Essays on Literary Genres

2794

How Isolation Can Influence Rash Decisions: Character Analysis of Robert Billings

2 pages / 823 words

In the novel The Wave by Morton Rhue (the pen name for Todd Strasser), a history teacher conducts an experiment to understand Nazi Germany's influence on its people. However, students turn against each other and terrorize those who are not part of The Wave. Robert...

Novel

2795

Marxist Criticism of The Watsons Go to Birmingham

2 pages / 1023 words

Introduction Christopher Paul Curtis certainly makes a point to address class in his telling of the Watsons’ story, but beyond this, The Watsons Go to Birmingham carries more direct allusions to specifically Marxism. The novel chronicles a snapshot in the lives of the Watson family...

Fiction Marxist Criticism

2796

Not Quite Safe: Concluding "The War of The Worlds"

2 pages / 897 words

Although humanity survives The War of the Worlds, the ending of H.G. Wells’s novel really is not reassuring at all. Though there do seem to be some positive effects such as advances in science, the Martian invasion obviously has its bad effects too: it has...

Novel Science Fiction War of The Worlds

2797

Robert Ross' Motivations in "The Wars"

2 pages / 966 words

An individual’s actions and thoughts are often products of one’s nurture and experiences. These can provide a path to one’s destiny. In his novel The Wars, Timothy Findley explores the origin of Robert Ross’s incentives and investigates his actions as the protagonist strives to preserve...

Literature Review Novel

2798

The Poetry of Charles Simic: Simplicity Sings

4 pages / 2039 words

Charles Simic’s poetry specializes in illustrating the profound within the mundane. Simic was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1938 (Ford). He is of Serbian descent. Naturally, his early life was dominated by the Nazi period. While of much Simic’s work derives from this time (Ford),...

Poetry

2799

Paradox and Unity: an Exploration of The Dream of The Rood

3 pages / 1190 words

The Dream of the Rood is a poem that deals in riddles and paradox, yet a sense of unity pervades the piece. It is iconic for its depiction of the actual crucifixion of Jesus, told by the crucifix itself through the poet’s use of prosopopoeia...

Jesus Christ Poetry

2800

The Coyote Symbol in "Tortilla Curtain"

2 pages / 763 words

A “coyote” is someone who profits from sneaking immigrants across the U.S.-Mexican border. It’s also an animal stereotyped as a scavenging coward. In The Tortilla Curtain, T.C. Boyle draws frequent parallels between coyotes prowling the edges of civilization and Mexicans scavenging food and work on...

Novel Symbolism

2801

A Cemetery Symbolism Analysis in The Thief and The Dogs

4 pages / 1598 words

Death has been a prevalent theme in literature of all cultures throughout the centuries. In The Thief and the Dogs, the author Naguib Mahfouz explores the realm of death and its interconnections with life. Witnessing the turmoil of the Egyptian revolutions since childhood, it is...

Existentialism Novel

2802

Religion, Media, and Nationality in Mahfouz’s "The Thief and The Dogs"

3 pages / 1345 words

The Thief and The Dogs, an intriguing narrative by Naguib Mahfouz, is the story of a man named Said Mahran who had just got out of prison. He was convicted as a thief and feels betrayed by all whom he was close to. One of...

Media Influence Novel

2803

A Theme of Social Class in The Novel Tortilla Curtain

1 page / 681 words

In T.C Boyle’s novel The Tortilla Curtain, the author offers a distorted lens to highlight the differences between two couples from separate cultures brought together through a series of unfortunate events. Candido and America Rincon are illegal immigrants from Tepoztlan, Mexico, and come into contact...

Novel

2804

A Powerful Satire: How The Tortilla Curtain Effectively Exposes Hypocrisy and Racism in Our Society

4 pages / 1664 words

T. C. Boyle, author of The Tortilla Curtain, stated in defense of his harsh depiction of characters Kyra and Delaney Mossbacher that, “If it’s satire, it has to bite somebody, has to have teeth in it, otherwise it’s useless” (Penguin Group). This comes as a...

Novel Satire

2805

Satire in Tortilla Curtain

2 pages / 899 words

The issue of immigration and American attitudes towards it are the object of satire in T.C Boyle’s novel ‘Tortilla Curtain’. Boyle uses sarcasm to attack what he sees as the self-obsessed nature of middle-class America and their naïve view of the world. He laments the...

Novel Satire

2806

Unite and Divide: Storytelling in The Tiger’s Wife

3 pages / 1165 words

Stories, like the ones experienced by the grandfather in The Tiger’s Wife and then re-told to Natalia, are part of the aspect that shapes a community, and distressful situations unite groups of people for better or for worse, depending on the community’s reaction. In Tea...

Fiction

2807

The Passage from The Orient to The Occident

8 pages / 3455 words

The establishment of imperialism can be condensed to the rift between the Self and the Other. One can only believe that he or she possesses the right to will the destiny of another by assuming that there is an essential devaluation of that human being,...

Poetry

2808

Sexism and Female Role in The Novels Spellbound and The Stud

6 pages / 2648 words

Both romance and anti-romance hold connotations of triviality and low-brow culture, reducing women to simplistic figures in which to indulge. Yet, for all their critical analyses, it seems inconclusive as to which genre is more sexist. This question may be addressed with reference to authorial...

Novel

2809

Mother Figure in Peter Pan and The Story of The Treasure Seekers

5 pages / 2184 words

Peter Pan (1911) by J.M. Barrie and The Story of the Treasure Seekers (1988) by Edith Nesbit are Victorian novels that follow the stories of two underprivileged families who entertain themselves and each other with their imagination. In both stories, the eldest female characters Wendy...

Novel Peter Pan

2810

The Male Box: Shrinking Feminine Space in The Street

5 pages / 2189 words

Viewed as a Naturalist novel, with its realistic prose, indifferent environment, and an aesthetic network built around motifs, the narrative of Ann Petry’s The Street reads like a mid-century black version of Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie: a woman (Carrie is single; Lutie Johnson is saddled...

African American Culture Novel

2811

Cultural Colonization in "Its Wavering Image"

3 pages / 1347 words

Sui Sin Far’s “Its Wavering Image” is a short story depicting a Chinese-American, young woman whom a White journalist beguiles for a story about the American Chinatown in which she lives. His Eurocentric proclivities lead him to impose his social attitude on her, thereby ruining...

American Born Chinese Short Story

2812

The Struggles of City Life in "The Street"

2 pages / 774 words

Ostensibly, the Ann Petry’s novel The Street describes the work’s windy urban setting and introduces the protagonist Lutie Johnson and her desire to find an apartment that suits her needs. On a deeper level, this novel portrays the ever-present and all-encompassing challenges of life in...

African American Culture Novel