Anna’s Sacrifice in My Sister’s Keeper by Jodie Picolt

This paper analyses the role of Anna Fitzgerald and her character traits in the novel “My sister’s keeper” which was written by Jodi Picoult became the best-selling novel in the United States of America in 2004. “My sister’s keeper” novel is basically about a thirteen-year-old young lady Anna Fitzgerald who...

“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...

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”...

“One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey

The story is the confrontation of feeling and reason The book has a very interesting heading that transfers into some fictional world with awkward creatures depicted by the author. To my mind, the novel’s goal is to show that what people consider normal is uninteresting. Instead, the author reveals his...

“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...

Anne Sexton’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”

Anne Sexton’s poem “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” has been commonly referred to as such that represents the classical example of so-called “feminist poetry”, in which the motifs of depression and hypertrophied sexuality define such poetry’s semiotics. At the same time, the overwhelming majority of literary reviews of this...

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...

Gender and Race Factors in ‘My Year of Meats’ by Ruth Ozeki

The first thing that is sure to burst upon the eye when one takes a look at the front cover of the book “My Year of Meats” by Ruth L. Ozeki is the eloquent quotation taken from the book review by Jane Smiley for ‘Chicago Tribune’ that describes Ozeki’s debut...

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...

Nigeria in “No Longer at Ease”

Chinua Achebe is one of the most popular African writers of the twentieth century, who presents the culture and traditions of early African tribes and communities in his works. Born in Ogidi, Nigeria, he depicts the life of people in Nigeria, colonialism, and its effects on their lives. His works...

Mystic Features in “Don’t Look Now” by Daphne du Maurier

The short tale “don’t look now” by Daphne du Maurier has incredible fright. The story started off at a family home in England. It involved a blissful couple John and Laura Baxter. One day, as a routine, they were seated calmly within their home compound with their children playing. Their...

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...

“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...

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...

Alienation Concept in the “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain

The romanticism of wandering, freedom, and estrangement from social norms attracted a number of authors; and this cohort of writers who extolled vagrancy includes Mark Twain with his “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. A number of critics and experts refer to the specified piece of literature as a picaresque novel, or...

“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...

Poet of Nature – Thoreau

Many things about a poet’s life can be observed in the poetry he writes. Over the years, their environment, lifestyle, and beliefs become reflected in their poetry. Henry David Thoreau was a factory worker, essay writer, and teacher before he was a poet. He was also a Transcendentalist and an...

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...

“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...

“Cesar Chavez and La Causa” by Dan Labotz Review

In the history of the United States of America there are a plenty of cases connected with the fact of racial segregation and the ignorance of establishment to give work for those who immigrated to the US. Dan Labotz catches our attention on the case of farmer workers strike in...

The Analysis of the Story of Oedipus

The American College Encyclopedic Dictionary defines the adjective “blind” as: 1. lacking the sense of sight; 2. unwilling, or unable to try or understand; 3. not controlled by reason: (blind tenacity); 4. not possessing or proceeding from intelligence; 5. lacking all awareness: ( a blind stupor); 6. drunk – hard...

“Ordinary People” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”: Book Report

Fault and Responsibility Taking People apart in the Ordinary People The major theme of the book by Judith Ann Guest in 1976 is education and upbringing conflicts that follow both parents, Cal and Beth Jarrett. The reason for such discrepancies is first of all their background – Cal is the...

Concepts of Human and Natural Laws in Boccaccio’s “Decameron”

Introduction Establishing new moral and social norms can be a controversial issue, especially if these norms contradicted the social flow in the fourteenth century. A close vision to such breakthrough can be seen through the book “Decameron” by Giovanni Boccaccio – a hundred novels narrated through ten days in the...

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...

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...

Walter Whitman’s Works: Autobiographical Elements

Walter Whitman was a famous American writer and poet. He is also known for his achievements in journalism His works revealed both the transcendental and realistic vision of life. Both periods were presented in his works thus being rather controversial especially in his outright collection of poetry. It goes without...

Old South Social Structure in “A Rose for Emily” by W. Faulkner

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...

William Faulkner’s World Revealed in “A Rose for Emily”

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...

