The Maintenance of Solidarity in Ousmanes’ “God’s Bits of Wood”

Introduction “God’s Bits of Wood” is a book that was released in 1960 just when Senegal had achieved independence. This probably has a historical significance i.e. a strong theme that stresses on unity is emphasized probably because of its importance by then, specifically so when it come towards building the...

“On Liberty” by John Stuart Mill

Introduction In his work, an English philosopher John Stuart Mill (1869), emphasizes the importance of individuality within any public system. Chapters II and III of his book became the parts of the collection of short essays that were edited by Roca and Schuh (2015). The chapters focus upon the role...

Themes Raised in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Frankenstein is a novel written by British author Mary Shelley in 1818. The novel describes the story of a young gifted scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who created a living creature as an unorthodox experiment. Frankensteins creation occurred to be hideous and, therefore, rejected by the scientist and humanity (Shelley 28). This...

Wiesel Elie “Night”: Eliezer’s Lost Childhood

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...

Disgrace’ by J.M. Coetzee: Novel Review

Introduction The novel Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee is a fascinating snapshot of post-apartheid South Africa. The main character is David Lurie, an aging scholar of literature and languages, who has passed his prime, and lives in Cape Town, busying himself with earning a living and satisfying his sexual appetites. One...

“Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Hurston

Their Eyes Were Watching God is the story of people who failed to be up to the image and likeness of God the humankind has been created after. Janie Crawford is the protagonist of the novel. Ever since her grandmother arranged 16 years old Janie’s marriage the latter succumbs to...

Research the Travel Literature

Introduction Travel literature is a comprehensive genre that includes various categories, and one of the most popular is travel memoirs. Such works have been widely disseminated among readers who are interested in traveling to exotic countries. Two striking examples of this genre are presented in this work. They both describe...

Objectivism in “Anthem” Novella by Ayn Rand

The novella Anthem by Ayn Rand describes the dystopian strange world, where everything is subdued to the wills of the society. There is no place for personal interests or for your own feelings. The society is of the main priority and no one is allowed to go against it. The...

“Tartuffe” and “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”: Family Dysfunction

Introduction The story “Tartuffe” and “The death of Ivan Ilyich” have expansive themes, which touch on various issues and aspects of society. They expose the evil in unexpected places in society, including evil in religion and within families, where people should love and protect one another besides staying loyal to...

Autobiographical Opus “Night” by Elie Wiesel

It is difficult to imagine how terrible is the pain that people who have survived Holocaust have in their hearts and soul. Some people decided to publicly share their experiences to let the world know that Nazism is a terrible ‘cancerous growth’ that should never happen in the history of...

Nature and Landscapes in S. T. Plaatje’s Mhudi

The issues of ethnic identity and integrity can be discussed as related to Africa of the nineteenth century because of the complex interrelations of European Imperialism and African Nationalism. Solomon Tsekhisho Plaatje is one of the writers who tend to take the varnish off different conflicts that took place in...

Postmodern Ideas and Realism in Works of Fiction

Introduction Postmodernism is a broad academic term that came into the limelight in the mid- 1980s. It refers to certain aspects of works on different disciplines done after the Second World War. The works vary from: music, literature, fashion, art, communication, technology, architecture, and sociology among others (Caughie, 196). Post...

The Struggles of James Baldwin’s Sonny

Suffering initially divides the brothers People have different ways of reacting to the same thing. Some people just simply seem better conditioned to deal with a life of oppression and difficulty than other people. This can be seen in the characters in James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues.” The two main characters,...

The American Dream in “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan

Introduction Literature is one of the greatest ways through which important messages are passed to millions of people all over the world. The audience may be fascinated by the title of a story or novel and decide to buy it while another may be interested in reading anything that will...

The Habit of “Disgrace” by John Maxwell Coetzee

John Maxwell Coetzee is considered one of the most prominent contemporary novelists. His literary talent facilitated the South African writer’s worldwide recognition and won him the Booker Prize and Nobel Prize in literature. Coetzee is the author of numerous remarkable novels such as “Life and Times of Michael T”, “Waiting...

Works by Carl Sandburg and Robert Frost Review

The first two poems are good pieces written by Carl Sandburg. The First poem is titled “A Fence” and the second one “Onion Days”. The third poem is a very interesting piece by Robert Frost titled “Mending Wall”. The three poems have apt language of metaphorical compositions. The themes in...

Martin Luther King, “Letter From Birmingham Jail”

Introduction In the late 1950s and the early 1960s, Birmingham, Alabama, was notorious for the harsh segregation policy against black people. In 1963, the Civil Rights Movement started a non-violent campaign to protest against the coeval discriminatory laws. Peaceful marches, sit-ins, and boycotts on segregationist merchants took place in Spring,...

