Newest Literature Essays

The American identity in James Thurber’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” and Ralph Ellison’s “King of the Bingo Game” is depicted by the respective protagonists’ visions of individualism in contrast to the concept of fate. In both texts, Thurber...

In the dystopic society of Philip K. Dick’s “Minority Report,” prophetic data regarding potential crime is obtained by Precognitive beings, or “Precogs,” in an effort to abolish the ineffectual post-punitive justice system initially in place....

In the anonymously written, late 14th century Middle English Arthurian poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, human instinct intersects with chivalrous codes in Gawain’s conflicting tests of integrity. While the narrative promotes chivalrous...

The novel The Case Against Satan was written by Ray Russell in 1962 and follows what is believed to be the possession of Susan Garth, a sixteen year old girl. Whether she is possessed or is suffering from a psychiatric illness is disputed...

Woven throughout Ian McEwan’s ‘Atonement’ are intertextual references, used to not only enrich the reader’s experience but to present the love affair between Robbie and Cecilia as indeed, all too familiar, classic and timeless in its...

Classical tragedy is renowned for the dynamics of its plot, and richly ordained language of its narratives, explaining Aeschylus use of both plot and descriptive narratives in tragedy ‘The Persians’ to create an impact on the audience. Descriptive...

In the novel Kindred, Octavia Butler tells the story of Dana and Kevin, an interracial married couple living in 1976 who repeatedly travel back to the time and place of Dana’s ancestors. Butler’s plot brings up agency, which can be defined as one’...

In concert with the Modernism movement of literature in the early decades of the 20th century, T. S. Eliot was a British writer whose works functioned as social commentary. In reaction to the superfluous and lush styles of preceding Victorian and...

In ‘The Crown’, Carol Ann Duffy explores the prestige and catalogue of duties entailed by queenship through an extended description of a crown. Whilst it cannot be denied that monarchy in the poem is presented as deserving of both awe and respect,...

Carol Ann Duffy’s ‘Bees’- through the extended metaphor of a swarm of bees used to represent the process of writing a poem- focuses on the capacity of words to excite and invigorate the reader and author alike. Indeed, poetry is presented as...

In Jon Krakauer's personal account of the 1996 Mt. Everest Disaster called “Into Thin Air”, Krakauer expresses his disbelief for the fatal accident through various shifts in tone from somber to solemn, or even a journalistic tone. Krakauer places...

In order to affirm one’s personal identity in the context of social structure, we often seek affirmation through relationships with other people. While these identities are constructed by our society, they play an influential role in the...

The poem “The Black Walnut Tree” by Mary Oliver poignantly dramatizes the conflict a mother and daughter face between sentiment and money. The conflict arises over the choice of whether or not to cut down the eponymous walnut tree to “pay off the...

Social norms are the expected rules that determine what is acceptable or appropriate behaviour in particular social contexts, the resistance of which puts an individual at risk of prejudice. Jez Butterworth and Christopher Isherwood explore the...

John Milton and William Shakespeare both address topics of love and death in their respective sonnets, but do so in radically different ways. They employ different structural techniques and subjects within the realm of love and death, and in doing...

In filmmaking, directors have subtly ascribed roles of the Self and the Other in discourse. Examining the movies, Children of Men, Babel, and Cronos, one sees the Self as the one who prevails in forming the worldview and conforming the viewers’...

Evil is prevalent in the world, and is especially evident today with recent mass shootings, sexual harassment, and corrupt governments. Those who partake in ruining others’ lives give up their morality and unfortunately choose to carry out evil....

Duong Thy Huong’s Paradise of the Blind (1988) and Christie Watson’s Tiny Sunbirds, Far Away (2014) explore the difference in morals between tradition and modernity to demonstrate that this constant conflict is critical for change in society. ...

As a type of power that is vital to the function of institutions, discipline works to control the thoughts and actions of individuals to fulfill a specific agenda, such as preserving public safety or maximizing profits. Although numerous...

During Book Two, Chapter Seven of The War of the Worlds, we are reminded of the artilleryman’s eccentric character. In short, his role is as an object of satire: he voices opinions for Wells to criticise. Nonetheless, the artilleryman does more...

Proust famously claimed that, because of books’ interpretive nature, readers subconsciously mold the characters in the literature they consume. In turn, one can construct a portrait of the reader’s own personality, offering insight into her needs...

Joyce Carol Oates’ short story Haunted deals with murder, mystery and the supernatural when the protagonist’s best friend, Mary Lou, is found dead. Set in a small, conservative farming town, Melissa and Mary Lou seem to live normal teenage lives....

In Book 2 of the Aeneid, the hero carries upon his shoulders the aged father and at his side walks the little son. They are fleeing Troy as she burns. Subject to the will of the gods and the promise of a future in safety, their image is not only...