6015 samples of this type
Introduction Things Fall Apart is a novel that depicts the traditional life of Nigerians in the pre-colonial eastern part of the country. People living in the villages of Umuofia and Mbanta have self-government and a developed system of communication, relationships, and values. The author Chinua Achebe depicts the arrival of...
Abstract This essay focuses on Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women as a feminist novel and explores the representations of feminisms in the text. First, I argue Little Women is a novel that presents writing as feminist practice from a Künstlerroman perspective, which highlights Jo March’s subversive feminism in the time....
Introduction Greek poets set the groundwork for dramatic literature. Scholars and critics alike believe Sophocles’ tragedy Oedipus the King to be the pinnacle of his achievements as a writer in ancient Greece. A crucial and divisive issue in Sophocles’ day is explored in the play: The Gods’ will versus man’s...
Introduction In a 1962 speech at Scripps College, Rachel Carson helped kickstart mainstream environmental and conservationist movements. She focuses on how humanity has interacted with nature in historical and modern times. Carson uses her understanding of the man-nature relationship to establish the concept of the former against the latter. Carson...
Introduction Tom Godwin’s “The Cold Equations,” initially published in August 1954, is a widely distributed, contentious, and oft-reprinted work of science fiction. Science fiction is often defined as the literature of ideas, but the ideas behind “The Cold Equations” depend on one’s assumptions about the genre. If one approaches the...
In the short story To Build a Fire by Jack London, a man undergoes a lonely journey under the severe environment of the Yukon, attempting to avoid dangerous complications related to freezing temperatures. However, the traveler commits several crucial errors, which ultimately result in his demise. The first mistake made...
Jamaica Kincaid’s “On Seeing England for the First Time” is a piece that reflects on her pessimistic view of the country. The narrative of the writing constructs a growing dislike, or even hatred, for England through comparisons to what can be seen as negative metaphors, such as a leg of...
The two stories selected for the discussion are “A Fixed Income” and “Valediction”. A “Fixed Income” highlights the plight of minorities in the United States through Sherman’s experience at McDonald’s. He explains that most of the employees at the restaurant are blacks and Latinos. Moreover, these workers are college graduates...
Introduction Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby documents a classical manifestation of the implications of social status and wealth. Fitzgerald uses numerous examples to illustrate material and wealth as though very influential and make people powerful; it cannot imply or buy happiness for an individual. In essence, wealth is portrayed as...
Arguably, the main drive of “The Lottery” involves man vs. society conflict. It occurs when the protagonist has a distinct belief against many community members. The majority of them see the individual as the antagonist, whose aim is to violate the stipulated norms and ways of life. In the short...
Introduction Oedipus has been one of the most well-known characters who has been mentioned by many art critics, artists, writers, and even psychologists. Oedipus Rex is a remarkable masterpiece created by Sophocles as it contains all the elements of a classical tragedy. Aristotle described the components of this type of...
Introduction “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” is a short story by Ernest Hemingway, portraying three people, different in age and possessed values — an elderly drunk and two waiters. Through the protagonists’ behavior in the café where the story is set, the author expresses the idea that all humans will inevitably...
The story, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been, was written by Joyce Carol Oates in the mid-60s and was dedicated to the famous musician Bob Dylan. She once explained that the idea of writing this story came to her mind when she read a story about a man...
Introduction The epic poem The Odyssey by Homer represents Greek culture, as it traces an essential association with its rich heritage and the author’s contribution. Homer’s narrative, written around the 8th century BC, manifests human strength, endurance, and readiness to overcome challenges. Having become the motivation of Greek culture, the...
Introduction “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a classic example of American literature that tells the story of a woman struggling with depression. This story is unique in its kind, as it is written in the first person, which allows the reader to feel the atmosphere of the...
Zhang, Cong-wen, and Ming-wen Xiao. “Economic Dynamics and Consumer Culture in The Great Gatsby.” Journal of Literature and Art Studies, vol. 12, no. 10, 2022, pp. 968–980. The article highlights how money can secure love and contribute to overall life satisfaction. At the beginning of Fitzgerald’s novel, money is represented...
Introduction The short tale “Sweetness” by Toni Morrison sheds light on colorism’s pervasive effects on people and their interpersonal interactions in the United States. Students can investigate the themes of colorism, self-esteem, and relationships in the novel using the academic essay “Colorism and the Afro-Latinx Experience: A Review of the...
Is Mary a Good Spouse? At the beginning of the story, Mary has that plume of the perfect wife waiting dutifully for her husband. She looks at her watch to “delight herself with the thought that with every passing minute, the time is approaching when he will come” (Dahl 1)....
