Newest Literature Essays

Universal among all human groups, from co-workers to entire nations, is a particular way of behaving. As we socialize and engage with one another, we develop characteristic methods of thinking, feeling, acting, and judging. This is what we know as...

Identity is a force that has the potential to both unite and alienate groups and individuals. While belonging to a group can enrich one’s value of their own identity and foster meaningful connections, it also creates barriers that minimize...

The Epic of Gilgamesh took place in ancient Mesopotamia, during a time where people were transitioning from a nomadic lifestyle to one where people were settled. Although this was a huge leap in the development of civilizations, women’s roles in...

My Fair Lady, the 1964 musical film written by Alan Jay Lerner and directed by George Cukor, is a somewhat effective adaptation of the 1913 play Pygmalion written by George Bernard Shaw. Although slight changes in the characterization of central...

Both Amy Tan and Willa Cather, in the books The Joy Luck Club and My Antonia, convey the challenges foreign immigrants undergo when attempting to assimilate to the new language and culture of America and the disconnect that forms as a result while...

“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.” Such is the dogma that underlies the social and economic theories laid out by German philosopher Karl Marx in his political pamphlet, The Communist Manifesto. In...

When reading James Joyce’s, Dubliners, conformity and the role it plays in society are important themes. Throughout the text, the characters struggle to adhere to the “social norms” of their time. In numerous stories, the characters are tasked...

World War II is remembered as a struggle against an obviously evil entity; it was the Allied forces’ fight to put down the Axis powers and bring to an end the Nazi’s fascist regime. Allied troops are often exalted as heroes, and remembered for...

In Major Barbara, one’s religion is equated to their sense of morality, as well as their belief system. The play features a number of characters, each with strong and often conflicting convictions. These faiths shape the characters’ courses of...

Morality can be defined as a society’s set of values and beliefs. This, in turn, moulds the subject position of the members belonging to this society and defines what they perceive as right and wrong, thus giving birth to moral relativism. Moral...

In modern-day, power is an entity that everyone desires but the simplest things such as a person’s language or even the socioeconomic status can change the game. Language consists of many elements within but most are disregarded such as culture...

Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2005 novel Never Let Me Go is developed slowly, following its characters as they unassumingly and quietly move through a dystopian landscape towards their deaths. The nature of this dystopian world unfolds piecemeal through Kathy’...

Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea and Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession both follow characters who are portrayed as existing on the limits of their respective societies. Santiago and Mrs. Warren both maintain their fringe positions...

Seconds after leaving the womb, babies start to take in the world around them. Although they may know little information about it or its inhabitants, they are taking the first steps on the road to becoming a human—being self-aware of existence. In...

Psychologically humans are wired to have certain feelings, needs, and thought patterns. However, when these are threatened lethal behavior is initiated in order to preserve themselves. By way of illustration, The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood...

Through time, the beliefs of people have always been used to guide members of different societies on the accepted code of conduct. The way of life of these people is thus influenced by their beliefs, and whether or not they lead fulfilled lives is...

“It is not easy to escape mentally from a concrete situation, to refuse its ideology while continuing to live with its actual relationships,” said Albert Memmi in his influential book entitled The Colonizer and the Colonized. This statement...

Edna O’Brien’s trilogy “The Country Girls,” republished in 1986, follows two young Irish women as they navigate a system which is not built to allow them success. O’Brien explores many ways in which the society of her time negatively affected...

Gothic fiction as it existed in the Victorian literary scene up to the 1900s was a part of and a reaction to the overwhelming speed at which modernity was taking hold of England leading up to the Industrial revolution. The gothic genre was a way...

An act of transgression is the start of a new consciousness and for Dante Alighieri the visionary experience is initiated with such an action. La Vita Nuova explores ideas of love, poetry, and expression of the self through the Beatrician moment...

The Caucasian Chalk Circle, at its essence, is a play in which Brecht brings out the idea of negligence and irresponsibility. In the war-ravaged Grusinia, the leaders are portrayed as not only being indifferent to the cry of their subjects but...

Sexual assault is an issue that many people are unfortunate to face as it can affect people of any age, race, or location. Nearly everyone has heard of sexual assault, but many people disregard it as a fake issue making it hard for anyone out to...

“Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies!...I have given you my soul; leave me my name!” (Miller 143)

This quotation is found both in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible and in Aaron...

Rick Riordan’s book series for young adults follows the adventures of teenager Percy Jackson as he fights monsters, carries out quests, and generally acts the hero after discovering that the father he never knew is the Greek god Poseidon. His...