Essays on Literary Genres

2547

Illusory Conceptions of Control in The Good Anna

4 pages / 1871 words

As Gertrude Stein asserts in her lecture entitled “Composition as Explanation,” “Beauty is beauty even when it is irritating and stimulating not only when it is accepted and classic.” This quotation, especially the portion referring to the element of irritation present in much of Stein’s...

Novel

2548

The Socially Revolutionary Nature of Coleridge’s Conversation Poems

2 pages / 1038 words

The Romantics sought to distinguish their work from the Enlightenment Era’s prioritisation of logic and reason by rejecting and, in effect, redefining literary convention. Coleridge’s conversation poems are considered hallmarks of Romanticism for their revolutionary treatment of form and confrontation of core 19th century values....

Poetry

2549

Stylistic Choices in Borowski’s "This Way for The Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen"

4 pages / 1706 words

Tadeusz Borowski is an inherently tragic author. His life as a guard in a German concentration camp is something to be pitied at best. While Borowski writes about his horrible experiences as a guard in his collection of short stories This Way for the Gas,...

Fiction

2550

Guarding The Forbidden Fruit: a Young Girl Clings to Her Virginity and Innocence

2 pages / 1134 words

The narrator of Thomas Campion’s “There Is a Garden in Her Face” warns fellow admirers of a young girl’s beauty against taking advantage of her virginity. As indicated in the title, Campion uses words associated with gardens to describe the girl’s beauty; upon closer examination,...

Elizabethan Times Poetry

2551

Perception Versus Truth in Roethke’s "In a Dark Time"

2 pages / 866 words

In Theodore Roethke’s poem, “In a Dark Time,” the speaker crosses over into the undiscovered world of insanity and communicates perceptions that others have disproved. Likely representative of Roethke’s own personal struggles with schizophrenia, “In a Dark Time” displays the thought process of a disturbed...

Poetry

2552

Applying School Skills in Life: The Message of The Wednesday Wars

3 pages / 1523 words

In the book the Wednesday Wars, Holling Hoodhood is a seventh grader at Camillo Junior High in suburban Long Island in the 1967-1968 school year, with the entire book set in the backdrop of the Vietnam War. Holling’s teacher is Mrs. Baker, whose husband is...

Lying Novel

2553

Coming to Terms with Race in The White Boy Shuffle

3 pages / 1479 words

In his novel The White Boy Shuffle, Paul Beatty conveys what it is like for a young African American male to grow up in Santa Monica, a coastal town heavily populated by chauvinistic Caucasians with social dominance – at least in the eyes of protagonist...

Novel

2554

Woolf, Eliot, Modernism, and The Faith of Early Feminism Versus Victorian Values

5 pages / 2404 words

The works of T.S. Eliot and Virginia Woolf represent the eve of first-wave feminism, where traditional Victorian principles have been challenged by controversy in the Royal Family, the more assertive role that women played in the First World War and receiving the vote for women...

Modernism Poetry

2555

A Lack of Confrontation: Repression and Evasion in The Work of John Irving

10 pages / 4570 words

In The Cider House Rules, Homer, the protagonist, after stifling all of the uncomfortable situations in his life would “lay awake [at night] because the phantoms of those days were not gone” (312). While Homer liked to think that he was in control of his...

Fiction

2556

A Life of Flawed Virtue in The Vicar of Wakefield

2 pages / 948 words

Introduction In The Vicar of Wakefield, although Charles Primrose portrays almost flawless virtue, he retains two major flaws, pride and obstinacy, which lead to many complications in his family’s life. The Primrose family suffers from the retribution of these flaws until they are finally purged...

Novel Victorian Era

2557

The War of The Worlds: a Critique of Imperialism

3 pages / 1524 words

With the close of the 19th century and the dawn of the 20th, much of the world was changing. In particular, world literature was shifting from the ideals of Romanticism to the stark realism of novels written after the Great War. At the beginning of...

Novel Science Fiction War of The Worlds

2558

Martians in Wells’ "War of The Worlds" and Movie Adaptions: Cultural Imperialism

4 pages / 2027 words

The Martians in the book and the movie The War of the Worlds are a metaphor for the evils of cultural imperialism because their arrival severs the most important means of communication and transportation technology, challenges religion, and leaves identity unclear. The Martians in The...

Novel Science Fiction War of The Worlds

2559

Lightness Vs. Weight: Kundera’s Persuasive Argument in The Unbearable Lightness of Being

3 pages / 1234 words

The Unbearable Lightness of Being is as much of a philosophical work as it is a fictional story, not following a typical plotline. The novel includes multiple interwoven plotlines surrounding different characters with the same events being narrated many times from different characters’ points of...

Book Review Critical Reflection Fiction

2560

Characters' Use of Magical Realism in The Street of Crocodiles and See Under: Love

4 pages / 1786 words

There are a handful of logical approaches and techniques that human beings use to rationalize and understand situations we are not completely sure of. When placed in a situation in which we feel trauma or fear, our immediate reaction is to concoct a way to...

Short Story

2561

Role of Superstition in "The Tiger’s Wife"

3 pages / 1428 words

Fear is one of the strongest emotions experienced by humans, so much so that it plays a drastic role in influencing the actions of men and women. This concept is one that appears frequently throughout Téa Obreht’s The Tiger’s Wife, a riveting tale of the...

Fiction

2562

The Search for Male and Female Salvation and Acceptance

2 pages / 1031 words

The Tin Flute by Gabriel Roy is a Canadian fiction set up in the early 1940’s during the Second World War when Canada was going through the great depression. The book revolves around characters who strive to find romance, alleviate poverty and overcome ignorance amidst...

Fiction

2563

Dogs in Cages: The Dangers of City Living in Ann Petry’s The Street

3 pages / 1163 words

In Ann Petry’s novel The Street, even the most simple, everyday objects take on fiendish personalities and shifting, threatening aspects. From the cruel wind in the story’s opening chapter to the hard, bitter street itself, glaring situational cruelty and injustice brings vivid color to the...

African American Culture Novel

2564

The Theme of Church in The Works of Philip Pullman

5 pages / 2069 words

Lord Acton, a British historian, once said “All power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Over the course of human history, the Church has been the focus of many criticisms, including but not limited to the relationship with the state, the persecution of heretics,...

Fantasy Literature Review Novel

2565

Manifestations of Love and Longing in The World of Tom Ripley.

5 pages / 2236 words

In the book The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith, we are introduced to one of the most fascinating and puzzling characters in modern literature; Tom Ripley. Tom Ripley is a character who is both contradictory and simple in his desires. He wants the approval...

Novel