“Dulce et Decorum Est” is a poem by English poet Wilfred Owen. Besides being a poet, he participated in World War I, and this writing was devoted to experiences in battles during the war. “Dulce et Decorum Est” was published posthumously in the collection of Owen’s poems (Spacey). The author...
“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin (1894) uses key literary elements and symbols to provide insights into life and death, marriage, and other topics. This is the story of a woman who, when she believes her husband is dead, seems more vibrant than ever and passes away upon...
Introduction The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin features Mrs. Mallard as the main protagonist. It revolves around her inner character, which tends towards preservation. She is portrayed as a woman suffering intensely due to her internal thoughts. Her true personality is one of independence and intelligence. Her independence...
Introduction Passing is the ability of an individual to exist in a different social class, such as race, ethnicity, social group, and gender, to gain social acceptance. The term appeared in the United States in the 1920s and described mixed-race people who referred to themselves as white when legal and...
The novel’s main character, Mr. Potter, is a Texas marshal returning to Yellow Sky with his eastern wife. Sheriff Wilson and his thugs are about to be confronted by gunman Scratchy Wilson, but the sheriff’s wife and an older man talk him out of it. It was written as a...
Greek mythology is an expansive set of fictional folklore that is one of the most prominent cultural influences in Western arts, literature, and other mediums for centuries due to its origin in Ancient Greece often viewed as the cradle of Western civilization. The rich development of the mythological stories and...
Introduction The famous “O Captain! My Captain!” written by Walt Whitman is a short literary work encompassing several complex topics important to each American. It is personal and national mourning for Abraham Lincoln as well as a retrospective of the events of the Civil War and previous major historical events...
Ken Liu’s paper titled Paper Menagerie has employed different themes in its story. It has deployed the theme of connection, resentment, culture, prejudice, love, and struggles. Resentment is clearly shown when Jack, who is happy in his childhood, tries to reject his tradition and embrace the American lifestyle immediately; he...
“I Could See the Smallest Things,” written by Raymond Carver, is concise, but it has a powerful effect on readers. The author masterfully attracts attention, forcing them to search for clues about what is happening in the characters’ lives. The story’s plot is constructed around Nancy’s night walk, who hears...
Broken Chains is a story written by Gary Soto, the main character of which is the boy Alfonso, who did not have a sense of belonging to a group he is in. In turn, the short story Fish Creeks, written by Amy Tan, tells a young Chinese girl’s drama based...
Love, I’m Done with You by Ross Gay shows the poet’s feelings after escaping from his partner. He realizes how wretched their relationship was and everything he liked about his beloved was an illusion. Gay sees all the flaws of his partner, which he did not pay attention to before....
The formal analysis of a literary work allows the reader to better understand the author’s message. The connection between form and content produces a desirable effect and generates meaning. In the poem, “Letter Beginning with Two Lines by Czeslaw Milosz,” Mathew Olzmann raises the issue of killing children and expresses...
Introduction In his documentary and diary writing, Franz Kafka professed his knowledge and fascination, rather than belief, in Sigmund Freud’s theories of psychoanalysis. According to Freud, people’s mental health through making their unconscious thoughts conscious, thus gaining an insight into what is going ‘under the surface.’ Such insight can help...
The theme of duality is a common topic for many literary works, including Shelly’s Frankenstein, Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, and Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The main idea of duality is to underline the worth of opposition that exists in society and human relationships. As a rule,...
“The Great Gatsby” is a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, first published in 1925. When referring to the relationship between money, love, and happiness, it can be said that there is no better example illustrating such relation than Fitzgerald’s novel. The novel main idea can be described as the portrayal...
John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men seems to be a simple story about the Great Depression. The story is essentially about two guys trying to make it in California as they struggle to stay employed as migrant field workers. Their dream is to earn enough money to buy a...
Introduction The verses “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost and Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare are among the most beautiful. They show poets’ ability to capture the essence of life. They depict the inevitability of choice and eternity; meditate about the most philosophical sides of life. Eternal Life of...
Introduction It is possible to suggest that the most universal and inclusive definition of the purpose of literature as an art is to tell a good story. While it is apparent that various genres of literature fulfill this purpose differently, it could be suggested that the genre of memoirs is...
Introduction Shakespeare’s mastery at crafting intricate tragedies that endure over time is a substantial part of his legacy as a playwright. Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth” is a prime example of this skill, displaying a deft blending of tragic elements that have come to define Shakespearean theater. “Macbeth” embodies tragedy via a...