John A Garraty on Great Depression Review

Introduction John A. Garraty is considered to be an outstanding American historian who devoted his life to the presidency of the American Historians Society. He is a significant writer; Garraty is the author of several historical books disclosing the facts of American National Biography. One of the most prominent works...

Duty and Conscience Relations Review

The problem of tension between duty and conscience has always been the center of the discussions. This problem is more painful in the war times when these two notions have frequently appeared in situations when a person had to kill his/her friend only because of the feeling of duty before...

Human Behavior Depicted in Science Fiction Works

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...

Curriculum as the Philosophical Consideration

Introduction Curriculum is one of the main issues, which directs the educational process all over the world. Combining the curriculum, teachers and tutors create the scheme, according to which the education is going to be led, which books are going to be investigated and which material, in general, will be...

Essay on a Rose for Emily

“A Rose for Emily” is a beautiful short story written by William Faulkner in which the writer uses new structural devices of story telling. The central character, Emily, is a symbol of changes. She also represents the victimized generation in South America after the civil war. The North was getting...

Poetry as a Great Achievement of the Mankind

Poetry is a great achievement of mankind. Poetical words help people to relax, to think about some problems, which are discussed in the poem, to listen to the melody of rhymes and entertain. Different authors have different styles of writing, their themes and goals of the poems are different, but...

“The Secret Life of Bees” and Role of Minor Characters

When asking about the factors that form one’s personality, people will mostly respond by referring to certain events and persons who made the biggest influence in their lives. Definitely, there are major events that made people’s lives turn in a certain manner. Nevertheless, it is also true that the small...

Death and Dying: How We Die, Reflections on Life’s Final Chapter

“Death belongs to the dying and those who love them.” This is a quote from Sherwin B. Nuland’s book How We Die, Reflections on Life’s Final Chapter. Throughout his book Nuland demonstrates this message; he takes us through the significant education he has received in his forty years as a...

Ahab from Moby Dick and Prospero from the Tempest

First of all, there is the necessity to explain the choice of the form of the essay and the choice of the characters that present nontrivial development of the comparative analysis of their characters. The work has the form of the panel discussion with two main participants, Ahab and Prospero....

The Phaedrus and The Tempest: Compare & Contrast

Such notions as personal identity or the Self have always been a subject of thorough psychological analysis. It is believed that under certain circumstances, the way in which a human being defines oneself may change. Writers and philosophers have always tried to explore this transformation. This process has been eloquently...

“A Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen: Nora as a Victim

It is undeniable that life for women during the Victorian period was very different from life for women living today. With the growth of the Industrial Revolution, women were able to find more opportunities to support themselves without remaining dependent on men, particularly within the cities. However, success was not...

King Kreon in Antinone: Character Analysis

In the play, Antigone, Creon is depicted as a tragic character faced with the harsh reality of life and indifference. The maxims which King Creon proclaims in his first speech as well as further on are the words of a man who takes the principles of ruling seriously. He will...

Decision Making in The Iliad

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...

The Iliad’s Oral Tradition

There are several suggestions that perhaps Homer’s The Iliad is the product of a much longer oral tradition that Homer wrote down and passed along as an artist. An oral tradition can be generally thought of as a story that is passed down from one generation to another through oral,...

Ancient Literature. Decision Making in Iliad by Homer

The story of the Iliad is a famous one. When the cruel Trojan prince Paris abducts the queen of Agamemnon, Helen, war ensues between the two countries across the seas. Many heroes and gods take sides and fight the war. It is the first famous book written in Europe, written...

Francois Voltaire’s “Candide, or Optimism”: Analysis of Satire

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...

Medieval Imagination: Beowulf vs. Russian Mythos

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...

Greasy Lake, Lord of the Flies, and The Lottery: Compare & Contrast

Introduction Weapons of mass destruction (biological, nuclear, etc.) are primarily designed to kill large quantities of humans as well as destroy natural and man-made structures and the biosphere in general. In an age in which technology ranks superior, much emphasis is placed on the actual weapons as opposed to the...

Review and Analysis of ‘A Good Man Is Hard To Find’

Flannery O’Connor is best known for her obscure, but thought-provoking short stories unlike most of the other 20th century American writers. She makes use of tragedy and brutality in her works to create an atmosphere of terror to deal with the subject of spirituality. The theme of ‘A Good Man...