Analysis of John Falstaff in the Works of Shakespeare

John Falstaff, a common character in Shakespeare’s literary work perhaps by far bonds with the readers than any character. Falstaff’s ability to make us laugh at him and with him, his self observance, his frankness even in dishonesty, his lack of loyalty , his sense of determination and his enduring...

“Uncle Tom’s Cabin”: A Very Important Tool of Antislavery

Introduction According to American history, Harriet Beecher Stowe was an abolitionist and an American author. She lived during the Ohio period at Cincinnati which was across the river from where the slave trade took place. Therefore she got first-hand information on the slave trade. These incidences galvanized her to write...

“Military Rule in America” by Karen L. Remmer: Book Review

Introduction The book Military Rule in America is a historic book written by Karen L. Remmer. It talks about the type of government that was present in Southern America, in the 20th Century. The author aimed to pass a message to leaders who believe in a dictatorial type of leadership...

Feminism in Kate Chopin’s Book “The Story of an Hour”

Introduction “The Story of an Hour” is filled with twists, turns, and captures the reader’s attention from the on-set. Kate Chopin goes on to show that women at the time lived for their husbands and they existed solely to fulfil their husbands’ dreams. Twenty-first century critics would find a lot...

“American Leviathan: Empire, Nation, and Revolutionary” by P. Griffin

Introduction This paper is a critical essay of the book American Leviathan: Empire, Nation, and Revolutionary Frontier (2007) and the reviews on it. In the book, Patrick Griffin studies the life of the Ohio River Valley from the 1760s to 1790. The author shows the war from the Hobbesian point...

Enlightenment: Andrew Miller’s Novel “Indigenous Pain”

Introduction The world’s existence is established on philosophical foundations that influence world trends and actions. These trends determine the common outlook and interpretation of social and scientific phenomena. Societies take positions under the influence of prevailing philosophical ideals. These philosophical ideals imply that a society ascribes its values and standards...

Prior’s War Neurosis in The Ghost Road by Pat Barker

It often happens that people’s past has its pernicious and destructive influence on their present preventing them from being healed from received injures especially the mental ones. This problem is described in a famous trilogy by Pat Barker. The trilogy speaks about the life of military people during the First...

“Yellow Wallpapers” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The Yellow Wallpaper is a book narrated first-person point of view (Perkins, 2010). It is about a young woman who is mentally disturbed and hence depicts a true-life story of the writers’ experience. She is strongly against the domination of men over their wives. They do not see them as...

“The Bluest Eye” by Morrison

The Bluest Eye is a novel that is centrally anchored on the theme of race relations. It highlights the psychological and subconscious tensions that work through the lives of African Americans which create conflicts of identity that haunt them in their entire lives. Although the desire to improve the African...

Native Americans in the United States: Literature Review

What you Pawn I Will Redeem The narrator of the story by Sherman Alexie is a homeless man Jackson Jackson, a very unusual person with a generous heart, an “After Columbus Arrived Indian” (Perkins 402). He is a heavy drinking homeless Indian man, with bad health, leading a destructive lifestyle;...

Merton McLaurin’s “Celia, A Slave” Book Analysis

In the book Celia, A Slave by Merton McLaurin the question of slavery and oppression of women is raised. The laws of the land do not protect the women against atrocities committed against them in this patriarchal society. The book is set during the slavery era in America. Therefore, McLaurin...

American and Asian American Literature Debate

Over the years racial discrimination in the United States of America has been an issue of burning debates. Although commonly an African – American issue, Asian Americans were able to develop the rich heritage of their community in order to make themselves known. Provided that Asian Americans have been suffering...

Hero’s Transformation in Ancient Literature

Researchers of classical mythology and the eminent literary figures have often mentioned the fact that ancient mythologies explore the adventurous journey of an epic hero through the social, cultural, and political history of a particular nation. Homer’s lliad exhibits the adventurous journey of the mythical hero Achilles; in which the...

“Night” by Elie Wiesel: Struggle to Keep Faith in God

When under serious pressure of life whoever is not broken? Whoever is not shaken, embarrassed and confused? Who will be able to save one’s spiritual heart from a “shipwreck of faith” which is described by Apostle Paul in his writings to the first century Christians? Sort of a “shipwreck of...

Love vs Fear: The Song of Roland and Hamlet

In the substantial space, there are only two emotions that exist, love and fear, and all the other sentiments are just distinctions of the above mentioned. Such sentiments are like high opinion, conformity, and being acquiescent. To set in motion with love is a sentiment based on knowing that everything...