Introduction Orwell, an anti-imperialist author, argued that imperialism destroyed both the conqueror and the defeated. “I had already made up my mind that imperialism was an evil thing. I was all for the Burmese and all against their oppressors, the British,” writes George Orwell, expressing his distaste for the British...
Hysteria is an anomaly reaction on the exterior sources of irritation that is gradually developing and demonstrates openly only at the final stage of the disease. In this response, there will be considered a specific case was described in Horacio Quiroga’s story “The Feather Pillow,” where the main hero, Alicia,...
The story Ghost by Jason Reynolds tells the story of a boy named Castle who grows up in difficult times for him. His family almost fell apart due to the fact that his father is a prisoner and his mother is practically on the verge of poverty. Thus, the author...
Perseverance is one of the key traits associated with the American identity. The short story “The soft-hearted Sioux” by Zitkala-Sa is a perfect example of this trait. The main character of this story is a Native American who wishes to follow a path different from his ancestors. Despite the pressure...
The novel Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson explores the duality of the human soul. Dr. Jekyll is one of the clearest literary examples of multiple personality disorder. The author gives direct hints that duality is inherent in every person, and it depends only...
Eveline is a short story written by James Joyce about a 19-year-old woman making a hard choice regarding the direction of her entire life. Eveline lives in Dublin with her old abusive father; she works hard and looks after the house. Her mother and one of her brothers – Ernest...
Edgar Allan Poe wrote The Tell-Tale Heart in 1843. It is a short horror story depicting the murder of an old man by an unnamed person, the story’s narrator. The narrator shows signs of paranoia, mania, and auditory hallucinations. The setting is a house where both characters live, while most...
Geoffrey Chaucer is widely known as the father of English literature, the first English poet and humanist. The life of Chaucer is a fantastic example of a person’s existence in numerous social fields. The Great English poet communicated with people from practically every social class at various times in his...
In Tartuffe, one of the primary topics that the author raises is the hypocrisy of some members of the society of that time and the detrimental effect of blind trust given to faithful people. To prove his point, the author uses Orgon’s family to show the result of this belief...
The “Last Leaf” by O. Henry is a narrative that focuses on people’s need to have hope. The story mostly centers on two painters, Sue and Johnsy, living at the top of a three-story building. Johnsy has pneumonia, and she believes that when the ivy vine on the wall outside...
Introduction After two hundred years of the first publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the book has become an essential read for scientists. Indeed, the book is vital for realizing the responsibility behind scientific discoveries. Frankenstein tries to answer the question of whether humans should do anything just because they can....
Theme and Character Analysis Dagoberto Gilb’s story Love in L.A is an indication of how love in the modern society is considered. The story presents an ironic scenario of love in the modern society. Traditionally, two strangers would meet and after a short time of interaction, the strangers would fall...
Introduction The Glass Menagerie was written and premiered by Tennessee Williams in 1944. The play drew the audience’s attention to the author and gained theatrical success (Adler 18-19). The characters of the play, Amanda Wingfield, her son Tom, and her daughter Laura, can be described from different perspectives, but it...
Introduction In his famous book, Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History, Mintz studies where and how the goods that were produced on the islands since colonial times were consumed. Spices (ginger, allspice, and nutmeg), beverages (coffee, chocolate), rum, and sugar were exported from the Caribbean region...
Introduction “Disgrace” by John Coetzee is a novel about loss, pain, and the efforts to reconcile with oneself. The main characters are disgraced and deprived of all dignity in different circumstances. Even though the characters David Lurie and Lucy Lurie have in common the suffering of facing traumatic sexual experiences,...
Introduction Alexander Pope is one of the most renowned British poets who glorified his native land and his people. He is specifically famous for the use of heroic themes and imagery that made his works successful during his lifetime and still popular in modern times (Fairer and Gerrard 114). One...
Introduction “Death of a Salesman” is one of the brightest works of Arthur Miller, and the problems enlightened in it remain actual long after the work was first published (Scheibe 26). The play describes the beauty of a dream and the impossibility of following the standards of our society regarding...
Human relationships may be of a different kind, and for some people, some of the relationships may seem strange; others may believe them to be ideal. Therefore, it is possible to say that people choose the way they are going to communicate with others on the basis of their character...
Women have already made a long way towards the establishment of equality. Caryl Churchill in her play Top Girls highlights the issue regarding the success of the women’s movement of the 1970s and 80s, making us doubt that the female accomplishments in the sphere of career are enough for the...