Death of American Dream in Death of a Salesman

Introduction The play “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller depicts life and destiny of an American family which dreams about prosperity and high social position in society. in this play, Fundamental in this play is the fact that Miller does not mask the analysis of social values and low...

Dream and Reality in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”

Characters are the main issues in the understanding of the whole written work of any author. The author’s opinion, theme, and ideas are delivered through the characters of the story. It is significant to notice that characters are the main device in the author-reader communication, and an author usually tries...

Foreshadowing in ‘a Good Man Is Hard to Find’ by O’Connor

Flannery O’Connor(1925-1964) is one the most acclaimed American short story writers of the twentieth century. She was born in Savannah and brought up in Milledgeville, both in Georgia. With 31 stories and two novels to her credit, she died at the age of 39, almost 12 years after she was...

The Great Gatsby: Book Review

“The Great Gatsby” written by F. Scott Fitzgerald is the bestseller published in 1925. This book is a masterpiece in the writings of Fitzgerald. It’s a classic for the readers and most prominent in the American fiction. It occurred as the milestone as it has been reread by many readers....

Literature and Its Different Elements

“Literature is a reflection of the society” (Elements of literature, 2009). Literature is the representation of an individual, their language and culture. It reflects society in the framework of occasions, traditions, background, thoughts, and beliefs of that time. Literature helps the reader to understand about the experience by narrating the...

“I Am Murdered” by Bruce Chadwick

Bruce Chadwick’s book, I am Murdered: George Wythe, Thomas Jefferson and the Killing That Shocked a New Nation is about the murder of George Wythe, who was a noted law professor. Wythe was a towering figure and had pupils such as Thomas Jefferson, Henry Clay and James Monroe. He died...

“Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight” by Alexandra Fuller Review

Description The book is set within the background of a country fighting for a life breath. A memoir tells several stories at once. Neighboring to the civil war-stricken Mozambique, Rhodesia was slowly moving towards a Nationalist regime. The country was a trap with road mines and guerillas around the corner....

Peoples’ Characters and Hopes in Literature: Comparison of Description

Introduction The world of literature is very versatile in facts, characters, events, historical trends, settings, etc. Large deposits of literature heritage describe the wholeness of the literature world and a man, as a provider of creative thought in this art. In other words, people are apt to create something new...

Don Quixote as an Embodiment of Western Psyche

Despite the fact that nowadays, the hawks of political correctness try their best to prompt people to think of Western civilization is being simply a local geopolitical phenomenon, the objective reality invariantly points out to something different – as of today, there is virtually no place left on this planet...

“A Lesson Before Dying” by Ernest Gaines

‘A Lesson Before Dying,’ written by Earnest J Gaines, tells the story of two men who have to fight hard to survive in a world that metes out suffering to them through racism and discrimination. Jefferson, one of the men, falls victim to the white people’s indifference when he gets...

Wilderness Allurement in the “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer

The cover of the book “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer immediately acquaints the reader with the protagonist of the novel. It says: “In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher...

Shakespeare, Milton, and Keats: Similarities & Differences

Introduction In this paper, our task is to compare the works of such prominent English authors as Shakespeare, Milton and Keats. Overall, we can say that in their poems they explore themes, which have always been vital for any artist, namely, the fear of death, brevity of human life, love...

“The Confessions of Nat Turner” by William Styron Review

The novel “The Confessions of Nat Turner” was written by an outstanding American writer William Styron. The most eloquent fact about this book is that it was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1967, but it would be just to state, that the response of the audience to the novel appeared...

Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice” Performance

Introduction The play Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare, as all the masterpieces of the prominent writer, raised the themes of love, hatred, betrayal, and honor; the performance transfers the reader into the atmosphere of religious oppression and human portrayal of the central character, villainous Shylock. The play remains relevant,...

Emily Dickinson’s and William Carlos Williams’ Poems

The focal point of the paper is to present a Comparison and Contrast essay between the poems, “I Felt a Funeral in My Brain“, by Emily Dickinson and “The Widow’s Lament in Spring Time“, by William Carlos Williams. The paper would look into the parameters of the inner world of...

