Newest Literature Essays

The realms of delusion and reality are typically intrinsically separated, existing as opposites in the spectrum between myth and actuality. In The Underground Railroad however, Colson Whitehead merges fantastical and mythical elements with...

Gender Matters: Why Achebe and Jung Chang Have Opposing Interpretations of Western Influence

While neither Wild Swans nor Things Fall Apart was entirely positive or entirely negative toward the societal change brought about by imperialism and...

In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, the first chapter presents the concept of weight in two opposing forms, that of the physical weight of the items they carry, and also the emotional weight of their past experiences. These messages imbue...

Flaubert utilizes the character of the blind beggar to mirror Emma’s descent into corruption. Typical of Flaubert’s realist style, the beggar is described in detail as a needy, terrifyingly ugly man, which reflects Emma’s inner state. Emma has...

In the novel The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy employs numerous irregular stylistic devices which aid in her telling of the story. Set in the small town of Ayamenem in post-colonial India, the non-linear narrative follows the journey of twin...

At it’s surface, Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is a novel about self-discovery. Although upon further analysis, the existence of larger themes such as womanhood, feminism and the race and gender relations that existed within...

In the Odyssey, the hero of the story, Odysseus, is depicted as a courageous, brilliant man. He keeps much faith in the gods, which pays him good dividends. He is also smart and cunning, always able to escape several of the most difficult...

Even though it is not as frowned upon anymore, single women are still deemed spinsters, as if something must be wrong with them because they are not married. Despite the progress we have made for women’s rights in America, marriage is still an...

Can humans accept responsibility for their own deeds once they become aware that they have free will? Crime and Punishment is a platform for Dostoevsky’s own existentialist argument that attempts to answer the above question. Arguing against...

Eating babies would be the last resort of a country in turmoil. Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” outlines the plans of a solution to resolve Ireland’s current deplorable state, which is to eat the children that can’t be supported by their...

In the twenty-first century it is almost impossible not to be caught up in the trap of technology and social media; thus, it really takes a great amount of bravery and heroism to be able to live in the moment. We become more and more connected to...

A View From the Bridge was set in the 1950s and reflects how men and women had set roles in society. Men, in the case of Eddie and Marco, are the breadwinners and paterfamilias of the family. Whilst on the other hand women should be demure,...

Victorian England was a historical context in which masculinity prevailed. Men were celebrated for their adventurous and explorative accomplishments. The same cannot be said for the women of the era. While men were encouraged to go on adventures,...

N. Scott Momaday’s The Way to Rainy Mountain narrates the creation and history of the Kiowa tribe through three distinct voices, each separated by a different font and position on the page. The fragmented nature of this structure reveals Momaday’s...

Throughout the novella Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin, there is a struggle for David to be understood not only by society, but by himself. By showing an internal struggle in David between being able to be completely honest with the events taking...

In ‘Mother, Summer, I’, through a mother and son’s shared distaste for summer weather, Larkin focuses on the dangers of ‘perfection’ which works to hide underlying issues and faults of any given situation. Larkin, through the extended metaphor of...

The Lais of Marie de France give outstanding examples why true love cannot exist in the real world. “Lanval” and “Yonec” both focus on the theme of true love existing only in the imagination because it has no foundations in the human world. True...

Sons have long been taking after their fathers. Such is the case in Ernest Hemingway’s 1925 collection of short stories, In Our Time. In the stories, we see that the character of Nick has internalized his father’s traditionally masculine ways of...

The natural human response to evil is to react with evil. In many cases, the original evil is inspired by fear. This is often the case in the stories in Krik?Krak!. Two of the stories, “Nineteen thirty-seven” and “Between the Pool and the...

In the lives of all, one will inevitably have a figure or figures in their lives to whom he or she looks up to. This may be a parent, educator, older sibling, or even peer. While it is always beneficial to have role models, at one point or...

The Death of Ivan Ilych is more than a novella about death: it is a text dedicated to life. Leo Tolstoy diligently paints an accurate portrait of the 19th century middle class and everything that is wrong with the philosophy of life of the people...

Never has there been a character quite so open to interpretation than that of Bartleby in Herman Melville’s short story Bartleby, the Scrivener. In the position of the reader, it is simple to blame Bartleby for an initial lack of understanding...

Catch 22 is an outrageous novel, one designed to provoke the reader and to evoke a sense of uneasiness and disturbance. Its complexity can drive one completely mad with frustration. A lot of people fall in the trap of believing that Catch 22 is...

The autobiographic novel, Left to Tell composed by Immaculée Ilibagiza, is punctuated by legions of demonic allusions and enveloped in an almost impenetrable shroud of evil. Although Immaculée’s halcyon childhood days appear untarnished and...