Newest Literature Essays

Survivalism is a trait commonly found amongst Canadians, perhaps it is in part due to the harsh winters, or the history of peacekeeping Canada proudly boasts. Whatever the reason may be, the notion of survivalism is a commonly observed theme...

The narrative contained within “The Stolen Child,” a poem written in 1866 by William Butler Yeats, is borrowed from a well-known tale in Irish mythology – that of the Changeling. This myth proposed that fairies would often steal away a human child...

In his play, "Waiting for Godot", Samuel Beckett communicates an existentialist perception of meaning as a concept through the interaction between the characters, Vladimir and Estragon. The conversations between the two men reveal various...

In today’s society, living individually to maintain a private space is as necessary as being a member of a team. Numerous individuals cannot maintain collective mindsets because independent impulses will arise in them. In the past, many slaves...

“For the creative artist possessed by Catholic imagination, God and grace lurk everywhere”, declares Andrew Greeley in The Catholic Imagination (10). His is a wide perspective of the sacramentality of things as opposed to the narrow Catholic usage...

A key theme occurring across Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black and Thomas Hardy’s Poems 1912-13 is the concept of the supernatural. Both Hill and Hardy describe apparitions of ghosts and communication with spirits in their work; however, the...

Through our art mediums and our language, humans are always seeking ways to reproduce and make sense of our own perceptions. Julio Cortazar's short story “Blow-Up” explores the subjective nature of reality and the ways in which our perceptions...

Peter Carey’s collections of short stories explore societal expectations and subvert gender roles against a surrealist and/or dystopian background. In The Fat Man in History, we enter a reactionary society in which the conquering “Fat Americans”...

Aristocratic beauty and values comprise culture which is used as a proxy for social and economic and mobility in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. To at least appear as having the same intelligentsia as the Victorian upper class is to...

Rabbit-Proof Fence presents a portrait of people with power, who see themselves as being decent, self-righteously attempting to wipe out an entire race, but failing. The white people in the story see themselves as powerful people who believe they...

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck is a novel that allows “the stories [to] crawl in by themselves” (Steinbeck 3). Set in Monterey, California during the Great Depression, this piece of fiction follows various characters, all of whom are different from...

Aphra Behn’s The Rover (1640-1689) set in Naples, Italy during the Restoration Period, loosely based on Thomas Killigrew’s Thomaso centres primarily on two couples – Wilmore, Hellena and Florinda, Belvile, similar to Shakespeare’s Much Ado about...

Virtue is behaviour showing a high moral standard. In both Henry IV and Astrophel & Stella, virtue (or honour) is acknowledged but self-interest is shown to consistently dominate, with characters using varying modes of dishonesty to achieve or...

Fairy tales like “Cinderella” have been passed down and reimagined through centuries, with each retelling distinctly redefining the character’s actions, motivations and traits. These stories often push a moral message that highlights the...

The immigrant narrative has been unpacked over multiple generations, yet they often remain stigmatised as "the other" - a threat. Maxine Beneba Clarke's "Foreign Soil" encapsulates a broad spectrum of these experiences, challenging the...

Amidst all the enchanted quests and ardent love affairs of Sir Thomas Malory’s seminal 15th-century romance Le Morte d’Arthur, it’s often easy to forget that the thrilling adventures of King Arthur and his famed Knights of the Round Table...

A phantasmagoria of implicit messages, morals, and meanings, William B. Yeats grapples with the chaotic Irish society of the 19th and 20th century in his works. At first, Yeats is full of optimism and affection partly due to meeting his first...

In his book, “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” Sherman Alexie gives readers a different look of reading and writing as well as the value of education. While different individuals give different inspiring and meaningful stories...

In Raymond Carver’s “What We Talk About When We Talk As About Love”, Mel McGinnins, Teresa, Laura and Nick (the narrator) hold a discussion about love. They attempt to typify love, but, each one of them has a different understanding of what love...

Shirley Jackson’s “The Daemon Lover” is analogous to a dream that explores the narrator’s fundamental psychological issue: Fear of being abandoned by her lover and the aspiration to find a man to love her. The narrator’s apprehension is revealed...

Undoubtedly, religion is theme which permeates Brighton Rock, acting as backdrop for significant events which symbolise morality, or with regards to antagonistic Pinkie, the lack thereof. In the genre of crime, it is conventional that religion...

In his play Hamlet, there is no question that William Shakespeare crafts complex and distinct characters. However, because the story is a play, the reader is left to guess the reasoning for many of the character’s actions and the truth of what is...

Often, when we think of the word justice, legality comes to mind. Although justice is found in almost all laws, it is “exhausted in none” (Vecchio 176). I believe legality and justice are not necessarily synonymous for justice does not exist...

Intimacy is a topic widely discussed and desired. Many think of intimacy as a sort of spectrum, and most hope to experience something as close to the real thing as possible. In Giovanni’s Room, Baldwin says that intimacy is not a spectrum, but...