Newest Literature Essays

It is very common in literature, both in the past and modern-day, for characters to have dark backgrounds. Many authors choose this approach because it creates an approachable character with whom the reader can identify, and provides the reader...

In every story, there are characters which serve to give the text purpose and drive the plot. Whether the character is dynamic, complex, round or flat, successful pieces of literature must include well-developed characters to propel the story. In...

Our lives are seemingly centered around numbers. We count the years we have been alive, recall events based on the numerical dates they occurred on, and organize our finances with the help of simple numbers. Life itself appears to be a...

What is reality? And how do we know for sure that the reality in which we live is not a false one? For some people the answer is clear, but for others the answer is a muddy one. A portion of a person’s individual psyche is more powerful than...

Darkness and light are everywhere, and one cannot exist without the other. However, a combination of the two creates shadows in which a world can be altered into a form of dusk, twilight. It is in this shadowy light that a person may find...

Art lives in a realm of ambiguity, and it is ambiguity that grants it greater applicability to the average life. In Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham, three narratives lack detail as to draw greater attention to the ideas within the narratives...

When reading the poetry of Emily Dickinson, many people find themselves asking the same question: was Emily Dickinson a lesbian (or at least bisexual)? The answer is not a definite, but there is ample evidence to support the fact that she may have...

In several respects, American writers have use literature as a means to promote equal rights for women; however, these writers are often white females - or even white males. While these writers are certainly able to uncover a variety of aspects...

V.S. Naipaul’s first published novel, The Mystic Masseur, can correctly be described as satirical given the extensive manner in which it employs language in the form of irony, hyperbole, caricature and other techniques to tell the picaresque story...

When it comes to literature, individual stylistic preferences can differ radically. Some people like long, flowery, detailed pieces of elaborate writing, while others prefer short and simple ones. As a poet himself, Billy Collins is at times quite...

Luck appears at a moment in time when people need it the most. When all of one’s knowledge, experience and skills have been exhausted, luck can alter given circumstances thus allowing people to push past difficult situations. Luck can be defined...

“Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.” This quote, often attributed to Einstein, is actually said by many physicists and writers – the oldest confirmed being Ray Cummings in a short story. However, Dickens’s novels have...

Before delving into the tense relationship between power, possession, and disease in Jonson’s Volpone, it is first necessary to sift through the forbearing tensions between “profit and pleasure” that Jonson mentioned in the Prologue of the play....

In The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahari explores the themes of identity, clash of culture, isolation, importance of names and family. Both of the Ganguli parents, especially Ashima, struggle with assimilating to this new culture that they are not...

The process of colonialism is the ongoing eradication of old practices and the exploitation of new practices, and often entails settlement into a foreign land, the introduction of new cultural practices, and the enforcement of religious practices....

Humanity is always engaged in an eternal power struggle between good and evil, and the well being of society often hangs in the balance when such forces collide. This presence of good and evil of humanity is a central theme in Markus Zusak’s The...

The traditional structure and approach to literature is challenged in If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino. For this idiosyncratic narrative, the main character is referred to as the reader, and the novel is told in the second...

In August Wilson’s Fences, Troy Maxson is a man of many flaws. He is human, and like any other human, his experiences throughout life have influenced his decisions and his outlook on life. If we were to have no context on Troy’s life, we would see...

In presenting the concept of the closed door, it advocates the very opposite idea that, once, the door was open. With this knowledge there comes a possibility that perhaps a closed door can be opened again, suggesting that there are two sides to a...

Ben Okri's The Famished Road (1991) captures the innocent perspective of a child caught in the turmoil of Nigeria's independence. Azaro, the young protagonist, grows up in an unnamed rural village in the midst of change [presumed to be Nigeria]....

Because Sandra Cisneros writes from a child’s point of view in her novel, The House on Mango Street, her audience gets a glimpse of what life is like for a child struggling with her identity as a Latina girl; Esperanza is a child who hopes that,...

In her anthology The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up In America (1650), Anne Bradstreet focuses on her most dominant concerns, the family and the woman’s roles as wife and mother. Based on Biblical authority, wifehood and motherhood are not only roles...

All mediums of poetry are specific and unique among each other. They have different attributes that can be mastered in order to deliver a perfect execution. However, when it comes to the ancient genre of lyrical poetry, these attributes are based...

Despite being faced with adverse conditions while growing up, humankind possesses resilience and the capacity to accept and forgive those responsible. In The Glass Castle (2005) by Jeannette Walls, Walls demonstrates a child’s ability to develop...