12th Grade

Revolutionary Road

The novel Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates has been recognized as one of the great stories of the modern era. One facet of this complex story is the character of Frank, and how his own inner struggles translate into his life, and other’s lives....

12th Grade

Robert Frost: Poems

Robert Frost has portrayed alienation as a theme in several of his poems resulting from another factor in the narrator's life, such as isolating oneself as a conscious choice made with the aim of withdrawing from a harsh reality. He does this in...

11th Grade

Moby Dick

With a variety of perspectives on the matter and a comprehensive reading of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick through the psychological lens, it is evident that the demise of the ship— the Pequod— can be traced back to Captain Ahab’s obsession for...

College

House of Mirth

In The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton introduces us to the opulent society of New York during the Gilded Age. The entire novel unravels a tedious model of social etiquette in which every person’s action is either criticized or judged by their...

College

Frankenstein

World literature can be defined as a means of connection through novels that have the ability to circulate beyond their point of origin. Both Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things are one of many great works of...

College

Indian Horse

“Indian horse” presents how colonization and residential schools traumatized the first nations people. This trauma is evident in how people who had valued community and teamwork were suddenly separated and turned against each other. In how their...

12th Grade

The Brothers Karamazov

In Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s renowned novel Crime and Punishment, the radical theories of Raskolnikov (the protagonist) are a principal point of interest. One theory in particular, that of the so-called superman (a modern appellation, not Dostoyevsky’...

College

The Bible

Traditionally, the Scriptural collection of non-apocryphal wisdom literature has comprised the four books of Proverbs, Psalms, Ecclesiastes, and Job, due to their obvious similarities in style, purpose, and execution. Some, however, have argued...

College

Candide

Voltaire’s Candideis a critical satire, focusing on the Age of Enlightnement and its central themes, including reason, philosophy, and theology. He specifically critiques optimistic philosophy, which argues that this world is the best of all...

College

The Gay Science

The philosophies of Friedrich Nietzsche and Albert Camus confront the meaninglessness of existence in unique fashions. Nietzsche’s The Gay Science utilizes short paragraphs discussing particular existentialist themes such as the death of god and...

College

The Castle of Otranto

The most appealing aspect of the Gothic genre is its ability to scare the reader, without actually having a physical or harmful affect on her. However, in order to inflict terror upon the reader, the author must create realistic settings,...

11th Grade

Ordinary People

One’s life is shaped as a cause of on the effect from others. For instance, if a teenage boy’s mother and friend give off a negative effect, the boy, Conrad, will begin to feel depressed inside and begin to reject himself. This means that...

11th Grade

Philip Larkin: Poems

In the poem, ‘The Trees’, Larkin uses a cyclical ABBA rhyme scheme within each stanza to contrast the life cycle of trees with the life cycle of humans. In doing so, he is able to explore the fragility of life and the inevitability of death. His...

College

Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics

In The Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle concerns himself with eudaimonia, the concept of a happy and fulfilling life. Eudaimonia is gained from meaningful happiness, which in turn in achieved through virtuous acts. Greek culture often favored the...