Newest Literature Essays

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...

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...