Newest Literature Essays

In Powers of Horror Julia Kristeva brings up a subject of abjection and states that it is “positioned somewhere between the I, the subject, and the object” (Graulund). To put it in Kristeva’s own words, the abject functions in the “in-between, the...

The famous poet, Rumi, once said “Greed makes man blind and foolish, and makes him an easy prey for death.” The Hobbit has many instances of greed, all of which lead to their inevitable destruction. Almost all characters are guilty of greed here...

Otherness and alienation are significant features throughout Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea, Adichie’s “Checking Out” and Phillips’ “Growing Pains”, particularly regarding the race and social class of the characters featured within these texts. In this...

H.P. Lovecraft's At The Mountains of Madness tells the story of the strange discovery of a gruesome expedition by a group of explorers who traveled to Antarctica in September 1930. This expedition was divided into two groups, namely the group led...

In Jean Renoir’s 1937 film La Grande Illusion,[1] the complex discussion the director raises about war leads into an equally complex discussion about masculinity and, specifically, the different ways in which masculinity is performed based on...

What do an eight-year-old girl in boarding school and a grown veteran from the Vietnam War have in common? They are both featured characters in literature about Native Americans who left their way of life and faced crises in their new worlds. Two...

In the book All Souls: A Family Story from Southie (MacDonald), the author introduces the reader to an intimate portrait of his mother, siblings, and his community. The reader is drawn in to the specific neighborhood of “Southie,” or South Boston,...

The depiction of the past in film is among the most salient themes in the history of film – yet it is also among the most complex. After all, the critic Andre Bazin once referred to cinema as “change mummified.”[1] The depiction of the past in...

The Metamorphoses by Ovid centers around stories of transformation and change, and is particularly interested in the function of art throughout these tales. Art is a transformative process by its very nature, taking raw materials and using them to...

John Cheever’s story Goodbye, My Brother is a complex tangle of morality, reliability, truth and deception. The narrator is paired opposite his brother, Lawrence, as their core values clash during a family vacation on a picturesque island during a...

“No man has the right to dictate what other men should perceive, create or produce, but all should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit.” Ansel Adams proposes that every...

Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita[1] (1960) and Paolo Sorrentino’s La Grande Bellezza[2] (2013) both present the hedonistic lifestyles of failed writers turned journalists whose dreams have been derailed by the temptations and debauchery of modern...

Sexuality is viewed through a social lense and is judged based on behaviours, aesthetics and assumptions. In this sense, sexuality is performative, meaning that gendered actions and mannerisms reflect an internal identity only because they are...

The British Empire entered the age of modernity at the turn of the 20th century on the heels of the industrious Victorian Era (1837-1901), which had been a time of rapid technological advancement. By the end of the 19th century there was...

Color is everywhere; it can stimulate our senses, and it is an element of non-verbal communication. In the 1999 movie Fight Club, the use of the primary color palette plays a role beyond aesthetic purposes, present in the elements of mise-en-scene...

“Most of us are called on to perform tasks far beyond what we believe we can do. Our capabilities seldom match our aspirations, and we are often woefully unprepared. To this extent, we are all Assistant Pig-Keepers at heart.” (Alexander, 1964,...

Medea and Iphigenia, specifically in Euripides’s plays Medea and Iphigenia at Aulis, are two faces of the same issue in Greek mythology. There are cultural expectations of womanhood that involve being gentle, restrained, and obedient. But...

The phenomenon of celebrity culture is not a unique feature of our contemporary moment, the British poet Lord Byron (1788-1824), was one of the most influential figures of romanticism, of strong personality, defied the moral and religious...

The Biblical figure of Eve has been a source of much scrutiny, contention, and conflicting portrayals in literature. Two works, Salve Deus Rex Judæorum, written by Emilia Lanier in 1611, and Paradise Lost, by John Milton in 1667, both depict her...

The historical and cultural association of women as natural caregivers in society goes a long way back in history. Over the centuries, men have often been associated with the outer world (later called the "public sphere") and the provision of the...

South Korean writer Han Kang’s booker prize-winning book The Vegetarian tells the story of a typical housewife in Korea, Yeong Hye who suddenly decides to go vegan in her diet and the consequences that follow. The story told from three...