“The Crystal Frontier” Analysis

The story “The Crystal Frontier” of Fuentes is a wonderful narrative about the meeting of two people from different countries with different life situations – the way they found an ideal they imagined in each other and could not overcome the crystal frontier, which was not just a glass but...

Collins and Moore Works on Poetry Review

Despite the fact that poems “Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins and “Poetry” by Marianne Moore are concerned with the same subject matter (poetry), they provide readers with diametrically opposite outlook on what, according to both poets, poetry should be all about. Whereas, Moore insists that the key to poetic...

Protagonist Roles by Mark Twain, J. Austin and C. Potok

Today’s world is full of so many flashy, noisy, and sometimes even rumbly forms of entertainment that it seems boring to spend a great deal more time and energy trying to read through the lengthy pages of a book. Reading has no sound, no pictures, and no possibility of shake...

Other Voices: Literature Review

Literature has a lot of different aims: to entertain, to inform, and to convince. The works of Judith Sargent Murray, Samson Occom, and Phillis Wheatley are very convincing, as they try to implement their ideas in society about religion and gender. Judith Sargent Murray is an American writer whose literary...

Personal Narratives of J. Edwards and E. Ashbridge

People should care about their personal spiritual development. Life without God is impossible as people should believe in something, as people should know that there is somebody who cares about them. People’s faith in God helps them to lead a normal life or to cope with problems that appear. There...

“Absalom, Absalom!” Novel by William Faulkner

Sutpen and his intention of building the Sutpen’s Hundred Thomas Sutpen is a mysterious man, in the sense that people never really understood him and his idea of building the Sutpen’s hundred was borne out of the fact that he realized while he was growing up that men are not...

“Lysistrata” by Aristophanes and “The Taming of the Shrew” by Shakespeare

Introduction The contest between men and women has always been one of the main struggles in the world. Both, men and women want to take dominant positions in the society. The times were changing and the influence was also different in different times. Matriarchy and patriarchy were present in the...

Literature’s Judgment Different Issues

The world of literature is the sphere of entire features and prospects that never die in peoples’ minds. The fact that the literature comprises the wholeness of the experience gained during thousands of years is apparent and presents many themes for discussion. The paper is dedicated to three works by...

Women as Oppression Victims in American Literature

Introduction Literary works dealing with serious subjects such as woman rights, discrimination and oppression can be completely different in genre and style, but nevertheless sharing a mutual theme, each approaching it from a different perspective. In Everyday Use by Alice Walker and A Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell,...

‘Further Along the Road Less Travelled’ by Scott Peck

The book ‘Further Along the Road Less Travelled’ written by Scott Peck is considered to be a real masterpiece of world literature; the author managed to contribute to the disclosure of personal psychological and spiritual growth to be reached by everyone in life. It is necessary to underline the fact...

Symbolism in “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck

Introduction Symbols are the types of stylistic devices which writers use in order to extend people’s perception of the story. Symbolism is a very frequently used way of text representation. This special type allows the writer not to express his/her ideas directly. The expression of the plot and author’s thoughts...

Emily Dickenson: Because I could not Stop for Death

The poem “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” was written by Emily Dickenson and it tells the story of a woman who has died. It seems to tell her story from the time she dies until the time she arrives in her grave. This sounds morbid, but it’s really...

“Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress” by Dai Sijie

Dai Sijie and his novel Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress provide a scope of huge intentions of two young men in China to provide their skills in learning foreign literature in a time when such perspective was banned by the government. The thing is that the events in the...

Heroes’ and Villains’ Views on Money in “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand

Introduction “Atlas Shrugged” is a novel which was written by Ayn Rand in 1957. This novel operates with a number of notions which may puzzle the modern reader. It deals with the concepts of objectivism and human achievement exploring a number of other philosophical themes. “Atlas Shrugged” discloses different facets...

“Fighting Auschwitz” by Josef Garlinski

In the 1940s, the Nazi regime started an international program aimed at “purifying” the racial profile of the European population and establishing the rule of the so-called Aryan race. The powerful instruments of such correction were concentration camps, which combined the functions of labor utilization, development of science and technology,...