“Night” by Elie Wiesel: Eliezer’s Lost Childhood and the Image in the Mirror

Sad circumstances in life… always leave deep wounds on people’s hearts and may change the entire personality of any individual. This is the very situation that has happened to Eliezer, the main protagonist of “Night” book by Elie Wiesel which represents the author himself. In the final scene, we learn...

“A Door into Ocean” by Joan Slonczewski: Human Cultures Collide

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...

Gregor is a Symbol in the Metamorphosis by Kafka

“One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that in bed hr had been changed into a monstrous verminous bug” (Kafka 1). This is nonsensical! Kafka uses this ‘metamorphosis’ scene symbolically to achieve some assorted themes of the story. To understand why Kafka uses Gregor...

“Schoolsville” by Billy Collins Review

“Schoolsville” is one of the most popular Billy Collin’s poems. This poem touches upon the theme of the boundaries between reality and unreality. Reading this poem firstly I had thought that it presents the memories of old teacher about his pupils but the last two verses confused me and made...

The “Night” Novel by Wiesel Review

Wiesel’s intention in writing the novel ‘Night’ was to give a testimony of the horrors that took place during the Holocaust; consequently, the themes from the book reflect these intentions. Themes in the night When Elie was a young boy, he grew up in a sheltered environment where he assumed...

Main Characteristics of a Knight

Introduction The story of the song of Roland is an old one that portrays the struggle between evil and good. This is clearly seen between the Christian franks led by Charlemagne who represents good and Gods will while Muslim Saracens representing pure evil. Main Body In this story, Roland is...

Mythology in Relation to Historic Events

Mythology is a term derived from Greek and can be broken into two terms, “mythos” which means narrative and logos which relates to speech or in other terms; argument. Mythology can then be defined as the act of studying myths, which are stories that are held to be true by...

Oral Histories of China’s Revolution by Jicai Feng

The book Ten Years of Madness: Oral Histories of China’s Cultural Revolution by Jicai Feng depicts political situation in China during the period of 1966-1976. The author presents information about the decade in the form of interviews (the book contains about 100 of them). This form of narration both demonstrates...

Oban on Native American Indian Culture and Values

Overview This story revolves around a beautiful girl from a native Indian American village and her encounter with the bear people. Throughout the story, the traditional believes that native Indians held about bears are clearly articulated. The bear has always been part of Native American Indian culture and mythology. Native...

“Secret Agent” by Conrad and “Cocaine Nights” by Ballard: Comparison

Most of the movements in art and literature were based on the negation of the principles and beliefs of the previous periods. At the beginning of the twentieth century, modernists contrasted their aesthetics to the principles and views of nineteenth-century realists. In the second half of the twentieth century, postmodernists...

Stono Revolt Literature Review

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...

Fathers in Faulkner’s Barn Burning and Barreca’s Nighttime Fires Comparison

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...

Barn Burning by Faulkner: Symbols & Setting Analysis

In the story Barn Burning by Faulkner, we first encounter Mr. Snopes in a courthouse. He is accused of burning Mr. Harris’ barn. The justice of the court tells Mr. Harris to prove his allegations but he is unable to do so because Mr. Snopes is cunning and does not...

Dichotomy in “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” Poem

The dichotomy is the division of opinions that are contradicting in their meanings and application. The poem sir Gawain and the Green Knight is about testing the morals that people uphold. The poem revolves around Gawain and the Green Knight. The Green Knight is the challenger who puts sir Gawain...

“The Odyssey” Analysis by Richard P. Martin

Odyssey is a Greek poem attributed to Homer; and is an essential aspect within the contemporary western principle. In this epic Odysseus had traveled to fight the Trojan War and due to his return, suitors tried to convince his wife Penelope that he had died in the war so that...

Human Relations: “Mending Wall” and “A Fance an Onion”

The problem of human relations to each other has been reinforced in literature from the beginning of the twentieth century. More and more literary works manifest the idea of the “raising wall” among the people. The conception of separatism has gained force within the last 100 years. Sociologists believe that...

Plays: The Works of Sophocles and Lorca

English literature is presented by numerous writers and poets, which present their pieces of work on different topics and various styles. Those books, that describe certain periods in history are of greater interest among the readers, as they give complete imagination of the period that is known only from history....

Trojan War: Change in Tactics and Outcome

One of the highlights of Greek mythology is the Trojan War described in the pages of The Iliad and The Odyssey, along with many pieces of Greek literature. The battle was fought between the Greeks and the Trojans. A lot of kingdoms took part in the war and supported Sparta,...

Tragedy in Oedipus the King by Sophocles

Introduction The ancient Greeks were well-known for their tragedies. These tragedies played a big role in the process of carrying out investigations about the nature of man and the position man held in the world and also the powers that served to control man’s life. Tragedy in most cases involves...