John Keats’ “Ode on a Grecian Urn” is a prominent example of an ode. It tackles the theme of beauty and immortality of art. This “Ode on a Grecian Urn” essay explores the poem’s tone, mood, and meaning line by line. If you need to write a paper on this...
Introduction In the story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, Flannery O’Connor focuses on the lack of the ‘good’ aspects that are supposed to lead to ‘grace’ among human beings. The author shows the frailty of human beings and how they lack in spirituality. The story is presented through...
Eliezer Wiesel recounted his life while staying in a death camp and described his early years in the book ‘Night.’ At the beginning of the story, he lived in Romania together with his family. Deportation of the Jews took place later as the story continued. Being a Jewish boy, he...
Introduction The two plays that specifically approach the issue of marriage are A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen and Fences by August Wilson. These two literary works bear the complexities inherent in marriages and explore the contexts of problems experienced by the respective couples. It can be claimed that Nora...
Thesis Statement The ’12 Labors of Hercules,’ a thought-provoking story from Greek mythology, is instructive and can be applied in many ways today. The topic of the study is the timeless nature of the narratives about Hercules’ feats and what insight they provide today. After comprehensively researching selected relevant sources,...
Introduction “Whoso List to Hunt” is a Petrarchan sonnet written by Sir Thomas Wyatt in the 16th century. In his work, Sir Thomas Wyatt intertwines some of the most fundamental human emotions and traits, such as love, lust, and power, creating a single piece that addresses all those who find...
Introduction The novel’s characters are appealing to readers due to their personal development. Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice is an example of a character’s transformation. She changes her outlook throughout the novel, getting rid of her prejudice about Mr. Darcy. This also develops her best personal qualities and makes...
Introduction The various literary genres that authors use in their works allow them to reveal the text’s central idea uniquely. The genre of satire, which the Anglo-Irish writer Jonathan Swift uses in A Modest Proposal, is an essential tool for conveying the author’s thoughts. The masterful application of satirical literary...
Introduction The problem of identity and being human is one of the popular topics in world literature. Numerous authors have argued about what qualities and features differentiate human beings from others and make them part of society. At the same time, these discussions are critical for understanding the values appreciated...
In the short story Two Kinds, Amy Tan explores the complex relationship between a mother and daughter. Set in the US, the story is about a girl named Jing-Mei who struggles under the weight of her mother’s expectations for her to become a prodigy. The author’s purpose is to highlight...
Introduction The poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen details the experiences he went through while fighting in the First World War. His main goal was to dispel the commonly held assumption that soldiers who survive in combat are heroes. He does not agree with the concept of dying...
Literature can be extremely personal and serve as a reflection of the experiences of the author. Chinua Achebe is one of the most prominent contemporary Nigerian writers, with a unique writing style and even more remarkable stories to tell. In his works, Achebe sheds light on the cultural disparity between...
Poetry has always been one of the most popular forms of art used by individuals to reflect their feelings and emotions. Using various stylistic devices, rhymes, and rhythm, the author creates a unique image and sounding, attracting readers’ attention, triggering their feelings and emotions, and making them empathize with the...
Introduction Aristotelian tragedy and Shakespearean tragedy are the two most important forms of tragedy in the study of the evolution of this genre. Although Shakespearean conceptions of tragedy influenced Aristotelian views, some differences can be seen between them. The main peculiar feature between Aristotle and Shakespearean tragedy is the unity...
Antigone’s opponent Creon is a notoriously very arrogant dictator who demands absolute loyalty from his subjects. He displays his conceit from the outset of the performance via both his words and deeds. He claims the inhabitants of Thebes as his own and uses fear to compel them to submit completely....
Introduction The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the most important literature pieces that partly created the foundation for the art existing currently. Moreover, multiple archetypal elements can be derived from the poem, both regarding the rivalry and friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu and the epic as a whole. In...
The History and Importance of Women’s Literature Literature was one of many spheres in which women were a minority in representation in the 17th century. The tradition of women’s literature was ignored by society for centuries. Women writers were not considered profound creators. Their novels were perceived with significant opposition....
Introduction Sophocles was a prominent tragedian who contributed to the development of Athenian drama. His Antigone shows the conflict between divine and human laws and puts unwritten rules of life above all. On the one hand, religious beliefs rooted in the traditions of a tribal community ordered people to sacredly...
Introduction Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is a novel illustrating a dystopian system in which fertile women become the maids of couples who cannot conceive. The United States (Gilead) has become a military, patriarchal, autocratic country where all males and females serve a purpose. Males, depending on their status, can...