Stevie Smith’s and Karl Shapiro’s Poems Comparison

Introduction Stevie Smith’s “Not Waving but Drowning” (1953) and Karl Shapiro’s “Auto Wreck” (1942) differ from each other in form, style and subject. Smith’s poem relates the last thoughts of a drowned man while Shapiro’s reflects on a traffic accident. Smith’s poem is almost light-hearted in the way it reads...

Gay and Lesbian Literature in the United States

Introduction The social conditions make people live according to the moral consent to behave “rightly” not to be blamed or condemned by others. A man still makes up his mind in the American society where to go when it is considered that you are not the same as others. The...

How Decisions Can Make or Break an Individual: Literary Analysis

People make decisions all the time. Do you want steak or chicken for dinner? Should you go to work or stay at home? While some decisions don’t have any long-term consequences, others may change the course of your life. The decision to have steak today may mean you are having...

Faulkner’s “Barn Burning” and O’Connor’s “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”

Introduction Life in South America had unique conditions. This was because of the unusual race relations, conflicts, problems and its history. Life was different for the descendants of the white aristocrats and of the poor whites. This paper will endeavour to discuss the South and Southerners as they appear in...

Finding Individuality in “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner

Discovering one’s identity is much more difficult than just understanding what society expects of you because it also involves understanding how you feel about yourself and what you feel is right. Although it is very rare that we really understand all the various elements of our life and understanding that...

“Beowulf” & “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” Comparison

As for epics of the oral tradition, Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight never appeared in writing until many years after the story originated. Through the many retellings of the tale, it probably changed significantly over time; however, the essences of the society and the culture of each...

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’ in Hark’s Article

Introduction The article by Ina Rae Hark (1974) provides the comprehensive analysis of the epic poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The major argument presented by Hark (1974) concerns the mentioned poems being an atypical example of the heroic literature of the early medieval period. The leading points that...

The Song of Roland and The Odyssey Comparison

Both these epics of contain themes that fascinate us and keep us enchanted through the centuries. The basic plot of the two epic poems is the oldest theme in the history of literature, that of good vs. evil. However, we find that through the centuries there has been a change...

Gods in Homer’s “Odyssey”

Introduction Analyzing Homer’s works, an interesting concept can be examined through the role of gods in his Odyssey and Iliad. This concept can be related to the sense of contradiction in the representation of gods, where on the one hand gods can be seen from the perspective of a believer-...

Analysis of Ferlinghetti’s A Vast Confusion

In a way, this poem is a verbal collage, a vast confusion of created mind images used to convey a mood, a message or just an observation. The poet uses images and sound, movement and symbols to tell us about what he believes. The poem reminds one of the short...

Cathy Song’s “The Youngest Daughter”

The generation gap is one of the popular themes addressed in the literature, as the lack of understanding between the older and younger family members often causes conflicts and life dramas. Cathy Song’s poem “The Youngest Daughter”, however, is distinguished for its delicate depiction of the relationship between the narrator...

Relationships and Dialogues. “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin

Edna Pontellier, the heroine of “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin, lives in the United States during the 1800s. During those days, men dominated U.S. society while women were considered inferior to them. The Feminism movement that demanded women should be treated equally as men, having the same political, economic, and...

Thoughts in “To the Lighthouse” by Virginia Woolf

Introduction The complexity involved in the working of the human mind is beyond explanations. The flow of thoughts in an individual is Brownian at a superficial level but looking at it from the perspective of a philosopher one realizes the implicit presence of ‘The Stream of Consciousness’. Throughout the history...

“The Red Wheelbarrow” by William Carols Williams

The poem’ the red wheelbarrow’ was written by William Carols Williams and is counted amongst the modern day literature. There can be numerous reasons for this but in order to understand them; it would require careful evaluation of the poem itself. The opening sentence itself begins with the use of...

Alice Walker’s Concepts of Everyday Use

In Alice Walker’s short story “Everyday Use”, the author places two sisters side by side for an afternoon of visiting. One of these sisters, Maggie, lives with her mother in a small, poorly built shack on the edge of the country and is planning to marry a somewhat unattractive but...

Gender Roles Within Greek Society

Introduction Gender roles in Greek society were determined by social and cultural traditions, position of women in society and their significance as citizens. The position of women in society was determined by absence of political rights acquired by men. Many Greek plays portray women as canny and jealous. The play...

