Newest Literature Essays

In 1970, Michael Frayn watched from backstage as actors in his series of short plays stumbled through doors, raced across the set, and managed their own drama in between scenes, a view which became the inspiration for “the funniest farce ever...

Elif Batuman’s debut novel The Idiot deals with the theme of self-discovery through the vessels of love, loss, and language. The Idiot follows Selin, the daughter of Turkish immigrants, through her freshman year at Harvard in 1995; the reader...

Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities artfully weaves the story of the Manette family through the background of the French Revolution. Though, as readers know, uprising and overthrow in France is imminent, M. Manette and his daughter Lucie deal...

In “Gift Outright”, Robert Frost, explicates the quiescence the American land to all the Americans who he refers to as (we). The poem places interest on the history of the American land that includes the fundamental mileposts such as imperialism,...

Kurt Vonnegut’s “Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow” takes place in 2158 A.D, a time when people can procrastinate their deaths by using an anti-aging remedy , which makes it possible for people to live for over one hundred years, known as...

Kurt Vonnegut’s EPICAC is about a super computer that is Emotionally Intelligent developed by Dr. Ormand von Kleigstadt with the objective of boosting up the military’s dexterity. However, the machine does not achieve the envisioned object. EPICAC...

In Guy De Maupassant’s “The Necklace”, Mme. Mathilde Loisel makes every effort to lead a life that is beyond her means. She uses conspicuous consumption, to display her unreal opulence. When her husband secures an invitation to take her at the...

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Babylon Revisited”, the city that Charlie revisits is Paris; however; the title of the story is “Babylon Revisited”. The title is a Biblical allusion that draws parallels between the things that transpired in the Ancient...

In Carson McCullers’ “The Ballad of the Sad Café”, his theory of love is a central theme, with different characters representing different roles. Lymon is a grotesque character, both in his physically deformed appearance and in his vulgar,...

John Steinbeck believes that all works of what he refers to as “honest” writing, are grounded in themes of empathy. However, being able to understand others is not only indicative of a good story, but also a good author. For example, some of the...

Throughout history, in every society, there has been a constant form of gender expectation and gender roles. The idea of masculinity and femininity existing as something much like an equilibrium constant is a common theme; one balances the other,...

In Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s “The Black Bird”, Mangara, the main character, believes that the black bird is responsible for deaths in his family. His spends his whole life looking for the black bird after it kills his close family members. Mangara looks...

In the pre-industrial and pre-democratic society that Harvest is set in, Mistress Beldam has no power over what happens to the land because political power is in the hands of the landowners: Master Kent and Edmund Jordan. However, due to her...

In Homer’s The Odyssey, tears are a reencountered motif that lends insight to the characters’ motives, true emotions, and defining qualities. The Odyssey splits tears into two categories-- restrained and unrestrained. The criteria for making the...

When it comes to the topic of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre in literary circles, the critical attention given to Eliza and Georgiana Reed, the title character’s cousins is practically non-existent. Most critics do not seem interested in delving...

The high red cliffs jut out against a tableau of clear sky so blue it is almost violent. Below, a terracotta flat dotted with thickets of small verdant things, the cactuses looming like idols in their midst. When the sun sets, it does so in long,...

In the play Master Harold and the Boys, Athol Fugard forces his readers to go back in time to the 1950’s when apartheid was predominant in South Africa. Athol Fugard connects the themes of pride, privileges and freedoms (or lack of them),...

Gender roles are a basis for the family structure which supports the larger societal structure, Charles Dickens argues in Hard Times. Women, especially, as the bearers of children carry a large part of the burden of ensuring a balanced society....

In life, humans are faced with many challenges and though finding a solution is significant, it is how we deal with the aftermath of these situations that are of utmost importance. Afflictions are bound to happen as they are inevitable in life....

Langston Hughes’ “ On The Road” uncovers the relationship between organized religion and racism by chronicling the suffering that Sargeant goes through, in the hands of members of organized religion, because he is black. He is dehumanized instead...

Throughout the French Revolution, the chaos and insecurity that ensued in France was scrutinized and prompted an English nationwide sigh of relief that chivalry and civility defined English society and legality. These characteristics made...

There are cases where parents can have tumultuous relationships with their children. In such cases the parents fail to understand their children’s needs. At times it becomes too late to remedy the relationship. Tillie Olsen’s short story explores...

The works of Elizabeth Bishop and Sylvia Plath are often presented in stark, binary contrast to each other – Bishop as a generally reserved, often cryptic observer of the natural world and Plath as a brutally expressive, easily legible vessel of...