Introduction Edgar Allan Poe was a poet, publicist, writer, and cultural critic in the United States of America. Poe’s poems and short story collections, notably his narratives of mystery and the grotesque, are his most notable works. He is generally considered a significant character in both American Romanticism and American...
Introduction The phenomenon of the American Dream appears vague and indeterminate in the American literature. In a broad sense, this term indicates both material and spiritual values of the American citizens. It is a complex of various ideals, inherent for the Americans since their childhood. The American Dream is a...
Introduction Racial and cultural identity are among the most prominent themes of Langston Hughes’s literary works. It is important to point out that many of his poems explore different aspects of African American identity in regards to the overall culture and race as well as the intricate topics on social...
Introduction Trifles is a one-act play by an American playwright and journalist Susan Glaspell, first performed in 1916. The plot is centered around a scene in a local farmhouse where neighbors and the police investigate a murder of John Wright, of which his wife Minnie is suspected. The play explores...
Beowulf is a famous epic poem that was created between the end of the 7th and the first part of the 8th century. At that time, the Anglo-Saxons were already experiencing the emergence of feudal ties (Heaney 1). The poem, however, is characterized by an epic archaization and depicts reality...
Edwidge Danticat utilizes her short story, “A Wall of Fire Rising,” to paint a picture of life in Haiti for the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. In particular, the elemental story, as well as a haunting tale, revolves around a father’s shame and feeling of guilt and a child’s innocence, in...
Throughout the decades, various intellectuals had their own view of the universe and understood the concepts of Heaven and Hell differently. The distinction in perceptions depended on various factors, such as the historical period, societal rules, personal experiences, and philosophies. For instance, an English poet and philosopher John Milton viewed...
Introduction “A Man of the People”, a novel created by Chinua Achebe in 1966, depicts a situation in an African country. The book describes a rivalry between the Minister of Culture, Chief Nanga, and his former student, Odili. Chinua calls Mr. Nanga “man of the people” in the first lines...
Introduction The role of pornography in modern society should be considered as the topic for debate because of the controversial nature of this subject. Women’s ideas regarding the concept of pornography are important to examine and discuss in detail because of the prevalence of males’ views in this field. In...
The European colonists dominated over the Africans by disempowering them by introducing religious ideas that openly challenged their beliefs from an outside perspective. These white settlers managed to cause conflicts between those who are learned and then plant in those new Christian ideas. They also established a government that harassed...
Introduction Gerald Graff is a specialist in English language studies and a researcher in the sphere of education. He wrote more than five books covering controversial and complicated topics, such as conflicts between a pupil and a teacher, the problem of diversification of cultural backgrounds, and the negative consequences of...
Introduction The House on Mango Street is the novel by Sandra Cisneros, the famous American author with Mexican roots. The plot of the novel is based on such well-known concept in the philosophy as the American dream, which means a strong commitment to achievement of better life and the pursuit...
Outline This paper discusses Henrik Ibsen portrayal of women. Ibsen was one of the finest novelists of Norwegian history. His novels were very controversial about the role of women during that time. Though, he highlights different shades of women characters. This paper discusses his works and highlight how he portrays...
Outline This paper is an attempt to analyze the character of Emilia in William Shakespeare’s tragic play Othello. It begins with a thesis statement and the body discusses various questions like what is the role of Emilia. Is Emilia responsible for Desdemona’s death? What is her role in the handkerchief...
This scene is at the last of the play, beginning about line 780 in Act II and continuing to the end of the play. Willy and the boys have already had a fight, and the boys left with a couple of local tarts without telling their father they were going....
Introduction Susan Glaspell’s Trifles is widely accepted as the most shining example of feminist drama. Within only one act, the author manages to evolve a complicated plotline, to describe settings in detail, and, most of all, to represent the life of a woman in the early 20th-century society. Representing such...
Introduction “What’s That Smell in the Kitchen” by Marge Piercy is a poem that relates to my childhood experience. Since I was young, I have been taught by my parents and grandparents that my role as a woman was to perform domestic chores like cooking, cleaning, etc. On the contrary,...
Fahrenheit 451 is considered Ray Bradbury’s masterpiece. The society that he depicted in the novel is so far removed from the one we live in today. At the same time, they are so similar. This is just one of the Fahrenheit 451 essay examples. You can use it as an...
Introduction The Novel, Disgrace, revolves around David Lurie, a University lecturer who faces one disgrace after another. Disgrace follows David wherever he goes throughout the novel. The 52-year-old man faces life in a post apartheid South Africa where racial discrimination is still rife. David’s first scandal with Melanie at the...
