Essays on Fiction

In his works “Tonio Krager,” “Death in Venice,” and “Tristan,” Thomas Mann discusses the artist’s struggle in terms of who he is, who he should be, and who he will be. In the three works, the artistic protagonists struggle with either a metaphorical or physical...

The mind tends to remain at a stasis, neither consumed by pure ecstasy nor ridden with fearful anxiety. However, there may come a point in time when thoughts fluctuate between the two extremes until we are jolted back to reality’s state of neutrality, perhaps this...

The story Betrayal of Faith by Mark M. Bello is the stunning tale of lawyer Zachary Blake and his plummet from grace. Once a prominent partner in a law firm in the heart of Detroit, Zack’s impending alcoholism forces his business partners in the law...

When we hear the word romance the first thing that comes to everyone’s mind is the beauty of the cherry blossom. The flower blooms puissant, yet only for a short period of time each year, but its beauty stays in our eyes for ages. As...

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is, on its surface, about a woman who suffers postpartum depression, which is the ultimate factor leading to her insanity; however, a closer examination of the protagonist’s portrayal and description reveals that the story is primarily about her...

The Turn of the Screw has been read by some analysts as a straightforward ghost story and by others as a psychologically accurate – whether pre-or post-Freudian — portrait of mental illness or repression breaking out. However enjoyable it is to consider Henry James’ short...

So, what would you do if you, while visiting the home of your boyfriend’s family, saw a glimpse of something that made you think that the boyfriend’s father is up to something shady, illegal, and possibly dangerous? Would you tell your boyfriend your concerns, or...

Oppression is a common theme in literature; this is not surprising in light of humanity’s history of vying for power. In literature as in society, are many factors behind oppression – differences in skin color, sex, religion, and family history among them. The one motivation...

Nathan Englander’s “Free Fruit for Young Widows” is strong story full of morality. In the center of the story is Professor Tendler, who escaped from the concentration camp during the Holocaust to get back to his family home. He finds his babysitter with her family...

Novelist Ray Bradbury once said, “I used to take my short stories to girls’ homes and read them to them. Can you imagine the reaction reading a short story to a girl instead of pawing her?” (“Ray Bradbury Quotes”). While speaking from a comical perspective,...

Most people do not focus on the writing style of a novel and tend to pay more attention to the broader contours of the story line. When reading Gary Schmidt’s Trouble, the reader should pay attention to writing style because it is different from most...

Throughout Monkey Beach, author Eden Robinson effectively alternates passages transitioning between the present and flashbacks of Lisamarie’s life. It is through these flashbacks that Robinson is able to offer the reader a deep insight into Lisamarie’s childhood and upbringing. By placing these flashbacks in between...

Henry James’ The Portrait of a Lady presents the reader with a novel that uses literary form in an attempt to frame the life of its female protagonist; the very title – ‘Portrait’ – expresses a double meaning, referring both to the representation of someone’s...

“A modest proposal” by Jonathan Swift is an ironical piece of writing as it seems to me, because of the discussion of the “modest” way of dealing with poverty and unemployment problem in Dublin, Ireland. The satirical way of representing ideas by Swift is appreciable...

The conflict between Papua New Guinea and the Bougainville Revolutionary Army between 1988 and 1998 has been described as the largest conflict in Oceania since the end of World War II. The novel Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones examines the impacts of war on the...

Throughout Naguib Mahfouz’s 1947 masterpiece Midaq Alley, the alley’s microcosmic nature turns its powerfully crafted characters into living renditions of sin. More specifically, Mahfouz creates characters to represent the Christian church’s Seven Deadly Sins, with almost each and every character fitting perfectly into a respective...

Peter Abrahams’ Mine Boy illustrates in beautiful and haunting prose the oppression black citizens of South Africa faced in the years preceding apartheid. The country’s white minority imposed its power over black South Africans in several ways, the most significant of which are succinctly listed...

The Relation To and the Importance of Henry Dawes, and the Dawes Act, to Green Grass, Running Water Henry Dawes was not culturally enlightened, especially when it came to American Indians. Although as a US Senator, Dawes was very involved in Indian policy, and he...

For the narrator of Winter in the Blood, by James Welch, motivation is at the root of all of his problems, from his need to leave his mother and the comfort of home, to his problems in dealing with the past, and finally to his...