Newest Literature Essays

World war one is a defining part of history worldwide, lasting from 1914 to 1918. Although America only joined the war in 1917, its effects were inescapable, and consequently the war is alluded to in many works of literature from the time. The war...

Many of Christina Rossetti’s poems explore the theme of those who are placed outside of society, supporting the claim that the outsider is always an intriguing figure in literature. However, this concept is explored and presented by many ways by...

Starting from his early career as a journalist and dramatic critic up to his current career as playwright and Hollywood writer Tom Stoppard has long held a strong alliance with Shakespeare. Based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Rosencrantz and...

In Atlas of the European Novel, Franco Moretti argues that “The novel functions as the symbolic form of the nation-state ...and it’s a form that not only does not conceal the nation’s internal divisions, but manages to turn them into a story.” He...

Brian Moore’s novel was first published in 1955, first titled as Judith Hearne, after it had been denied by ten American publishers. They felt like “it was too depressing, and the woman was not attractive, and she was religious” (Hartill 136)....

When it comes to defining the literature of the American South, geography, history, politics, race, gender, social order and religion are what come to one’s mind immediately (Hobson, Ladd 1). However, this description changed over time, and in the...

Gender and sexuality have become so deeply rooted into society that we apply them to most anything without ever giving it a second thought. The portrayals of gender in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God and Bharati Mukherjee’s...

In The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, the protagonist, Esther Greenwood, gets accepted to a summer internship at a prominent magazine in New York City. There, she meets Doreen, her co-worker. Esther is different from her. Doreen goes against the...

Jane Austen’s novels perform multiple functions individually as moral tales. However, they also occasionally work together to explore propriety in early nineteenth century England. Proper behavior for women often centered on their interactions...

In ‘Monarch Exodus’, Roger Robinson uses the image of a travelling host of butterflies in order to draw attention to the plight of the immigrant who similarly must flee from home and venture onwards to a setting both unfamiliar and hostile....

The Handmaid’s Tale, written by Margaret Atwood in 1985, is a complex novel, where it is clear that countless other texts have influenced its writing, creating a rich multi-layered narrative. Atwood borrows from or alludes to a wide range of...

Hunting birds like hawks are not meant to be tamed. They are just starved enough to make them listen and come back to their master for food. Women during the time of Shakespeare had to be silent, obedient, and pleasant to their husband- it was...

During the medieval ages, there was a set of rules and customs the knights referred to as the Code of Chivalry. Leon Gautier condensed the Chivalric Code into the ten commandments of the Code of Chivalry that was expected of the knights to follow....

See the Cat? See the Cradle? These two all-important lines ring throughout the book, constantly confusing both the characters in the book and the reader themselves. It is used in comparison to Angela’s marriage and religion as a whole, although...

In Recitatif by Toni Morrison, the theme of racism is addressed extensively which is rather common in American literature during the late twentieth century. However, Morrison’s approach is fairly different from other literature that tackles the...

The book Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut utilizes satire and parody to comment on the critical issues of religion and science. The story takes place in fictitious settings, first in a town in New York, Ilium while the rest takes place in the island...

Medieval British women had few choices in regards to how they chose to spend their life: marriage to a man or marriage to God through joining a convent. The limitations set upon them by society, even in only this example, show a societal female...

In the 1890s, realization that new knowledge and vast technological innovation created the potential for our own ability to shape the future of humanity, for better or significantly for the worse, prompted the existential crisis of a decade. ...

As a soldier in WWII, J.D. Salinger did not write about the war like his counterparts. He wrote about tragedy, but from a teenage perspective in the shape of Holden Caulfield. Through the psychological theory of trauma in J.D. Salinger’s The...

Carol Ann Duffy’s sinister dramatic monologue, Havisham, is a skillful interpretation of one of literature’s most infamous women. Throughout the text, Duffy deals with the idea of conflict – both in Havisham’s relationship with men and with...

The issue of religion is a prominent theme throughout Christopher Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta. It is the driving force of the events of the play, as Barabas’s quest for total revenge is kicked off with the Christian governor Ferneze singling out...

Since its publication in 1973, Toni Morrison’s masterpiece Sula has awed readers with its thought provoking imagery and themes. Sula tells the story of the Peace family, which consists of Eva, Hannah, Plum, Pearl, and Sula. The Peace family faces...

In The Little Knife, by Michael Chabon, the main character, young Nathan Shapiro, and is his family travel to Nags Head, North Carolina for an unforgettable summer getaway. Throughout the entire trip, the narrator slowly comes to the realization...

“I am malicious because I am miserable… if I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear” (Shelley 129). The creature in Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, is speaking to his creator when he says this line. His “maliciousness”-- his violence and bad...