message....
William Faulkner is often considered as one of the most widely accepted writers in English literature. Faulkner’s story ‘A Rose for Emily’ explains the story of Emily Grierson. Emily Grierson is a strong woman with a great sense of tradition and a very dynamic character. The final paragraph of Faulkner’s...
In his article “The Beggar’s Opera as Opera and Anti-Opera,” critic Peter Lewis first analyzes the title of John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera as something that was not originally intended to be an actual opera in the traditional sense of the word. In making this claim, Lewis is largely in...
The poem dramatizes the conflict between nature and the worldly activities, Frost places emphasis on natural things and reinforces his point that natural things are much better and beautiful than the worldly things. The poem is extremely well written and it is written in monosyllables throughout. Lines like “My little...
What is the place of a woman in modern society? Should a woman be a classical housewife and the ‘mother of the family’ or a modern independent businesswoman with a strong position in the so-called ‘men’s world’? Today we have a right to choose. Today we have equal rights and...
Early American Poetry Poetic tradition in America followed that in Britain for nearly 200 years. The Puritan poets, like Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor, likened their work to the British metaphysical poets, and followed in the footsteps of Milton, Spenser and Donne, among others. Their poetry was highly didactic, mostly...
A crucial mechanism for survival in the black community’s struggle The “substance of things hoped for” is a crucial mechanism for survival in the black community’s struggle because it is extremely important not only to dream about freedom and prosperity but to follow the dream and embody the plans and...
Introduction A Rose for Emily is one of the shortest stories by William Faulkner and it tells the tale of a woman named Miss Emily Grierson living in the southern parts of the country with its depleting social structure. The author narrates his story from the point of view of...
Criticizing and evaluating a particular literary work is not an easy task. In doing so, the analysis of such works is addressed toward the reader to whom this work might be interesting. In that sense, such an evaluation is rarely done by the author of the work, where the author...
Introduction William Faulkner (1897-1962) is one of America’s favorite authors. Before his death in 1962, he was able to produce 26 books and a difficult to count number of short stories. His tales were full of such character and artistry that he has become recognized as a giant in world...
Socrates was a Greek Philosopher who has been credited with founding Western Philosophy. He exists in history as a mysterious figure that is only known through the accounts of other people. There are no philosophical texts written by Socrates himself. His life, knowledge, and philosophy are found in the writings...
Science fiction is successful enough to convey the message that human behavior changes under political and scientific changes. It is important to note that most of these changes are not very encouraging. Human beings lose all the considerate thoughts for their fellow beings and turn into inhuman beasts ready to...
Life is created in such a way, that people should always make decisions. The decision making process has penetrated in people’s life so much that it is we do not always get that we are making decisions. The process of decision making may be perfectly followed in the works of...
In the scope of classical literature, the writings of Francois Voltaire occupy a prominent position. Voltaire’s renowned shrewd outlook and sober judgment found reflection in his famous satire Candide, or Optimism – a book which, met with a scandal immediately after publication, has enjoyed great popularity for centuries due to...
Introduction When stories about Ilia Muromets, Dobrinya Nikitich, and Alyosha Popovich were told in Kievan Rus’ – the Slavic nation was dominated by the mighty city of Kyiv (modern Ukraine) from the ninth until the twelfth century. At this time old English poetry, or as it also called Anglo-Saxon was...
Tim O’Brien’s short story, “The Things They Carried,” begins as a highly literal enumeration of objects soldiers in Vietnam carry, each thing valued not only for its utility but also according to its weight because every object has to be “humped” and therefore each soldier eliminates whatever is not needed,...
Hemingway’s “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” is very simple story. An old man, aged about eighty years, tries to spend his night by drinking brandy in a Spanish café, but the young waiter becomes impatient, as he wants to join his wife at home and enjoy a sound sleep. At the...
Literature is the means of expressing the feelings and emotions that human being perceive during their lives. It is the form of art that allows people depict the most tragic and the most joyful events in their life, the most necessary and dangerous experiences, etc. The significant occurrences in the...
Every literary genre is unique and marvelous in its way, but the genre of drama stands apart from other genres of literature, as it possesses certain features that are characteristic for it only. These characteristic features of drama will be analyzed in this work using the example of an outstanding...
