Newest Literature Essays

John the evangelist writes in such a way that certain words and phrases recur frequently and clearly stand for themes he wishes to develop over the course of his text. But in order to appreciate the significance of these themes – their meaning...

The 1995 film Braveheart has been a hit largely because of the ways in which it makes an older world come alive. Taking place in an ancient Scotland, the film’s psychological realities are very different from the historical truths, although...

The narrative "Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self", from Alice Walker's autobiographical writings, traces the evolution of her personality from childhood to adulthood, describing the debilitating effects of an eye injury on her...

In the classic short story “Blackberry Winter” by Robert Penn Warren, Seth, the main character, observes the differences between a normal June and a so-called blackberry winter. Each observation of these differences helps Seth, and the reader,...

In “The Decay of Lying”, written in 1891, Oscar Wilde promotes his views of Romanticism over Realism through Socratic-dialogue between the speakers Vivian and Cyril. In part of the essay, Wilde opposes Plato’s views that are found in chapter ten...

In Quicksands, published in 1884, Adolph Streckfuss conveys contemporary German class standards, cultural assumptions, and depictions of appropriate and moral human behavior while relating the events of the novel. By doing so, he creates what is...

Satyajit Ray’s movie Pather Panchali follows the story of Apu during his childhood in a small village in rural India. Apu grows up under the influences of his sister, Durga, his mother, Sarbajaya, his father, Harihar, and his Auntie. Apu faces a...

The Godfather, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, follows the story of the Corleone family. The movie focuses particularly on Michael as he is drawn inevitably into the mafia because his father, Don Vito, is shot and needs someone to step up to run...

The Diaries of Adam and Eve is a comical interpretation of the traditional creation story by Mark Twain. With a personal touch of his depiction to the characters of Adam and Eve, Twain managed to marry his previously written short stories, Adam's...

Borges’ short stories, Fictions, are marked by their intricate use of Magic Realism that incorporates mythical elements into otherwise realistic fiction and by their explorations of classic “Borgesian” themes of identity, infinity, and fate. Two...

Classic literature often portrays struggles of identity, where the main character is caught between two sides of an ongoing ideological struggle, and begins to question who they are, because they’re not entirely sure to which group they should,...

Greek tragedy played a large role in ancient Athenian culture. Every year, Athenians would gather together for the Dionysia, a festival to the god Dionysus. During this festival, plays from prominent poets would be performed in competition with...

The Anthills of the Savannah is a novel by Chinua Achebe set in a fictional country in West Africa, Kangan, during the 1960s postcolonial period. Arguably, this novel represents Achebe’s ideology of the postcolonial African social and political...

The age of neoliberalism is one that has been subject to as much hagiography as it has been subject to scrutiny. The post-Reagan economic deregulation and intense globalization paradigms have utterly transformed life around the globe, and...

Washington Irving’s name has become almost synonymous with American Literature. Characters of his like Ichabod Crane and Rip Van Winkle are cultural icons known by nearly anyone with passing knowledge of literature, and many of his works have been...

Cannibalism: it’s one of humanity’s biggest taboos. The word itself conjures images of horrific depravity to mind; scenes like the tribal rituals atop the pyramids of the Aztecs where human hearts were carved out and tossed to the crowd. But...

When learning how a film is put together, one of the first things to do is get a pen and paper and count the shots. It's not very technical and a bit tedious as well. Tallying every time there are cuts forces the viewer to see things differently....

Asking questions about meaning and of belief is a fundamental part of being human. Arguing as to any specific worldview is a fundamentally futile process because of the ways in which the search for this meaning is almost as important as the...

The plots in both The Lottery, and Rocking-Horse Winner focus on winning an eventual reward by the respective characters consequently causing the tragedy of their outcomes. In H. Lawrence’s The Rocking Horse Winner, Paul obsesses over luck and...

With each generation comes a piece of literature that sparks a wildfire within its society. In the early 1960s, Betty Friedan’s Feminine Mystique fulfilled this role. Friedan challenged the era’s gender roles for American women. This piece...

In Alison Bechdel’s “tragicomic” graphic novel Fun Home, the author combines the traditional forms of the Bildungsromanwith the more contentious form of the graphic novel in order to apply a literary analysis to her own life. The result is a...

As the classic film Love Story is coming to an end, Oliver (Ryan O'Neal) is next to Jenny (Ali McGraw) who is on her deathbed. Her beautiful hair is perfectly laid on the pillow and her youthful skin glowing. Surprisingly, in her last moments of...

Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra plays on the dichotomy of male and female rule, the struggle between gender and racial ideals, and the obsessive love (lust) that exists between the characters that ultimately lead to both of their deaths. Upon...