Trip as the Way of Searching the Reality

Introduction The journeys all over the world, which people retort to, are generally aimed to find the new, better life. People try to find other cultures, ways of life, wisdom that will never be met in the motherland. They may simply search for adventures if life is too calm. But...

Effectiveness Techniques in Short Stories Analysis

The concise format of a short story often turns out to be an ideal way of creating sharp and concentrated narratives rich with meaning. The charm and fascination of short stories consist in their focusing intensely on one incident with a limited range of characters developing within a short period...

Uncovering the Wallpaper in Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”

Introduction Being a wife and a mother at the same time can bestow a lot of stress to a woman who is just starting up to fill those shoes. Doing a balancing act of being a mother and wife is sometimes too much too handle for a woman, what more...

Old Angel Midnight by Jack Kerouac

Introduction The narrative that has been taken into consideration goes by the name of Old Angel Midnight and was written perhaps in the year 1959 and was written by the well-known author Jack Kerouac. This narrative can be considered as a consequence of Kerouac’s involuntary experiments of writing that he...

Braithwaite’s “English Gentlewoman” and Webster’s “The Duchess of Malfi”

Introduction John Webster’s works give an idea that powerful women were an anomaly in the XVI and XVII centuries. Indeed, during the early modern period, powerful women were not welcome in society, they were considered to be unnatural and dangerous. Female dominance could not be accepted as it symbolized social...

Strong Woman in Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”

The book The Yellow Wallpaper portrays the values and social traditions of Victorian women, their problems, and their social position in society. Gilman attempts to demonstrate care and love by freeing women from the individual home and developing a unique approach to domestic tasks, such as child-care, As a feminist...

Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” From a Feminist Perspective

The Yellow Wallpaper is a literary piece written from a feminist perspective. There is no need to elaborate on what feminism is all about except to say that the feminist movement wanted to empower women and this is related to the assumption that men are holding them back. One of...

Freiberg on Southwest Airlines’

“Nuts! Southwest Airlines’ Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success” is based on what can be referred to as the success story of Southwest Airlines. It is a guide towards how to achieve success in business, harsh as the business world today may appear to be. Southwest Airlines is the...

English Literature. Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”

Introduction Jonathan Swift was popularly known as a satirical writer during his era. Aside from being a poet, essayist, and a political pamphleteer, he became the dean of Saint Patrick’s in Dublin. Swift was born on the 30th of November, 1667 and died on the year 1745. Most of his...

Sassoon: Binary Vision and Repression Trench Experience

Introduction and Thesis statement Siegfried Sassoon is regarded as the preeminent war poet of the 20th Century. His works offer graphic narratives of the violence and brutality of war. What is ironic is that his background of wealth and privilege was about as far from the destitution of war that...

Symbolic Character in “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller

The play by Arthur Miller Death of a Salesman demonstrates the struggle of a man in an attempt to reach success in life. It describes the life and surroundings of Willy Loman who searches for the alleged American Dream. He sees no other way for his satisfaction in life, unless...

“The Blood of Flowers” by Anita Amirrezvani

The fact unknown to most of people is that as inspiration of Anita Amirrezvani’s first novel “Blood of Flowers” served a Persian carpet her father presented her with when she was a teenager. Looking at that carpet every day she imagines the life of a carpet maker and always wondered...

“Never to Be Forgotten” by Beatrice Muchman

The book Never to Be Forgotten is written by Beatrice Muchman and is an evocative and moving narration of a Jewish child’s life in Belgium while it was occupied by the Nazis. Beatrice Muchman and her family had come to Belgium from Germany after Hitler’s rise to power. In 1943,...

John Schwiebert “Reading and Writing From Literature”

Introduction The poem “The Thread of Sunlight” written by Timothy Young is included in the anthology “Reading and Writing from Literature”, the 3d edition, by John Schwiebert where he raised the most important problems of humanity. The basic theme of the poem is the consequences of the war period and...

Presentation on Ihara Saikaku

Introduction Ihara Saikaku is now viewed by many literary critics as one of the most prominent Japanese poets. He was the offspring of a prosperous merchant; when he was fifteen, he started to take interest in heikai and soon became very popular in this genre. However, the authors talent should...