Theme of Family in Frankenstein: Introduction The family relationship is the most important intimate relationship that involves humankind. If there is absence of this intimacy relationship, human beings would not transform to what they are expected to act, and this deforms the essence of human nature. The feelings are always...
Introduction What Every Soldier Should Know is a short poem in which Brian Turner explores the problems between soldiers of different cultures and worldviews. He reveals how people’s lives change throughout the war and what consequences can await any soldier or civilian. War invariably ruins many people’s lives, and when...
Introduction: The American Dream Concept The term American dream refers to the chances available to citizens of the United States and those who come here to live. The American dream is identified as the freedom of speech, entrepreneurship, personality, and the capacity to work hard to accomplish personal objectives and...
The play “The Doll’s House” illustrates Henrik Ibsen’s interest in gender inequality and women’s rights. This paper examines the literary work from a Feminist criticism perspective, which is relevant to its central theme. Despite the portrayal of the main character as stupid and dependent on men, the author at the...
Deceit and lies can be one of the most distracting factors in human life despite one’s accomplishments. As Benjamin Franklin said, “Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools, that don’t have brains enough, to be honest,” the play Othello by Shakespeare accurately depicts his words. Othello is a storyline...
Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman are successful dramas produced in 1879 and 1949, respectively. Due to their relevance to contemporary challenges, both writings have garnered high praise from critics and are debated by academics worldwide. Despite being created in various eras and nations,...
Introduction Realism is a literary movement distinguished by its unique depiction of human nature by depicting specific people in a specific time and place, also known as a slice of life. This is accomplished using vernacular to create a convincing yet true depiction of a culture. Similarly, psychological realism employs...
The novel by Toni Morrison The Bluest Eye shows how racial oppression has a devastating effect on African Americans through the image of madness. The main character was a victim of racism, and in an effort to conform to the ideals of the beauty of white people, she began to...
Native American cultures have a strong sense of connection to and unity with nature, an aspect of characterization. Like other folklore, the Cherokee story explains how the creation of the world and environment. However, what sets this origin tale of the Native Americans is that its lessons about respecting nature...
Introduction The Old English poem “Beowulf” is a monument of late origin. Radical reinterpretations of the story include Robert Zemeckis’ feature film, Beowulf. This film does not claim complete plot similarity to the original narrative but is a new work based on the famous epic poem. The film and the...
Among the core insights of the Marxist theory is that the class struggle has characterized the history of societies’ development. Because art, both literature and theater, does not exist separately from society, it has become a crucial aspect of the historical process and people’s comprehension of the world. Thus, it...
The purpose of this paper is to analyze symbolic meanings behind the main characters of John Steinbeck’s novella “Of Mice and Men”. Symbolism is a common trope used in the narrative, which is done via representation of a larger idea through smaller means. Symbols are diverse and can take the...
Examining the individual gods in the story gives us new respect for how similar Greek and Norse myths are. Many elements and qualities of Prometheus in Greek mythology and Loki in Norse mythology are the same. They both behave in the same way because they are both their own mythical...
Mary Romero’s Life as the Maid’s Daughter is an essential piece of literature highlighting the differences between white upper-middle-class and Mexican working-class societies. The research was assisted by private household workers of color, sharing their experiences and struggles. The narrative follows Teresa’s life, a live-in maid’s daughter, exploring the constant...
Introduction A Rose for Emily by William Faulker is among the best 20th-century stories in American literature. It is his first published work in a magazine due to its influence on society. The author presents his story in a mid-20th century community in South America. The story occurs in a...
In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller manages to masterfully show how dreams, combined with pride and stubbornness, are able to destroy a person’s life. In the play, Willy Loman, the main character, is fighting to face the reality and abandon the haunting illusions. Eventually, Willy’s dream of materialistic happiness...
Introduction Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a Colombian Nobel prize winner commonly regarded as one of the best authors of the 20th century (Echevarría). His works famously blend elements of fantasy and realism to explore solitude, violence, and the human condition (Echevarría). A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings is a...
Introduction Being a thematically intricate and unbelievably nuanced work, Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” incorporates a plethora of ideas. However, of all concepts that the play embraces, the one of loyalty seems to be particularly persistent and ubiquitous throughout the narrative. Although vengeance and the corruption of power are usually regarded as the...
Chinua Achebe’s “Dead Men’s Path” demonstrates the conflicts between European values and the traditional Ndume culture. Michael Obi, who came to the village as a headmaster of the school, aimed to cultivate modern values for local youngsters. However, when he refused to open the holy footpath, the villagers ruined the...
