Newest Literature Essays

In The Epic of Gilgamesh, characters are driven by a desire to immortalize their legacies through a noble monument or deed. The epic highlights the Mesopotamian belief that death is inevitable, but beyond this surface fear of death itself, there...

The Association of Small Bombs attempts to create an encompassing narrative about the effects of a terrorist attack on its survivors, the families of its victims, and the terrorists themselves. Karan Mahajan writes a story in which a plethora of...

Where there is a force, there is power, and if there is defiance, there is power. E.M. Forster epitomizes relationships of power in A Passage To India, a story about the British colonial occupation of Chandrapore, India. The novel presents a...

In Ernest Hemingway's narrative "Soldier's Home", Krebs finds it difficult to get involved in girls and to get back to normal civilian life after returning from the war. The occurrences at the war devastates Krebs psychologically to the degree...

Citizen Kane seeks to identify the true essence of Charles Foster Kane from the perspectives of other people and the memories they had with him. It presents the multiple layers to Mr. Kane as the protagonist, and–through a series of flashbacks–...

Prejudice and injustice have been issues in society since the beginning of civilization. What some people do not realize however, is that it is not as uncommon today as people think it is. Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose is a drama that takes...

Lois Gould intertwines the topics on gender and feminism effectively in the short story “X: A Fabulous Child’s Story.” People conclude that Baby X is a misfit for failing to conform to the typical standards that dictate gender. Baby X identifies...

Many people accept that individuals’ morals, beliefs, and ideas are with them from birth; that it is in each person’s nature to behave the way they do. However, an equally powerful source of one’s ideology stems from their surroundings, and those...

If a boy gives a girl a rose, what does this mean? A rose is a widely used symbol of affection or romance, and one as a present would usually signify certain feelings of love. Symbols like roses are used in literature since people first started...

In the Phaedo, Plato presents a dialogue that occurs as Socrates awaits his execution. Although the scene begins with a conversation between Phaedo and Echecrates, the bulk of the story lies in Phaedo’s recantation of the philosophical...

In Crito, Plato depicts a dialogue that takes place between Socrates and an old friend, Crito, who has come to convince Socrates to escape from jail. In response, Socrates labels an escape as an act of retaliation and disobedience, instead...

The turn of the 17th century prompted a rolling new age of skepticism, in which individuals began to question unequivocal prior beliefs regarding the validity of the Catholic Church, and even the nature of reality. In response to an age echoing...

In many dramatic works, the use of barriers is crucial - they determine the play’s developments and how much it will affect the audience. This is certainly the case of “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”. The former,...

For years, the criteria for true knowledge has been a topic of debate among many philosophers. After all, the rise of skepticism created a sweeping wave of doubt that caused many to question previously held beliefs and even the validity of...

The Island by Athol Fugard, John Kani and Winston Ntshona is an acclaimed South African play set in a prison during the period of apartheid. The play effectively portrays the difficult experiences undergone by black convicts and the harsh...

Whale Rider tells the story of Pai, a young Maori girl, who faces incredible challenges in trying to follow in her family line by leading her tribe. But these challenges originate in an unlikely place: her beloved and respected grandfather. In...

At a first glance, on a surface-level, one may be inclined to believe that the literary criticism executed by Charles Kinbote in Pale Fire is simply critical in form, but upon further inspection, it is made clear that Kinbote has incessantly...

The main focus of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) is that neighbors are, and always will be, the essence of a town and that they are important in many respects. Neighbors not only being those that live directly next to you but also those...

“In the dark times/Will there also be singing?” is the opening question of Tommy Orange’s 2018 novel (10). From the very beginning, There There establishes itself in a time when traditions such as tribal singing are figments of the past for the...

In the Washington Irving narrative that bears his name, Rip Van Winkle proves throughout the entire story that he is a romantic hero. Romantic heroes focus around rejection of convention, individuality, and personal expression shown through many...

T.S. Eliot’s poetry offers readers insights into the transcendental realisation of passion for life that can be unveiled through his poetry. Both The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock (1917) and The Journey of the Magi (1927) explore the degradation...

Toni Morrison is partly interested in the complex ways how uprootedness can ultimately confound self-understanding and self-direction. In A Mercy, Florens’ hesitation to choose is due to her inexperience of freedom, this underscores the way in...

The beginning of the 17th century was a period marked by ideological upheaval. Previously, the Catholic Church and religious orthodoxy were the standard of knowledge, perpetuating the Aristotelian model on society and persecuting any objections...

In Ernest Hemingway passage, “Hills Like White Elephants”, the presence of alcohol plays a fundamental role in guiding the themes and perspectives within the narrative. Hemingway uses the presence of alcohol in many of his stories in order to use...