Theme in Thomas’ Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

Dylan Thomas was a master of the form, and the poem Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night is a wonderfully powerful villanelle. Each line builds upon the previous and the power grows like successive waves upon a lake. The rhyme scheme and the metaphors create an image that...

Song Lyrics: “Animals Versus the Flea” by Donne

Introduction Contemporary art is what amazes sophisticated viewers and readers a lot. As such, it is remarkable to dive into the past centuries’ creative works in order o see how everything has changed since then. Taking poems of John Donne The Flea and Nickelback’s Animals would be a nice example...

Erotic in S. Jackson, B. Harris, and R. Stokes

The erotic is meant to be a source of power for females. Through this power, they are supposed to lead normal and comfortable lives in society. What does the word “normal” mean in the context of the lives in society today? In the male-dominated world, normal life for a woman...

A Valediction: “Forbidding Mourning” by John Donne

The metaphysical poet John Donne is one of those poets that are deservedly called the pre-eminent and prolific masters of poetry. His poem called A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning written in 1611 was a wonderful reflection of the seventeenth-century metaphysical poetry features. The title of the poem seems very intriguing. The...

Alcoholism Treatment in “Charming Billy” by McDermott

Alcoholism refers to the prolonged and uncontrollable use of alcoholic drinks which results in addiction and in effect severe health and social consequences. Billy Lynch is a character from Charming Billy and is the focus of the novel. Billy is an Irish migrant who lives in New York just like...

“A&P” by John Updike

A & P written by John Updike is a short story of a teenaged boy of 19 named Sammy who worked at a local grocery store called A&P. Sammy relates in first person the three young girls in swimsuits who entered the store. He appraises them sexually, until the manager...

Lysistrata and Medea: The Women That Were Born to Rule

Some people say that men are born to rule, while women must stay at home and raise children. Even nowadays, this idea is very popular with a lot of people, mostly men, but some women as well. However, women’s role in the society has been well discussed and grounded enough...

Character’s Identity in Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles

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...

Shakespeare as the Genius of European and World Literature

Shakespeare is the legend of all world literature and the leader among English Renaissance literature. He was a gifted man of the people who came to the capital and in a few years became the largest literary and theatrical value. He made a new impact in the knowledge of reality,...

Writing About the Past

When it comes to discussing the representations of the past in the works of literature, many critics assume that how authors go about retelling their memories simply reflects the creative subtleties of their psyche. And, it goes without saying, of course, that addressing the subject matter from this perspective would...

“Adventures of Huckleberry” by Mark Twain: Facts and Fiction

In Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, fact and fiction are two concepts well stated. The novel’s main theme is the racial relationship among people of a different race. Writing hilariously, Mark Twain is able to bring out the contrast of fiction from the fact in the real...

Features of Poetry and Poetic Language

Though humans are known as the social beings, very often some individuals feel strangeness and uncertainty even being surrounded by the closest people. Such uncertainty can be a result of numerous social or personal phenomena and events. The short story Solder’s Story by Ernest Hemingway depicts the life of the...

The Inkspell and Its Relation to Inkheart

Inkspell previously referred to as Tintenblut, is a junior adult novel authored by Cornelia Funke. It received a book of the year recognition under the children’s literature category in 2006, therefore was referred to as the 2006 book sense. This book is the second in the ink world trilogy after...

American Literature in the Past 50 Years

Introduction In exploring American literature over the past 50 years, it seems relatively clear that the literature has progressively become more optimistic in general, perhaps because of the many voices it is now able to incorporate, even as it retains high literary standards. While literature in the earlier periods was...

Snow in August by Pete Hamill

Marketing management is a management discipline that encompasses fields such as strategic planning as well as other processes involved in achieving the objectives of an organization through delivery of quality values to customers. The main focus is aimed satisfying the requirements of the customers. It begins with market research through...

Language of “Everyday Use” Story by Alice Walker

The short story Everyday Use (1974) by Alice Walker is a representation of earlier works by the author. In fact, the story is about the hardships of African American women in everyday life. It is about the milestones of heritage and ancestry that is implied in terms of African American...

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot

According to the book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks’ by Rebecca Skloot” Henrietta lacks who was a poor lady that was serving in a southern tobacco farm. Here she served as a farmer just like her slave ancestors. On Henrietta being diagnosed with cancer, shortly after her death the...

Bartimaeus “An Oasis” by Jonathan Strowd

The meaning of the notion “blindness” may be interpreted literary, as a physical defect of a person, but its figurative meaning is more interesting as it finds its realization in Mark 10: 46-52. The pisode narrates about the healing of the blind beggar named Bartimaeus, who was sitting “by the...

‘The Right Stuff’ Book by Tom Wolfe

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...