Introduction One of the main themes in the short story “Sonny’s Blues,” written by James Baldwin, is family support, which is essential for uniting the characters and allowing them to solve their problems. However, it is mostly described in a negative light throughout the narrative, which changes to a more...
There are many evil characters in the play The Crucible, but Abigail Williams is the most prominent. Not only is Abigail unkind and malicious, but the character will get what she wants regardless of the consequences. Despite being a pathological liar, Abigail will try several options to achieve her ambitions...
Drama is one of the most vital forms of art and may be considered as the heart of literature. It developed simultaneously in Ancient Greece, China, Japan, and other countries, and since then a significant number of theatres, tragedies, comedies, and dramas were created (“A brief history of tragedy,” n.d.)....
Introduction The onset of the 21st century has brought on unimaginable and unprecedented leaps in commercial technology which has been woven into the very fabric of society. If 20 years ago few adults, let alone children had a cellphone, and 10 years ago, social media was a fun gimmick, both...
The morality of Christian tradition and its application to real-life problems has always been the platform for debate. People look for the solution in God but often get entangled with the common practical reasons for it. The characters of David Foster Wallace’s short story Good People also deal with such...
Introduction Every woman wants to be graceful and refined, beautiful and elegant, admirable and fascinating. Though the appearances can be deceptive, it is natural for people to pretend to be what they really want to be. Women are considered to be more deceptive than men because they use their natural...
‘Great Expectations’ is considered as one of the most sophisticated novels of Charles Dickens, the great Victorian writer. Critics rightly comment that this is a semi-autobiographical work by Dickens decorated with harsh life realities, a tremendous experiment in theme and treatment. The novelist has presented the theme of the novels...
Romeo and Juliet is perhaps one of Shakespeare’s most well known and renowned of plays. It is story of love’s attempts to unite and bring together two lovers who can fathom nothing else but their love (Shakespeare). In Romeo and Juliet, we see two lovers bent on becoming one and...
In human life the idea if home occupies one of the leading positions in the hierarchy of traditional values. The famous proverb “There is no place like home” reflects the uniqueness and importance of the place to human heart. The emotional value of home becomes especially apparent in situations when...
Robert Frost is one of the most respected poets. He appears in his poems in different guises, but whatever character he assumes, he is very honest and provides the readers with delight and wisdom. The poem, “The Telephone” under discussion here, is a love poem, though it is open to...
Introduction In “Night,” which is a semi-memoir dedicated to Elie Wiesel’s harrowing experiences in concentration camps, the topic of a father-son relationship and its development is very important. Elie, along with other Jewish people of his town, falls victim to the German occupation of Hungary. In 1944, Elie and his...
John Smith, the author of “General History of Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles” does not seem to be a reliable narrator, even though he is talking about his adventures from the times of colonization, he makes the story sound like an ode to himself and his deeds. The...
Seamus Heaney (1939-2003) is one of the prominent figures in the modern Irish poetry. Awarded with the Nobel Prize in 1995, the poet was the author of multiple collections of verse, literary essays, and translations. Seamus Heaney is an outstanding creative individual; his uniqueness is reflected through his poetic language,...
Introduction Goethe explores the darkest recesses of human nature in “Faust,” introducing a protagonist who personifies the fundamental duality of the human soul. The contradiction of human aspirations that struggle between the earthly and the sublime is reflected in Faust’s contract with the devious yet enlightened Mephistopheles, which stems from...
Introduction John Milton’s “Paradise Lost” gives a vivid description of the Garden of Eden – it is presented as a dynamic place with a prelapsarian setting. The first seven books of the epic poem give an overview of paradise’s purity, emphasizing the relationship between humanity, nature, and divinity (Milton, 2000)....
“We Wear the Mask” was composed in 1895 by Paul Laurence Dunbar – one of the first African-American writers who attained national prominence. The poem itself is devoted to the lifestyle of African-Americans of that time. Despite the abolishment of slavery in 1865, racism remained an issue in interracial communication...
Siegfried Sassoon’s Poetry Through his poems, Siegfried Sassoon demonstrates a sharp distinction in the reaction to war. In this way, his poetry is separated into two parts: before and after the war. Under the significant effect of his own military experiences, Sassoon’s perspective on the war underwent a profound shift...
Introduction The poet of interest is Janice Mirikitani, an Asian American poet who strongly appeals to me even though her culture is different from my own. The main reason is that her works show that there are many similarities between cultures, but the difference is how common human struggles and...
