Symbolism is a literary device used throughout literature in which a concrete image represents something deeper and more implicit. It is an effective strategy used to enhance the meanings of novels and memoirs and also to reveal certain things...

In Tobias Wolff's memoir This Boy’s Life, Wolff recounts a life of secretive rebellion under the rule of his abusive stepfather and submissive, peace-making mother. Tobias lives, from the beginning, in two worlds. The world of passivity and...

In literature, different settings are often used to explain the production of different types of characters with varied opinions, personalities, and morals. On top of this, the setting is often used to carry a specific idea or emphasize the goal...

Over 2,000 years ago, the philosopher Aristotle stated that with regards to “the origin of poetic art as a whole…the habit of imitating is congenital to human beings from childhood and so is the pleasure that all men take in works of imitation.”...

The narrator of Old School, by Tobias Wolff, is a character that can be characterized as morally ambiguous by the reader. This moral ambiguity is accentuated by the complexity of the character, and the fact that the story takes place from his...

“Hunters in the snow” is the story about three friends named Tub, Kenny and Frank. They are friends and they decide to go hunting outside Spokane, Washington. The fail to get any game and Kenny shoots a dog that belongs to an old farmer. Kenney is...

Tobias Wolff’s “Bullet in the Brain,” tells the story of a disrespectful literary critic who gets shot in the head by a recounts one last memory before his gruesome death. Wolff’s story probes readers to not only challenge but contemplate their...

In “The Rich Brother” by Tobias Wolff, Pete drives his brother Donald home from a church community. Pete is the typical middle class success story and Donald is a poor drifter. Throughout the short story, the question arises who is truly the “rich...