Newest Literature Essays

In the tragic spectacle of Riders to the Sea, John Millington Synge explores an essentially Pagan situation. There is a degree of deliberation in the choice of the title and its application is both literal and metaphorical since it is an extended...

In a radical attempt to forge a new poetic medium, the poetry of TS Eliot possesses an enduring appeal due to its ability to lament universal concerns of the modern era while also subverting conventional literary content and structure. The poems ‘...

The metaphysical poets of the Renaissance sought to explore universal concepts of religion and and love against the backdrop of great social and religious change. The movement’s foremost contributor was arguably John Donne, whose poetry was...

In Chaim Potok’s novel My Name is Asher Lev, Asher struggles with self-identity and going against tradition, which ultimately leads him to question whether his gift of art comes from the Ribbono Shel Olom or the sitra achra. Asher’s gift comes...

In an interview, Charles Simic said, “My early life seems like a dream…There’s an element of unreality about it.”[i] Simic’s early life was spent attempting to flee World War Two bombs in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, where he “could easily have been a...

The Holocaust is one of the most devastating and incomprehensible events in human memory. The systematic killing of millions of civilians and the attempted erasure of their culture defies logic, and exists outside the realm of everyday...

In the play Oleanna by David Mamet, knowledge is power. The ability to be the more intellectually adept individual in a room allows for both John and Carol to capture and lose the role of teacher in their student-teacher relationship. John, the...

While “Cabaret” relies on the cabaret setting as a narrative force of the film, it is also based in the history surrounding cabaret performances in Berlin. Both in the film and in real life, the cabaret served as a place of degenerate art and...

Barbara Ehrenreich attempts to forgo her upper-middle class life in order to prove her argument for a higher minimum wage as she lives her life Nickel and Dimed. As she moves from Florida, to Maine, to Minnesota, Ehrenreich attempts to live her...

David Cronenberg is known to be one of the pioneers of the body horror genre, which typically evokes horror through the grotesque transformation and transgression of the human body. In The Fly (1986), the grotesque transformation of Seth Brundle’s...

In Antoine de Saint Exupery’s short narrative “The Little Prince”, the division between adults and children is clearly defined through their use of imagination. The typical adult perspective is irrational and close minded. Adults fail to recognize...

In the poems Awlad al-Kahba (Sons of a Bitch) by Mudhafar Al-Nawab and Face Lost in the Wilderness by Fadwa Tuqan, there is great commonality in each poet’s personification of Jerusalem as a raped girl. Through the perspective of each poet, both...

Once upon a time, the first fairytales were written down from their folkloric origins, thus giving rise to one of the most popular genres of literature. Ever since then, these fairy tales have been enchanting us and there have been thousands of...

In his novel Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Gabriel Garcia Marquez has the impressive skill of characterizing and foreshadowing Santiago Nasar’s character and eventual death. Santiago Nasar’s murder by Pedro and Pablo Vicario was caused by an...

Most of us have a clear perception of what fairy tales are, or what we assume them to be. Over the past century, these tales have been burdened with so many clichés, such as evil queens’ curses and damsels-in-distress, that we tend to identify...

The critical nature of modern society causes the people being judged to feel isolated, ashamed, and worthless. Due to this, contemporary individuals believe that they have to be perfect, in appearance and character traits, in order to conform with...

Barbara Ehrenreich’s memoir Nickel and Dimed commemorates her experiences as an “unskilled” worker attempting to live on the low wages of her temporary lower class. As she works various jobs in different geological locations across the United...

In Shakespeare’s Sonnet 35 we delve deeply into Shakespeare’s thoughts, emotions and frustrations with his lover, the young man (the Fair Youth), which was brought about by an apparent betrayal through infidelity. Within this sonnet and those...

Modern American poets, contending with the disruption of traditionalism in culture, thought that the preoccupation that arose concerning the confines, possibilities, and influence of words that allows for the cultivation of twentieth-century art...

In Karen Tei Yamashita’s novel Tropic of Orange, while the narrative is split into seven parts, so is the opinions and the lifestyles of the seven characters who stories she dictates. Family is an idea that defines us all. Whether that is by...

Toni Morrison’s A Mercy deals with life’s biggest problems regarding the choice to love and protect over the ability to stay close to the ones that you love. The end of the novel, narrated by Florens mother, gives key insight to the foundations of...

William Faulkner came from an American South background and in his time, wrote a number of novels that featured themes of patriarchal power and struggles caused by race. Joe Christmas plays an unusual role in Light in August – in him, Faulkner...

In “Suddenly Last Summer”, Tennessee Williams portrays the external and internal conflict through the emotional complex character, Catharine Holly. She must decide between telling the truth and lying, and between closure and family...

Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex” (lit. “Oedipus the King”) has proven to be without a doubt one of the most acclaimed tragedies of all time, having maintained relevance in the literary canon ever since its composition and debut performance around 429 BCE....