Newest Literature Essays

Ben Lerner's "10:04" stands as a testament to the author's ability to weave intricate narratives, using language as a medium for exploration and reflection. Within this literary masterpiece, the strategic use of alliteration emerges as a prominent...

"Ten Things I Can See from Here" by Carrie Mac is a poignant exploration of anxiety, love, and self-discovery. Within the narrative, the author employs anthropomorphism as a narrative device, endowing non-human entities with human characteristics...

In Henry Derozio's "My Dream," a poignant ballad composed in the early 19th century, the poet delves into the depths of yearning and melancholic contemplation, exploring the allure and fleeting nature of dreams, particularly those of love and...

Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (1998) has been heralded as one of the most brutally realistic war films to have ever been put on film. Although the film celebrates those who fought during the Second World War – and all wars more generally...

Fate is the development of events beyond a person's control that is determined by a supernatural power. In literature, fate works mysteriously to bring about the rise and fall of characters, love, death, and conflict. This idea is a universal...

Colm Tóibín's "Brooklyn" is a psychological realist novel meaning the author constantly refers to the interior processes and changes of its protagonist Eilis (impacted by the peculiarities of the time period). It is therefore not by chance that he...

Virginia Woolf’s novel Orlando: A Biography presents time in a nebulous, almost abstract manner, following a main character whose life spans an unnatural number of years. The titular Orlando is born as a man during the reign of Elizabeth I, but...

Numerous precedents prevail for the idea that the ‘real world’ is an illusion. Wachowski’s ‘The Matrix’, a twisted, alluring and psychological tale, deeply explores the concept of fake and false realities, debating the real world and society’s...

The eponymous characters of William Godwin’s Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams and Charles Brockden Brown’s Edgar Huntly; or, Memoirs of a Sleep-Walker serve as protagonists that do not always seem to be at the center of...

They say that those who don’t learn from history are condemned to repeat it; such is the curse of the characters in Caleb Williams, or Things As They Are, by William Godwin. Throughout the narrative, the characters are plagued by a repetition of...

Identity is a prevalent theme of young adult literature. To an adolescent target audience, this concept and its associated questions are very relatable to their confusing, change-filled existences. Nimona, a graphic novel by ND Stevenson, presents...

Charles-II’s restoration to England’s throne in 1660, marked the theatres’ reopening, earlier closed by the Puritan Government. The middle-class and the poor stopped visiting theatres, owing to its immorality and unaffordability, respectively. The...

Graphic novels are often overlooked as valuable contributions to YA literature due to their reliance on illustrations. In reality, however, graphic novels can be a powerful tool in the classroom, one that can be used to hone, articulate, and...

The realm of cinema has consistently been a mirror of societal norms, biases, and reforms. Few films are as evocative of this reflective capacity as Leigh Whannell's 2020 adaptation of H.G. Wells' classic tale, The Invisible Man. The film serves...

The film Moonlight explores its themes of love in seemingly opposite manners: the absence and aching for love, as well as the impact that even a little bit of love can have for someone. The movie follows its protagonist, Chiron, through three...

Have you ever identified so completely with a story that it digs its way into your subconscious? Relatability in literature is a powerful thing — in some instances, it has the ability to write over your own memories and experiences like an...

In Aneeka Henderson’s chapter of the book African American Culture and Society After Rodney King : Provocations and Protests, Progression and ‘Post-Racialism' (Carina and Metcalf), she discusses Dee Rees’ 2011 film, Pariah, in relation to the...

Richard Wagamese’s Indian Horse is an evocative depiction of personal and cultural identity growth amidst attempted individual and cultural genocide, abuse, and trauma. The story is set in the late 1950s and 1960s when residential schools were...

"The Right Word" is a poem by Imtiaz Dharker which was published in 2006 collection titled The Terrorist at My Table. The subject matter of this selection from that collection comments upon the larger thematic thread unifying it with other poems....

The poem “Crossing the Swamp” by Mary Oliver features a relationship that, at first glance, seems relatively simple. However, through further analysis, there is a deeper connection and relationship between speaker and swamp. The speaker in this...