Works of William Carlos William

William Carlos William was both a doctor and writer. He has written poems, drama, as well as short stories. In all his writings, he employed a critical approach when addressing various issues. This essay looks into some of the critical aspects that he tackled in some of his works. One...

The Metaphor of Piece in “The Author to Her Book” by Anne Bradstreet

The author, Anne Bradstreet, who is a Puritanical woman from the 17th century, views her literary work of art as a child being born. The metaphor of the piece as a child being conceived and nurtured is the overwhelming image of this poem. It is in keeping with the author’s...

Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and American Society

Handmaid’s Tale is a novel that is set in the year 2195, it is written by Margret Atwood. The society in the novel refers to a lot of examples from the Pre- Gilead era. The main character Offred encounters several challenges that are revealed in the epilogue by Professor Pieixoto....

Ambrose Bierce and Henry James Works Comparison

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce is rather a short story originally published in 1890. The primary characteristic of the story is irregular time spacing and unclear ending. By the end of the story, the reader does not have an understanding of what has really happened with...

“A Moment’s Decision” by Glynn Sharpe Review

A setting is a very important element of any literature work. Not only does it describe a place where the action occurs, but it also helps the author to describe his emotions, vision of the action described and his attitude to it. It is interesting to analyze how in A...

“Washington Square” Book by Henry James

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...

Bailey Jon and Burch Mary “How Dogs Learn”

There is much written on the issue of “how to train Dogs”; but there are questions and problems addressed better in this book than in any other book on the same. This review is an analysis of how useful this book is in the practice of Dog training. The book...

The Last Soviet Generation: Term Definition

Introduction It now became a commonplace practice among political scientists to refer to seventy years of Soviet Union’s geopolitical existence within methodological framework ‘totalitarianism vs. democracy’. Nevertheless, people who were born and raised in USSR (especially the representatives of Soviet last generation) would strongly disagree with suggestions that, while living...

R. W. Emerson and N. Hawthorne: Human Nature

Introduction People are different with a view to their intellect and abilities, features and appearance, beliefs and views. Some people have good intentions and make good actions; other people do not seem to be good at all. Nevertheless, good and bad actions and even thoughts can be argued; it is...

Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream’: A Speech That Shaped History

The book I have a dream: Martin Luther King and the Future of Multicultural America by Echols analyses and evaluates the racial relations in American and a unique vision of America by King described in his speech, I have a dream. The first part of the book descries his attitudes...

Discoveries of Other Characters in Three Novels

Introduction Microserfs,a novel by Douglas Coupland is full of interesting characters. These characters have different traits but they are connected by their fascination with the computing world. Daniel Underwood, who is arguably the lead character in the novel, comes to the conclusion that there is life beyond computers. He therefore...

“One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” by Solzhenitsyn

The novel ‘One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich’ written by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is considered to be a prominent work of Russian literature dedicated to the disclosure of life in Soviet labor camp experienced by the protagonist Ivan Denisovich. It is necessary to underline the fact that the author...

“The Bustle in a House” by Emily Dickinson

It is hard to lose a loved one. My father passed away 15 years ago and he died in front of me. What can a person do to cope? No one is prepared for an event as tragic as that. No amount of study and knowledge acquisition can steel the...

“The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell Analysis

Richard Connell, a revered novelist and playwright, is the author of the short story, “The Most Dangerous Game” which has proved to be a literal masterpiece. Its first edition was published in 1924 by Collier’s Weekly but since then the book has on various occasions been anthologized to symbolize a...

Africa’s Role for African Americans in Literature

According to Countee Cullen, Africa means home to African Americans because it is a continent where they would not be discriminated against because of their color. Africa means the awakening of the African Americans after being oppressed for such a long time when they were working as slaves in America....

Freedom and Enslavement in Literature

Freedom and enslavement are patterns adopted in the literature that rarely hinders the expressive manner of writers. The conventions that govern the presentation of works like poetry and anthology are not limited to one style or literary appreciation method. The writer moves beyond the unknown. A social world with no...

J. Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility” Review

The novel Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austin depicts love relations through the lens of the 19th-century ideology and social philosophy of life. To some extent, Austin idealizes love and romantic feelings portraying passion and pre-marriage arrangements. The plot of Sense and Sensibility develops through a set of sub-elements, both...

Ancient Traditions: St. Paul, St. Augustine, Virgil

There is no denial that works of literature, cultures and beliefs of different nations are interconnected and interrelated. Moreover, every new narrative or piece of art created by a human is based on previous traditions and consequently establishes the foundation for further development. In this paper, I am going to...