Dickson’s “I’m Nobody! Who Are You?” & Pop Culture

Introduction The question of self-identity and personhood is one of the most important social issues shaped by cultural traditions and values. Self-identity defines the unique qualities of a person and his/her personal traits, life goals, and worldview. Emily Dickson vividly portrays that modern society is influenced by mass culture and...

“Age of Turbulence” by Alan Greenspan

Introduction Alan Greenspan’s Age of Turbulence is a personal memoir combined with the description of his role as Federal Reserve Chairman for the last 18 years. In this book, he traces his evolution from the life of an academic to the post of the Federal Reserve chairman. In this book,...

“A Wizard of Earthsea” by Ursula K. Le Guin: Hero Cycle

Ursula K. Le Guin is considered to be an American writer being well known for her outstanding trilogy A Wizard of Earthsea. This book is the depiction of the fantasy world in which the readers are involved through the adventures of Ged, a young wizard. The traveling across the countries...

Mark Twain: Success, Manners and Artworks

Samuel Clemens better known by the pen name Mark Twain speaks best about the American experience through is distinctive literary voice, and through his classic writing skills. His familiarity with local culture and use of local dialect, and his life experiences in the heart of America helped make his writings...

“The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain

Introduction Samuel Langhorne Clemens, born in Florida Missouri on November 30, 1835, is commonly known by his pen name or author’s alias as Mark Twain. Mark Twain is the author of the book “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. This novel accomplished the esteemed title of “The Great American Novel”. This...

“The Gilded Six-Bits” by Hurston and “Babylon Revisited” by Fitzgerald

The stories “The Gilded Six-Bits” by Zora Neale Hurston and “Babylon Revisited” by F. Scott Fitzgerald seem to be very different at the first sight. The first one is about the life of two young Afro-Americans who lived happily before meeting a rich white person named Otis D. Slemmons who...

“Billy Budd” Novella by Herman Melville

Introduction The novella, Billy Budd depicts a unique character of Billy and his struggle. The form of the narrative is generated by the memory of the narrator. Several features of his narration contradict the closed-form of legal judgment which he tells about. Main body The narrator thereby reveals the dilemma...

Satire in Martk Twain’s Huckleberry Finn

Introduction Satire is one of the tools used by mark Twain to unveil social issues and changing values, new social relations, and self-understand of the main characters. Mark Twain’s satire can be characterized as moralistic and didactic aimed to teach readers. From a natural bent, Mark Twain is always interested...

Cullen’s and Milton’s Poems Review

Introduction The Afro American poets Countee Cullen and John Milton are closely connected with the so-called Renaissance of the African literature. The best known poem “yet, do I marvel” by Cullen is often been misinterpreted and consequently, it was regarded as just one more lament of a defeated soul as...

“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Review

“Where are you going, where have you been?” is a beautiful story written by Joyce Carol Oates. The author takes the archetypal theme of seduction and then presents it in the way he finds it today, particularly in America. The way she depicts the emotions of a 15 year old...

Aesthetics. “The Bacchae” Tragedy by Euripides

The tragedy “the Bacchae” is part of Iphigenia at Aulia. The tragedy tells a story of the divine nature of Dionysiac and punishment. Following Aristotle’s view of tragedy, it is possible to say that this play meets the canon and is based on the main steps of classical tragedy. The...

Effects of Farah’s Account on Society

Among the African writers of world recognition one name that is often mentioned has been that of Nuruddin Farah. His work deals with effectively and in detail the social life and the characteristics of the culture in Somalia. All his works leave a significant impression of the life and culture...

Kate Chopin’s “The Storm” Review

In her short story “The Storm,” Kate Chopin was undoubtedly interested in presenting more to her audience than simple stories regarding simple country folk. Although there is little room in a short story for the full development of several individuals, significant insights regarding the multiple emotions of characters can often...

“The Boat” by Alistair MacLeod and “The Loons” by Margaret Laurence

Introduction While analyzing any work of literature, especially prose, it is of the crucial importance to give extra attention to the role of the narrator, because, the reader perceives the events through the eyes of this person. As a rule literary critics single out several types of story telling, like...

