Newest Literature Essays

The criminal underworld was an elaborate network in Old London introducing new crime stories and entertainment such as Newgate Calendars. The Calendars were nonfiction crime reports from the 18th century that always ended in a lesson for the...

“You see but you do not observe” explains Holmes to a frustrated Watson, as he can’t figure out how Holmes comes to his conclusion (Doyle, A Scandal in Bohemia). This seems to be the common scenario throughout Doyle’s stories, as more often than...

The definition of a modern-day hero is seen as “a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities” (Merriam-Webster). This definition is very similar to the way the Anglo-Saxons defined what a hero is....

Since 1801, Ireland was under British control due to the abolition of the Irish Parliament by the United Kingdom. Several uprisings had been attempted during the reign of the British, but none of them were necessarily note-worthy until Easter...

A defining characteristic of the Latin American literary tradition is the concept of magical realism, and Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez is often thought to be the father of magical realism as it is understood today. Even though magical...

In his tragedy Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare successfully engages his audience in a variety of emotions. Although these emotions are often negative, they still provide a cathartic release for the reader. Catharsis is defined as “a sudden emotional...

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino is not a traditional novel with a specific genre, plot, and style of rhetoric. Instead, it is filled with unique literary techniques such as a frame story encompassing a collection of short stories within each...

In “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz”, Fitzgerald illustrates a metaphorical Heaven and Hell through the Washington estate and birthplace of John T. Unger. The ambiguous nature of these two important biblical concepts is distorted, yet apparent...

Traditional ideals, particularly in Asian culture value male superiority in the household whilst the women, has to assume secondary roles in the family. Confucianism as the foundation of most Asian regions since the Han dynasty in China has...

A cultural and artistic movement blossomed in England from 1588 to 1666 called the English Renaissance. The two most dominant forms of literature of the English Renaissance were drama and poetry. In the 17th century, poetry became more...

In Charlotte’s Web, E. B. White juxtaposes a conventional children’s story surrounding the anthropomorphism of farm animals with relatively difficult concepts such as death in order to call readers to question their own faith and morality. This is...

Irony is a tool used in literature to expose some incongruity or discrepancy either in characters’ language or behavior or in a situation. Irony reveals the deeper truth about the complexities of life. One type of irony is situational irony, which...

hroughout the ancient world, there are distinctions drawn between different groups and hierarchies of people due to this. The Jews were the chosen group of God and because of that, the gentiles were separate from them and since unable to follow...

The beginning of the 20th century marked a key turning point in English history: the Victorian traditions and values of before were now being contended by the increasingly progressive thinking of the Edwardian Era. Yet, the wealthy classes of...

In W.E.B. Du Bois’ manuscript The Souls of Black Folk, he explores the social construction of race and the view of racial identity among black folks by presenting the philosophy of double consciousness. The concept which refers to the sense of...

In the Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle, we are introduced to two very different main characters,Cándido Rincón and Delaney Mossbacher. When the novel first begins, Delaney is described as a “liberal humanist” (Boyle 1) who supports immigrants...

Heroes and Saints is a varicolored play that concentrates on different aspects of Chicana life and gender identity while also introduces the binary opposition of life and death. In a way, this Mexican/Chicana condition is represented through the...

Shakespeare’s As You Like It is made up of two distinct forms of dialogue: prose and verse. Shakespeare’s verse is rhythmic and poetic, while his prose is simple and does not have a distinct beat. Although Shakespeare’s choice of prose or verse...

The trope of the grotesque in science fiction can serve various purposes: to repulse or shock the audience, to introduce the intent to frighten the audience, or to defamiliarize or alienate the audience, thus enforcing the element of the unknown....

The ability of a text to channel a cogent political viewpoint is exemplified within ‘The Unknown Citizen” (1939), in which Auden sympathises with those impacted by political acts of the 20th century manifested within political ideologies fronted...

In Aeschylus’ The Oresteia, the motif of nets reoccurs throughout each play–each occurrence having its own meaning. The motif of nets is seen around seventeen times in the Oresteia, thus creating the assumption that all seventeen mentions of “nets...

Atwood writes from the perspective of Offred, the protagonist in the novel. This narrative perspective makes all the horrific things that occur in Gilead so much more visceral to the reader as we develop a personal relationship with Offred....

Societal notions tend to allude that an individual is either one thing or the other and not both; however, this contradicts our very basic human nature, as we possess and can find duality within ourselves. Human nature is imbued with conflict and...

Mulberry and Peach is a groundbreaking work of literature that details revolutionary moments in Chinese history. The author of this novel, Hualing Nieh, has crafted an extraordinary account of the transitional phase that China experienced during...