Racism is one of the most persistent and discussed problems in the world, particularly in the United States. As an underlying issue of many unjust acts, such as group hatred, racial prejudice tends to be a result of social ignorance and fear of privilege loss....
Sarah Orne Jewett’s nineteenth century tale “A White Heron” explores a temporary hindrance of a young girl’s relationship to nature. Sylvia, the nine-year-old heroine, maintains a simple life in the New England woodlands with her grandmother. With little to remember of her urban way of...
According to the book, Irl Solomon’s history class is described as the highlight of the school. The teacher, Mr. Solomon, who has been teaching in urban school for the past 30 years, mentioned that his original goal was to studied law but after a short...
One of the main themes that is recurrent throughout Edith Wharton’s work The Age of Innocence is the ongoing struggle between the individual and society. This is an issue that Wharton was quite concerned with in the novel, and it is reflected in the characters...
The Member of the Wedding, by Carson McCullers discusses the life of a 12 year old girl, Frankie, who is transitioning from childhood to adulthood. Frankie feels disconnected from the rest of the world, having lost her mother when she was born, and has a...
What does it take a child to understand the concepts of social inequality and the understanding of poverty? The importance of education seems to be dismissed by the youth without realizing its value to economic success. The story also portrays the inner vulnerability of the...
What would it take for you to want to kill somebody, well in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley it didn’t take more than just the thought of being alone for the rest of their life that led Frankenstein’s monster to release his bloodlust and take everything...
‘Holes’ is a novel written by Louis Sachar which focuses on the story of Stanley Yelnats and the side-plots of Kate Barlow and Madam Zeroni. The main story, as well as the side-plots, show a strong theme of justice and injustice. This essay will explore...
One character in the love triangle described in the novella “The Ballad of the Sad Caf?,” by Carson McCullers, is unworthy of love. Miss Amelia, a businesswoman with manly characteristics and little compassion, gains joy and happiness from Lymon at first and comes to trust...
The novel “Chasing Lincoln’s Killer”, by James Swanson, is about the plotting and killing of President Lincoln; the twelve-day manhunt of John Wilkes Booth. Booth is the murderer of The United States 16th President, Abraham Lincoln. It was just the tail end of The Civil...
Nikki Giovanni’s “Kidnap Poem” is a poetic journey that explores the profound themes of love and desire. In this essay, we will delve into the nuances of these themes as portrayed in the poem. Giovanni’s unconventional use of language, punctuation, and metaphorical imagery allows readers...
Joyce Carol Oates is a natural-born writer, she has had a passion for writing even before she was able to read. She attended Syracuse University with a scholarship and as her success grew, so did her popularity. Oates’s’ clever short story, “Where Are You Going,...
The Last of the Mohicans, written by James Fenimore Cooper, was published around the time of the first “Indian Removal” debates, where the government was deciding on whether or not remove Native Americans from their land and use it for the expansion of the United...
In American Pastoral and A View From the Bridge, Philip Roth and Arthur Miller respectively present family life as a tense realm of activity where relationship ties are easily stretched and broken. By setting their novels in Rimrock, New Jersey, and Brooklyn, the authors offer...
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck introduces a family rooted in the leadership of men. The journey of hardship they endure, however, disintegrates this patriarchal control, leaving the women, Ma specifically, to take charge. As Pa falls behind, guilt-ridden for his lack of ability...
What They Fought For is a collection of personal letters/journal entries written by those who fought in the American Civil War. These entries shed a light on why the individual soldier fought in this bloody war. The author conveys that most of these men had...
Living in a society propelled by growth certainly has its advantages. Today, we are blessed to have the internet. The times of heading off to the library to take out books, and talking with an attendant at a desk for their aid in researching topics...
Within ‘A White Heron’ Jewett provides her readers with a set of conflicting values that can all be included in the country versus the city theme. Jewett points out her preference by having Sylvia choose nature over civilization, while recognizing the cost of making that...
Writer, educator, and activist, Jonathan Kozol, in his famous novel, Savage Inequalities, recounts on the extensive problems in America’s schools. Kozol’s purpose was to bring attention to and evaluate the disparities in education between schools of different classes and races. These issues vary in potential...
Although Edith Wharton describes a society that had disappeared in order to make way for the progress of a later age, she both criticizes and lauds the unrecoverable culture that helped to define New York City in the 1870s. Throughout The Age of Innocence, she...
In the novel Member of the Wedding, by Carson McCullers, the story of young Frankie Addams is told as she begins to navigate the world, documenting from her perspective, her exposure to harsh reality of the world as she begins to develop into a young...
The historical context of The Fire Next Time shapes the reader’s understanding of the text because it shows how in detail how much the author cares about what he talks about in his stories and how passionate he is when it comes to them. It...
“US culture is riddled with stories of men who yearn to be free – by Updike’s time, all that was left was the mock heroism of suburban tragicomedy”. In 1960, John Updike, at the age of 28 published his novel “Rabbit, Run” which was mockery...
When thinking about the movie Holes and the book there seem to be many similarities and differences. The Holes movie by Andrew Davis and the book by Louis Sachar are based on a boy named “Stanley” that steals a pair of shoes and ends up...
In Wise Blood, Flannery O’Conner creates a spiritually empty world in which her characters attempt to live life without morals or religion. Hazel Motes, the protagonist, creates the Church without Christ to escape organized religion all together. In her novel, Flannery O’ Conner explores humanity’s...
Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick that tells the story of Arn, a young Cambodian boy who finds himself caught between two warring factions, changing his life forever. Arn is only eleven when the Khmer Rouge first came through his village of Battambang in 1975....
Poetry is a medium that allows for the expression of complex emotions, social commentary, and personal experiences within the constraints of brevity. Throughout history, poets have used their craft to shed light on societal issues and personal struggles, making us confront uncomfortable truths. One such...
Biblical and Religious symbols are seamlessly hidden in everyday life like a book with no stitches. Part of the problem with being blind to the signs and symbols is that not many people have the knowledge of religious references. Religious symbols are portrayed through music,...
The Last of the Mohicans, James Fenimore Cooper’s most well-known novel, is one of the most best-selling and acclaimed books about the American Frontier. The story took place at the height of conflict during the French and Indian War. Interspersing with hatred and fights, interracial...
Depictions of Asian Americans in mainstream culture tend to reinforce a stereotype of the silent, model minority. Said silence typically results from either a language barrier or the perception that silence equates to respectfulness and abhorrence of conflict. Media representations often give audiences an outside...