Love and Loneliness in the Works of R. Carver and B. A. Mason

Introduction Raymond Carver is considered one of the very few contemporary writers who concentrated mainly on short stories and poems. According to many, Raymond revived a dying profession of literature. His literary works are mainly characterized by middle-class characters. Because he mainly wrote on love and loneliness, Raymond was believed...

“The Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne: Symbolism

Introduction Nathaniel Hawthorne was an outstanding writer of the 17th century and produced several works that took a reasonable place in the world’s classical literature. Judging from the example of his writing piece such as “Young Goodman Brown” one can state that his creative activity was distinguished with thoughtfulness and...

Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” Review

Hills like white elephants, is a sort story written by Ernest Hemingway. It is an important piece of Ernest’s work from his second collection of short stories Men without women. Hills like white elephants could be tagged as one of the best writings by Earnest’s. What makes Ernest’s Hills like...

Kakinomoto Hitomaro’s Poems 29 and 30

Conveying the feelings of poets, their works reflect not only the life of the poets’ souls but the state of the culture at a certain period of time. Poems by Kakinomoto Hitomaro included in Man’yoshu implement all the main theoretical achievements of Japanese poetics of the seventh-eighth centuries and illuminate...

Creativity in Chopin’s Short Story ‘The Storm’

Artistic creativity may intuitively appear to be simple but in actuality it is a complex phenomenon. Creativity is definitely an elaborate process with the product being an outcome of the implementation of the creativity. It can be stated that art and creativity is fundamentally governed by the flow of emotion...

“The Secret Life of Bees” by Kidd and the “Feast of Love” by Baxter

Two novels under analysis are peculiar for their plot and main ideas. It is no secret that both The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd and The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter fuel the problem of love. However, there is a question to be answered: is love...

Camus – “Creation and Revolution”

Given Albert Camus’ strong affiliation with the philosophy of existentialism, it would only be logical to discuss the sub-chapter “Creation and Revolution” from his book The Rebel within the context of existentialist discourse. In its turn, this discourse is being concerned with the exploitation of an ‘alienation’ theme – that...

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner Review

A Rose for Emily is considered to be a short story written by William Faulkner, an American writer. Miss Emily, the central figure of the story, is described as an isolated character living in the atmosphere of totalitarian upbringing. It should be noted that the author creates sophisticated characters perceived...

The Art of Losing by Elizabeth Bishop

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....

Thoughts from Vallejo’s Pen

While the reader can certainly enjoy Cesar Vallejo’s poetry on first reading, it is impossible to fully understand or appreciate it in isolation. It is necessary to know something about his life and the history of his time to fully grasp the content and to read much of the rest...

Reviews on Gender Articles

When searching the required articles, I followed the necessary requirements. The first article called New Brooms They Say Clean’: Women’s Political Activism on the Ballarat Goldfields, 1854 is a scholarly and peer-reviewed article, as it contains the necessary credentials, namely the information about the author, the author’s Ph.D., and the...

Novels by A. Bierce and H. James Comparison

Introduction The short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” written by Ambrose Bierce is about the last minutes of a man who was condemned to hanging. Standing at the Owl Creek Bridge, the place of his execution, he never stops thinking about his family and plans his escape. Another...

Cyber-Science, Fiction or Modern Reality?

In their article From Cyborgs to Cyberbodies: The Evolution of the Concept of Techno-Body in Modern Medicine, Andrea Gaggioli et al. strived to provide readers with the insight into the fact that, due to the recent revolutionary breakthroughs in the field of informational technology and biomedicine, the very concept of...

Analyzing the Short Story: A Rose for Emily

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...

Traditions of Magical Realism in Juan Rulfo’s Short Novel Pedro Paramo

Juan Rulfo’s short novel Pedro Paramo is one of the most eminent Latin American works in literature along with novels by Marquez and Borges. In this respect, the analysis of the novel gives a specific evaluation of it in terms of the traditions of magical realism. The reality which is...

Facing East From Indian Country by Daniel Richter

Introduction Facing East from Indian Country by Daniel Richter is not the first book written about the Native Americans. A number of other researchers spent their lives trying to identify what the Indian’s New World was like. As far as Richter’s book is concerned, it can be definitely stated that...

“Cultural Literacy and Critical Literacy” by Donald Lazere

Donald Lazere has devoted his numerous works to the matter of critical thinking in the modern culture. In his Cultural Literacy and Critical Literacy (1992), Lazere focuses on the notion of the critical literacy, which, in his opinion, is rather important for the intellectual potential of an individual. He has...

“The Hero With a Thousand Faces” by Joseph Campbell

A hero strikes one as an individual whose personal attributes elicit admiration both before and after their death. Mythology presents a hero as one with great strength and courage, one who is widely celebrated for bold exploits. Making such a unique character entails a process as Joseph has explained in...

