Newest Literature Essays

During the 1940s in the midst of World War Two, the Nazi regime occupied much of Italy as the dictator Benito Mussolini allied with Germany; however, in 1943, the Italian resistance assassinated Mussolini marking the collapse of his fascist...

In the play, Fences, author August Wilson’s symbolism whispers figurative words of meaning to the audience, painting a more nuanced and extraordinary picture of the characters and the events in the story. The use of symbolism creates a deeper...

Toni Morrison decided that if she were to write stories with white characters, as she had been asked to, she would not give their perspective any dominance or privilege over that of the black characters. The voices of white characters have...

In its depictions of Tristan and Isolde, Gottfried’s Tristan explores the idea that idealized sexual love produces greater virtue than either social conformity or religious obedience can, and consequently Isolde’s and Tristan’s violations of...

Snow is cold, yet brings people together seeking warmth; beautiful, but muddies after only days. Loved by some and despised by others, snow is the mascot of winter. Each flake that falls is unique, yet many choose to see it as a lump of white....

People often say, “when writing the story of your life, don’t let anyone else hold the pen,” but inevitably, when people see others, they form their own judgements and push those assumptions onto them: writing their stories for them and forcing...

Toni Morrison explores the legacy of slavery and the price for freedom and motherly love within her novel Beloved through her main character, Sethe. For Sethe, her vision of freedom equals the ability to love her children as much as she wants...

When grappling with the concept of home within Toni Morrison’s novel, Beloved, one should first constitute what does not make a home. Paul D encapsulates the irony of the plantation name at Sweet Home when he describes that “it wasn’t sweet and it...

Initially, a scene of harmony seems to be broken by a melancholy illustrating the changing seasons and a knowledge that Thomas has captured only a singular beautiful moment in time. As you read more deeply into the poem, it becomes evident that...

The protagonist Ivan Dmitrich Aksionov undergoes a multitude of changes throughout the short story “God Sees the Truth, but Waits”. By utilizing specific characterization and character development in order emphasize contrast throughout the story...

‘What do we mean by saying that existence precedes essence? We mean that man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world – and defines himself afterwards. If man as the existentialist sees him is not definable, it is because...

In Baruch Spinoza’s The Ethics, he attempts to prove that God is the only substance. While the main point of his argument is found in Proposition 14, he relies heavily on the definitions, axioms, and propositions that come before it. Overall,...

What does Ian McEwan’s novel Saturday and the Matthew Arnold poem “Dover Beach” have in common, one may ask? Well, besides that arguably the most memorable scene in the novel revolves around the recitation of Arnold’s poem, the two works seem to...

If there is anything constant in this world, it is change. Even when the world is in tatters, life keeps evolving; Margaret Atwood stresses this throughout her MaddAddam trilogy. As GMOs, technology, and male dominance overrun the world, they soon...

Titles of literary works do not exist frivolously. Just like any other literary element, titles enhance a reader’s understanding of the novel; unlike other literary elements, the title is a “stand-alone” element in that it is the first impression...

In Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, one of her character’s notes that “we believe the one who has the power... So when you study history, you must always ask yourself, ‘Whose story am I missing?’” (Gyasi 239). With this in mind, novels of historical...

The God of Small Things follows a series of unfortunate events that unravel the lives of the characters of the novel. One major theme echoed again and again through the novel is the theme of guilt and the effect it has on the decisions the...

It is helpful to know where and what Birchtown is, prior to getting into details about the race riot of 1784. Birchtown is a municipality in Shelburne County, Nova Scotia, about 3 miles west of Shelburne. Look up Birchtown in any search engine,...

Shakespeare’s work, “The Tempest”, under the framework of the 21st century, may seem like a normal –even boring– play about a powerful man who takes advantage of a native person in order to conquer his island. No contemporary person would think it...

In George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, linguists Henry Higgins and Colonel Pickering attempt to transform a lower-class girl, Eliza Doolittle, into the likes of a duchess. From this story of social transformation, Pygmalion comments on different...

The complication of the individuated self is one of the central themes discussed during the modernist period. Both William Carlos Williams’ Landscape with the Fall of Icarus and T.S Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock identify the problem...