Chopin and Shields Literary Works Compared

The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin is a short story that particularly focuses on the feminine gender’s side of such marriage struggles. Caged in a patriarchal society, women have been rightfully fighting for a life worth living. In this story, it takes an accident, particularly her husband’s death,...

William Trevor’s ”Felicia’s Journey”

The novel “Felicia’s Journey” by William Trevor presents a story of a young girl who had a tragic love experience in her life. She had a love affair with Johnny Lysaght who abandoned her when he found out that she was pregnant. Some readers keep to the point that the...

Wilkie Collins’ “The Moonstone”

Introduction The character of Franklin Blake is depicted as a reliable narrator as he can explain some events of the party and can prove his innocence. Now it is certainly tempting to interpret this silence on Gabriel Betteredge’s birthday part simply as generosity and compassion. Thesis Franklin Blake’s story is...

Crevecoeur’s “Immersion Journalism” and Humes’ “What Is an American”

This essay will analyze the article by J. Hector St. John Crevecoeur, “Immersion Journalism,” and the article by Edward Humes, “What is an American.” The common theme of these essays is implicit and implied. Both authors describe different topics and issues but construct their works on the opposition between the...

Joseph Conrad’s Book “Heart of Darkness”

Introduction In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, the main character Marlow continuously calls into question the modern assumptions that are made by his listeners as well as his readers, blurring the lines between inward and outward, civilized and savage and, most especially, dark and light. The bulk of the book...

Symbolism and Expression in “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Young Goodman Brown is a well-known short story written by an outstanding American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. This story is considered to be deeply psychological and grabs readers’ attention by its symbolism and imaginative expression; the author managed to reflect the contradictory world of the good and evil humanity sides. It...

Sylvia Plath: Biography Review

Poetry has a beautiful ability to pull ideas and emotions out from the depths of one’s being with only a few short lines and a well-chosen metaphor. Through various literary devices, poets are able to paint pictures for their readers that more concretely define the feelings and beliefs that remain,...

“Two Trains Running” by August Wilson

Introduction It is a common knowledge that African-American experience due to its being sad and this is why dramatic always attracted attention of writers and playwrights as well as other people who could disclose to the world the reasons of oppression due to racial factor, depict, describe or portray the...

Comparison of Machiavelli and Don Quixote

Introduction Both Machiavelli and Don Quixote can be said to have contributed greatly to the period of the renaissance. In their different settings, they both seem to uphold the same views on the concepts of providence, prudence, fortune, and virtue. Don Quixote, in his madness, actually manages to defend the...

“Suddenly, Last Summer” by Tennessee Williams

Individual versus society is probably the oldest theme employed by writers, playwrights, and film producers to demonstrate a difference one might make by their positive or negative deeds. In “Suddenly, Last Summer,” Tennessee Williams shows homosexuality as the central point of the conflict between the characters and makes broader implications,...

“The House of Mirth” Novel by Edith Wharton

Introduction In the novel, The House of Mirth Lily’s development as a character is certainly not negligible to the novel, her primary role is as the means through which Wharton reads and writes this culture. Thus, The House of Mirth is not primarily the story of Lily; it is rather...

Chronicle of a Death Foretold by G. G. Márquez Review

Introduction Gabriel García Márquez’s novel Chronicle of a Death Foretold, first issued in English in 1982, is one of the Nobel Prize winning writer’s shorter stories, but past and contemporary censors agree that the book’s small size conceals a huge work of art. The book’s supremacy is in the exclusive...

Angela Bourke and Irish Oral Tradition

It is a rather specific matter when one has to write about the peculiarities of the culture of a certain nation because not always people are acquainted with the national customs and traditions. It becomes even more complicated when the cultural peculiarities are to be studied with the help of...

The Brothers K’ by David James Duncan

Introduction The Brothers K is a compelling story by David James Duncan about a family living in Camas, Washington in an America rapidly approaching the revolutionary 1960s. Though Camas is a small town still settled in the conservativism of the 1950s, the family soon faces the common division of the...

“The Tell-Tale Heart” by E. A. Poe Characters Review

In the short story, “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Poe creates a unique image of the main character, a nameless narrator, who commits a crime and kills an old ma. Although this narrator claims to be totally sane, he admits that there never existed a real motive for murder. In “The Tell-Tale...