“The Hearts Is a Lonely Hunter” by Carson McCullers

Introduction The heart is a lonely heart is a novel that created literally sensation in American literature history. This book was the first to be awarded for the recognition of plight of the oppressed, the mistreated, the forgotten and the rejected populations of the United States of America (Johnson 23)....

“The Crescent City Lynchings” by Tom Smith

Tom Smith’s book “The Crescent City Lynchings: The Murder of Chief Hennessy, the New Orleans “Mafia” Trials, and the Parish Prison Mob” is about the some past violent and related events back in 1800. The events took place in New Orleans. In 1980’s New Orleans was a different place than...

Sacagawea: Biography and Book Critique

Introduction The stories about Indian people are always fascinating and mysterious. It does not matter whether they concern the way of life of Indian tribes or explore the life of a separate person, they do it in a way that the readers forget about everything that surrounds them and give...

Vampires: From Ghoulish Demons to Stylish Icons

Vampires are probably the most popular mythical creatures, having some manner of cultural existence across the globe. In every culture and mythical folklore across the globe there has been some reference to a creature very similar to the vampire. The vampire myth has not been confined to Europe but has...

“The Difference of Being Human” by Francisco Ayala: Arguing

Ever since the application of the notion of political correctness to theoretical and empirical research, in various fields of science, began to undermine its intellectual soundness, we can no longer assume the results of such research as being objective by definition. Reading Francisco Ayala’s article “The Difference of Being Human”...

Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

Introduction Written by Dante Alighieri in the fourteenth century, The Divine Comedy is considered to be one of the most captivating epic poems in literature. Dante’s Inferno paints an edgy and imaginative vision of the Christian afterlife by combining classical Christian influences with a classic touch of Renaissance culture. The...

An Independent Woman in American Literature

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...

“I Too” and “The Ballard Of Landlord”

Introduction In their works, the two poets send out a message that indicates that something is wrong in the society. Discrimination of the human being in any form is an injustice. This is because once someone is discriminated against he is automatically denied a chance to compete and be like...

Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We Real Cool”

Poet Gwendolyn Brooks compresses a lot of meaning in a few short lines, in her poem “We Real Cool”, on page 649 of The Bedford Compact Introduction to Literature. Following a student review of Chapters 18-20, one can appropriately analyze this poem. The author utilizes various poetic devices to get...

Breaking Free of Tradition. Poetry

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 Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Williams, is the author of the play ‘A Streetcar Named Desire,’ which was produced on Broadway in the year 1947. The play won many awards and was adapted to a film in 1951. The theme of the play is the decaying South and its arrogance, inability to accept truth...

The Use of Eerie and Bizarre of Edgar Alan Poe

This paper is an analysis of how the literal tools of eerie and bizarre; settings, characters, and images are used in developing the effect of horror. The literal works to be analyses in this case as an effort to analyze the use of these literal tools in the development of...

“Sadie When She Died” by Ed McBain

Ed McBain’s “Sadie When She Died” is one of the stories from the 87th Precinct series which he started writing in the mid-1950s. It presents the story about the officer, Steve Carella, who knew from the beginning the identity of the real murderer but lacked proof to accuse him of...

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “My Kinsman Major Molineux” and “Young Goodman Brown”

As humankind was developing and progressing in its cognition of the world and self, the views of human essence varied depending on the time and place: some saw man as a tabula rasa, acquiring all the characteristics in course of life; others insisted on the inborn virtuousness of man, which...

Unhappy Marriage in “The Story of an Hour” by K. Chopin

Choplin’s story is set in a time when many females were supposed to play the role of a housewife and a homemaker. This was a time where roles for females and males were defined by society such as women took care of the house while the man was responsible for...

Jane Austen’s and Her Works’ Influences

Have you ever thought where the works of imaginative literature come from? The writers create them when inspired, but what is inspiration? It is nothing less than the genius that enables people to commit their thoughts to paper in such a way that these thoughts are embodied in words in...

The “Substance of Things Hoped For” by Samuel Dewitt Proctor

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...

Anouilh and Levi: Dehumanization and Degradation

Introduction Literature is one of the types of art which charm everybody. Literature may entertain and give some food for thoughts, especially if we take into consideration some serious pieces of writing. Every work of any writer is called to deliver some important information to the reader, any writer inserts...

Gettysburg Battle. “Lost Triumph” by Tom Carhart

There are many books on history written by different historians and scholars, and even by those people who are of little touch with the discussed issue. Some historical events have contradictory nature because of a lack of information that was not properly documented. Such events are doomed to provoke different...

“Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau and “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift

Although Henry David Thoreau and Jonathan Swift in different historical periods, both of them actually address the ways and methods of social change in their respective essays “Civil Disobedience” and “A Modest Proposal”. In the work entitled “Civil Disobedience”, David Thoreau provides the ideas, which could be categorized as the...

