Newest Literature Essays

The idea that “all men are created equal” is a philosophy that drove American revolutionaries during the late 18th century and though women were specifically left out, those who championed the doctrine believed that women in their lackluster...

The kind of reasoning utilized by Descartes in order to arrive at his conclusion of the cogito has been questioned since its initial publication in The Discourse on the Method. The conjunction 'ergo' suggests the formula of an inference, that...

Arnauld, within his objections to 'Meditations on First Philosophy', highlights what would come to be considered one of the most fundamental flaws in Cartesian reasoning; namely the evident circularity of reasoning from 'Clear and Distinct...

Setting and circumstances we find ourselves in create the person we become and choose to be. In The Pianist directed by Roman Polanski setting was used to develop the viewer's understanding of the characters of Szpilman and Hosenfeld. Szpilman is...

One of the most potent works by the writer D.H Lawrence is The Piano, a poem that explores the role of memory in life. A similar idea is explored in The Gift by Li Young Lee. These two poems show that memory plays a complex role in the journey of...

There are few well-read people today who would not recognize the name T.S. Eliot. Known for his brilliant Modernist poetry, Eliot was also a prominent 20th century critic and playwright. Though his literary accolades spreads far and wide, his...

The Great Gatsby is a novel that has been evaluated by countless critics since its original publication in April of 1925. What makes it such an incredible piece of literature is that it seems to contain endless levels of meaning, and the reader...

One thing workaholics are tired of hearing is “you need a vacation!” The classic workaholic has no idea when they have worked enough, and usually has trouble making the decision to take a break for even a short period of time. Workaholic Gustav...

In his iconic poem The Tyger, William Blake directly addresses the paradoxically beautiful yet horrific figure with a question: What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry? This simple question, wondering how and what divine being...

Aubrey Binder's “Uncovering the Past: The Role of Dust Imagery in a Rose For Emily'” explains that the motifs of dust and decay are very important and prominent in Faulkner's story. Binder’s arguments for the motifs are strong, especially for the...

Throughout history, there have been books that shocked the world and turned many ideals upside down. Upton Sinclair’s 1906 novel, The Jungle, was one of these cases. It sent a shiver down typical Americans’ spines when the author described the...

There is no denying it—our world is on the brink of a severe environmental crisis. Critical issues like pollution, global warming, overpopulation, natural resource depletion, waste disposal, loss of biodiversity, deforestation, and urban sprawl...

Throughout the Discourse on Metaphysics and the Letters to Arnauld , specifically, Leibniz embarks on an exploration of necessity and contingency in relation to the key metaphysical principles he postulates. Since the publication of the Discourse,...

Macbeth has been performed by many different groups and companies throughout the years because it is perhaps one of the most potent political statements in Western drama, and perhaps one of Shakespeare’s best scripts. Though the PBS and RSC...

According to the psychoanalyst Carl Jung, ‘man is an enigma to himself’.[1] In his seminal work The Undiscovered Self, Jung notes how man’s world revolves around what he believes himself to be, what he thinks is right and what he believes he is...

One boy. One gun. That was all it took for the tragic events of April twenty- second. Author Walter Dean Myers explains all of the details leading up to the shooting incident in the novel Shooter. The story is made from mostly interviews with...

Does following orders and laws justify allowing the mass persecution of a race? Is protecting one’s family a viable reason to tolerate the mistreatment of the Jews? During the Nuremberg trials, judges ruled simply following orders was an...

The story of “Little Red Riding Hood” contains many aspects that surprised me upon reading the tale again as adult. In fact, taking a look at most of the classic fairy tales that are told to children at a later time in life often reveals different...

"Promises like Piecrust" by Christina Rossetti relates a narrative between a speaker and beloved in regards to the other’s romantic attraction towards the speaker. The title of the poem is taken from the expression ‘Promises are like pie crust,...

We do not know what we want and yet we are responsible for what we are — that is the fact. - Jean-Paul Sartre

In the novel Giovanni's Room, author James Baldwin invites his readers to journey to Paris post-World War II. The San Francisco...

“The problem with surviving was that you ended up with the ghosts of everyone you’d ever left behind riding on your shoulders.” - Paolo Bacigalupi

Czeslaw Milosz and Osip Mandelstam are two poets who have survived many tragedies during their...

Whether it be a gender hierarchy or a power system organized by income, human society has frequently fallen back on some form of an unequal power dynamic. Unfortunately, this type of structure can be extremely damaging to those at the bottom of...

The autobiographical graphic novel Persepolis follows the journey of Marjane Satrapi’s life as she experiences the dangers of the Iran war. Satrapi’s narrative provides a personal look into life during the Iran war, following her throughout not...

“I Grieve, and Dare Not Show My Discontent” is a three-stanza poem written by Queen Elizabeth I that allegedly features Francis, the French Duke of Anjou as her beloved. Throughout her reign, Queen Elizabeth I entertained many suitors to get what...