The fact that the world realizes new wisdom faster than understanding exposes generations to immeasurable danger. Nothing exemplifies this statement better than technological invention and its utilization in the information realm. Feed is a hi-tech novel by Mathew Tobin Anderson that ridicules the present and future generations that tend to...
Introduction The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the most interesting, essential, and significant monuments of ancient literature, often becoming the object of deep and comprehensive research. This epic narrates about the legendary king of Uruk Gilgamesh, his friend the savage Enkidu, and the search for the secret of immortality...
Power is recognized as having a heavy influence on a group of individuals or over someone. In the dramatic tragedy Hamlet by William Shakespeare, power can be portrayed as the theme that drives the play. There are several chains of events in the play that have resulted as a result...
Sweat is a short shorty written by Zora Neale Hurston. It centers around the marital conflict between a hardworking Christian washerwoman, Delia, and her abusive and unfaithful husband, Sykes (Hurston). After 15 years of marriage, Sykes is attempting to evict Delia out of their common household to move in his...
“The Double Image” is a rather significant and famous confessional poem written by Anne Sexton. This is an increasingly severe and profound literary work that can have various meanings and interpretations. The poet tells about her most intimate parts of life and her way through post-traumatic stress disorder. It is...
Introduction The poem “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe narrates the experience of a young man. He loses the woman he loves because of the angels’ envy and claims to keep his feelings for her forever (Poe). By the end of the story, the main character concludes on the impossibility...
Regardless of the period the literary text is written, the message it tries to express through black ink is often relative for many decades. An example of this kind of works is the excerpts written by Keats, Yeats, and Orwell. The writers invoke philosophical ideas and provoke readers’ thoughts by...
As one might expect from a book written by an eyewitness of the Holocaust who barely escaped death at concentration camps, Night by Elie Wiesel deals with the subject of evil in much detail. The teenage author’s encounters with SS soldiers and the personnel of the death camps provide more...
Introduction The Iliad is an ancient Greek epic poem attributed to Homer. It seems to have originated based on legends about the Trojan War, and the main character of the poem is Achilles. Dramatic pictures of war, fights of heroes alternate with pictures of peaceful life and with scenes of...
Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, which was first published in 1985, is one of the most controversial dystopian novels. The key themes that are discussed by the author in her work include social inequality between men and women, power, oppression, gender roles, freedoms, and rights among others. The complex discussion...
Human society has gone through multiple numbers of epochs and stages in its development, and on each of those stages, human beings have coined certain rules and laws to regulate their lives. In the modern world, the rational mind seems to rule the creation of laws, but in the ancient...
The novel Crime and Punishment written by Fyodor Dostoevsky concentrates on the moral issues and highlights the urgent problems of society in the nineteenth century. The protagonists of the novel embody different features of characters who find comfort through redemption. In addition, the novel presents the reader with a great...
Over the past years, the novel “The Joy Luck Club” by Amy Tan has been attracting attention of scholars and researchers interested in cultural studies. A number of scholarly works have been dedicated to the analysis of this novel; the researchers explored such aspects of the novel as mother-and-daughter relations,...
The novel Great Expectations written by Charles Dickens is considered to be one of the most significant and sophisticated works of world literature. The style of the novel is predominantly semi-autobiographical while the author managed to reflect his personal experience and expectations concerning time and people he met. The analysis...
Prospero’s Character Analysis: Introduction While reading William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”, one questions himself or herself if the main character’s Prospero’s rule is just or not. To prove his or her viewpoint, one should analyze Prospero’s choices to explain his values; one should also examine and discuss the treatment and the...
“Little Red Riding Hood” is one of the tales that seem simple yet addresses complex social issues such as sexual predators, stalking, date rape, and many others. It is the way in which a comparatively old fairy tale shapes relationships and interactions in modern society that seems to be especially...
Writing about poems is always interesting and challenging. The analysis of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poem is not an exception. On the one hand, it is a real challenge to understand the meaning of each word in the poem and the intentions of the writer. On the other hand, it is...
Introduction Poetry often serves as a mirror through which societal norms and practices are reflected. “My Last Duchess,” written by Robert Browning in 1842, when the Victorians began influencing society both culturally and politically, is primarily regarded as a theatrical monologue, given that the speaker talks to an imaginary audience...
Introduction A Raisin in the Sun is a play about racial prejudice demonstrated by the Younger family. Beneath Younger is a 20-year-old college student at the crossroads of choosing a future career (Hansberry, 2021). This character is my favorite; she speaks out four crucial life lessons: finding a life path,...
