Newest Literature Essays

In “Arts of the Contact Zone,” Mary Louise Pratt proposes the idea of “contact zones” as areas of interaction between cultures in the New World. Pratt defines “contact zones” as areas where cultures “meet, clash and grapple […] often in contexts...

Situated in the liminal space between literal and figurative expression, a symbol possesses constructed meaning that both transcends, and is indebted to, its empirical counterpart. Thus, there exists both a symbolic nightingale, borne of literary...

Many of the characters in Infinite Jest struggle throughout the novel with justifying and defending the existence of God despite the existence of evil in the world. The Higher Power, AA, CA, and NA’s non-denominational redeemer of addiction...

At the end of his lecture entitled “The Paths to the Formation of Symptoms,” Freud addresses the artist as a psychoanalytic subject in a brief but intriguing tangent. Though artists are never again discussed after this brief passage, Freud’s...

In his 2017 film Get Out, Jordan Peele explores some of the mechanisms of racism that have oppressed people of colour and their impact on modern society to a great extent. He exposes his audience to the concept of white feminism and...

Boyz n the Hood is mainly centred around 3 teenagers; Ricky, Doughboy and Tre; All 3 of which wish to embark on different paths. They live in the Crenshaw ghettos, Singleton uses Ricky in particular to break prejudices surrounding young black...

Over the years, literature has played a vital part in explaining and relating various aspects of a multitude of societies and cultures, and feminine status is one of the most common subjects of analysis to date. Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club is no...

In William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Shakespeare closely transcends the idea of an appetite for love from Of Apolonius and Silla by Barnabb Rich. The appetite for love is demonstrated through many characters throughout Twelfth Night and is one...

Many have tried, but few directors have been able to adapt famed author Cormac McCarthy’s works for the screen. At best, a film like 2007’s No Country for Old Men is made; at worst, 2013’s The Counselor, which is widely regarded as one of the ten...

In “Today I Am Paul” by Martin L. Shoemaker, the narrator is an android whose purpose is to care for Mildred, an elderly woman suffering from Alzheimer’s, both medically, and mentally, by emulating family that could not be with Mildred at the...

Oroonoko, or, The Royal Slave by Aphra Behn is narrated by an unnamed white woman whose life overlaps with Oroonoko’s during his time as a slave in Surinam. When Oroonoko takes the narrator and several other European people to an island she...

In A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin, there are several key moments that force the protagonist, Ged, to better himself as a wizard in order to continue on with his life. One of the most critical events to his development is his encounter...

“Much Ado About Nothing” by William Shakespeare brings to life the story of how Count Claudio and fair Hero prepare for their wedding and how Hero’s father, Leonato, and Claudio’s mentor, Don Pedro, choose to pass the time by deceiving Beatrice...

Through Antony’s negligence of his Roman duties and soldierly responsibilities, Shakespeare depicts a particularly fractured and complicated world in the first act of ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ that is characterised by the very public conflicts...

Perhaps the most memorable scene from Happy Days by Samuel Beckett, the burning of Winnie’s parasol is chock-full of meaning. Specifically, it represents Winnie’s desire, if not necessity, for repetition. Right after the parasol goes up in smoke...

In Dylan Thomas’ iconic play, The Doctor and the Devils, the theme of contrasting morals is ingrained throughout the drama, particularly depicted in the character of Dr Knox. The well-established, intelligent man takes a troubling turn as a result...

In a forest of mixed growth somewhere on the eastern spurs of the Karpathians, a man stood one winter night watching and listening, as though he waited for some beast of the woods to come within the range of his vision, and, later, of his rifle....

Both plays The Laramie Project and Angels in America were revolutionary in terms of their content and the way in which they reinvented theatrical styles, structures and forms. These productions have had an everlasting impact on audiences after...

In a he-said-she-said situation, it is likely that the truth falls somewhere in between the conflicting opinions. In Andrew Marvell’s metaphysical poem, “A Dialogue Between the Soul and the Body,” the Soul feels trapped inside the Body, and the...

Life has many unanswerable questions: What happens after death? Is love at first sight a myth? And what happened to American Idol season 5 winner, Taylor Hicks? Rumor has it, Hicks now spends his time as a co-owner of a barbecue restaurant,...

Chaucer’s artful and intentional exclusion of Venus and Aeneas’ complete conversation from “The Aeneid,” using occupatio, gives Chaucer the auctor authority to include divine intervention when it suits his purpose, but not so heavily that the gods...

Hemingway’s Paris described in ‘Fiesta’ is one of significant perversion from the pure beauty that should be expected of it. Masked by a façade of magnificence, grandeur and colour lurks the debauchery and indulgence that fills its streets in the...

The award-winning fictional novel Montana 1948 written by Larry Watson and the Australian drama film Jindabyne directed by Ray Lawrence similarly explore the ramifications of secret and lies. Lawrence and Watson in their respective text both...

The Female American tells the story of a woman in her early twenties, called Eliza, who is abandoned on a deserted island to fend for herself. The novel follows her decisions and their repercussions as she does her best to survive the isolation,...