Newest Literature Essays

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...

Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy presents a highly detailed first-person account of the afterlife that is rich with imagery. The use of detailed imagery gives the reader a very descriptive and realistic view of the events, creating a strong...

Over the course of time, a person’s life is affected by the various people they have met and the experiences they have endured. As a result, the person -or those around them- may find themselves changed in some way or another, whether it be their...

James Joyce’s “The Dead” is a short story that reflects on the effects of death on the living individual. Toward the end of the story, Gabriel Conroy and his wife Gretta have just arrived home from a dinner gathering that Gabriel’s aunts had...

Charles Dickens’s The Old Curiosity Shop is a novel in which each prominent character’s moral standing is clearly defined and changes little throughout the duration of the work. The immoral characters, such as Daniel Quilp and the Brasses, remain...

T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land” (1922) and “Burnt Norton” (1935) both discuss the modernist view of post-war Britain, one regarding London and the other using imagery from the country house of Burnt Norton, taking inspiration largely from Eliot’s...

In The Eve of Destruction, James Patterson clearly expresses his opinion on the year 1965--that it was a pivotal, crucial year for America, as well as the turning point for the sixties. While I agree that it was important in the Civil Rights...

In the story “Italian Postcard” by Jane Urquhart, the main character Clara, whose name alone mirrors Santa Chiara, shares many other, deeper similarities with the historical woman. Chiara’s love for St. Francis is mirrored in Clara’s relationship...

Although the primary aesthetic focus in As For Me and My House by Sinclair Ross is on the barren landscape, Philip’s artwork plays an equally important part, even if it is not mentioned to the same degree. Philip Bentley’s artwork acts as a...