Internal Strife and Conflict in Literary Works

Introduction The paper is about to discuss the literary elements of inner struggle and meditation in various literary works such as Frost’s poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ Theodor Roethke’s ‘My Papa’s Waltz’ and the play ‘All My Sons’ by Arthur Miller. It begins with a thesis statement. The body of...

The Strange, Dark World of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”

“Macbeth” is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare in 1605 or 1606 and published in 1628. The story of the play is no figment of the author’s imagination. Macbeth was a real king – a king of Scotland, nephew of Molom II, and ruler of Moray. He married Grunch, granddaughter...

Death Concept in “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickenson

Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” is surprisingly touching in its depiction of the courtly way in which Death personified escorted her to her final rest. The six stanza poem tells the story of a woman’s experience of death, but rather than being the horrifying thing...

“Hills like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway: Problem of Choice

Introduction People usually appear before the choice: whether to do this or not, whether to go there or not, whether to stay with the person or to leave him/her. Analyzing the story “Hills like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway and imagining the conclusion of the story, three main developments may...

The Wrecking Crew by Thomas Frank

Introduction This paper will make a review of the book, The Wrecking Crew by Thomas Frank. The author has explicitly examined and narrated how corruption becomes uniquely blameable in a democratic setup in violating the basic principle on the part of the government, of serving the citizens of the country....

Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” and Tan’s “Two Kinds”

Outline This paper will compare the style and point of view of the two stories “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway and “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan. The two different perspectives will be examined in the context of their respective stories and symbols to understand the viewpoints and the...

“The Anabasis by Cyrus” by Xenophon

The dictionary article defines anabasis as “a march from the coast into the interior, like that of Cyrus the Younger against Artaxerxes II, described by Xenophon in his historical work Anabasis (379–371) (Dictionary 1). Thus “Anabasis” is an account by the ancient writer and soldier Xenophon, which depicts the long...

Olfactory Confirmation in Patrick Suskind’s Perfume

The scent of the human body is unique and that plays an important role in different spheres of our life. There is a presumption that spiritual awareness is reached by enhancing the power of scent (Streep 2003) The significance of people’s odor also defines sexual attraction. Moreover, it reveals the...

“The Souls of Black Folk” by W.E.B. DuBois

Biographical Information William Edward Burghhardt (W.E.B) DuBois (February 23, 1868) was an esteemed African American civil rights activist, historian, sociologist, author, editor, and Pan Africanist. A respected and prolific writer, DuBois authored 22 books, including five novels and three autobiographies as well as helped establish four academic journals. Some of...

Mitch Albom’s “Tuesdays with Morrie” Reflections

Morrie’s lessons are a guideline to veritable values The professor’s lessons personify communication, love, and moral values. Morrie’s story is rather emotionally charged, through which the reader could perceive the eternal topic of life and death. Those lessons captivated me with the problems they revealed and the amazing solutions taken...

“Orientation” by Daniel Orozco

Gossips existed in all societies beginning from prehistoric, probably because of the curiosity inherent to each human being. If directed constructively, curiosity can bring positive results such as professional excellence and expertise, whereas the consequences of excessive interest in others’ personal life are hardly predictable, and the only stable tendency...

Thomas Bell “Out of This Furnace”: Immigrants in the USA

Introduction Thomas Bell’s book “Out of this Furnace” is a good presentation of five generations of Hungarian family immigrants who moved into the US in the 19th century. One of the characters in the book, George Kracha came in 1881 and settled in Pennsylvania, and started working in a steel...

A Rose for Emily

William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily” is a story about a woman who is isolated from her town because of the attitudes and beliefs of the Old South social structure. Throughout the story, she is seen as a town oddity because she represents the ways of the Old...

Spellbound: A Line to Line Explication

The night is darkening round me. The poet is standing at the edge of a moor. She finds the night turning darker. She gets a sense of being trapped. The wild winds coldly blow; Added to the carpet of darkness thickening around her comes to the blowing wind. She feels...

The Concept of Tolerance in the “To Kill a Mocking Bird” by Harper Lee

Introduction The minorities around the globe have come through a vigorous struggle to achieve equality in the world today. Racial, ethnical and religious prejudice has claimed numerous lives for thousands of years. And to our dismay, such prejudice is the cause of hatred among people of a single society, community...

The Theme of Race Discrimination in Works of Richard Rodriguez

Introduction In the course of life, people have overcome some difficulties transitioning from one stage to another. Sometimes, it is rather difficult to trespass those adversities due to the limits and norms established in society. The stereotypes shaped in our life could determine the fate of those people who are...