Essays on Literary Genres

2566

The Uncanny and Diagnosis of Mr. Ripley: a Freudian Approach

5 pages / 2116 words

Patricia Highsmith, the author of The Talented Mr. Ripley, portrays a protagonist on the precipice of insanity. Mr. Ripley shows many qualities of a person with borderline personality disorder, or more commonly called: a psychopath. A book titled, The Mask of Sanity by Hervey Cleckley,...

Novel Sigmund Freud The Uncanny

2567

Infidelity in Victorian England: Double Standards Based on Gender and Class

6 pages / 2553 words

Anne Bronte’s The Tenant of Wild fell Hall is a novel in which the plights of the female protagonist overlap with the issues faced by the majority of women in the Victorian Era of England. The book raises questions of the Brontës’ family’s sisters own...

Novel Victorian Era

2568

Societal Shifts in The Victorian Era: Marriage, Men, and Domesticity Analyzing Anne Bronte’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

4 pages / 1758 words

The Victorian Era is defined by the societal alterations that developed over the time period. This is particularly true when concerning wives, mothers, domesticity, and the like. Throughout portions of Anne Bronte’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall the relationship between Helen and her aunt, Peggy...

Novel Victorian Era

2569

Sexual Escapades of a Magical Midget: The Meaning of Oskar’s Encounters in The Tin Drum

3 pages / 1445 words

The narrator and protagonist in Gunter Grass’ novel The Tin Drum is unique in not only his stature, but by his mental progress as well. He chooses to stop growing at the age of three and does not speak, except through the beating of his...

Human Sexuality Novel

2570

The Burdening Effect of Remorse: Atwood’s and Macleod’s Fiction

5 pages / 2188 words

As Charlotte Bronte once wrote, “Remorse is the poison of life.” It is true that regret and remorse are inevitable in living a full life, but it also remains true that remorse can indeed be poisoning–so poisoning, in fact, that it can stop one from...

Fiction

2571

Loss of Youth and Love in Bao Ninh’s The Sorrow of War

3 pages / 1405 words

Bao Ninh’s The Sorrow of War connects the tragedy of wartime to the loss of youth and love. It is the story of an idealist named Kien and his first love, Phuong, and how the dramatic events of war caused their pure love to diminish...

Novel Vietnam War

2572

The Writer’s Craft: an Analysis of Akutagawa

4 pages / 1820 words

How is it that one’s purpose or direction in life always seems to be predetermined? Nowhere is there a check point where it is appropriate to pick what one’s hopes and aspirations are and magically expect them to happen. The only plausible explanation for this...

Short Story

2573

Analysis and Summary of Chekhov’s ‘the Seagull’

3 pages / 1172 words

The Seagull is a typical Chekhovian drama, part of a sub-genre which could be referred to as an “undramatic drama”. It has little plot, and most of the plot’s place is taken up by psychological portraits, lyricism, and a certain, truly ungraspable atmosphere, built up...

Drama Literature Review

2574

The Secret Garden and The Path to Physical and Emotional Wellbeing

5 pages / 2406 words

In The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett, a young girl discovers the importance of the relationship between humans and the natural world. At the start of the novel the orphaned and contrary Mary Lennox is brought from her home in India to her mysterious...

Novel

2575

"The Secret River" by Kate Grenville: Analysis

2 pages / 893 words

Early European settlers did not understand that, as the original inhabitants of Australia, the Aboriginal people were entitled to the land, yet they did not claim ownership of it for their possession. However, the Aboriginal people belonged to Australia and its natural environment. Kate Grenville...

Novel Reasoning Secret

2576

Adapting The Secret River for The Stage - Perspectives and Context

2 pages / 1107 words

The 16th – 20th centuries represented an era marked by European colonialism. This included the forcible occupation of foreign lands and the control of these lands through various mechanisms of power. In Australia, this expansion involved the deliberate separation of the colonialists form the natives...

Novel Theatre

2577

Essentialist Feminism in "The Sandman" by E.t.a. Hoffmann

2 pages / 1129 words

E.T.A. Hoffman’s “The Sandman” could easily be read as a satire that rails against meek, docile women. However, when looking at the form of feminism in this story, one finds that the protagonist Nathaniel seems to struggle with an abstract mind, while the women who...

Fantasy

2578

Symbolism of Eyes in "The Sandman" by E.t.a. Hoffmann

2 pages / 882 words

In “The Sandman” by E.T.A. Hoffmann, Nathanael composes a letter to his fiancée’s brother Lothar recalling the terror of the legendary Sandman who would steal the eyes of children who wouldn’t go to bed and feed them to his own children in the moon. From...

Fantasy Literature Review Symbolism

2579

Embodied Fear in "The Sandman" by E.t.a. Hoffmann

6 pages / 2689 words

Introduction E.T.A. Hoffmann never reveals the true nature of his protagonist Nathanael’s childhood incident, and thus by design creates ambiguity within The Sandman. This ambiguity leads to two possible interpretations of the story, one of reality and one of fantasy. Neither of the interpretations dominates...

Fantasy

2580

Nihilism in a Hero of Our Time and The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with The Sea

2 pages / 1106 words

Nihilism plays a dominant role in both Lermontov’s A Hero of Our Time and Mishima’s The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea. Both novels target a particular character to be made an example, but the circumstances of this undertaking are notably different. In...

Novel

2581

The Logic of Human Morality: Connections Between The Screwtape Letters and "Bulverism"

3 pages / 1189 words

Throughout the book The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis addresses the topics of Christian morality with a twist: it’s written from the perspective of devils. The Screwtape Letters is narrated by Screwtape, an elder devil who is teaching the ropes to his nephew, Wormwood. Screwtape mulls...

Epistolary Satire

2582

The Ride of His Life

3 pages / 1221 words

Horseracing has always been a magical sport and referred to as “The Sport of Kings”. The excitement and drama has always caused new fans to flock to the sport. In “The Rocking Horse Winner” by D. H. Lawrence it is no different. The racetracks and...

Short Story

2583

In Pursuit of Desire: a Study of The Stendhalian Protagonist Julien Sorel in Scarlet and Black

4 pages / 1630 words

Scarlet and Black also titled as The Red and the Black (Le Rouge et le Noir) is a 19th Century French novel by Marie Henri Beyle popularly known as Stendhal, which explores the life of a young man whose ambitious and passionate nature leads to...

Novel

2584

The Remains of The Day: Examining Lost Identity and Dignity Through Stevens

5 pages / 2171 words

Introduction The novel “The Remains of the Day” by Kazuo Ishiguro offers a profound exploration of the multifaceted concept of dignity. The central character, a fastidious butler named Stevens, is resolute in his pursuit of becoming an exemplary and dignified servant, a pursuit he believes...

Feeling Novel