College

Heart of Darkness

The enigma of adventure literature and hyper-masculine prose reveals itself when the protagonist or a subordinate character cowers in the face of darkness. The unknown strikes the heart of man and satiates his inner desire to meet a force grander...

12th Grade

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

The past acts as a tabernacle for experiences and memories. The past not only lives in Henry but also makes up Henry’s very nature. Henry is his past. Life’s faded memories shape choices. Author Jamie Ford builds the relationship between...

College

Othello

In Shakespeare’s play, Othello, the character Emilia is essential in exploring the theme of gender and the expectations placed on women. The anonymous writer of, “From Counsel to the Husband: To the Wife Instruction” believes the answer to...

College

Song of Solomon

Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison, explores how each character searches for something, and the novel examines the ways in which they cope when they cannot find it. In the novel, many of the characters are trapped by their materialistic desires....

12th Grade

Great Expectations

We would always look in the darkest places for monsters: under the bed, in the closet, out in the woods where light could never penetrate the trees. We would always let our imagination wander to depict creatures that replicated hairy beasts with...

10th Grade

Brave New World

“Community, identity, and stability” was the main motto of the World State, the revolving society in Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World. Published in 1932, Brave New World depicts a society that is perceived as ‘utopian’, with changes and...

12th Grade

Grendel

In the Old English epic poem, Beowulf, Grendel is described to be an inhumane, evil monster said to bear a curse as he is a descendant of Cain. He attacks the Danes during the night as a reaction to the joy that he cannot empathize with. His home...

College

The Great Gatsby

Within T.S. Eliot’s “The Hollow Men” the influences of society and how it can affect the general personality of the public is reflected in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Countee Cullen’s “Yet Do I Marvel”. Eliot uses the contradiction of hollow...

12th Grade

Beowulf

Beowulf is an epic tale of a hero seeking out fame and fortune. Beowulf is a young, strong and prideful man who wants to prove himself as the greatest person, and ultimately gain kingship in his own land. Thomas Foster’s chapter, “Every Trip is a...

11th Grade

Julius Caesar

After a close look at today’s society, an observer will find that within all healthy relationships, both people are equal partners. Today, this equality is something we believe to be a result of our basic human rights. However, in Shakespearean...

12th Grade

Looking for Alaska

Self-destructive behavior runs rampant in this book written by John Green. According to psychologists, self-destructive behavior is used as a coping mechanism when one is overwhelmed. In this novel, this type of response is seen mostly in Miles...

11th Grade

My Antonia

Throughout the novel My Ántonia by Willa Cather Jim is very emotionally absent. He does not have an easy life by any stretch of the imagination, yet his hardships are not evident in his speech or actions. They are not the driving force that molds...

College

Funny Boy

In Funny Boy, we find characters who do not conform, and at the same time have to live their lives with a sense of the impending danger of them transgressing the societal norms. Therefore a brief period of liberation followed by an acute sense of...

College

The Bible

The idea of reliability within the context of Biblical criticism is, in itself, infrequently used; through external sources shedding light on the Gospel and through the Gospel itself prompting work on the context behind its own composition,...