Newest Literature Essays

Oscar Wilde hails from the Victorian generation, a set of writers known for its dogmas and oppression. In many of his works, he negates these austere ideas with his own particular brand of humour; however, Helas! and The Ballad of Reading Gaol are...

As legendary poet and hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur once said, “The seed must grow regardless of the fact that it’s planted in stone.” Those who live in impoverished neighborhoods are prone to a life empty of education and full of crime. From the...

Daniel Woodrell creates a protagonist in his novel, Winter’s Bone, who is prideful, resilient and would do anything to preserve her own kin and blood. Woodrell also allows the reader to see her weaknesses, making identification with her character...

In a time when a black man lives in the White House, most Americans believe their nation has moved past racial oppression. Police Shootings may still grab headlines, but adherents to colorblindness view them largely as an isolated problem. In The...

Morally ambiguous characters offer personas that, while difficult to unravel, add depth and nuance to works of fiction. In Invisible Man, author Ralph Ellison depicts Brother Jack as a morally ambiguous figure whose characterization changes the...

The evolutionary aspect of the human race which sets it apart, in knowledge and complexity, from the rest of the animal kingdom, is its ability to express ideas through language. Arguably, our ability to manipulate language in order to negotiate,...

For Frederick Douglass, his Narrative was more than just a powerful story that would go on to be incredibly famous and influential. Telling his story was a major contribution to the abolitionist campaign, therefore, conveying the disgusting...

In the novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith sets the scene historically for what is to unfold through place, time references, events, and people. The book covers the time period 1912 – 1919, seven crucial years which completes the bridge or...

Herman Melville’s novel Moby-Dick is well knows for the epic sea voyage that takes place over the course of the text. However, this journey doubles as not only a physical journey of movement from place to place but also a spiritual one. Ishmael’s...

Happiness is an ideal emotion that everyone wants to experience and will go to desperate measures to achieve. If one wants to explore the facets of how important happiness is for people to achieve, they will have to put themselves in the shoes of...

Maya Angelou was an acclaimed writer and civil rights activist who reached a broad audience through her works. While she is perhaps best known for her autobiographical prose, her poetry has changed the landscape of feminist writing, bringing in a...

Shakespeare’s light-hearted ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ explores both the triumph and tragedy which presents itself in the love of Hero and Claudio, using the latter as an easily deceived character whose errors almost culminate in a tragic ending to...

Enlightenment and Equality in Perfume: The Story of a Murderer The Enlightenment emerged in the late 17th- and early 18th-century as an intellectual movement emphasizing reason, individualism, and equality. The Enlightenment presented a challenge...

In the novel Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo, it becomes highly noticeable that Tommo shows admiration for his brother and finds out his actions influence his own life. Tommo’s adoration for Charlie impacts his characteristics throughout...

Richard Price is an accomplished novelist and screenwriter, writing his first novel The Wanderers while he was attending Columbia University. After this impressive debut he wrote several more novels in quick succession including Bloodbrothers,...

‘What’s interesting to me is how the story keeps changing, and the reality of what’s happening keeps changing, and how, up until the very final scene, it's all about how the truth is perceived.’ – Martin Scorsese, director of Shutter Island.

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Seamus Heaney wrote poems on a wide variety of subjects; from reflecting on his experiences with nature as a child to a period of political turmoil that plagued Ireland in the early 20th century called the “Troubles.” Some of his poems address...

As psychologist Rollo May once said: “The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it's conformity.” Throughout Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, the reader is exposed to the dueling themes of conformity versus nonconformity,...

Throughout Mark's Gospel, we see Jesus referred to as the 'Son of God' and the 'Son of Man' on numerous occasions, the former occurring a total of eight times within the text, and the latter, being 'the most frequent of the Christological images...

In a theological age conscious of the damage inflicted by sin upon human reason, Anselm of Canterbury emerges as one of its greatest champions. Though his maintenance of the primacy of faith never wavered, his project was one of using the tool of...

William Blake, as a libertarian and political writer concerned with Romantic values concerning the freedom of the human spirit and liberty, wrote his ‘Songs of Innocence and Experience’ in an attempt to attack the corrupt political systems and...

. William Blake, in line with his standing as a Romantic and being both politically and ideologically a libertarian, can be seen in his ‘Songs of Innocence’ to express his views as to the superlative value of the freedom of the human spirit, by...

August Wilson uses his play The Piano Lesson to explore the turmoil inside the homes and hearts of many African Americans in the 1930s. Many African Americans are torn between being proud of their heritage, which is blackened with the enslavement...

Fate is shown to be a common concept throughout ancient and modern works. From Oedipus Rex to Walt Disney’s Brave, the power of fate is highly recognized within our culture; whether it is accepted or not is another story though. Through the use...